Sunday, November 11, 2012

Dolls and Quilts

One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the Ford Rotunda in Dearborn to see the doll display. My grandmother and my aunt had both made dresses for dolls for the Salvation Army. Before the dolls were given to little girls at Christmas they were put on glorious display in the Rotunda. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old, and the memory of all those dolls is still strong.

Many years ago, I found out the Salvation Army still had the program. My quilt guild (The Capitol City Quilt Guild) would receive about 100 dolls in September from the Salvation Army and would distribute them to guild members to dress and accessorize. When I heard about it, it brought back that wonderful memory and I knew I wanted to do one. Each September I would forget about the project and was wistful when the dolls were displayed at the guild each November, swearing I would dress a doll 'next year'. This year I was at the guild meeting in September and they had some extra dolls. Yay! I finally brought one home and here she is. I made her a dress and knit her a sweater. I also made her  little quilt. 

Dolly in her dress and sweater.


Dolly's dress showing the ruffles.


Dolly's Pinwheel quilt.


The pinwheel quilt was made from leftovers from the quilt below. I made this quilt for my nephew Charlie when he was born. It is a Snowball and Nine Patch. The snowballs were made using magic corners which left me with leftover half square triangle units that I made into pinwheels. I need only two more pinwheels to make the quilt for Dolly.


Till next time......Happy Quilting!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

A Quilt for baby Elliot

My friends Jennifer and Chris Sleeper are having a baby. The shower was last weekend and I gave them this quilt.

Baby Blocks for Baby Sleeper. 32" x 36". Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
It was a quilt top I made in a class many years ago. I pressed it and quilted it when I got the shower invitation. Jennifer's favorite color is purple, so I lucked out on that. I think of this as baby blocks in outer space. I'm happy to have a hand-made gift and to finish another UFO.

The next project is dressing a doll for the Salvation Army to give out this Christmas.

Till next time......Happy Quilting.