Cloth Dolls for Children's Hospital

I was recently privileged to become friends with Lindsey from Sew To Grow. She told me about Project Made, in which she is highlighting 28 days of people around the world sharing kindness and goodwill through their creative endeavors. 

Lindsey invited me to share a project, and I immediately thought of a community effort I was a part of through my church. The Relief Society ( the women's charitable organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in my little corner of the world was making cloth dolls to donate to the local children's hospital. 

These dolls are used by medical professionals as a communication tool for explaining procedures to a child or diagnosing a child's discomfort.  The child is then given the doll, and often a little hospital gown for the doll, as their own to hold and keep. 

As you can see, the pattern is extremely simple. The body and gown patterns can be found here: http://hopkinschildrens.org/Cloth-Dolls-Blankets-Pillow-Cases/

Dozens of women sewed the doll bodies from fabric scraps, fat quarters, and extra pillow cases. Then last Saturday we met together to stuff them and sew up the final seam. 

By the door of classrooms throughout the church building, women could pick up unstuffed dolls to stuff or stuffed dolls to sew. As we listened to messages on subjects such as family relationships and charity from wonderful speakers, we worked. 

I especially loved seeing the joy of the women as they worked. Charity is always like that: Efforts to bring joy to others inevitably makes the giver as happy (or happier) than the receiver. 

As the morning went on, it was so exciting to see more and more completed dolls!

The goal was to make 125 dolls.  We were thrilled to discover that this incredible group of women far surpassed our goal, making a total of 288 dolls to donate! 

These sweet, important dolls are used in hospitals all over the world.  This is an excellent way to serve individually, in a small group, or as a larger community to bring joy to children in need. The materials are inexpensive, and the sewing is simple.

Participating in these link-ups.

Candy-Dipped Ginger Thins

My kids were invited to a cookie exchange down the street. I LOVE cookie exchanges, and apparently my kids have inherited this trait (crazy as it seems--who likes cookies?!?), because they were all excited to participate--from the toddler to the teenager.  

Then it dawned on me, I would be making A LOT of cookies for this event. It is no secret that I enjoy baking. But this has been a busy week, and having the required 160 cookies (4 different kinds) ready was causing me a bit of stress....

But then while walking through Costco yesterday, I had a light bulb appear above my head, along with  a mysterious "Ding!" 

Costco is currently carrying boxes of Annas Ginger Swedish Thins. Each box costs about $7 and has over 260 cookies.  And they are melt-in-your mouth yummy. I decided to buy these and just dress them up a bit! 

All you need for this delicious cookie exchange hack is:

• Annas Ginger Swedish Thins
• Candy for dipping (I used Ghiradelli's White Chocolate, Hershey's Cinnamon Chips, and Ghiradelli's Semi-sweet Chocolate chips)
• Household Paraffin (optional--It helped with the Cinnamon Chips not getting thick when they were melting).
• Toppings to sprinkle on the dipped cookies while still hot: crushed candy canes, chopped roasted pecans, sliced almonds, coconut, candy sprinkles
• Wax paper

Directions:

1. Follow the directions for melting on the candy coating you are using's package. I have the most luck with the double-boiler method, but I've used the microwave as well (with mixed results--the microwave seems to go from under- to over-cooked in less than 3 seconds). 

2. Dip cookies one at a time in the melted coating. Set on wax paper and sprinkle immediately with topping.  Cool. Store in air-tight container.

Here are the white chocolate with crushed candy cane variety. I crushed about 4 candy canes (which was more than enough). After unwrapping, I broke the candy canes up in a glass bowl. Then I used the bottom of a small, sturdy glass jar to crush them in the bowl (like a mortar and pestle).

I had cookies made for two of my kids (the other two were covered) to bring to the exchange in less than an hour. And they even helped! I even made extra to put away for our Christmas festivities! 

These are the ones I dipped in melted cinnamon chips. They are sprinkled with roasted, salted pecans. Mmmm...

Linking up at these parties.

Wavy Scarf Tutorial

As I write this post, it is 65 days until Christmas. Time to kick your gift planning into gear, folks.

But no reason to start stressing. I bring you good tidings of great joy. Every woman and girl on your list has a neck that needs dressing...and I'm here with the solution!

This scarf tutorial is not only quick and easy. It is so versatile. Young or old, punk or preppy, you can customize each scarf to the wearer. And they can customize how they wear it! 

My mom was in town this past week, and the two of us whipped out 6 of these in about 2 hours. And they cost us about $2 each to make. Score!!

Here's the how-to~

You will need: 

• 14-16" of a 60-inch-wide flowing type of fabric. (Knits, poly-blends, silks, chiffons, and challis are all good choices).
• Coordinating all-purpose thread
• Elastic thread

1. Sew a rolled hem on the edges of the fabric, if needed. If you are using a jersey knit (as well as some poly-blends), the cut edge may be fine to leave un-hemmed. Since you will likely be using the full width of the cut, the short edges may have a factory finish you can leave.  I used the rolled-hem feature on my serger to finish the long sides.

My mom chose this fabric. Isn't it lovely? It is a silk-like chiffon. 

2. Use your machine to put elastic thread onto your bobbin and thread your machine as you normally do-- put coordinating all-purpose thread on top, elastic thread in the bobbin. If you are only making one scarf, you won't need a full bobbin of elastic thread. We filled our bobbin and had enough for 8+ scarves. Move your stitch width to 4.

3. With right side of the fabric up, sew a top stitch (tying off with a back-stitch at the beginning and end) directly down the center of the length of the scarf. 

That's it! Scarf complete!

Sewing just one length with the elastic thread in the bobbin will gather up the scarf enough to give it a soft, wavy look!

A special thanks to my models! Aren't they lovely? So sophisticated and stylish. I didn't instruct them how to wear the scarves--they each draped or knotted them on their own! I adore every style! 

This post is linking at these parties.