American Girl Doll Bed

My granddaughter Lana's wish came true!  She really, really, REALLY wanted an American Girl doll for her 10th birthday!  It was a little out of the price range for her parents, but Lana has been through a lot the last few weeks and they wanted to make her happy.  On Labor Day last month Lana had a diabetic crisis and we almost lost her.  No one knew she had diabetes.  Her life now consists of four blood tests a day and four shots of insulin. 

Her grandma (me) and her grandpa and aunts wanted to bring joy to her also.  Grandpa has been making these beautiful American Girl doll beds for awhile now.  Years ago he made Arielle a canopy bed for her doll and he made Liana a bunk bed for hers.  The girls loved them.  He had this one half made and when we found out Lana was getting the doll, we knew it was the perfect gift.  I made the canopy out of a pink leopard print and Liana made the beautiful quilt and matching pillow.  The quilt is a technique Liana saw me use when I made a baby quilt for Lana's baby sister. It is called "quilt-as-you-go."  There is also a foam mattress covered in pink flannel under the quilt.  Lana's doll will be sleeping in comfort!

Next weekend is Lana's party.  We can't wait to give her this gift. 

June Photo Challenge

Here is an update on the pictures from the June photo challenge

Day 5.

Liana made this 18 inch doll outfit for her American Girl Doll Ivy last September. She sewed the double breasted pea coat out of some denim and added mini navy blue buttons for decoration. The coat is actually closed by a snap hand sewed to the lining. The skirt is pleated at the top and finished with a rolled hem

Day 6.

This purple pea coat and patched tank top was made by Arielle last year in 4-H. The picture below shows the outfit displayed for the annual 4-H Fair judging.

Day 7.

This red, flowery, silk dress was made by Liana last year in 4-H. It is shown below how it was displayed for the 4-H fair judging

Day 8.

Liana and I are wearing junior bridesmaid dresses that our mom made for a family wedding. She also sewed the tie on the flower girl dress to match our dresses

Day 9.

This is another dress that my mom made. As you can see, it is very similar to the bridesmaid dresses in the picture from yesterday. That is because it IS the same dress! This was my mom's practice dress that she made for Liana. The main purpose of practice dresses are for fit to make sure that no alterations need to be done to the pattern.

Day 10.

This dress is an original made by Liana. She even made up her own pattern for the dress! The dress had a lace up back with green cording.

Day 11.

This flower hair clip is something that Liana made to go with her red dress shown a couple of days ago. The hair clip is actually very simple to make. It is a long strip of fabric gathered and then rapped around to look like a flower and the button in the middle hides all of the strings and seams

Day 12.

These stuffed animal seals were made by Liana last year around Christmas time. She made each of the little kids in our family one for Christmas. The nose and eyes of the seals are embroidered on

Day 13.

Liana made this dress out of scrap fabric that was in our sewing closet, and it actually turned out pretty cute! It ties around her neck making it a halter dress, and the bottom is gathered up to create the bubble dress look. (Sorry, the rotation doesn't work on this picture)

Miss Kitty

Here is what I have been working on lately!

As you can see, I still have a bit to go :)  I got the Miss Kitty Sock Monkey Kit for Christmas last year from my Grandma.  This isn't too hard of a project and the end result is going to be so cute.  All I have left to do is make her a dress, a pet mouse, embroider on eyelashes, a mouth, nose, and whiskers.  I can't wait to finish her to show my grandma!  Liana has already finished hers (no surprise there) and I will have pictures of that up later.

<3 Arielle

Christmas Gifts

We can now post pictures of all the Christmas surprises we were working on for months.  First of all, here are Liana's seals all finished and two of the little girls who love them.

I was working on a wedding quilt for my son and daughter-in-law.  It was not finished in time for their marriage in July, so it became a Christmas gift instead.  The design is Rail Fence and it is made of high quality quilting fabric.  I tried Warm and Natural cotton batting for the first time and was quite pleased with how easy it was to use.  Arielle and Liana helped choose the colors.

Christmas Sewing

Liana has been busy sewing gifts for all the little ones in our family.  She made this pod of seals from flannel and still needs to add the embellishments like faces and bows.  Liana is able to get beyond the sometimes tedious task of repetition needed for some projects.  Making quilts is like that too--lots of repetition in doing a pattern over and over when piecing and also in the quilting.  I find it relaxing.

Arielle has been busy with a beautiful baby quilt for the new little one coming in March.  I have two huge projects nearing completion but we can't post pictures of any of these yet. They are surprises!  --Deb