Introducting Blue Whimsy!

Five and a half months ago something pretty amazing happened in my family.  My brother Joe and my sister-in-law Brooke had a baby boy, "B" - my first nephew, the first grandchild, and the recipient of tons of love and attention!  I had recently set up a new sewing room in my house, and so I started making him a few things... a quilt (pictured below), burp rags, etc.  I decided to try to make him a doll, deciding even boys should have dolls (especially if they could be "farmer" dolls!).  I ordered a Simplicity pattern off of ebay and sewed my first doll: Farmer Beck!  Farmer Beck now makes a regular appearance in B's monthly photo shoots. :)

After Farmer Beck I decided I'd see how long it would take me to make six more dolls for some of my friends' kids.  And after those six dolls, I decided to make another nine, just for fun.  And then another seven, and then another... well, you get the idea.  Being a teacher, I had the entire summer to sew as many dolls as I wanted (which ended up being a lot).  What started as a hobby turned into a bit of an obsession...maybe calling it a "passion" sounds a little better!  :)  The Simplicity pattern gave me three basic styles of dolls:

And when I got a little bored with sticking to the pattern, I came up with a few ideas of my own...

So here I am, 100 dolls later, and very excited to be doing my first craft sale ever on November 30th - the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Christmas Craft Sale.  When I think about how much I love doing this - everything from picking out amazing fabrics, to creating tiny "people", to designing a new type of outfit - I can't believe I haven't done something like this before!  After five months, my ideas are only gaining momentum - can't wait to see what this next year brings!!