Two for Two

Remember the little strawberry blond cuties who turned one last year?  Well, time has a way of turning one-year-olds into two-year-olds.  

And two-year-olds have a way of carrying around purses.  

And I figure, as long as they're carrying around purses, they might as well be cute.  (The purses, I mean.  The girls are already cute, no question.)

And they (the purses) might as well match the dolls I gave them last year.  And they should be reversible (the purses, not the girls), because sometimes you're in the mood for flowers, and sometimes you like polka dots.

 

The recipients seemed to like them. (Caity especially.  Or was it Mady?  I used to be able to tell the difference.)  I was afraid they'd be outraged by the twill tape handles, a semi-homemade shortcut that helped me get them done quick.  But they hid their rage, and immediately started filling their new purses with random objects.  As two-year-olds have a way of doing.

Happy Birthday Mady and Caity! 

And because you asked so nicely, here's some completely gratuitous vintage fabric porn.  (Imagine the google hits I'll get from that one!)   The fabric, the ric rack and the buttons all came from the old lady stash.  Man, I love that old lady and her fabric hoarding ways.

Laney's Dolls

 

I'm so excited about this project.  It was a gift for my friend Laney.  A baby gift, actually, for her little girl who (you may notice) is no longer a newborn.   Milly was born in June, but the idea was born at a service auction in March.   I'd donated a couple of dolls, customizable to the winner's specs, and  Laney, our enthusiastic auctioneer, suggested that the winner could have a husband and wife set made.  She was really excited about the idea, and credited her prodding with driving up the auction price. I thought it sounded like fun, but I wasn't sure how Black Apple doll styling would translate onto male dolls.  So I was kind of glad when Sara, the winner, had something else in mind, and the doppelganger doll idea was dropped. 

I picked it back up again, though, a few months later while contemplating a gift to make for Laney's baby shower. Unfortunately, I knew I didn't have time to execute it before the shower, so I gave her a note that said something like "I know you like surprises!  And that's what  your gift will be!  Later!"

Part of the surprise, I'm sure, was just how much later this gift would arrive. Days before sweet baby Milly's six month-iversary, I finished and delivered this little family.  

Maybe you have to know Laney (an endeavor I recommend wholeheartedly) to appreciate this.    But I'm going to go ahead and point out some of my favorite details.

Prototype Milly with fancy earrings.

Milly was the first doll completed.  I started with the basic Black Apple doll pattern and shrunk it, but I wasn't entirely happy with the shape of my first attempt.  The arms are too long, the head is too big, and the body is misshapen.  Lucky for me, Grace loved it, (she's got a soft spot for the deformed ones), and (after a few requested embellishments) happily claimed ownership of the prototype.   I made a few changes to my template, and ended up with Milly 2.0, which I like a lot better.

She's wearing velvety pink baby pajamas harvested from a pair of velvety pink baby pajamas Grace used to wear.  I added a little bum flap cause I think that's cute, and a tiny pink bow cause Milly's not allowed to wear giant flowers in her hair.

Henry was next.   His best detail is the tiny pocket, just big enough for a Lego mini-figure rifle.  I know cause Sam tried it. 

 
He's also got removable shorts and a fetching little chunk of spiky hair.

To Sam's disgruntlement, I was happy with Henry 1.0, and there wasn't a prototype for him (Sam) to keep.  He has put in an order for a little boy doll of his own EXACTLY  like this one.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'm out of the stripey flannel I used for Henry's shirt.  But as long as Sam's version has a pocket, I think we'll be OK.

And now we come to the best thing about the whole set:  the (almost) (sort of) completely-to-scale sizing of the happy couple.  Taylor is the perfect match for Laney, smart and funny and clever and remarkable in hundreds of ways.  But if you meet him (and I recommend that you do), I guarantee that the first thing  you'll notice is his height.  He's nearly 12 feet tall.

Laney, for her part, is a bit more down-to-earth, and the juxtaposition between them in real life is (bless their hearts) a little comical.  So that's what I was going for here.  And I hate to brag, but I think I nailed it.  Doll Taylor's crazy doll height had me giggling through the whole construction process, and because I was having so much fun, it was really hard to keep it a secret.  But I did, even though it took me months and months to finish.

One of the reasons it took so long was that I had a hard time conceptualizing how to create and attach Taylor's tie.  In the end, it was pretty simple (and not all that different from the human-sized tie modeled by Sam here).   But for some reason I just couldn't wrap my mind around how to do it, until I just sat down and did it.

Another delay was that I had to make a couple trips to the craft store for supplies.  Don't be shocked.  I usually (proudly!) complete stuff like this with only my stash on hand.  But I needed to get just the right color felt for Laney's (and Henry's) hair.

And I also had to get embroidery floss, for stitching faces.  The faces on all my previous dolls have been drawn on with Sharpies.   I never loved the results, but I was scared of paint (Emily Martin's technique, seen here) and thought stitching would be too time-consuming.  I was wrong.  Taking a few minutes to hand-stitch is totally worth it.  So much cuter, isn't it?  And the added bonus is that unlike drawing with a Sharpie, stitches can be easily removed if I make a mistake.  (I won't tell  you how many times I re-did Laney's lashes.  But isn't she a looker now?  Oh la la!)

After her eyelashes, the next best part of Laney's ensemble is the little fabric flower in her hair.  It's attached with a tiny dot of Velcro, so she can take it off on days when she's feeling not-so-flashy.  The pink button matches her fuzzy pink scarf, which, incidentally, matches a pink scarf Laney happened to be wearing the other day when I finally gave her the set.  Also, she was wearing black.  (Am I good or what?) 

I meant to add earrings, but apparently I forgot.  Also, I contemplated cuffs and cuff links for Taylor, but decided it was time to just be done.  Maybe for his birthday.  Or Laney's.  In 2015.

going once, going twice

Way back in March, the Relief Society turned 168. To celebrate, our ward held a service auction. Everyone brought an item or service to auction, and then completed this form to earn points for bidding. (I compiled this questionnaire from my memory of a similar auction I attended when I lived in Iowa City, plus ideas from here and here. Plus my own madness. (Mostly the last one.) Feel free to use it if you'd like.)

It was a wild night.¹ Sweet Sister Carrero, in her eighties, with more points than anyone, won every item she bid on.

I won a basket full of free ironing. I haven't redeemed it yet, but you'd better believe I'm cramming that basket as full as I can get it. (You know, to make sure there are enough wrinkles to make it worth Fran's time to iron.)

This is what I took:

Two dolls with purses.

In a matching purse.

These dolls belong to Grace, and she would not have approved of me selling them off. So these were just examples; the item up for bid was a custom set, made-to-order.

My friend Sara won, and requested a set in pink for her two little girls.

(With no purses, "cause they'd just get eaten by the dogs.")

But I couldn't just send them off without any accessories at all, so I gave them each a stretchy pink necklace that their owners can also wear as bracelets. (Of course, the dogs might just eat those too. Didn't think of that. Sorry Sara.)

Anyway, back to the red set. I made the purse(s) to match Grace's dolls to save myself time coming up with a sample set, but Grace actually didn't care for the red purse very much. (She is fiercely loyal to her favorite colors: pink and purple.) And that was fine with me, because I kind of wanted it for myself. I'm a little bit in love with the rhinestone trim.

What rhinestone trim, you ask? Well, let me give you a better look:


It's very very sparkly, and would have been very very expensive, if I hadn't swindled it from little old ladies. (There was at least a yard of this stuff in a three-for-a-dollar pile. I KNOW!!!)

But then Sam's school asked for donations for a Chinese auction fundraiser, and I went and volunteered to make something. When it came down to it, though, I ran out of time and motivation. So I decided to donate the purse, because it was already made, and -- let's face it -- there was no way all my junk could fit in that little thing. I mean, where's the key fob?!

And it's time for me to start de-cluttering anyway.

So the purse had to find a new home. But I couldn't send her away alone, could I? So I made this matching head band.

More ruffles. More sparkly trim.

And because Coach wasn't home to stop me (or to try it on himself), I had to see how it would look on a baby. If only I had one nearby.

Oh look! There's one! He won't mind!


And another one. See how sparkly?

Despite Miles' clear attachment to the set, I donated it. It ended up with a 3rd-grade(ish) girl who really seemed excited about it. And I even got an appreciative (apologetic?) look from said girl's grandmother (who had previously snapped at me for asking if I could sit in an empty chair at her table) when the teacher running the auction pointed me out as the maker of the purse.

So that felt good. It also felt good to have the teachers gush and ask about special orders. When one asked what I'd charge for a bag, I foolishly said "fifteen dollars," instead of "two weeks of clean toilets." I'm such an idiot!

_____
1. At the risk of making my blog read like an undergraduate research paper, I've started adding footnotes to my entries. It's ridiculous, I know, but I just can't get it all in parenthetically. And I figure reader(s?) will indulge me as long as my photos of cute babies outnumber my footnotes.

Anyway, before this footnote needs a footnote of its own, I need to get to the point, which is that the service auction was a raging success, and I am so so so grateful to all the ladies who pitched in. Laney was fast-talking auctioneer; Lizzy tended a fussy (and occasionally stinky) Miles all night; Sara, Rachel, Margaret, Emily, Natalie and Kristie were lifesavers with setup and clean up; Amber handled registration; Kennon and Savannah watched kids; and dozens of other ladies brought treats to share and services to donate. I said thank you to everyone at the time --and really meant it!--but I still can't think of that activity without getting a little verklempt. It went well. And it was all their fault. And I'm so glad. Thank you everyone.

Three

Grace turned three, so I made her three dollies.

I'll admit that some of the details were more for me than for her. Jaguar ruffles, rhinestone barrettes, vintage lace and buttons.

But I think she likes them anyway.

Busy Week

In the past 10 days I've been to baby showers for four women, and birthday parties for two little girls.

I need to write a post about everything I've learned while making "quick and easy projects" gone slow and complicated. But all's well that ends well, right? So for now, I'll just post the pictures.

For the babies:

For the three-year-olds:

If you're counting, you may notice that there are only three baby gifts pictured. I didn't bother taking a picture of the fourth, but I'll tell you about it because I think it's a pretty great idea and you might want to use it sometime. Get a package of disposable freezer containers and wrap them up with a list of your favorite meals that freeze well. Write a note telling your friend to pick five (or whatever) and return the list so that you can stock her freezer before the baby arrives. Bonus gift: stock your own freezer while you're at it, cause you might as well.

Black Apple Dolls

I may be the last crafter on the Internet to discover Emily Martin and her Etsy shop, The Black Apple. But I'm sure glad I finally did, because making these little dolls (as featured on Martha) just might be my new addiction.

This first set went to a couple of strawberry blond cuties who just turned one.

Turning those skinny arms and legs right-side-out is a bit of a pain, but other than that these dolls are a breeze to make. Unless of course you have a giant stash of fabric. Then it will take you hours to contemplate all the possible combinations. Everything here came from the stash -- most of it from the stockpile I swindled from little old ladies. These vintage prints are perfectly suited for this sort of thing, aren't they? I'm already planning more for an almost three-year-old I know. Shhh! Don't tell Grace.