three dolls for three sisters

I have spent the past three weeks working on these dolls. I just love the final result. I will be having another baby girl in May and I figured if I didn't make her a doll now I might not get around to it for a long time. Dolls are so much fun because it really is very difficult to ever be totally done. They could always use a new dress, or shoes, or maybe a new knit sweater. I guess the fun of playing with dolls is just as great for a 36 year old as it is for a 6 year old. I was very nervous about the faces. I have done very little embroidery in the past so it was a very slow process. I didn't really like the way the faces looked at first, but once they were all done their personalities grew on me.

I have now started working on a crochet blanket for the new baby. Tess is what we have been calling her for a couple weeks now. Jim came home from England and said he only heard one name that really jumped out at him that he liked and it was Tess. While he was away I was talking to my mom and she said that one of her favorite names in the whole world was Tess, and that she would love to have a granddaughter named Tess. I was so amazed that two of the most important people in the life of this little girl would feel this way about the same, somewhat unusual, name. I figure it must be a good sign. Everyday I'm blown away by the fact that I am pregnant, still pregnant at 29 weeks, and that this will be the last time I will ever be pregnant. It is so exciting and yet bittersweet. I wish life was not so linear. That I could return some day to the feeling of a baby moving in my belly or that I could jump forward right now and smell her newborn head.

I'm hoping to crash through through this crochet blanket quickly so that I might be able to get through one or two more projects before Tess is born. The thing is, I am super slow at everything. I try to be fast, but I just am not. I don't know how people get through their projects so fast. I've always done everything slowly. Even writing this post is taking me too long!

Frozen February

For a month that most people in Chicago find miserable, this February has been pretty fun so far. Jim got surprise tickets to the Super Bowl in Miami! Yea! Go Bears! We went all out and stayed at a nice hotel on the beach and ate nice food. It was tons of fun to go to such an exciting event and amazing that it was the Bears playing in the game. I wore my Patagonia raincoat and was confident that when the rain started I would be fine. Well, by the end of the first quarter I felt drops running down the skin of my back. I didn't know why that would be happening when I was wearing this excellent raincoat. Must be condensation.
It ends up my thinking was as cloudy as the skies on many things that day. It was not condensation on my back, that was rain. I was not wearing a raincoat, just an expensive piece of twill with a hood. Rex Grossman would not finally be redeemed, the Bears lost. It was very fun no matter what.
It was great to get away and be with Jim. He has been off travelling the world for the past month and having a lot of exciting new experiences. I have felt very left out that I couldn't share those with him. This trip to Miami really came at the perfect time.
The other fun thing about February are all the Birthdays. Mine, Jim's, our niece, our nephew, my father, Abe Lincoln, George Washington. For my niece I made the doll in the photos above. I just loved making her and I think that she came out really pretty. The pattern is from Martha Stewart's web site for a cloth doll. Of course, both Maria and Betsy want one too. I went right out yesterday to get supplies to make more of these girls. I'm well stocked for some fun indoor crafting during this big snowstorm and deep freeze we have going on this week. I can't wait to get started.