dolls and stuff

I have had a very productive weekend! First, a friend's daughter is having a birthday and I thought it would be really fun to make a red riding hood doll! I have been seeing them all over blogworld for at least a year now but never had an excuse to make one. I had bought a book a few months ago about making dolls because I love making dolls and a little red pattern was included.  I did add a few extras that were not included in the pattern directions.  One was the little skirt that I had intended to be a little apron but once it was stuffed turned into kind of a skirt.  Also the button placket was supposed to be felt.  I'm not a big fan of felt on something that has the potential to be washed so I wanted to use the least amount possible.  The ribbon and rickrack were an addition.  I added beads for the little hairclip and also ponytails.  The little girl is blond so I thought it might be fun for her to have a blond doll?  Idk.

I am so close to being done with the squares for the arrow quilt.  Only 3 more blocks and then I can sew it together.  Of course, before sewing them together there is the staring period.  Staring and shifting.  Right now I'm trying to decide what colors need to be added.
And then I conquered something that I really didn't want to do.  Jan had asked me to make a couple of Mya's volleyball tshirts smaller.  She had taken them to the alterations store who was going to charge $25 per shirt to make them smaller!  Cuckoo.  So she asked if I could since she had seen a tutorial on pinterest and it looked easy but she doesn't sew.  Huh.  Yep, I could do it but here's something you may not know about me - I hate sewing knit fabric, buttons and zippers!  But, she said Mya is so uncomfortable in them and she's so petite.  I looked up a tutorial for reference.  I really liked this one but at first was a little afraid to cut the fabric.  Once you cut you can't go back.  The next one looked easier but I could tell that the underarms would have some weird bunching.  If you've sewn anything with a kind of corner you know that without making a notch it gets bunchy.  Well anyways I did sew the underarms and sides like the second one and it was uber bunchy looking and grody. 
Which meant that I would have to suck it up and cut the fabric and just pray I got it right.  Y'all my armpits were getting sweaty!  What if I ruined her tshirts????  But, thank God I've got some garment making experience and pretty much know how things should go.  Basically they turned out really well.  the second one I want her to try on and make sure it will be comfortable because it did bunch a teensy bit under the arms.  But.  I did get them really really close to the size that she needs.

I also got to talk to my Mom today, which was nice :)  She's in the process of using up her stash and making stuff!  We've talked before about how easy it is to shop and shop and have great ideas and then spend so much time doing that that we don't actually get to the doing part.  So, I'm proud of her for getting to it!

arrow quilt

Here is the quilt I'm currently working on.  A lady at work is pregnant and is having her 3rd boy.  Her theme is planes and trucks with a vintage feel and she likes darker blues, brown and green.  The pattern idea came from the Moda Bake Shop pattern On the Go.  I really, really wanted to do the white backround, but then thought with a little boy that might not be a good idea.  Here's what I have so far.

It was really hard to find anything with airplanes or trucks, believe it or not!  Everything baby boy at Joann's is like puppies, dinosaurs, robots.  Which all are fun but not trucks or planes.  I took a trip last Saturday to the quilt shop in Merrill (20 minutes away teeny little town) and found a bunch of the prints you see here.  Only one that had planes.  Two with trucks.  The rest I thought would just kind of  "go" for the vintage-y theme she likes.  Like the typewriter keys.  I don't know, what do you think?  I also had a few of the more solid and the oranges on hand.  This is, of course, not the final placement of the squares.  Oh, the squares.  So the tutorial was my jumping off point but mine is much simpler.  I just made a 4.5 x 9 flying geese for the point and then 3 rectangles for the base.  Easy.  Each square is 9 inches.

Oh man, today started out at -2 degrees!  Yikes.  Friends, that is COLD.  But, inside it's toasty warm and the pooches are so snuggly that it's easy to just pretend it's warm out with the sun shining like it is :)

Today I did something to indulge my inner child!  My inner ballerina to be more specific.....Charese and I went to ballet class!  It was completely humbling being surrounded by children and being stared at not knowing at all what I was doing.  But, also kind of fun.  There were other adults there but they also obviously had been dancing for years.  There are so many things I want to try, this was one of them, and now I can cross it off my list.  I may go back......or not. 

I am working on a couple of projects right now, I don't have pics yet since they are in progress.  I've got a table runner, a baby quilt and several other quilts all started.  And I've got the itch to knit.  I kind of feel like that pressure where my head might explode from all of the ideas I have and all the things I want to do, make, see!  Do you ever feel that way?  Like every second counts and is slipping away and I need to make it matter and productive?  huh.

Did I mention that I'm participating in the Scripture Memory Verse thing again this year?  Basically you pick a verse on the 1st and 15th of every month for the year and memorize it.  My first verse of the year is James 1:22 - "Do not merely listen to the word and therefore deceive yourselves.  Do what it says." (that was from memory!)  The completely amazing thing, to me, is that there are 11,035 other people (at least) who are also participating through Beth Moore's blog.  I just think that's great that that many people are going to try and memorize scripture all together.

Not much else is going on.  I am sort of reading "The Scarlet Thread" by Francine Rivers.  Sort of means I read the beginning, then the end and I'm skimming through the rest.  I can tell it's a good book but not sure I want to get too close to the story.  I don't know how to explain what I mean.  I'm listening to "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan on cd while sewing.  For book club we are on the 5th book in the Chronicles of the Kings series called "Among the Gods".  I've already read it, so that's a relief once book club night comes around then I just have to review a little.