DOLL CLOTHES AND QUILTS

 I love holly hocks and have been trying to get them to grow.  Maybe I have a black thumb, but I thought that everything was supposed to grow easily in Oregon.  Well, I finally have a holly hock plant that has actually gotten about 2 feet high and has several gorgeous blooms on it - double blooms!!  I am seriously going to plant more seeds so I can get more of them growing.  I just love them.

When I get a project finished (or at least basted), I like to switch to something else for at least a couple days.  I have had some panels of doll clothes for years and I decided to get some of them sewn up.  This first one is a camping outfit.  The hat is too big for her head, but maybe on another doll it will fit better.

She even has a back pack!

The next outfit is a pajama and robe set with an overnight bag.  Please ignore her hair.  I use this doll to try on the clothes only.

I like to get scraps from a chest at my LQS and sometimes the scraps are pretty big.  Recently, I found these 4 pictures of bears there and thought they would be perfect for a baby quilt.  All the fabrics on the front are from the scrap chest, except for the border.  This is a donation quilt, so the binding is sewn on for more sturdiness.

And finally, this one is from Jo Morton's book, Jo's Little Favorites.  I had been looking at this pattern for a while and finally decided to make it.  The pattern calls for strips of one inch, but I increased the size to 1 1/4 inch, so it measures 21 1/4" square.  If I made it with one inch strips, it would measure 14 3/4" square, which is pretty small.

Cabin Corners

I just love this quilt!  On the back I put a panel commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence that I had from some former projects.  It had been cut down for making wall hangings and I just added it the way it was with a border to make it big enough.

Now I'm in the mood to make some more log cabin blocks and might make this same pattern, only longer for a table runner.  I have plenty of fabrics to make all the blocks different.

I don't know where the week went!  Here it it Saturday already - time to do some house cleaning.

I noticed that Barb was the guest for a quilt guild via Zoom.  I really miss having our guild meetings in person and having them via Zoom would be better than nothing.  Are any of your guilds doing that?  If this pandemic continues much longer, we should definitely do this.  The monthly meeting and going to quilt shows are some things that I really miss a lot!!

Take care and stay healthy! 

MY WEEK IN QUILTING/SEWING

 After last Sunday's quilt show, this week was a downer in some ways.  I have been under the weather, but not too sick to sew, quilt, read and watch TV.  I guess it's just a cold, but I feel very blah.  However, I can't sleep much during the day and get tired of TV and reading after a while.  So, I finished the Quilt of Valor - just need to put a label on it.

Quilt of Valor

Back of Quilt of Valor

The backing fabric came from Connecting Threads  and I am very happy with it.  I think I got it when they had a 50% off sale.

Then I decided to make Abby another outfit for her new 26" doll.  The first outfit that I made fit OK except the neckline on the blouse was too big.  I decided to make a blouse with elastic in the neck this time so she won't have that problem.  The fabrics and lace for this skirt and blouse all came from either garage sales or thrift shops!

The skirt has an attached slip with lace.

Close-up of blouse.

In between some other sewing, I decided to make a couple small quilts out of 1" strips.  One of them is quilted and ready for the binding.  I decided to trim it for binding and accidentally trimmed 3 sides of the unquilted one by mistake before I noticed it was the wrong one.  They measure 13 1/2" x 11 1/2".

Unquieted one.

I was reading some blogs and Shelby Stitcher was blogging about her wonky stars  made from triangles saved in a box.  I also have triangles saved below my sewing table.  Here you can see a large basket containing light strips, some freezer paper scraps and the instructions for my sewing machine (which I discovered has a lot of information in it that I hadn't noticed until this week).  To the right of the large basket is a small bag crammed full of triangles.

Here's a better picture of the triangle bag.  It must have contained a sheet set or something like that at one point, but it is a very sturdy plastic bag.  Occasionally, I will make HSTs or pinwheels out of left-over triangles.  This bag has triangles of all sizes in it just waiting to be used for something.

That's it for this week.  

DOLL CLOTHES FOR ABBY

My 7 year old granddaughter, Abby, got a new doll for Christmas.  Below you can see her 18" doll on the left and the new 26" tall doll on the right.  So, as a sewing grandma, I thought I would make some clothes for the new doll.  But, there aren't any patterns for doll clothes that size, so after seeing some information on adjusting patterns, I thought I would try it.  

Of course, I had to make an outfit for the 18" doll too.  The fabric with bicycle wheels seemed to go with the pink bicycle fabric.

I didn't have enough of the wheel fabric, so I chose something else for the large doll.  Her capris aka peddle pushers are longer than they look in photo because they are hidden under the top.  I hope the blouse and peddle pushers fit.  BTW, my "model" doll was purchased at a garage sale for 50 cents.  Someone cut all her hair off!

I had to share the article about our town that was in the paper on Tuesday.  If you can't read it, it states that our town, McMinnville, OR, is on the list of "Best Places to Live in the West" in Sunset Magazine's February 2016 issue.

If anyone reading this plans to attend the "Stitches in Bloom" quilt show at Oregon Gardens in Silverton, OR this weekend, the quilt on my header will be there.  I haven't decided which day I will be going yet, but would love to meet any bloggers that might be there.

BUSY WORK ON PROJECTS

I started quilting on this scrappy quilt and have about half of it quilted.  Then I stopped because there was a section that didn't turn out very well and I needed to take the stitching out, as well as turn my attention to some Christmas/birthday projects.

I made 4 of these outfits for 18" dolls.  One will be for my GD Abby for her birthday and the other 3 sets she can use a birthday gifts for friends.  I'm leaning towards giving her the one with the plaid blouse.  I really like that plaid fabric (which I got at a garage sale).

Here it is close up.

I like this polka dot blouse too.

I also made Abby a small pillow (travel size).  The cover comes off for washing.  I plan to make a couple for my 2 young GSs also.  In "boy" fabrics of course.

In the mean time, I have been working on my Dear Jane blocks and will post them soon.  In this post, I said I might try to finish Row F and that's what I'm working on!  I think I'll make it!

MORE CHRISTMAS SEWING

On my last visit to my 5 year old GD Abby, I gave her the following 2 outfits.  One for her 18" doll Lulu...

This isn't Lulu, it's my "model" for trying on clothes.  Her hair got cut off and she was sold at a garage sale.

and one for a boy doll.  The plaid fabric is something that I picked up at Good Will and the black was given to me by my oldest GD.

Abby has 4 dolls that she plays with a lot.  When I was there, I noticed that I had been favoring Lulu with the most clothes.  Probably because there are so many cute patterns for that size doll (18").  So I decided I needed to make some more for the smaller dolls, 14" and 15".

They also didn't have any underwear.  I bought some cotton knit somewhere and decided to try to make panties.  I have a pattern for an 18" doll that included them, so when I made them, I was happy with the result (on the left).  I didn't have a pattern for a smaller doll, so I just decreased the pattern in my printer and made a smaller pair that might (hopefully) fit a 14" or 15" doll,

Here's another outfit that I made for the 14" doll, Gracie.  Now 3 of the dolls have an outfit out of the same plaid fabric.

Today while out shopping I stopped at the Good Will store and saw some fat quarters.  There are 2 of each and they are Moda fabrics.  I paid $2.99 for 2 FQs of each (3 1/2 yards)!

I still have a couple more things to get done before Christmas not including baking cookies.  We're looking forward to our oldest GS getting back from college for the Christmas break!

A VALENTINE'S DAY OUTFIT - for a doll

I have been busy continuing to quilt on the old UFO and am finally almost finished with the quilting.  I thought it would never end!!!  

I had to do something else from time to time, so I made a couple more DJ blocks.  I am following instructions from That Quilt blog and they haven't been too hard.  So far, that is!  There are lots of really hard looking ones in the quilt.

A-3

 Of course, this one was very easy.

A-6

It seems like Jane Stickle used a lot of brown fabrics in her quilt, and while I was thinking about trying to use the same colors that she did, I may change my mind since I have so many other colors and might find it hard to get enough browns.  I'll have to think about that.  If you made one, what did you do about the colors?  Or, if you ever thought about making one, what do you think you would do?  Of course, I'm going to use all CW reproduction fabrics.

Then, I wanted to make something for Abby for Valentine's Day, so I made this Valentine's Day outfit for one of her dolls.   I had some "heart" fabric pieces that worked out and a little white heart shaped button for the vest.

If I had more time, I would make more special doll clothes, but I think that will have to wait.

It was 21 degrees here in TX this morning and has been snowing for about 3 hours now.  Our first snowfall of the season!

SANTA'S WORKSHOP

Winter weather arrived in the Dallas area yesterday and this is the view from my front door this morning.  It has been sleeting for most of the night.  Lots of schools, government agencies and businesses are closed today, so we will be hunkering down and trying to get lots done for Christmas.

View from front door

We usually get one ice storm during winter, but mostly it takes place in January or February.  This is early for us.  The day before yesterday it was 80 degrees!

Bush near front door

Neighborhood view

 Here is another outfit that I made for one of Abby's dolls.  The pants are pink denim that I got from a DIL who is Abby's aunt.  She also sent me the "bling" that I glued on the pants.  I hope it sticks!  The rick rack and fringe balls were garage sale purchases.

Outfit for "Gracie"

The doll outfit is laying on top of a gift quilt that I just finished quilting and can't show yet.  There is another one just like it posted on my "secret" blog.  I just sewed on the binding and will hand sew it to the back while watching TV tonight.

Now, on to a few other projects!

FUN WITH FAMILY

Last spring I bought a "Princess" game when I went to a friend's garage sale (she was a member of my quilters' guild and was moving).  Her daughter assured me that Abby would like the "Princess" game.  Was she ever right!!!  I think we played it every day we were there!  Below is a picture of Abby, my sister, me (the winner) and DS#2

See the crown and jewels on me?

Abby loves to play with her dolls and I'm happy about that.  I participated in that play while we visited. We had several "tea" parties like the one below.  The table cloth is a play quilt I made for her.

It is so cute the way she rocks her babies to sleep in her little rocking chair.  She is a real good little Mama.

I already showed you some of the gifts we are giving her for Christmas, but while there I couldn't help notice that some of her dolls needed more clothes, so I made a couple things yesterday and have plans for more.

Doll nightgown made with vintage baby fabric.

What are you sewing for Christmas?

A GLITCH IN THE PLANS

Well, we are still in Oregon and we do love it here, but.....the engine light started to come on in the truck, so we are getting it fixed and the shop couldn't get to it right away, so we're camping and visiting my BIL/SIL a little longer.  We've been having a good time with them and I've been doing some sewing, though not too much.

I finished June's basket appliqué blocks - finally!  There are 12 of them, 6 more just like the ones in the picture below.

Yesterday we went to a few garage sales with my BIL/SIL.  One of them was selling some reproduction quilting fabric!!!  The FQs were $.50 each!!!!

There was some yardage as well for about $2/yd.!!!

The red floral border fabric is from Andover

I also made a sunsuit and a romper for Abby's 12" dolls.  The matching hats aren't finished yet.

I bought this 18" doll at a different garage sale for $.50 and thought I could use it to try on clothes that I might make for Abby's doll.  This one had all her hair cut off, so I decided to make a hat for her (I've been making hats for the children's hospital).  Then I thought she needed a hospital gown to go with the hat.  My DS (Abby's Daddy) is a registered nurse, so Abby can pretend her doll is sick.  The fabric for the gown is from a thrift shop.

We're making the best of our delay, but we want to go HOME!  Maybe I can get the quilting on the doll quilt finished after all!