16 Ladies, 2 Hours and a Whole Lot of Dolly Making!

Thank You so much to Elizabeth for getting 16 wonderful women together for a 2 hour stitch off for Dolly Donations! She’s allowed me to re:blog her post from Twelve Crafts Before Christmas, on the event to share with our dolly making community!

Thank you all, what a fabulous inspiring idea! And the Dollies are Darling!

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After talking with a friend of mine (Thanks Carrie!), I realized that making two dolls is good, but a group of people working together could make even more. A week ago my goal was to gather a handful of people to cut, sew, turn, stuff and paint, so I sent out a few e-mails to invite a handful of friends to bring any supplies they have and come sew with me.

In my initial invite I welcomed people to bring a friend . . . the more the merrier. Imagine my elation when sixteen people showed up with mountains of supplies - fabric scraps, sewing machines, felt, needles and thread, stuffing, paint and painting supplies, scissors and so much more. Carrie, Lori K., Ruth, Lana, Maggie, Terri, Gladys, Gretch, Star, Kathy, Jackie, Madison, Amy, Lori W., Patricia and I began cutting around 6:45, and a little over two hours later we had replaced the mountain of supplies with a mountain of dolls. (Well, actually we still had mountains of supplies because people were so generous with what they brought to donate.)

So this Saturday I'm shining the spotlight on these great gals who used their Friday night, their supplies and their talent to put together dolls for children in an orphanage in Haiti.

.......  we had such a good time together that we will be doing this again! ......

Be inspired and . . . craft on!

 

**All the pictures in this post were taken by Lana of LG Imagery.

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Again, thank you Ladies, you are all Stitching Stars!

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This Weeks Dolls for Haiti: Well Done Everyone!

Aleta (USA) and her 7 and 5 year old daughters had so much fun making their dolly, and you can see why! Look at how happy she looks. Her hair is adorable, and so are her knee high socks and shoes!!! You can check out more photos and two very proud young ladies holding up their dolly for Haiti at Aleta’s Blog, Aletas Art.

Claire (UK) has a lovely blog, Felt Like Stitchin, filled with lots of inspirational toys and dolls she’s made, and these three ‘best buddies’ are no different! Ever so smiley and sweet!

Meet our first knit Dolly from Carly! She added this little cutie pie to our facebook page and hopes to make 1 more. I love her pretty little dress and how super soft she looks!

These 3 blue beauties were made by Jo (Canada). She has written a lovely blog about dolly donations and I couldn’t agree with her more .......
“ ...if my little ones ever found themselves without me there to care for them, I would be overcome with gratitude if another Mama, somewhere in the world, shared a little bit of her hand made love with my children.”

Please visit her blog: The Goode Life: The Tale of Two Sons

Here are 5 little friends with the prettiest appliqué on their tummies! These were made by Louise in Gibraltar and are already in transit on their way to New York! Wow you’re so organized Louise! Well done!

And here’s a beautiful dolly by Bybido (USA). Her eyes are so wonderfully embroidered they almost look real! She made this with help from her daughter who had the very important task of naming her, she decided on Hope. Perfect! They also added a little pocket so that her new owner can store ‘a tiny treasure or two in it’. To see more photos of this and her other beautiful dolls please check out her blog Bybido.

Wow what a busy week we have all had!

Well Done Everyone! 

Thank You All And Happy Sewing!!

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A Surprise for the Haiti Orphanage: Sneak Peak

I stumbled across this very talented doll maker’s website Revoluzzza and found a tutorial on stuffing an Ikea fabric print tree. It’s very cute in its own right, but it got my creative juices flowing . I had been given a scrap of this fabric (no whole trees) …… and I started piling all my fabrics together ….. I’m a muralist by trade (acrylics) …. Can you guess what I’m making?

I’m really excited with how it is all coming together and will hopefully finish it this weekend, and post a free tutorial with finished photos next week!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Sewing!

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Your Donated Dolls are Tax Deductable!

Yes, it’s true. Just like any other charitable donation, your dolls are tax deductable.

The Abundant Ground Foundation has given me a form for you to fill out and pop in the package with your dolls when you send them to New York (click here for the address)

Click here for the printable PDF Tax Receipt Form

What does this mean?

Well, they will send you a receipt for the fair market value of your donated dolls and the postage you paid to ship them to New York, so that when you do your taxes you can claim that back ….. and we all love to save a few pennies… errrr I mean cents ;)

Thank You & Happy Sewing!

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More Finished Dolly Photos!

It’s so lovely to see everyone adding their own personal touch to the dollies! Look how pretty they all are!

Well I just LOVE these two! Aren't those little shoes cute? ......  and apparently they are easy to make but I think we’ll have to be very very nice to Susan (UK) if she is ever to divulge her technique hehehe  Please check out her wonderful blog Fat Hen And Flo!

These little sweetie pies by Ellen (USA) look like they are having a grand old time. Such smiley faces and I think the addition of sleeves on the little girls dress is sooo lovely. She has a brilliant soft toy blog Handmade 3D.

From their pretty felt faces, the bows and lace trim, these two little girls look like they are ready to party!! Agnes and her daughter Alexis (USA) have picked such beautiful colors (well done Lexi!). She has a lovely blog, Dairy of a Stay at Home Mom, drop by and take a look :)

I'd also like to say a big THANK YOU to  Claire (UK) (Felt Like Stitchin) for posting links to Dolly Donations in craft and sewing forums all over the web this weekend!!!  The more people find us, the more dolls for the children!

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