This crazy week began with a mere suggestion to Darla that I really needed to keep a promise to Heather which I had made during the Nutcracker visit! She jumped on the bandwagon and revved her project mode engine into high gear!! I abandoned my current project--one block of which is shown below. My current project is to make quilts for each member of my family who doesn't have a quilt that I made!! Given my skills, I'm not sure how wonderful such a gift will be, but I figure I have 25+ quilts in my future. Little Carter's quilt should be a masterpiece!! I began with granddaughter, DeAnne, because I couldn't think of one single handmade item I had ever given her, so I'm making her a Christmas crazy quilt because her birthday is on Christmas Eve. (This will explain for some of you very neatnik seasmstresses why you see a big, loose pile of material in some of my pictures. A crazy quilt involves using up all your extra material.)
The next step was to get out the plans given to me by Heather. Here are two pages from her journal, which she keeps religiously. If it's been a while since you read Kindergarten script, I'll translate. Her writing says: "went to a party." Then she has drawn three dresses in her journal--her own designer creations. She asked me, as if it were as easy as making the bed, if I would sew her the dresses for her dollies because her Mama doesn't have a sewing machine. Giving in to that plaintive little appeal, I made a copy of the journal pages--thinking she would forget in a day or two that she had made the drawings. In the middle of the night, I remembered that she once remembered after two years what kind of ice cream bar her grandpa eats, so I knew she wouldn't forget something as important as dress designs. Besides, her birthday's January 14.
Darla and I rushed to town to find doll patterns and a sample doll who was 18" tall, since Heather is the proud collector of American girl dolls. Vale, who's been on a couple of sallies through the doll aisle, lives in dread of such trips. He stands on the very edge of the entrance to the aisle, keeping an eye out for any boy who may venture within ten feet. If a boy comes by, Vale makes a dramatic backwards leap, lest he should be perceived as being in the doll aisle. It was no mean feat to find a doll two days after Christmas, but we managed to find Walt Disney's "Belle," who is fifteen inches tall. Darla is so taken with this project that she intends to take home some of the material, the patterns, and the doll to make some doll clothes for a little girl that she might have some day.
If you know anything about the currently popular American girl dolls, you know that they are expensive collector dolls, and they come with a book about themselves. So, Darla spent a lot of time writing a cute little book called "Heather Feather Clothes Designer." It is too precious for words and will be found on Darla's blog,
http://darlasdomain.blogspot.com/ when she finishes it. I have been doing some of the sewing. Vale wants nothing to do with the project; he's exhausted from hiding out from other boys, and he has a dozen new games and an XBox to keep himself occupied. Dad's getting a little tired of fending for dinner for himself, but he's busy watching all the preparations for the Iowa Caucus.
I've sewn and sewn and sewn as has Darla. We've produced the three outfits shown below.
What has been the most fun of all is that, for the first time in a long, long time Darla and I have been able to work on a project together. We've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There's been a sweetness about our project because it hasn't been for ourselves. Now, she's leaving me to clean up the disorganized sewing room!! Ah, well...what's new?? Cheers from the windy, rainy climes. Mom
The next step was to get out the plans given to me by Heather. Here are two pages from her journal, which she keeps religiously. If it's been a while since you read Kindergarten script, I'll translate. Her writing says: "went to a party." Then she has drawn three dresses in her journal--her own designer creations. She asked me, as if it were as easy as making the bed, if I would sew her the dresses for her dollies because her Mama doesn't have a sewing machine. Giving in to that plaintive little appeal, I made a copy of the journal pages--thinking she would forget in a day or two that she had made the drawings. In the middle of the night, I remembered that she once remembered after two years what kind of ice cream bar her grandpa eats, so I knew she wouldn't forget something as important as dress designs. Besides, her birthday's January 14.
Darla and I rushed to town to find doll patterns and a sample doll who was 18" tall, since Heather is the proud collector of American girl dolls. Vale, who's been on a couple of sallies through the doll aisle, lives in dread of such trips. He stands on the very edge of the entrance to the aisle, keeping an eye out for any boy who may venture within ten feet. If a boy comes by, Vale makes a dramatic backwards leap, lest he should be perceived as being in the doll aisle. It was no mean feat to find a doll two days after Christmas, but we managed to find Walt Disney's "Belle," who is fifteen inches tall. Darla is so taken with this project that she intends to take home some of the material, the patterns, and the doll to make some doll clothes for a little girl that she might have some day. 
If you know anything about the currently popular American girl dolls, you know that they are expensive collector dolls, and they come with a book about themselves. So, Darla spent a lot of time writing a cute little book called "Heather Feather Clothes Designer." It is too precious for words and will be found on Darla's blog, http://darlasdomain.blogspot.com/ when she finishes it. I have been doing some of the sewing. Vale wants nothing to do with the project; he's exhausted from hiding out from other boys, and he has a dozen new games and an XBox to keep himself occupied. Dad's getting a little tired of fending for dinner for himself, but he's busy watching all the preparations for the Iowa Caucus.
I've sewn and sewn and sewn as has Darla. We've produced the three outfits shown below.
2 comments:
Well I am glad that you are enjoying it! I am sure Heather will be thrilled. Harmony wants an American Girl doll but I am not sure I want to pay for one...she is almost 9 and I am wondering how long she will play with it!
Heather's so excited about all the doll clothes. Thanks for doing all this for her.
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