Blast from the Past

My daughter found a box labeled "Donna's Dolls" and requested to go through it. I wasn't quite sure what was in the box and finally gave in. This is part of what was inside. The large Barbie was called Super Barbie and the other one I believe was named Tuesday. She's kind of cool (at least pre-80's) because you could move her hair around and make her either blond or brunette. The other doll I put in the photo for size reference - he is the size of a 11" Ken doll. If you don't know (and if you are under 35 I would be shocked if you do) it is, yes, it is Donny Osmond in his original purple outfit that was worn on the Donny and Marie show. I remember it even had purple socks to go with it but those have been lost. I had Marie too but she must have went with the socks.

The more amazing part of this is the clothes I made for the larger dolls. I crocheted them somewhere around the 8th - 9th grade. I remember doing the Flamenco dress to take to a High School Foreign Language fair at Ohio University. I don't think I made the skirt for any reason in particular. I really liked to make doll clothes when I was young and loved when I could actually crochet them. I've included a few close-ups of the clothes. If you click on the photo you should get a larger view of them. I've kind of gotten motivated to make some clothes for my daughters dolls but I haven't told her. I need to find the time first.

Doing Easter Crafts With My Daughter

One of the coolest things with my new job is some of the perks of certain days off that my daughter has off. Although it is not officially called Good Friday by the schools, we still got the day off together. This time off allowed us to have a crafty day and create a few decorations that she can take to Grandma's house for Easter this year.

I picked up this cute little book at the library, Easter Crafts by Colleen Van Blaricom. It had no photos but the artwork created by Anita Louise made the instructions easy to follow. Of course, we made plans to make more than we actually did but I let Emma choose the ones she wanted to do the most. Overall this book has great little projects that we didn't get to like making mini-baskets out of an egg carton, a bunny basket made from a milk jug, and a paper bag bunny.

This first project was simply titled A Dozen Easter Chicks. The instructions called for plain white cotton balls that were to be colored with a yellow marker. We decided buying yellow pom-poms was a much easier route to go. My daughter cut out each of the beaks but wasn't interested in getting them all the same size. I think they turned out pretty cute this way and gave each puffy chick their own personality.


The second project we collaborated on was Percival Peacock. Here the book used a real egg that you poke holes in and blow out the insides then wait for it to dry. Luckily, we just went to the local craft store and bought a wooden egg that my daughter painted. Another shortcut we used was to use craft foam for the tail feathers instead of coloring poster board. The downside of the foam is that it is thicker and was tricky to get it feathered out and keep in place while the glue dried.

Happy Easter Everyone!!

My Warm Project for A Very Cold Winter

I haven't been writing much this winter. I've even noticed some of my favorite blogs might be having similar problems as well. This doesn't mean I haven't been working on anything. I've been putting on several rows of this afghan pictured here with my daughter's kitty, Halle (short for Halloween). I started this afghan many, many moons ago while visiting my mom. My mom always had an abundance of yarn especially scraps from various projects and I didn't have a project with me. I rummaged through several patterns she had and took one of her many hooks so we could crochet together while I visited.

I took it home with me and worked on it very rarely for many years afterward. When she died I didn't get it out again until I was in the hospital laying in bed after my water broke 5 weeks before my daughter was due. Since I didn't go into labor I got to lay in my hospital bed for 6 days hooked up to an IV waiting. I managed to get a couple of rows completed before they had to move the IV to my right hand making me incapable of continuing.

Since then I've lost my pattern and I think I've used 3 different hook sizes but it is about 1/2 done. I'm making it big just like my mom would have liked. My mom always complained that afghan patterns were not big enough to keep real people covered up. Someday I will get it done, someday...week...month...year...

My First Group Cropping Event

You may have heard me say before how I have avoided scrapping and paper crafts just because I really didn't want to do another craft. I can't even get done, nor will I ever, what I have supplies for. This past weekend I went to one of those big crop events where 226 people signed up to be part of "Crop for a Cause - Making MS a Memory". I did not know what to take with me and really thought with my one rolling suitcase and 2 huge tote bags that I must be bringing way too much. Was I wrong! I saw women bring in cartloads of stuff. I actually looked like I had under-packed. The only person I saw with less supplies was a beader who came to work on her beading projects while she sat with a group of her scrapping friends.

This was the second year for the event which is held at my church, Our Redeemers United Methodist Church in Schaumburg, IL. It was founded by Laura Machonis, a member of the church who has MS and turned her hobby into a major fundraising event. They have raised over $26,000. That is absolutely amazing but if you attended you know why. The outpouring of donations from companies, restaurants and individuals all over the Chicago area helped to create an environment of support to the participants. There were 147 silent auction items that ranged from awesome packs of scrapbooking supplies, Chicago Bulls and Storm tickets, toys for the kids and even a Hawaiian vacation (some of the baskets in the photo to the left).

There was plenty of food to eat and free Starbucks coffee. There were 2 tables set up with Stampin Up stamps and ink to use. There was also a tool table with Sizzex die-cuts, cutters and scissors to use.

This is the bargain table of donated supplies. There was paper, stamps, stickers and books.

The sanctuary (shown below) as well as the large program room (first photo above) was used to seat the participants. I helped to set up the night before. There wasn't much more room to utilize after all the volunteers were done. What was more amazing was how it all disappeared for the next morning's service. The crop didn't end until 11 pm so there were even more amazing volunteers for take down.

I did actually get some work done even though I left early at 9:oo. I'm still a pretty slow scrapper compared to some of these ladies but I'm too much of a perfectionist and I'm really not even finished with the 2 pages below. I still need to get the year on each page. I feel really good about getting my daughter's dance page done because it's done before this year's pictures have even been scheduled. But because of this being my first crop I was always walking around checking out other projects, the silent auction and stopped for dinner which was also part of the package. Hope I can go next year, too.