Time To Wrap

Hannah's Winter Day Dress is finished.

We have lots of snow, so it was easy to do a photo shoot with her in realistic surroundings. The hardest part was finding a place where the snow wasn't up to her waist. She liked this place under a fir tree. Hannah is very photogenic, and her older-girl shape compliments the design...or the design compliments her figure.

The pattern is Camelot by Deb Denair. It buttons down the back and is knit flat. The only seams are on the sleeves. I used Palette in Pool and Fog. 

Hannah is a Götz doll. Dolly is a Madame Alexander, with a cloth body and a little plumper. I tried the dress on her to see if alterations might be needed if someone wanted to make it for a different doll. Here's how it looks on her:

The sleeves are a little long for her, but otherwise it fits, although her figure doesn't show off the lines of the design quite as well. Dolly is a bit slimmer than American Girl dolls, I think, so I suggest going up a needle size if making the dress for an AG doll. 

The dolls who live with me will be losing their clothes at Christmas, so I ordered some "Jeggings," leggings that look like very stylish jeans. The company, that makes and sells the the Jeggings on eBay, Pixies1952, makes them in AG size and Götz, as well as to fit a few other popular dolls. Dolly and Gabi are modeling the AG size.

I really, really don't like having naked dolls standing around in my house. It makes me want to knit or sew them something right away, and then I end up giving the clothes away. I ordered four pairs, so I can send some home with Hannah, too.

I'm ready to pack the dolls away in their boxes so I can wrap them for Christmas. I can't bear thinking of Hannah staring at the inside of her box until December 25th (her eyes don't close), so I'm going to pack her wearing a sleep mask.

Buddy and Dude are almost ready to wrap as well. I just need to tattoo the children's names on their bums, so they don't get mixed up. All four kids are getting dolls this year. Johan is getting this Raggedy Andy, who is on his way to me now.

He's handmade in the US. I found him on Etsy at Roszanna's Dolls. I plan to make him something, maybe a jacket and a scarf. Johan is a little young to dress and undress a doll by himself.

I was reminded recently of the iBand concert I found back in 2010 put on by North Point Community Church. I thought it might be fun to share again.

Here are the apps used (and the names of the performers).

Not much quilting going on right now, but I'm back to pressing and folding my fabrics, in between cleaning house and cooking. I'll try to get a photo of the reorganization effort when there is more to show.

DD's family of four will arrive about December 23rd, assuming the weather holds (they're driving) and DS2's family of four will fly in Christmas Eve. DGD1 is driving from her new home in California on December 26th. The families with little kids will leave New Year's Eve and January 3rd, and later that week we expect DS1, although his plans aren't set yet. 

What's on my needles: Back to the “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” second sleeve is coming along. 

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for the next project.

What's on my wheel: Still put away for now.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor. Still reading A Rose Before Dying by Amy Corwin on the Kendall app.

What's in my wine glass: Frontera Merlot by Concha y Toro.

What's my tip of the week: Liquid hand soap often is so thick it clogs the pump. You can avoid this by diluting the soap. I like to fill another bottle about halfway with warm weather. Then I empty about half of the bottle of soap into the bottle with the water. You can just add warm water to the original bottle, but it mixes better if you use a third bottle. If you aren't using it right away, it will mix on its own. I think this wastes less soap, too.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.