Barbara's Creative Projects
Once again I had Mina send me a picture for my Jack ‘o Lantern (drawn on her iPad):
It’s a princess, but not entirely sure what the bottom line was I decided to combine this princess with a picture of me she had drawn this summer:
This is the end result: I used 4 battery-run tea lights to light it. I’m quite impressed with how long they last — all night for several nights already.
When my little grandson showed so much interest in the pictures of his grandfather, Trina asked if I would make a grampa doll for him.
Back in September 1980 I took a pattern from Woman’s Day magazine to make dolls for my kids. I made Jeremy for Simon and David for Trina.
Initially I thought, with that pattern, I could use a photo transfer of Volker’s face to make a grampa doll. That did not work well. Then, inspired by Alicia’s dolls (The Blind Stitch) it occurred to me how I might make a doll that would, with some imagination, look like Volker. Here are some pictures of my work in progress.
Next week I will post pictures of giving little Volker this doll for his first birthday.
I am so very grateful to the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church for their willingness to do the actually quilting on my mother’s quilt. Work was started on it today at Kathleen’s home:
Helping today: Kathleen, Marie, Lorrie, Ailene, Sharon, Lois, Linda, Trish and me. By four o’clock this afternoon the quilt was a little better than half done! So grateful!
Only the second week of February but it feels like it has been a long winter. It certainly has been a cold one! I’m so glad to see the days getting longer; spring will come.
I seem to be better at starting projects than finishing them lately:
At any rate, I hope to finish piecing this quilt for my mother’s bed. The women of First Mennonite Church gave me some advice on how to do it, and the women of Bloomingdale Mennonite Church have offered to quilt it for me. Thank you all!
(click on the picture for a larger version)
I really need to get my act together and finish these items while I still want to stay cosy and warm inside!
My little dog was not made for cold weather. And it’s been COLD this winter. Billie has a hard time going outside even to answer nature’s call, much less to take a walk. We both miss the walks. Hopefully we will return to more “normal” temperatures soon.
In the meantime, I tried to make some boots for my girl’s little feet. I’d bought some at the dollar store, but I couldn’t make them tight enough to stay on. There were patterns online of the same design, but that wasn’t what I wanted. Once again, I created my own.
I first made an outline of her paw; adding a seam allowance gave me the sole of her boot. I cut soles out of thick black fleece and “shelf liner” to give her traction on the hardwood floors (something she didn’t have with the dollar store boots). For the upper I used a small saucer to make a circle, then cut a smaller circle in one end, then removed about a third of the bottom. These I also cut from black fleece. I used ribbing for the leg part of the boot.
I folded the upper in half and seamed it. Then I seamed the ribbing along the length, folded it in half and sewed it to the smaller opening in the upper. I marked both pieces in quarters to have them sewn evenly together.
I then used the same technique to put the soles on. I sewed them right sides together so the seams would be inside.
When I had all four made I tried them on the dog. She was not impressed! She wouldn’t leave them on her feet. The dollar store boots had Velcro strips to tighten them — I carefully removed them and hand-sewed them to the new boots. Now she couldn’t kick them off so easily!
Not a happy camper.
She did perk up when I mentioned the T-word.
Billie doesn’t really like these boots (and I’m not sure they are a good design; I may have to try again) but we have walked further when she’s wearing them. We even had a short walk yesterday when it was -11ºC (-15º with the windchill) (12º/5ºF).
