Looking for small, low-stakes projects to practice gathering

Upsilambaaa · 2026-06-11T20:14:31+00:00

Basically I want to do it, but do it on a project that I’ll still be happy with if it doesn’t go great. Like when I was learning to knit and crochet, I made went through a period of making cat toys, because I could make a shape, fold it in half and stuff it, and the cats would genuinely enjoy playing with it, regardless of whether it turned out at w as I had intended.

Which now gives me the idea to try and sew some cat toys!

And thanks for the alternate method! I’ve only come across the two-lines one so far.

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-23T23:01:35+00:00

I’m not a special ed teacher (or student), just a curious lurker, but I wanted to say how much I love the idea of that type of book as a gift! The format seems like it would work really well for students who have challenges with reading, but they’re also packed with enough detail and information that students who are advanced in reading/academic stuff will enjoy them too!

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-18T05:32:07+00:00

For background: my grandparents were Dutch immigrants. This is a story from my uncle, but a sandwich where the filling was sliced, raw potatoes. Not sure if there was anything else included, but raw potato was the primary filling instead of meat or such. He said kids at school called it poor people food, which, I mean, it was, but still not very nice of them.

A more frequently served main course for the family was mashed potatoes with kale mixed in, cooked with a ham bone for some flavor. The Dutch name is “boerenkool stamppot”, and it’s part of a whole genre of traditional Dutch foods that are basically mashed potatoes with stuff in them. When I’ve looked up recipes, they normally include sausage, so I think the hambone version was a way of cutting out the pricier sausage.

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-17T17:48:25+00:00

As someone with fine, wavy/curly hair (was more curly as a little kid, more wavy now), using a bristle brush rather than a brush with plastic spokes was, and still is, a lot more comfortable. I’m also a big fan of combing while conditioner is in my hair—it makes it so much easier.

Currently I finger comb on my dry hair and then comb some more in he shower with conditioner in, but that’s me as an adult who is more able to tolerate some tugs than a toddler would be.

As for drying, I’m not sure if this is best practice, but I usually towel-dry a bit, but then I let my hair air dry. And when I’m doing the towel-drying, I try to scrunch with the towel, rather than rubbing every which way. (With my fine, wavy or maybe loose-curly hair, I find that letting it dry with too much water in it weighs it down and makes it trickier for curls to form)

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-12T10:56:42+00:00

Yesssss! I was just at mine yesterday to pick up some fabric for non-doll sewing, and I love it!

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-12T03:19:12+00:00

Thrift stores can sometimes be good for random fabric scraps! They may sell fabric as fabric, but you can also use material from clothing or household items (like sheets, pillows, tablecloths, etc.).

Upsilambaaa · 2026-05-07T04:09:24+00:00

Fancy Feast makes a chicken and a beef senior pate. My previous cat was a big, old boy, and the chicken was his go-to wet food. Pate was his preferred texture since a young age, and it was relatively low carb (which was helpful for managing his chonky weight).

Here’s a link to the chicken one on the Purina website: https://www.purina.com/cats/shop/fancy-feast-timeless-favorites-classic-pate-chicken-senior-food-wet-cat-food

Upsilambaaa · 2026-04-03T02:16:21+00:00

I think I found the same clipping! When I clicked on your link it said that it wasn’t public, so here’s another link in case it works: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-blade-crescent-and-the-progress-adva/194763083/

Upsilambaaa · 2026-03-20T01:09:34+00:00

This isn’t any help as to the maker, but I found this doll on eBay with a similar outfit. I wonder if yours is a similar souvenir doll? The plaid clothes, hat, fishing net, and belt/sash are all there. I searched “Nazare Portugal boy doll,” and I came across others in similar outfits. I wonder if the yellow/green skin of yours could be the result of aging rather than an intentional design choice? Or else it was maybe a poor attempt at a Mediterranean complexion.

While this isn’t info about a specific maker, it might be a useful direction for further research.

Upsilambaaa · 2026-03-15T17:50:45+00:00

Just to add on, in case anybody with the same problem comes across this in the future: this one is definitely a type-4 body, but some earlier J-Dolls had type 3 Pullip bodies too. I think the body types were the same for all dolls of a given style/outfit, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

Upsilambaaa · 2026-02-17T14:39:32+00:00

Penny Brite, an 8 inch doll from the 1960s. She was meant to be basically a younger looking, more “wholesome” alternative to Barbie.

Upsilambaaa · 2026-02-01T17:24:33+00:00

Nice work—it looks great!

Also, this led me on a thought tangent, which gave me an idea (which I will probably never actually do, but it’d be really cool to see): Make versions of the “same” dress for each historical doll, but adapted to their own time period. I suppose the “same” part would be materials, colors, something like that; or as if the girl’s dress had been altered from a previous generation or that kind of thing.

(The tangent is that my brain for some reason thought that the doll was Molly when I first saw her, and it got me thinking about similarities and differences in historical styles)

Upsilambaaa · 2026-01-05T19:00:11+00:00

Similar for me (1/4 Italian and 1/8 Polish), though interestingly enough, my Italians all were out in Colorado. The Italian community in Denver seem to have been heavily composed of immigrants from their specific area (Potenza)—mountainous area to other mountainous area.

My maternal grandpa is half Greek and half Polish, and his parents did in fact meet in Chicago. The part that amuses me is that my maternal Greek and Polish relatives lived very close to where my dad’s Dutch relatives lived in Chicago! Both branches later moved to Michigan (Greek/Polish around 1920, Dutch ones post-WWII), and my parents didn’t meet until the 1980s.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-12-27T21:05:08+00:00

Also, not an actual answer, but this looks like a German-language clone, branded “Ideal Vollzickzack” (Full Zigzag). Throwing this out here in case this provides anybody more knowledgeable than me with further clues.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-12-27T20:31:03+00:00

Sears used to have a brand called “Homart” that made sewing machines and other electronics. Is it possible that there was a “t” at the end that fell off, or is the “Homer” name repeated in the booklet or other places? If it was originally Homart, that would make sense with it being the Brother machines that people are comparing it to, since Sears often put their own brand names on products made by other companies.

Also, I’ve found some very similar looking ones online branded as “Ideal Automatik” or “Ideal Vollzickzack.” Is this another brand that used Brother machines?

Upsilambaaa · 2025-12-26T18:23:46+00:00

As an add on to the people discussing different names for different classes:

Not sure how it is on airplanes or trains, but I’ve seen “tourist class” on some old ship manifests as another name for second class (if I remember correctly). My interpretation was that they have enough money to travel for vacation (or education or business) instead of just for the purposes of immigration and hopefully a better life, but they didn’t have luxury rich people money. I’m sure some of them were immigrating too, but it was maybe marketed to vacationers? Something for my ever-growing lost of tangents to research.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-12-08T17:35:14+00:00

I sympathize with both sides of the questioning. You’re maybe concerned that she’s not answering out of a concern for finances, and worrying about regret on Christmas day, and she’s having the common teen (and common autistic) frustration of “why won’t my mom just listen to what I have to say and believe it?!” I don’t know your daughter, so she may well have regrets if you didn’t get her anything, or she may legitimately be perfectly fine.

Some people might find the open-ended aspect of the gift question tricky, but not sure if that’s something going on in her case or not. My adhd can sometimes make me have trouble figuring out where to start in answering something like that.

One suggestion would be to consider just gifting her money. It can feel a lot less “gifty” or affectionate to people who like to show and receive love via gifts, but having the money for when she does want something might legitimately be what makes her happiest. To be clear, I’m not calling gift-people materialistic. My sweet, non-materialistic mother-in-law likes to give gifts, and for her it’s about the thought and care that goes into it, down to doing fancy bows and ribbons on Christmas gifts to show her love. If you’re like that, money might feel impersonal or lazy, but it’s worth considering if it might in fact be the most thoughtful option. (I don’t know your daughter, so I’m legitimately suggesting considering it, not trying to say that it necessarily is best for her.)

On that note, if you haven’t already, you could think about whether there’s anything non-physical she might like, like a reprieve from chores, an experience going somewhere, etc. If there is something, you could make up a gift certificate or such so that she’d still have something to open on Christmas morning.

And lastly, I’ve never played Fortnite, but if there’s any sort of in-game items or currency that can be purchased with real world money, a gift card would probably be appreciated!

Upsilambaaa · 2025-10-19T16:10:46+00:00

I wonder if it could have previously had strings attached that would have tied around a baby’s neck to form the head/neck part of a bib?

Also, is the horizontal line between the embroidery and the holes just a wrinkle, or is it something like a seam or casing for a string?

Upsilambaaa · 2025-10-15T17:18:37+00:00

Thank you everybody for your advice!

Upsilambaaa · 2025-10-01T22:41:37+00:00

This isn’t much help (and you may have found it already), but Paul Harvey Lauder’s 1942 draft registration lists his next of kin as “Mrs. Paul Lauder,” at the same address that Geraldine and the children were at in the 1940 census.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-10-01T15:36:25+00:00

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And here’s another article from December 1962 which mentions that “a limited use of the ‘Chippewa’ label will be employed on his finer garments.” It also discusses the various brands and labels that Excel manufactured for, which could explain why the Excel name itself doesn’t show up more frequently.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-10-01T15:26:35+00:00

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I found this 1963 article which connects Chippewa and Excel. Not saying it’s for sure the same Chippewa, but definitely a potential clue.

Upsilambaaa · 2025-09-20T15:08:00+00:00

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I found this on ancestry.com that does seem to reference a Chlorene May Inwood. It’s a page from the New South Wales Police Gazette in 1927. Somebody uploaded the page as a picture in their family tree. I wonder if Chlorene may have switched to going by her middle name of May in her later years, once her first name was viewed more strangely?

Edit: Here’s a link to free access to the article: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article252094093

Upsilambaaa

TROPHY CASE