Christmas presents

As promised, here are ALL of the Christmas presents I made this year. Believe it or not, I was in a panic when we arrived at O'Hare only to find out that the suitcase with every gift was ... missing. My fabulous husband spent three hours on the phone the next day, and then five more hours driving to retrieve the suitcase. He was the hero of Christmas, without a doubt.

Max got a pirate crocodile with button eyes.

Sam, two months old, got an alien baby, who doesn't mind at all if he's covered with baby drool. He can be washed, if necessary!

Molly got a Molly Dolly. She's based on the pattern I've been using for the Ella Bella dolls, and she matches the skirt Miss M got as well. Love that crazy hair!

Simon got a 14-inch felt pizza, loaded with toppings. YUM!

Mary got a scarf and matching pin. The pin is a Heather Bailey mini pattern, the fabrics are Heather Bailey Pop Garden.

Vicki got a tote bag based on the charming handbag pattern from Amy Karol. I have requests for three of these now!

And Miss E? She got a cute little turtle buddy (Amy Karol book pattern) using scraps of Amy Butler fabric; a little worm named Stella, with pillow, blanket and mattress (she claims to be Slimey's girlfriend); and a twirly skirt in, of course, pink. (Molly's is the apple print.)

Ella Bella

Me thinks me has a new addiction ... dolls. Here's number 2 -- Ella Bella (who hangs out a lot with Cinderella)! She's more Waldorf-inspired in that her face is limited to just eyes; expressions and features will be imagined by Miss E. I saw some adorable dolls similar to this and decided to give it a whirl with the pattern from the book. (The book, by the way, is "Toys to Sew".) I shortened the legs and arms and then split the head from the body to use two different fabrics. I used the last little piece of the fabric from my apron for her body and bow, and some leftover baby blue yarn for her hair. Miss E *really* wanted the blue hair. The eyes need some work. I forgot to embroider them before I sewed the pieces together. D'oh! And she has an internal unibrow due to that. But ... Miss E didn't care; she was tickled pink ... er ... blue.

Today we got some muslin (known I guess in the U.K. as calico; took me awhile to figure out what the book author was using) and I'll use that for the face and arms on the next doll. I've been using vanilla flannel and though I sort of like that for the softness, I want to try the muslin to see how it works.

I've also seen some other fantastic dolls on Etsy and they have inspired me further. I've got tons of ideas flying in my head, and I've sketched out a few. Hopefully I'll have time to create a doll tomorrow based on all of this, and if that goes well, then we'll be taking handmade dolls to the two upcoming birthday parties we have. Yippee!

Miss E, by the way, is just as addicted to fabric as I am. I'm not sure which of us had more fun browsing the aisles today, but she sure did squeal with delight when I found a misplaced pink geometric print. I think it would be awesome with the brown floral fat quarter she's been hoarding ... but I'm probably pushing my luck to try to use both of those, so I may have to pair it with a different fabric for the next doll.

My mom and I made bears, bears and more bears when I was in high school, but I think dolls will be even more fun, especially since I've got a little girl who loves dolls!