Woah! It has been a long time since I posted anything. I have been really busy keeping my new little doll baby Lillianna. What a wonder to see all the new 'first's. In fact, today she rolled over by herself for the first time. Of course, no one was there to really see it because she was in the bed.

I also had another exciting adventure when I was able to see my second little granddaughter being born the end of September. So I am doubly blessed this summer. Plus gaining a new 7 year old granddaughter when my son married her mom. So this year I gained 3 new granddaughters.

Emily, the 7 year old, and I put more things in the craft competitions at the State Fair this year. I won 10 (or 11) ribbons and Emily won 3. We were very happy.
Here is my little Savannah Rose. She is now 3 weeks old. Today we discovered that she has "Cat Eye Syndrome" in one eye. We are praying that it will not be a problem for her.
I do not get to see her as often as Lillianna, but maybe as she gets older she will want to come and play with her cousin that is only three months older.

I am still working on dolls, just not as often. I have a few to post so maybe soon I will be able to catch up.
In the mean time you have to see this picture..

I have been having a great time holding my newest little dolly, Lillianna. She mostly sleeps when I hold her. But I am looking forward to the time when she can coo and smile and all those sweet things that make us use funny little voices and smile with funny faces and squinty noses and eyes.Here is the latest picture of her.
I have also been working on some felt doll faces. The technique is not quite as efficient as I thought. And now I am thinking of trying something a little different. The detail in the faces are not what i had hoped for.oops, baby is here. It's lovin' time.

A new time

I have waited for this day for a very long time. As long as I can remember I have wanted to be a grandmother. Even before I ever wanted to be a mother I wanted to be a grandmother. Something about being the old lady on the block that made cookies and read stories to the children. The place where all the kids wanted to go to make crafts and have fun. And then go home later.
Well, it happened. I now have a grand daughter. She weighs 5 lbs and 9 oz. My daughter had her first baby last Friday. They named her Lillianna Leigh. What a big name for such a little thing. My cousin said that she hopes she will not be one of these children who cannot pronounce their "L's". If so, she would be saying her name is "Wiwwianna Wee". Got a big "waf" out of that one!
I did not know that I would have so many different feelings and thoughts about this whole thing of being a 'Grandma'. I feel old. I feel afraid for my daughter and all the scares and fears she will have to face. I feel afraid for myself, that I will miss something along the way.
But I always have this to fall back on. That my God is in control, He loves me, and He loves my children more than I do. He is good even when life is not. And this world is not the end.
I have to post one picture.

I have been wanting so badly to make some outfits for my Annette Himstedt dolls. Someone gave me some dresses that were made by a doll dress seamstress and I was able to alter those and add some accessories. I had a very cute baby sweater that I altered, a hat that I had to cut down and I made ear rings and a necklace to match. Doesn't she look sweet? I listed the outfit on ebay but is is not going for very much. Right now I will hardly get the cost of the dress, much less the accessories I added.
But it was still fun and I have a few more dresses to accessorize and alter. What a beautiful doll!

Whatcha' think? These two girls were made using blank muslim bendable starter dolls. You know, the ones no one uses because they are so plain. Well, I suppose some people must use them or they wouldn't sell them. Anyway, I've never used them. But I had purchased a couple at a craft/antique store and ended up using them as demos for face painting. Then I got into it and painted their bodies and the underwear.
The red head has felt hair and the blonde has baby yarn.
They were fun to make and pretty easy. Now if I could just find more! I can't find any more with the 'baseball' heads and the full straight unseamed legs! I'll have to take a trip to Tennessee and see if I can find anymore where I got these.

I love blogs. But I seen to always be to busy to work on mine. A long time ago I realized that I had way more things to do than I really should be doing. But it has been too hard to let any of them go. I enjoy all the things I do. But lately my health and my household have been suffering. I read recently that this 'thing' I'm going through can actually be a good thing as it causes one to review and renew their priorities and then cut out the things that could be causing stress and difficulties.
I have two children that are expecting children of their own. YEA!!!! Plus, I have a step grandson and a new step grand daughter. By Halloween of this year I will have 4 grandchildren where I only before had one. OH... this 'thing' I am going through is called the "change of life". Or, menopause and it is no fun at all.
All this said... I am going to have to make some changes in my life and rethink my priorities. It is hard for my brain to process too many things at once and I find myself loosing things, forgetting things and unable to process thoughts that before were simple. The few things that are not difficult anymore are making dolls, playing music, and taking care of the house and yard. Those things give me so much pleasure,,,, oh... and being with my family and doing 'grandma' things. So for those of you who follow my posts I just thought I would put a note in about what's going on with me. Expect more blogging, that's easy stuff.

My Newest Sweety

A few weeks ago I hosted a workshop with Judi Ward. We did the "Design Your Own Cloth Doll" workshop. Each of us made a cloth doll from a pattern we derived from a vinyl doll that Judi had taken apart. The dolls did not look just like the vinyl dolls. The object was to end up with a pattern that could be tweaked to create different dolls and it be our own.
My doll ended up with arms too long and a very skinny body.
But I finished her anyway and she turned out very lovely. I love her face and her long, lean, willowy look.
When blogspot decides to allow me to post a picture I will.