Made Mermaiden

I finally got Hillary's book. It is so awesome -- of course I want to make every single doll in here. Maybe I will. I make Ruby a doll for her birthday every year and the first one that stood out for me was Margot, the topsy-turvey doll. Now, I'm prone to stressing out over complicated projects (not that any of these dolls are too complicated), so I thought I'd test the waters by making a back-up doll.

Mermaiden is one of the smallest and simplest dolls in the book, but it's also one of the cutest. This doll is really simple -- like, if you wake up in the morning and realize that you didn't get anything for an afternoon birthday party, you could probably whip one of these up.

I chose a pretty wacky colour combo, digging through my vintage scraps to find something that would work. I realize the hair is a little odd (and my freestyle quilting is a bit wonky wonk), but this is totally my style, so my kid is used to it. And if I don't finish Margot on time, I'm safe.

Doll Revolution

Phew. My final homemade gift of the season. Meet Olive and Archie, the famed Wee Wonderful Make-a-long dolls. I learned a lot from making these little guys. They're not perfect and I pooped out before I could do details like the collar on Olive's shirt, but I'm pretty proud of these dollies. And, since I abandoned the other knitted gift I had in the works (pretty much finished, but they were slippers and deemed far too small for the recipient's foot), I'm done. Done, done, done. Plus I spent 2 and a half hours wrapping presents today, so with the exception of the box of Amazon goodies that the postman brought at 7 p.m. tonight (which in itself was a Christmas miracle -- I was sure they weren't going to arrive despite Amazon's promises to the contrary) that's done too. And it seems like the Norfolk virus that has enveloped me is done too, seeing as I scarfed down my curry dinner tonight. Yippee.

With that said, I can't really see much more blogging action going on here between now and Monday, so happy holidays to all. Give your loved ones a kiss and a hug for me.

Invasion Of The Wee People

The Wees are finished! Oh, how I wish the lighting was better today so I could photograph them more dramatically -- but alas, they will find their new homes soon, so I had to capture them today. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow morning and get a better shot for flickr. Either way, here they are, seven completed Wees for the purpose of hostess gifting (plus a few additional small gifts -- I don't, thank goodness, have seven house parties to attend between now and Christmas).

Their names are, from left to right, Esther, Edie, Alice, Riley, Stella, Anita and Violet. Not a single one of them is perfect or professional looking, but they were all made with love and lumpiness. A seamstress I am not, but warts and wonkiness are what makes folk art beautiful. Yes, I'm brandishing myself a folk artist. So what.



Oh, and for those not already familiar with the work of Hillary Lang (and thus must not be regular readers of this blog), you can find the Wee pattern over at the amazing Wee Wonderfuls site in the freebies section.