Items for Silent Auction

LLL of New York is holding a conference next month and they are looking for items for the silent auction.  As soon as I made a babywearing bendy doll, I knew I should make another for the action. I found a child sized toy sling I had made up also.

I remembered I had some half finished felt cookies that were easy to finish up as well.

Finally I collected some hair bows for a smaller "tricky tray" part of the silent auction.

More Little Dolls

The doll making has been a lot of fun.  I found some wooden peg dolls and practiced more with the embroidery floss wrapping.

Together with my four year old, we made our family out of wooden peg dolls.  Later, my husband did cut down one of the little ones to make her smaller.  I especially like the teen boy's hair.

The little girl dolls were fun to make.  I created a few for gifts as well.  They remind me of little worry dolls.  I liked these two tutorials:  Bendy Doll Tutorial and Making Bendy Dolls.

My older daughter liked them too and requested a bed for two.

A high school friend of mine just recently lost his six year old son.  Because I had "worry dolls" on the mind and also this family's tragedy, I thought I'd try a little boy doll.  He came out pretty cute.  

I ran out of the regular thickness of pipe cleaners and started using some thinner pipe cleaners. I liked them even better, especially for the smaller dolls.

Here is a sweet babywearing mama and baby doll in a ring sling.  The baby came out so cute.  I decided to leave them without faces.

The beads I purchased were completely unfinished wood.  I used an all purpose sealer to prevent bleeding.

Beaded Elves for Preschool

My daughter's preschool teacher thought something like her Little Friend might be a nice project for Christmastime. I felt that working with the tiny beads and tiny clothes was probably too hard for preschoolers.  I found these cute elves made out of beads and tried them out.  Having access to different sized beads and maybe even ovals would be nice for the tummy.

Another pattern I found was to use pine cones for the body and add mittens and booties.  The scarf is nice for hiding the pipe cleaner at the neck.

Adding a ribbon while putting everything together worked out well.  The yellow hat is stitched on the back and I liked the way that worked better than just hot glue.  From my other preschoolers, I know they can sew felt with guidance.

Little Friend and Preschool

The youngest began preschool this fall and at first it was the best thing ever.  Soon it became not the best thing ever.  Then there was even crying.  I don't believe anything changed about preschool, I think the reality set in that this is a reoccurring thing mostly without mommy.

The last time we had a preschooler; pretty much the same thing happened.  I decided to make her a little friend to go along to school and keep her company.  Sydney's little friend is still kicking around, but requires a pocket.  Kessa doesn't often have pockets.

I wondered if I could make a tiny little friend and it could hang around her neck.

In my searches for the Waldorf pocket doll pattern I had used for Sydney, I found pipe cleaner dolls.  I had pipe cleaners and small beads that were head like.  Even though this little doll would be less soft and cuddly, she would not get lost.

Using the bead as a guide, I just folded together the pipe cleaner to form a small body.  Then I traced the body to make a one piece suit out of felt.  A little hat with a stripe was added to cover the head.  Finally I added a jump ring to the hat and purchased these Magic Silkies Necklace Cords.  I liked them because there was no pinchy metal near her neck and if pulled hard enough, the necklace would come undone.

The Little Friend was working pretty well.  I made sure to fill up Little Friend with love and hugs and then Little Friend would give them to Kessa as needed during school.  I also made a little bracelet for her and a picture book of all the things she likes about preschool.  The last page of the picture book has a picture of us together with the words, "Mommy always comes back."

One day we couldn't find Little Friend!  In the 15 minutes before we had to go, I quickly made a new Little Friend with just hot glue and thread on the jump ring and hoped she'd stay together until I could sew her better.

Apparently when our Little Friend is not heading to school, she needs a sleeping bag.  I used my sewing machine and some polyfil and made little sleeping bags for many Little Friends.

After our emergency, I thought I'd try another Little Friend with a suit better pattern.  Using one piece on the fold works better.  I like the tiny heart stitched onto the orange suit.  The orange Little Friend has some hair too.

 

I also purchased more "head" beads and tried out different sizes.  This led me to try wrapping the pipe cleaners with embroidery floss for the girl in yellow.