I've Got Blocks!

What can I say?  Saturday was very productive for me!  Piecing these blocks together was a lot of fun, and not hard at all.  There was one block that I had to "unsew" twice, but fortunately I caught both mistakes before I even finished the seam I was sewing, and I'm really good with a seam ripper!  Guess trying to get a good fit on dolly clothes pays off!

So, here are the blocks.  Now, to figure out how to arrange them... I think the one with the darkest light corners will be center.




















In addition to getting all this sewing done this weekend, I managed to get laundry (almost) done, take M. to her piano lesson, go to church, go to the grocery store (twice), and watch some good "on demand" movies!  What a great low-key weekend.

2012 Challenge

It is hard to believe that we are already almost a week into the new year! I really neglected this blog in 2011 -hopefully 2012 will be better.
More and more of my doll loving friends are doing challenges again this year, like taking and posting one photo everyday day of one of their dolls or toys. I know that is not something that is anywhere near being possible for me; I found a doll a week photos in 2010 a challenge to keep up with!  But, I wanted to do something more this year, and just didn't know what.
Then, a few days ago, I saw that one of my favorite quilt book authors, Kathleen Tracy, was doing another sort of challenge - one small quilt a month.  I already have 3 or her 4 books, and have wanted the 4th one for a while.  The January Quilt inspired me to take this on. I would love to be able to complete 12, but even if I can only do a few, I will be happy to have that much accomplished.  
The January quilt is the Crosses Mourning Quilt.  This seems like a good choice for this period of my life, as I am still adjusting to loosing my dad last October to radiation necrosis at the young age of only 67.   He had an extremely strong faith, so I know that I will see him in Heaven some day, but at the same time, it is hard to see someone you love work very hard their entire lives, retire, and less than 2 months later find out that they have brain cancer. Dad's first loves were his LORD and his family, but he also enjoyed American History, boating, and politics. A quilt inspired by quilts and events in the mid-1800s that has crosses on it seems like a great way to begin this year-long challenge and work through the grieving process.
It seems like 2011 was a time for loss for many of my friends and co-workers.  Since September, 2 people I know suddenly lost their young adult sons, another friend who lost her father and aunt, another friend lost her father-in-law, and several other people I know lost other relatives.  I pray that they all knew Jesus and will be with their loved ones in Heaven.
I am determined that I want my life to be about more than working hard until I die.  I want to enjoy time with my family and friends.  I want to take time to do things that I enjoy now - not wait until I have the time, money, energy or opportunity - the perfect time never comes.  I want to make a positive impact on other people's lives.
So, the day after I found out about this challenge, I picked out fabrics, dark blue and navy rather than black, since almost all of my blacks have pink floral prints!  I wanted something more "Americana" for this one.  I hope that in addition to working on this challenge that I will be ablet o post my progress here on this blog! Here is a photo of all the little bits and pieces cut out (except the binding that I still need to decide on).  The fabric is all neat and organized for each of the 9 little blocks, but not laid out in proportion to how it will look.  Yes, my compulsion for order can be seen in my need to have everything arranged just so - this is exactly how things were laid out when I was done - not arranged for a photo!
Anyone else want to join me in a quilting challenge?  I'd love to follow your progress!

Rainbows

Driving home from work this evening was full of rainbows.  I counted 3 or 4 of them - hard to tell because they seem to move when the perspective changes along the highway.  The first one was huge, but traffic was moving at a good speed for a change, so all I could do was try to admire it and still keep my eyes on the road!  When traffic came to a standstill near the intersection of 2 major highways, I was able to snap some shots with my cell phone.  I saw an older man parked on the other side of the road who was taking photos with a large camera.  I think if I had had a better camera with me, I would have stopped.

God made many promises to His people.  He keeps them all.  He reminds us every time we open his Book, witness new life, are spared a sorrow...or like today, stuck in traffic on a rainy afternoon, surrounded by rainbows.

Summer Flowers

I have really ignored this blog for too long!  So, anyway, here are some snapshots of the flowers in and around my yard that I took today!

My Hydrangeas!

I am so excited!  My hydrangeas are doing better than ever!  The largest was a cutting I took from my mother-in-laws hydrangea bush over 10 years ago - I brought it home from North Carolina in a soda can filled with water!  The rest are from a garden center, but I'd only get a few flowers every summer.  Last winter, I made up my mind to dig them up this fall if they didn't bloom and replace them with something else that would do better.  No chance of that now!  W. hit them with the lawn fertilizer this year, and I think that little extra shot did just the thing they needed.  So why did I never think of that!

 

 

Some sewing

Since American Girl archived Kirsten before I could get all of her outfits, I had to make my own birthday dress and apron for her, using the patterns from AG.  I had purchased the patterns from AG a long time ago when I got Kirsten, but the patterns are available here:  American Girl Playthings Dress Patterns.

I lengthened the skirt pattern, but wish I had added even a bit more!  The tiny rick rack was tricky to sew.   I ended up using a fabric glue to attach it and then sewed it on.  When I finished the apron, I didn't have very good light, and didn't realize that I had the bib on the apron on backwards (I lined the top).  So, the rick rack on the apron skirt is behind the edge, but on the top, it is on the front.  I will probably make this pattern again in other fabrics and see if I can make more improvements to it.

My First "Face Ups"

I ordered 2 Petite Ai dolls, Sariel and Jenniel, from Custom House last November during a buy one-get one sale.  They finally arrived on March 22nd.   These are the first ball jointed dolls that I've bought without their "face ups."  It was certainly a different experience to open the box to find pure resin dolls without any eyes or any color on them at all.  My nose told me that these were freshly made dolls - the resin smelled different than any other doll that has arrived here!

I got out my watercolor pencils, chalk pastels, clear matte sealer, and clear gloss.  Here they are during the early steps of the face up.

Once the clear sealer had dried, I put gloss on their lips and eyelids.  When that dried, I glued on some eyelashes that I had in my supply box.  Jenniel got dark blond lashes, and Sariel got brown.

Then I had to wait until I could go to the store to get some poster tac so that I could insert some eyes.  Fortunately, the family agreed to make time to do that early on Saturday!  Last night, I inserted their eyes:  brown for Sariel, and natural grey for Jenniel.  I didn't care for the bright green eyes that CH sent with them, and these were the only eyes in my stash that really fit in their eye wells.

Here they are with their eyes.  I tried on 3 or 4 wigs on each of them, but none seemed right.  I ordered some new wigs, and I hope that they'll find something that fits them in size and style!  While we wait, we'll have to think of some better names for them!