Today I received a friendly reminder that the deadline for Doll Quilt Swap 5 was approaching. I couldn't believe it so I checked the calendar and yes, December 1st is just around the corner.
One of my favorite parts of the whole Doll Quilt Swap is getting to know my partner a little by reading their blog. This time around, I had gotten the feeling that my partner likes dolls. What a great idea...a doll on a doll quilt...and the skirt could be a quilt. I grabbed a bunch of scraps and sewed together a crazy quilt, which became the skirt.
I wanted the look of a porcelain doll, but my original idea was somewhat of a baby face with a scarf on her head. That didn't seem to work for the more mature look of the body. In the end I came up with this.
After quilting her cheeks, it looked a little wonky and out of place so I ended up adding a little color to them. I think they turned out cute in an odd sort of way. The stitching on the hair turned out exactly the way that I had imagined it - don't you love it when that happens?
I love everything about her...the face, hair, skirt, colors, even the machine stitching. So I kept her. She's hanging out in the family room right now. I did feel a little guilty, but it passed. Not to worry, I just finished quilting her sister today. Hmmm....one quilt for me, one quilt for my swap partner. I'm liking this trend.
The goal was to use repurposed fabric, so I used this thrifted sheet and some yellow flannel that I've had in my fabric stash for about 10 years...it was never the right yellow to go with anything. Normally I would go way to overboard on these types of projects and try to make 101 blankets to send off, therby completely overwhelming myself and burning myself out. But this time, I was thinking of just one special baby that will be wrapped in my one special blanket. How fulfilling.
