Gifts for Children

A quilting group that I belong to each year makes gifts for a children's center in Camden, New Jersey. This year many of the members made quilts and I decided to make crayon bags. I purchased enough boxes of 24 crayons and 8 coloring books to make four bags. All of the fabric for this project came from my fabric stash which really made me smile. That way, each child would get 24 crayons and two coloring books plus a bag to carry their treasures in when going places.

My Goal has been Met

Several months ago, my daughter told me that at her job, women crochet and donate chemo caps. Since I had just finished a project, I thought that I'd join the group and crochet some caps also. The instructions and rules were sent to me and I started my first cap. After making one cap, I thought that I could make and donate twelve caps by October, their turn-in date. The other night, I completed the twelve caps, six with flowers and six plain caps. Actually, I made thirteen caps. One of them was given to a friend who needed one. Since my donation goal was for twelve, I bought another skein of yarn and crocheted one more. My hope

is that the caps will be worn and enjoyed and that the people wearing them will get well.

Name tag for Embroiderer's Guild

Recently I joined the Embroiderer's Guild and this was the first project that was taught. The kit was $ 15.00 and it contained all that was needed to complete the project. My name was machine embroidered on the fabric when I received the kit. I have not done silk ribbon embroidery in a while so it took me some time to get familiar with the technique again. As I worked, I thought of Beverley Sheldrick, the teacher who taught the class for the silk reticule with the silk ribbon embroidery. She used the ribbon as far as possible and I did the same in a few spots, cutting the ribbon from the needle, inserting the needle in the fabric, rethreading it and pulling the needle through the fabric. I am happy with this project and will do more silk ribbon embroidery some time soon.

A Gift for a Wonderful Librarian

This bag is for the librarian at the library where my grandchildren attend many wonderful programs. When I went on a bus trip to Lancaster, PA, I found this fabric that is imprinted with pictures of stacks of books. I had the black and white dotted fabric for the handles and accent strip across the top of the pocket. The inside of the bag is lined with a multi-colored striped fabric and has a pocket divided into three sections across the inside back of the bag. The outside pocket is on the front of the bag. The bag measures about 18 inches square. I quilted the outside fabric to press on fleece for stability and finished the bag with my sew on label, "Made with love by Gigi".

Eva's Birthday Gifts

When I asked Eva, our granddaughter, what she wanted for her fifth birthday, she told me that she wanted a fancy dress for her 18" American Girl Doll. Several months ago, a friend gave me a bag of fabric with fancy scraps in it. There I found the perfect shiny fabric for the doll dress and in my stash of trimmings, I had the silver trim which was perfect for the dress. Before I finished the dress, another friend gave me scraps of yellow fur which I thought would make an interesting coat for Eva's doll. I hope that she likes the coat. I gave Eva the dress last week for her birthday and she loved it,

but won't give her the coat until I see her on Sunday. The coat was just finished yesterday.

Finally, A New Pocketbook

Today I finished this Lazy Girl City bag. I think that this is the fourth bag I've made from this pattern. It goes together

easily with regular cotton fabric. I used a tapestry fabric that I got from a friend and the black is a heavy twill weave fabric. My mistake was using a heavy press on batting and pressing it all the way to the edge of the fabric. I learned my lesson to not put interfacing into the seam allowance loud and clear when my industrial Juke machine wouldn't sew through the double fabric when making the corners at the bottom of the bag. I finally sewed those spots by hand after removing the interfacing from the seams. Hopefully, I'll remember this lesson when I make my next bag.

A Rose Scarf

I needed a break from my current knitting project so I decided to crochet another rose scarf. This project went very quickly and provided instant gratification. When my daughter-in law told me that Ben's school was looking for handmade items as donations, I decided that this scarf would be a good choice. I hope that the PTA raises lots of money as the money is being used for the fifth grade class trip to see The Lion King on Broadway.

The start of a new doll

Yesterday I decided to stay home instead of going to Sit and Sew. The weather was too messy to go out. After breakfast I got out all of my paints and other supplies and painted a doll's head. She is my first brown eyed doll. The others all have blue eyes. This color change should change her wardrobe and her hair color. I haven't decided how she'll be dressed as yet. Before I get to that, I have to finish the

pocketbook that I started over the weekend.

A new doll joins the family

This cloth doll was made from Teresa Cato's book. I painted the head first and then made the body and her clothes, shoes, and pocketbook. The bodice of the dress was so difficult to fit that I ended up sewing it on the doll by hand. By the time I made and turned three hands, I had two that were usable. The skirt and jacket were easy to make and so was the pocketbook. The shoes didn't fit on the first try but did by the second try. I'm still not in love with them. I have to go through my stuff and see if I have a different piece of fabric that would work. If I don't find anything I really like, I'll change the shape of the front of the shoes and add a button or some embroidery.