Cherished Handsewn Doll...

This is Sherry Anne.  She is a handmade hand sewn doll that was made in my likeness.  When I was five years old my mother brushed and braided my hair before I was to walk to Kindergarten one day.  However my hair had gum tangled in it and of course my mother is trying to hurry and I am screaming and well...my mother took the scissors and cut off my beautiful long blond braids right at the hair line so the rubber bands were still holding my braids together.  (Yes, to this day I am still traumatized by what she did to me.) This is my real hair on the doll. She is in this little keepsake frame but it really is too small so I think I should get her a proper fitting home.  

Here is Sherry Anne out of the frame.  Unfortunately she is very dirty and unkempt due to my younger sisters playing with her when I was not at home to keep her safe.  This doll is so cherished to me because not only is my real hair on her as I wore it but a wonderful elderly lady who was paraplegic and in a wheelchair hand sewed her from scratch.  I do not know her name and she is long gone by now but I do remember her kindness.  She lived across the street from us.  When my mother cut off my hair she gave it to this woman because she made dolls for the children who were in the local hospital.  I have no idea how many dolls she made with my hair but I can assure you there was a lot of it as I have very thick hair and it was down past my waist.

Here you can see a little better of how my braids looked when I was five.  

 Look at this tatting she did and put on the edges of the hat, dress and pantaloons.  I am in awe and must learn to tat just to honor this treasured skill.  None of the hand stitches are perfect but I love them because of the love I know this lady sewed into every part of my doll and every doll she made for the hospital children.

Yes, I did have blue eyes.  Through the years they have turned true hazel so sometimes blue, green, grey depending on how I am feeling or what I am wearing.  Look at this hand embroidery work.  So precious.

Here I have lifted her skirt, her slip with lovely lace and this stiffer petticoat layer to show you her pantaloons and her little tiny feet.  All hand stitched.  So much care and time and love in this little doll.  I cherish her!

I have always wished I could have thanked that wonderful lady who made Sherry Anne.  I do know in my heart she knew how happy she made me when she gave me this beautiful hand made and hand sewn doll in my likeness and wearing my long blond braids.  For all this doll has been through she is in amazingly good condition.
I am linking up with Donna of Brynwood Needleworks for Memory Lane Monday (week).
We are having beautiful Spring weather.  Lots of sunshine and blue skies.  Mr. C's grown son has just been here visiting for a week and it was so great to enjoy his company.
May you be enjoying your creative spirit and whatever makes you happiest...

Hello.  How is April almost over all ready?!!  Our Farmer's Wife Quilt Along is continuing and for April we have the option of making 21 blocks.  Well I have gotten a very late start to making my blocks.  This top photo is #12 Broken Sugar Bowl.  I am finding that quilting little pieces of fabric is just like putting together a puzzle.  Unfortunately I have NEVER liked or been good at doing puzzles.  I am however enjoying this piecing together of my beautiful fabrics.  

 This is #20 Churn Dash.  This one makes me extra happy because my focal floral and blues are featured.  So I have completed 2 of the 21 blocks.  I will be making a few more but certainly not all of them.  I am making a wall hanging and do not need as many blocks as I would for a bedding quilt.  For both of these completed blocks I did not have all of the Marti Michell (MM) plastic cutting templates and needed to improvise.  I can really tell the difference in accuracy.

This is one of the blocks I would like to make however as you can see I will have to use several of the paper templates.  I was rather unhappy with my local store because I had ordered the MM template sets from them so I would be shopping local which is very important to our little community.  However, when I went in to pick them up at the agreed timing there were no templates for me to buy.  This has happened to me before exactly the same thing with them.  They forgot to order them.  The first time I was patient and waited for a few more weeks.  This time I was very sad and talked with them about this.  I left my name and phone number so a resolve could be completed and they would call me.  Never got a phone call and over a month has passed.  This is not the way to do business...especially in a small community.  Even worse I missed buying them online from MM with her generous BOGO 1/2 off offer because I was trying to "shop local"!  Now I am really unhappy because I have no templates I need and will have to pay full price which is hard to do on my limited budget.  I am only going to hope I will get another offer from MM and I will definitely buy them online.  Sew much for trying to be helpful to our economy in rural America.
Thank you for letting me get that out in the open.
Our weather the past two days has been very rainy.  The rain is refreshing and all the new Spring growth is probably very happy.
I see by reading my favorite blogs that there is a lot of creativity and cleverness happening all over.  I am seeing wonderful hand made things and I am inspired everyday.  Thank you all for Creative Bliss...

Light Airy Necklace...

 My blogging friend, Elle, is the inspiration for this project.  Go read her blog for more fun and folly...elle in da coop.    See what she is up to each week.  She showed a version of this necklace in greens and it intrigued me enough to email her and ask about it.  You can see in this photo it only takes some yarn such as Railroad or Trellis that has an interesting texture to it.  A large crochet hook...I used an N.  That is about all that is needed.

Here is the finished necklace.  The photo is shadowy due to my not knowing how to undo a special effect I decided I didn't like after I had saved it.  The back of the necklace is finished with ribbon end closures and a magnetic clasp.  Super easy and super fast.  This is a project that doesn't get any easier or faster to complete.  I can see these being made and given as Mother's Day gifts or birthday gifts or just because gifts. I already have some other color combinations to try.
Thank you Elle for this wonderful inspiration and sharing the how-to with me.
Our weather continues to be lovely and very Spring sunny.  Mr. C and I did a fair bit of yard work this past weekend.  I won't lament about all that still needs attention and doing.  I find I get easily overwhelmed if I look at the big picture.  However if I merely begin a tiny little patch and pull weeds and move along then after a few hours I have accomplished quite a bit more than I realized.  I really fool myself.  Bahahaha...
For those of you with snow storms hitting I pray for your safety.
Here's to a week of wonderful accomplishments...

Spring Glorious Spring...

 We are honestly having Spring.  Most years it gets lost in Winter/Summer.  This week we have had glorious weather and the plants are showing their new growth.  I decided I better get outside and do some hands and knees clean up.  Our winters are very harsh and the snow and freezing temperatures really devastate most plants.  If they survive it is only after regrowing from the ground up for the most part.  Here are some purple pansy plants I put in last Fall.  I am truly amazed to see their happy cheerful faces coming back out.  Not all survived.  The other side has zero surviving pansy plants.  There is no rhyme or reason so I just accept whatever I get.

 Here is the newest Hosta we put in last Fall.  It looks like it will be just perfect.  I have 5 of my 6 Hostas that have survived.  The one that didn't make it was very sad and small last year so I am not surprised.  This will be the first time we have planted them in the newly protected deer fenced backyard.  I had planted an entire array of them up front in the shade and the deer ate them completely gone each year.  Very disappointing in the past.  This looks very promising.

Here are the Saucer Magnolia trees.  We have three dwarf trees that are almost 70 years old.  We  bought them in Southern California and transplanted them here when we moved in.  These are commonly called Tulip trees for the blossoms.  Such a beautiful shade of pink and purple.  The green leaves are beginning to unfurl at this time also.

 Here is a close up of the Magnolia blossoms aka Tulips.  I am especially enjoying them this year with the glorious sunshine we are having this week.

 My beloved hydrangea Mr. C got for me and planted last Fall.  I was very sad when it died down to the ground and looked completely dead.  New growth and I have hope for a big beautiful plant.  It is the species that should bloom blue.  Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Here is our work in progress.  I have de-weeded and cleaned up the entire area.  Next Mr. C will re-set all the drip lines for watering.  In the meantime I really don't mind hand-watering...actually I love to hand-water as I find it to be so peaceful and I feel closer to nature while tending to my special beautiful plants.
As a side note:  Mr. C has proclaimed me a genuine HOARDER.  Now this is not only for my vast supply of crafting and fabric stash but for the fact that I have not passed the Rock of Gibraltar as of yet.  He says, "You can't get rid of anything can you?"  Very funny honey.  I would gladly pass this if I knew how.  I went to a specialist and am taking a new med for it.  I will see him again next week for further possibilities. Meanwhile I am to stay busy and do as much normal activity as possible with the pain I am having.  Joyful!
I haven't had any energy or creative muse but I did enjoy working in the yard.  At least I accomplished that much.
Thank you to each of you for your well wishes and concern.  I truly appreciate you more than you know.
Glorious Spring to all...and Fall to those of you in that part of the world.

Pen Pal Pink...

As a side note I wish to thank each and every one of my wonderful blog followers who have wished me well.  I am still awaiting "The Rock of Gibraltar" to pass.  My energy level and creativity are totally missing.  I did manage to rip out that awful gray crocheted yarn scarf.  Maybe I will begin crocheting something cheery and bright today.  

  

Here are some little gifties I made for my April Pen Pal.  I was paired with Dogwood two years ago for National Write A Letter Month.  We have continued to send letters, cards and special little surprises to one another ever since.  We actually live just a few miles apart but have yet to get together and meet.  I think that is part of the fun of being pen pals.  Dogwood is very creative and makes the cutest things.  Please visit her blog here.

April is also Dogwood's birthday...Happy Birthday!  She loves pink so I made her a little lavender filled sachet.  This birthday card with hearts and laces was fun to put together.

In keeping with my pink and green theme I made her this ATC.  I just adore ATCs so I tend to make them for others.

Here is a little bag I made for her too.  It has two pockets.  This is actually the backside with a shorter pocket.

Here is the front side of the bag.  I was so excited to use my Farmer's Wife quilt block skills I recently learned and made a "Friendship Star" block.  When I made the quilt block I had no idea how I would use it for her birthday but knew it had to be the focal piece.  Fortunately my creative muse took charge and created this little pink and green bag to hold cards or notes or whatever.  It looks quite cute hanging over a doorknob also.  I am certain Dogwood will find a purpose that suits her.  I can post these photos now because I know she has received her package and likes her gifties.  She FaceBooked them.
I am so pleased that I got these all completed just before my little set-back.  Happy Birthday Dogwood!
Happy Birthday to my sisters who also share April birthdays...Joyce April 4th and Marie April 16th.  And of course Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband Mr. C who is April 12th.
Our weather is beautiful...I see it out the windows.  I did peek at the new rose bushes.  They have tiny leaf sprouts on them.  Mr. C is very happy.  I hope to take photos soon.
May each of you have your creative muse in high gear and enjoy the journey...