She Did It Again!

Yessir, she sure did!!

I am talking about Cathy.  You all remember who Cathy is, right? She is my fabric fairy!  Whenever she decides to clean out her stash, she asks me if I want a box of fabric.  Difficult to say no to that!!!  It all started back in 2009 when she was having a giveaway...back when Allegra (that would be My Sweet Little Honey-Do Princess Allegra) was sick and just before she died. Cathy fell in love with Allegra and somehow, I ended up winning the giveaway!  Since then, Cathy has sent several more boxes my way.  And, though I have a few shelves piled high with the fabrics from her, I want you to know that I have, indeed, used the fabrics she has given me to make several quilts (ranging in size from doll quilts to lap quilts), tote bags, zipper pouches, kleenex cozies, etc., etc.. 

So, yesterday was a very Happy Mail Day!!!  I received not one, but TWO large flat rate boxes in the mail.  They were stuffed full...heavy, too! 

Here are the contents from box 1...

And, this is all from box 2...

Box 2 had several works-in-progress.  Those are always fun!!

My sewing room is currently very much in a state of disarray.  The frenetic energy involved with Christmas gift sewing does it every year.  Too busy being creative to put things away when I am done with them...ya know?  I have been intending to spend some (a LOT of) time straightening and rearranging.  Now, for sure, that is high on my list of things to do.  

Getting a box from Cathy is always an adventure for me...usually full of fabrics that I do not have, and fun projects to finish, etc.  



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Getting Settled...

I am here...and still unpacking.  It's taking me longer than it should, but I want things where I can find them, so I am trying to place them all where they belong.  You know?

The kitchen is almost done...all the boxes are unpacked and the cupboards are filled.  Need to hang a few things on the walls and then I will call it done.

The living room is sort of done.  Need to decide what to put on the corner curio cabinet and in the barrister bookcase.  Which, of course, means that there are several boxes sitting in this room.

The bedroom is mostly done...still need to hang things on the wall.

The bathroom is done.  Except to hang a few things.

My sewing room is a mess!  I am slowly getting it put together, but wow, do I have a lot of stuff!  I really need to keep working at it and get it done, though, cuz I really want to do some sewing!

Other than that, I am enjoying Canon City.  Small town atmosphere...everyone friendly...everything easy to find... beautiful mountains all around...what is not to like?

I signed up for a hand-quilting class at the First Stitches shop.  It is in 2 weeks...I will let you know how it went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I received a box in the mail today...from Cathy.  You all remember who Cathy is, right?  The one who sends me boxes of fabric for doll clothes and other stuff.  Today's box contained knits, the cutest piece of corduroy ever, wonderful cottons, wooden buttons, elastic, a few hand-knit shawls (not shown), crocheted flowers, 2 pair doll shoes (not shown), 3 skeins of yarn, tiny ribbon flowers and 2 white t-shirts(not shown). Makes me smile, for sure!  Thank you, Cathy!!

That's all I have for today.  Perhaps one day soon I will sit and write a nice long post.  Perhaps.


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

She Did It Again!

Yup, she surely did!  

Cathy sent me another box.  A box stuffed full of fabric she no longer wanted.

Here is most of it...

See that jellyroll on the right?  It is Allspice Tapestry by Joanna Figueroa for Moda!  

Look at these corduroys!  How fun are they going to be for doll clothes?  

And, here is a little sewing rollup...perfect!

Thank you so very much, Cathy.




"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

The One About Cathy's Quilt...

YAY!  Cathy's quilt was delivered to her today...and it was well received.  You all know who Cathy is, right?  Of the Waldorf dolls and boxes of fabric she has sent me, etc., etc.

She is happy.  I am happy. 

Here are the photos...

For this quilt, I used the Vintage Happy fabric collection by Lori Holt with a few pieces of Bake Sale also by Lori Holt and a few miscellaneous pieces, along with Kona cotton solid in White.  The pattern is Scrap Jar Star...the tutorial can be found here.  Finished size (and after laundering) is about 50 inches square.  A nice lap-sized quilt.  I quilted it with meandering stars with a variegated thread.

I am so glad to have these last two quilts checked off my list...and in the possession of their owners.  These are two very special quilts for very special people.
       



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Hello...My Name is Fiona!

The time has come...
I have finished with Fiona.


She is listed in 
Cathy's Etsy shop, here.
I can't wait to see who will fall in love
with her and give her a home.

For Fiona, I made
a play outfit,

a sweater with matching booties,

and a dress with pantaloons.

Here are some photos...

 I absolutely love her!
That orangey-colored hair,
her big brown eyes...
adorable!

And, she was a joy to dress.

I am so looking forward to the next 'dressing'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh!  And, here are two doll coats

I just listed in my Etsy shop...

 Both coats modeled by Emma, of course.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Spilling the Beans!

Yes, it is finally time to tell all!  I am so excited about this new venture!  

What I briefly mentioned in my previous post about a collaboration between Cathy and I is what this is all about.  All about the dolls.  Cathy loves making them.  I am into the making of doll clothes.  Well.  What better way to put our talents to good use than by working together!!!  I say, what a great idea!  A few weeks ago, she sent the first doll for me to 'dress'.  I did nothing with the doll at first...well, first because I took my litttle vacay.  Even when I first got home, though, I did nothing.  I needed to let the ideas work themselves around inside my head and come together in a cohesive manner.  I sat and looked at the doll and let my mind wander.  She needed a name and I needed to know what to dress her in.  

Collaboration.  Creating something together.  I have complete freedom, but I do want to make sure that what I decide isn't completely off the wall as far as Cathy is concerned.  You know? 

Her name came to me...Fiona.  Perfect! 

 I knew that I wanted Fiona to have a sweater.  Her hair is an orangish color, so I chose a lime green yarn for the sweater...and for a pair of booties.  I finished those yesterday.  This morning, I made a dress and pantaloons for her.  Next on the list...a play outfit.  Something with fun fabric...which I have a lot of, thanks to Cathy and her boxes of 'scraps'.  ~grin~  And, I was thinking that she might need a quilt and pillow, but I have not made up my mind about that. 

Here's a peek at what I've gotten done...

I definitely need to fix her hair.  

So, tell me...what do you think? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A former coworker and fellow retiree called upon me for some help finishing a quilt.  Loretta came over yesterday and we spent a lovely time together.  We caught up on what everyone was doing at the Vet School and completely solved the world's problems.  I handsewed her binding to her quilt while we chatted.

Loretta brought me a gift of fabric from Country Sampler, a quilt shop in Spring Green, which is about 45 minutes from here.  I have never been there, but I do get their newsletters and drool over everything I see in it.  She brought me a charm pack and yardage of Nature's Basket by Blackbird Designs, put together this way (the ribbon was tied around it when she gave it to me).  Isn't that just neat?  Nothing like an awesome presentation, hey?

 

 I cannot wait to use it!  Here are the fabrics in the charm pack...

Very much a prim palette...that should get me away from the white/bright that I've been hooked on of late, don't you think?  

Loretta also brought some gloves (cuz doesn't everyone need an extra pair?) and left the flannel fabric that we didn't use.  What a sweet and thoughtful person she is!  Thank you, Loretta!  We should do this again.  Well, perhaps not the 3 hours of handsewing, but the chatting.  Definitely should! 

    

Have a great night!


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

In The Mail...

A few days ago, I received a box of linen.

   
oh, I do love me some linen!

black, redwood, meadow (very lt.blue), turtle green, dress blue, tawny port

On that same day, I received the fabric
that sister Joyce and I (with Ashley)
chose using FaceTime.  
(first mentioned back here)

And, as if that wasn't enough fabric...
in today's mail 

I received another box from Cathy.

It's been 5 years since I first 

ran across Cathy's blog (click here).

Five years since I won her first box of 'scraps'.

Five years of calling her my friend. 

It is always great fun to open one of Cathy's boxes.

In this box, I knew there would be some

already made small doll heads.

Here they are...

I have something definite in mind for these...

I hope to work on them very soon.

The rest of the medium flat-rate box

was filled with fabric.

And, what fun fabrics they are! 

                      Here's the stack of small-sized pieces...

 

The stack of medium-sized pieces...

Look at the fun prints!

These are the large-sized pieces...

*alert**cuteness factor**alert*

red corduroy with embroidered gingerbread men...

And, look at this cute floral corduroy!

                         All of this in a medium flat-rate box.

Thank you so very much, Cathy! 

**Excuse me, but I must go and play with all this new fabric.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

Calling All Models...

When I asked Cathy if she had any dolls that she wasn't using that could be used as models for my doll clothes, she answered as the wonderful and gracious person that she is.   

Emma, made by Barrie over at Moonchild Dolls, arrived yesterday.  I could not be more delighted!  Emma is a 15/16 inch Waldorf-inspired doll with brown curly hair and green eyes...and look at her feet!  It will be so much easier...and certainly more fun!...to have a model to work with. 

Emma

Because she had been placed on the wrong postal truck, Emma arrived very late in the day.  I am thankful that the carrier made a special stop to drop her off, though, instead of taking her back to the substation where she would have had to sleep overnight.

Emma was very worn out from the long trip from Virginia...

She promptly laid down on a pile of quilts with a little brown dog, who certainly seemed to welcome the company.  

I think I'll give her a few days to acclimate herself to this household and then we'll start in.  In those few days, I need to work on this next quilt I started...and I definitely need to think seriously about what I want to make for Emma to model.  Not that there is any shortage of ideas running around in my head...it comes down to which of those I can actually bring to fruition.

Cathy is sending two more dolls who are apparently very excited to be used as models.  All I know about them is that one is a girl and one is a boy...and that they are smaller.  I will let you know when they arrive (was there any doubt about that?).  Those two will remain with me.  Thank you, Cathy!  Emma is on loan, only.   Someday, she will be returned to Cathy.  Someday.  

And, in the meantime, there is some very exciting (almost beside myself) news in the making!  No details have been worked out, so I don't want to jinx it by saying anything.  Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend!
  



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

It is Cathy's Fault!

I had thought several times over the last year or so of doing a granny square block quilt, but I just didn't feel I had the right fabric for it.  And, I had been trying to not buy fabric.  And, I had enough other things to keep busy with.  So, it wasn't too difficult to talk myself out of it each time the notion struck.  

But you know, sometimes too much is too much.  Most of this past week, my friend, Cathy of Turtle Hill Quilter blog/Pink Petunia Cottage Dolls Facebook page fame has been showing off her granny square quilt blocks on Instagram (@clcknits).  I was sorely tempted to give in and start one of my own, but decided I had enough to keep me busy.  

I've been trying to distract myself and keep busy with other things. 

For instance, I organized the 3 boxes of goodies sent me by Cathy.  And, I organized the stuff I have specifically for doll clothes or doll making. 

I had some fabric gathering in my scrap bin that I cut into usable scrap pieces.  

I made two pillow covers...well, they're not yet pillow covers...they're just big blocks of little squares.  They need to be quilted and a back made.  They will eventually be 18" pillow covers for my son, Paul.

 

  
Anyway.  Today, I was cutting usable pieces from scraps sent by Cathy...looks like she had started a quilt and either abandoned it, or had several extra pieces.  Regardless, I didn't want to use them the way they were.


And, then I saw Cathy's finished granny square quilt top.  Ohhhhhh...it is beautiful!  Here it is...

Then, it hit me...

The fabric I was cutting would make a perfect granny square baby girl quilt!

Oh.  My.  Gosh!

I couldn't believe it.  What a great idea!

Don't you think?

So, by now, I have all the squares cut...and I even finished my first block!

See what I'm sayin'?  A cute baby girl quilt in the making!

And, just so ya know?  

I am blaming it all on Cathy.



"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11

More Fun in the Mail...Again!

Guess what?!?

I got another box in the mail from Cathy!

I gotta say...

her room is getting emptier

and mine is getting more full!

Not complaining, mind you.

~grin~  

This box was all about doll clothes...

and more.

this is everything

 

A closer look at some of it...

stripey knits

crocheted cap for a doll...I love this!

more knit yardage with flannel yardage at the top of the pile

cotton fabric yardage

felt birds...they need beaks

cutest little machine embroidered hedgehog

machine embroidered mushroom

plethora of crocheted flowers - and cherries

There is more...

knitted sweaters and leggings,

headbands, cotton fabric scraps, etc.

A box of inspiration, for sure!

Thank you so much, Cathy...

you are the best!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Jeremiah 29:11