I don't know how to do a link!

I joined a linking party but don't know how to show it on my blog so until I figure it out go to www.sewmanyways.blogspot.com and check it out!  Ok, I'm off to see how to do this the right way!

Doll Clothes

I've been very busy lately!  I decided I'd try my hand at making clothing for the grand's 18" dolls.  I had bought a book a year or 2 ago and put it away thinking I'd get back to it shortly...we all know how that goes right?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!  Anyway, I've dug the book out, looked at tons of pictures on Pinterest and gotten started on a new addiction...called doll clothes.  My 1st project was to take a top that Mia had outgrown and see if I could turn it into a dress for Brianna's Karito Kids doll, Mae Ling.  (Karito Kids are beautiful dolls and just a tad bit taller and slimmer than American Girls or Madame Alexander dolls.)  I knew I wanted to save the cute embroidery work on the front of the dress and the eyelet at the collar and hem.  By trying the top on the doll I was happy to see that it was the perfect length for a long dress!  I took a big breath and started by taking off the center strip of the top and laying it aside.  Then I took the plunge and cut the top down the front center.  Boy, that was scary!  I sewed it back together as close to the embroidery as possible then using a seam ripper took out the sides and sleeves.  I had to remove the front from the back and after doing that I cut the back in half.  I fiddled around with how to put an opening down the back so the clothing would slip on and off easily.    I figured it out but had to go back later and make the opening bigger.  The front and back were made smaller by cutting them at the sides and the sleeves had to be cut down to fit in the smaller opening.  This all took me about 3 evenings of working on it.  I went to Joann's and found some cute silk flowers to put down the front of the dress.  I took the center strip that I had first taken off the shirt and made a simple headband and used the rest of the silk flowers on it.  I was so happy with how the dress turned out that I decided Mae Ling needed new socks and shoes too!  I took a youth's pair of white anklets and created kneehighs and then crocheted a pair of black Mary Jane shoes.  While it's not perfect in my eyes it is in Bri's and that's all that counts!  The girls spent the night with me on Saturday and Bri's comment after I finished the shoes and we got the doll dressed..."Oh Nana, she's perfect"!  And that dear friends is all it took for me to get hooked on making doll clothes for the girls!

Mae Ling's new shoes and socks...I made the shoe pattern up!

Mae Ling in her new outfit:

 
 

My mind is going to get me in trouble...

Why is it that I can think of 100 things I'd like to make but just can't seem to find the time to do them???  Here are a few things I'd like to start working on:  a donation quilt for a pet rescue, some doll clothes for the grandgirl's 18" dolls (both sewn and crocheted), a Civil War quilt for home, a R/W/B quilt for us, and some crocheted scarves for the homeless.  I'm currently also working on 3 crocheted scarves for the Special Olympics and some quilting on my LA...not to mention I need to work on a couple of quilts for church as well as design one for a lady at church that just lost her husband.  I'd pray for more hours in the day but God would probably just wake me up at 2:00 in the morning to give me the time I requested and I really don't do well on just 4 hrs of sleep a night.  Hummm guess I better get my list organizer out and jot down some notes...

A Happy New Year

Christmas is over and was wonderful!  I'd love to post some pics of it but my phone died and I lost all of my Christmas pics!  Tragic I tell ya!!!  My beloved iPhone died just before Christmas so I got a replacement one.  It didn't work right so I took it back and they said I had probably corrupted it w/my computer (I always did think that computer was a bit shady!)  so they rebooted the phone which wiped out all my Christmas photos...and it STILL didn't fix the phone!  Soooo, they gave me another phone and guess what...it had a DIFFERENT problem!  I went back that same day and the guy looked at me like I was either crazy or trying to pull some sort of scam on him...yea right I'm the crazy blonde that just LOVES spending all her time circling the mall parking lot looking for a place to park then fighting the crowds to get into your store, shouldering my way back to the Genius Bar and hoping the 4th phone will work!  Anyway he checked it out and found out I was neither crazy nor a scammer and gave me my 4th phone in 2 weeks.  So far this one is working.  Horray!!!

Like I said above Christmas was wonderful!  The kids were all happy w/their gifts and hubby liked his too.  I got a 24 hour virus on Christmas Eve but was feeling better by Christmas day.  New Year's Eve was good too.  DS#2 and family came over but not DS#1 or his family, they went to visit friends in the mountains.  We still had fun and the girls both stayed up to midnight...little night owls!  They sure had fun counting down to midnight and drinking apple cider to bring in the new year...settling down to go to bed afterwards not so much.