Girl Scouts Sewing for a Cause!

Soaring Spirits Girl Scout Service Unit from the Girl Scout Council of Greater Atlanta have made 35 dolls for orphaned Haitian children!

What an amazing group of talented young women!

Congratulations on your achievement from all of us in the Dolly Donations community!

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Doll Designer in the Making: Claire’s Birthday Wish Came True!

Do you remember the wonderful story I posted about an age ago …. Claire, the little girl that asked her Mommy if she could host a dolly Donations making party for her 7th birthday? Well she did! And just look at all the beautiful dolls her friends made too!

Her Mom, Patty, described her little girls big dolly donations Birthday day!

"My daughter, Claire Grace Diamond-Wheeler, (pictured at the far right in the photo), celebrated her 7th birthday by inviting her friends to make dolls for the orphans with her.

My friend, who is a great sewer, stitched up the dolls beforehand, and we all brought scraps of fabric, ribbons, buttons, and supplies. We encouraged the girls, (16 of them!) to try different things till they loved the results, and then we stitched, glued, or tied on the clothing & accessories.

We had three moms, 1 dad, and three big sisters helping out, and we did it at the neighborhood church so that we had a big workspace. There were no gifts and we didn't send home gift bags with the kids, so it was really all about the giving experience ---- AND THEY LOVED IT! only happy faces knowing that they were sending their special dolly off to a child who would not only really love it, but really needed it. The dolls did not exactly follow regulations, but they were certainly made with lots of love and we all hope they can cheer up the kids in Haiti.


Thank you so much for making this opportunity available to us. It was an excellent lesson for our children and we are so happy to have been involved”

Everyone is so proud of you Claire!

Well done from us all over at Dolly Donations!

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School Children Making Dolls for Haiti Orphans!

Beth (USA) a Teen Living teacher at Eagle Ridge Middle School, Ashburn, VA encouraged her 8th graders to each make a doll using Dolly Donations easy pattern to send to the children of Haiti.

They made 16 beautiful dolls, each with their own personality! What a fantastic job they did!

Stefanie (USA) a parent of a young seamstress in the making, wanted to share these photos of the 10 dolls made by students at The Emerson School, Portland, OR. What a brilliant array of colors they used, and don’t they look happy to be going on their long journey!

My goodness we have some very talented kids out there!

I just got word that 49 Dolls have been sent in by the students of  Cibola High School, Yuma, Arizona!

Well done to all the schools, scout troupes and home school networks that have taken part in this Dolly Drive, you have all done an outstanding job!

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Not Dolls but Bears! So Glad We Could Help!

When I first came up with the idea to make dolls for Haiti orphans the one thing I didn’t count on was how difficult it was to find an organization to send the dolls safely to Haiti and be able to give those dolls directly to those that needed them the most, the children of Haiti.


So when I was contacted by Suzi (USA) who has been making bears with the intention of sending them to Haiti, I knew we had to help! And of course the wonderful people at The Abundant Ground Foundation agreed too. So along with our shipment of dolls we will also be sending these cuddly bears made out of polar fleece.

“The idea to make the bears came while I was watching the news reports about the earthquake in Haiti. I thought about all those children who had lost everything, including their families, and had nothing of their own to hold on to. I remembered a request for teddy bears from the California Highway Patrol…. to give to children at accident scenes.


I looked for a simple pattern online and found Antonette Cely's "Bear Hugs" pattern and decided to go with that. When I showed the bears to the ladies of Gals and Dolls doll club, they wanted to play, too.


I heard that there are at least 250,000 orphans, so that is a lot of dolls and bears. It is possible for every Haitian orphan to get some gift of love if we invite our friends and family to join in. ”Suzi (USA)

Thanks to Suzi and the Ladies of the Gals and Dolls doll club!

Happy Sewing!

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Four Dolls Are Already in Haiti!

Thanks to Cathy (USA) (and her daughter for painting the dollie faces) four of our Dolly Donations Dolls are already in Haiti! Tucked into a visiting Haitian Pastor’s suitcase. How wonderful!

"... my Daughter told me ..... a visiting Pastor from Haiti ....would be back to speak on Wednesday night. I said I'd come ....... I had 4 dolls to take and Pastor's American friend said that he could give them to some of his neighbor children. Pastor's home and neighborhood was devastated and some of the children could use a doll."

As you can see from the photo's Cathy's been very busy! I wonder just how many dolls she'll end up making .... as she said, "they started multiplying ..."      YAY!!

You can read the whole story here: Cathy’s Scrap Creations

Well done Cathy, You're a Dolly Sewing Star!

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For her 7th Birthday, Claire is hosting a ‘Make a Dolly Donations Doll Party!’

“For her 7th birthday, my little sister, Claire, decided that she would have all of her girlfriends over to make Dolly Donations. In lieu of gifts, her friends are bringing the supplies they want to use for their dolly. Making the dolls will keep them entertained and teaches them a lesson about doing good for the world.” – Shalva

I have had many wonderful e-mails and comments over these past few months, but this one was just so special I had to share it with the DD Community….

Thank You Claire ♥ & HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

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Modern Spool says ‘Hello Dolly!’ and makes 12 in one afternoon!

Michelle, the owner of Modern Spool, hosted her very own sewing Dolly making group at her beautiful sewing studio in Portland OR. “We had so much fun sewing these darling little dolls.....”

Not only was it an open house, she even donated all the materials needed to make these beautiful dollies!

Don’t you just love the ribbon trim they added!

Thank you Michelle and all of the wonderful people who turned up for the Modern Spool Sewing Open Studio!

Happy Sewing!

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Guelph Home School Group: 37 Gifts of Love, Sewn into Dolls!

Thank you so much to Karen and her friends in the Guelph Home School Group (Canada) for making such wonderful Dollies ... and so many!

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"As soon as I saw (Dolly Donations Blog), I knew I'd be making dolls for an orphanage in Haiti. And so I mentioned it to a few friends. And those friends inspired and overwhelmed me with their willingness to create and to give.

This week, just about every time we saw friends, I was handed bags with small gifts of love, gently sewn into rag dolls. And this weekend we are sending out 37 dolls to the Abundant Ground Foundation who will deliver them to Haiti and into the hands of the children they were made for. The gifts are both humble and profound, made by children sitting on the laps of adults as they sew and stuff, or by mamas who tucked their own children into bed and then stitched together some hope and love for children living a world away. As I embroidered smiles on small brown faces to make friends for children I will never meet, I was thinking that what all of us really want is to make their world right, with a mother to tuck them in safely and sing them to sleep. The dolls are a small substitute for that love but hopefully they will bring some smiles and comfort into the world of those children."

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Please visit Karen's Blog, Raising Global Citizens.

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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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