Waldorf Doll

I started making a Waldorf doll for my little Grace a year ago for her second birthday. The simple style and natural materials really appealed to me. Well, I've finally finished it in time for her third birthday coming up. I don't know why it took me so long. It really wasn't too difficult to make. There's some excellent tutorials out there, and I've heard this book is great. I used bits and pieces from free online patterns, and looked at lots of different tutorials, but mainly used these instructions to make the head, these to make the body, and this one for the hair. The most painful bit was making the dress - even though it was so simple. I really don't enjoy making clothes, especially tiny ones, with fiddly bits of elastic in sleeves. I planned on making a couple of dresses so she could change outfits, but one dress will have to do for this dolly. I'm really happy with how she turned out and hopefully she'll be treasured for years to come. I'm planning on (eventually) making another one with my left over supplies, and I'll try to make the nose stand out next time (I neglected to put a bit of glue on this one to keep it in place.) You can see a hint of a nose though... right?

I also made a little doll quilt with leftovers from my Scattered Showers quilt.

The new baby is due any day now, so the timing for finishing this doll has actually turned out quite nicely, as it will be great for Grace to have her own baby to nurse and cuddle while I have mine. I can't wait!

Baby Nixon's Quilt - Rough Tutorial

I've had quite a few emails asking for details on how I made baby Nixon's quilt, so I've put together a very rough little tutorial outlining what I did, and the basic measurements. Please note, my patterns are nothing like this - they are much more detailed with pages of step by step photos/diagrams, and in depth instructions.

As you may know, I try to find the quickest easiest way of getting the look I like, and this quilt was no exception. It's a fun little one that can be adapted to whatever size you need. I used the same technique on the back of this quilt.

So, I started with pieces of patterned fabric that were 9" wide. I can't remember how many, maybe 20 pieces, 9" x approx 12". Then I cross cut them to varying thicknesses - approx 2" to 3" (see rough diagram below.) (Please note that even though the diagrams look very wonky, the fabric was actually cut with a rotary cutter and ruler throughout the process, so the edges were straight and the corners square.)

I cut the white sashing 1 1/4" wide (3/4" finished - using a 1/4" seam allowance).  I then sewed the strips of patterned fabric together with 1 1/4" x 9" sashing strips in between until it was the width I wanted the quilt to be. Nixon's quilt was about 40" wide.

At that point I horizontally cut through the entire 9" x 40" strip, giving me three 3" x 40" strips  (hopefully the pic below explains it.) 

I repeated this process another 4 times ending up with 15, 3" x 40" strips.

I then arranged all of the strips, rotating some strips 180 degrees to make the quilt look more random. When I was happy with the arrangement I sewed the strips together with 14, 1 1/4" x 40"  strips of white sashing in between.  I don't have the quilt anymore so I can't remember exact dimensions but the process would work for any size. Nixon's quilt was approximately 48"long, but you would just make more strips for a larger quilt.

I hope this all makes sense! I really enjoyed making this little quilt. I like the way the sashing makes the fabrics stand out, but you don't have to carefully align the vertical sashing strips, so it's pretty fuss free. It's also an orderly way of making something which looks random.  Please let me know if you have any questions. Cheers!