Merry Christmas

from our house to yours. ;-)

Just a few more hours and Santa will come to bring us presents. Of course, he will be so quick again down and up the gas fireplace chimney that nobody will even see him. Oh, that magic!
What about you?! Are you opening presents tonight or on Christmas Day?
Either way, enjoy.

Ca-ute!!! - Elise is playing dress-up

What do you think??!!
Isn't she super cute?!

On one of my latest trips to my fabric store I found a remnant of white and blue gingham. And, instantly, had a vision of the Elise Doll wearing a "real" The Wizard of Oz' Dorothy dress, including red boots and all. I took the Elise pattern, but cut up the front and back dress pieces, the arms, legs and modified the shape of the body. So, all that's really left from the original pattern is the head. I also re-shaped the feet a bit, to make them look a little more like she is wearing shoes.

The sewing part was quite difficult and took a long time. I basically had to work my way down from head to toe. I am surprised how well all the seams matched up in the end. And she is still perfectly baby safe, once you remove the hair ties.

So, if you like her as much as I do and know a little (or big) girl who would love to play with her, you know where to find her!

All done! - A little Show and Tell

Looks like I have been cutting it down right to the wire. I started in October (!!!), but just today I finished the last of the handmade Christmas presents I had planned.
Time to relax a little. Hopefully.

So, here are some of the things I have made:

Lot's and lot's of pencil rolls.
The idea to include a note pad is originally from Fishsticksandfries. I modified it a little and added the note pad on the side instead of on top of the pencils. I also didn't use any interfacing/fleece.
Some for boys,

(Don't ask, but Blogger keeps flipping this pic for unknown reasons...)

some for girls,

(The top one in this pic is for Yanic.)

and a couple for my little "lefty" girls. Notice, how the paper pad is on the opposite side!
Isn't it funny?! Neither John or I, nor Yanic for that matter, are left-handed. And along come these twins, and BOTH are left handed. It even says so in their Pre-school "mid term" evaluation ;-)

Then a car-cozy with built in road, fit for Matchbox or Hotwheels. The cars are held in place by 3/4 inch elastic loops.

(It also rolls up nicely. Just like the pencil rolls.)

And, here a super duper totally cool T-shirt quilt, made of some of Yanic's old T-shirts that have some significance to him. I really like how it turned out. In order to keep the jersey from stretching too much I interfaced all the pieces. It worked great.

(This is the quilt top, just before I started making the quilt sandwich.)

And have you ever seen a corner so perfectly mitered???!!!

(For the backing I used an old flannel sheet.)

No! Not, from me you have!
Love how the light and dark blue are making the T-shirt pieces pop. I think Yanic will really like it. This quilt is lap quilt size: 40 x 60 inches. I really like this size for working on. Small enough to handle on my machine but still big enough to make a nice-sized blanket.
The next quilt I will make for him will be from all his Hockey tournement shirts. But, it will be a few years before I can start working on that :-)

So, that's it for now. Tomorrow, I am off to the Mall (the most hated place for me...) to buy last-minute gifts for the ones that do not care too much for handmade presents.

Meet the Testers' Elise Dolls - and receive a Discount

First of, thank you again for the great response to my first pattern. You are all such nice bloggy friends.
All the testers' dolls are in. I love how each one of you put your personal spin on the pattern.

So, first meet Suzanne's Elise:

Don't you just love how comfy she looks in her flannel dress. And it even has sleeves!

Now, here is my dear friend Lauranie's cowgirl:

I don't know how she found the time to test my pattern with all the things she had going on. But, I think she is super cute with her patchy dress and accessories.

And, here is Freda's Suzie Q:

Love her cherry dress. Makes me think of summer....

And, one more! This is Lisa's Elise, all dressed in a Amy Butler designer frock ;-)

Thank you so much everybody for helping me finalize the pattern.

I took everybody's comments into consideration and made a few updates to the pattern files. The pattern is now for sale in my Etsy store. Yippie!
Please go! Get one! You know there are a few girls in your life that would love to get one for Christmas :-)
I know, I will be making more!
I am offering 2$ off the pattern (Sorry, electronic files only. Not for a printed version) for all my blog friends from now until Christmas Eve, December 24th. So, you only pay 4.95$! All you have to do is mention code "2OFF" in the message to seller box. I will send your refund through PayPal right away.