This year’s Children’s Book Week at Mariya’s School is dedicated to the past. And I was asked to decorate the entrance to two classes as a medieval castle, and on the stage I tried to decorate the class in the style of an old Dutch school. I liked the result, the children and teachers did too.

I’ve long wanted to buy myself a doll in a wheelchair with a ramp. Mostly because of the wheelchair. Because lately I haven’t been in a hurry to buy blonde classic Barbie dolls for my collection. But today I got a good discount on this doll. To my surprise, this girl with “limited abilities” turned out to be completely flexible, like my yoga practitioners from the 100 poses series. It’s a bit ironic, if you compare her to the other static dolls in the Fashionistas series. She is wearing a light-colored striped blouse with ruffles, stretch blue jeans, and white sneakers. She has sunglasses and yellow watch on her wrist.

The doll itself will go to my niece, who has already broken her blonde yoga Barbie. I hope this doll has a happier fate. And in a wheelchair, we’ll have our fake Teresa sitting on Krutonozhka’s body—she really can’t stand on her own because of her loose joints.

Today I bought a chubby Barbie doll with pink hair on sale. She is wearing a purple sweater, jeans, and yellow moccasins. The set included a ginger cat, a guitar, a sticker-covered suitcase, and travel accessories: a neck pillow, a cosmetic bag, a water bottle, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, a phone, headphones, pink sunglasses, and a camera.

My colleague and friend Danita invited Rostik and me to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. We really wanted to go, but the girls got sick, and until we get the results of our coronavirus tests, we were forced to stay home in isolation. But I prepared a unique gift for her—a crocheted doll (a miniature copy of the birthday girl). The doll plays the role of the winner of Mrs. Woerden 50th competition. I worked on it for a week, sewed her a set of lace lingerie, crocheted a dress, made sandals, decorated her with earrings, a crown, and a winner’s ribbon. The doll held a bouquet of dried flowers in its hands. And also designed the box with her new logo. Danita was delighted and said it was the best gift she had ever received. I liked the result myself, and my colleagues also noticed the resemblance to the original.

Here she is unpacked after vacation, and I finally got around to photographing my new little Moana from Mini Disney Animators. I bought it at Disneyland. Inside the red suitcase were foldable paper decorations with a wave, palm tree, and boat. A piglet, a rooster, a turtle hatchling, a palm leaf, and the heart of the goddess Tofiti were also in the set. The doll looks just like my first little Moana, but they have different hairstyles. The new doll has lovely curly hair, a short cut, like the first doll. I am so happy that I managed to find and buy a new version of this wonderful little thing, and even with all her friends.

During our busy vacation, I managed to slowly fold origami modules following a workshop I bought a long time ago in Lviv. And here we are back from vacation, all the modules are ready, and I finally assembled this rather large dragon in the hotel room in Dijon.

We are going on vacation to France. And there are strict rules regarding mask-wearing in crowded places. I would rather not catch the coronavirus or get a fine, so I sewed a lot of reusable two-sided masks for all family members. And for Masha, she even tried sewing a neck scarf mask. It turned out beautifully and conveniently.

Hooray! Today my Moana finally arrived. This is a second-generation Disney Animator doll. She has long hair, unlike the first-generation baby doll, and her feet are not covered in sand. A toy piglet was included with the doll. I was lucky to buy it cheaper because of a cracked package.

I got tired of watching Whitney in a sock dress in the front row of my display case, so I crocheted her a heathered lilac sundress with a pleated skirt. It turned out cute, she looks very good in this color.

Here I tidied up and dressed up a charming old-fashioned Barbie that I accidentally found in a second-hand store. She was in good condition, just dirty. I washed her, brushed her, and dressed her. It only failed to remove a couple of stains on the vinyl of the left foot in the ankle area. I think the poor quality shoes are what stained it. But the doll itself is cute, and its mold reminds me of our first Barbie.