First of all, thank you so much for all the lovely comments about Octavia - I think she broke the record, and it was lovely to hear your feedback. Some people thought she looked less sad than some of my other dolls, and while that wasn't a conscious choice, I am feeling very excited about and grateful for all that is to come, so maybe she absorbed some of that hopeful spirit. But although I smile a lot these days, I won't be making any smiling dolls any time soon (or, most likely, ever).
A few people have written me asking if I'm planning an update for fall, and I promise I am - I even have the pictures (and the glue in my hair) to prove it. But I am moving slower than usual these days, which from what I hear, is normal in the third trimester of pregnancy.
I was hoping to have these ladies finished by the end of September, but it's looking more like early October. I don't know how much I've written here about my new program, but I'm back in school full-time for the fall (I'll take time off when the baby is born and most likely head back next fall). I have now graduated with my MA in English (woot!), but Mr. L and I have both decided to study Translation (French to English). Translation is big business here in Québec, what with it being a largely Francophone province, but really translation is big all across Canada, which is officially a bilingual country. Anyway, we want to move to the countryside and we want to work from home and translation is one way to stay regularly self-employed from anywhere. A phone, a computer and an internet connection and you're all set. Supposedly there's an entire colony of Québec translators living and working in Bali, but I would never survive in a place where the weather is so consistently hot and sunny; I need my snowstorms and rainy days and fall is my favourite season...
Most likely, this next update will be the last of my small dolls for a while; I hope to do one last, smallish update with 4-5 larger dolls before the baby is born, and then I'll just have to wait and see how this little creature wants to spend the days...