Hello, Dollies

I'm in love.  Do you see these little children?  I fell in love with them when I read Lynn's blog, klein meisje quilts, and she posted the original quilt last week.  Following that post, she has provided directions for cutting each of them as well as a number of tips.  These are my practice blocks to see if I enjoyed making them (YES!) and if the pattern worked for me (YES!).

I'm not sure why this quilt struck such a chord with me.  When I look at the original, I see children from all over the world reaching out for a hug.  What is better than a child spontaneously reaching up to you with their arms outstretched? So, I think this quilt has a greater purpose than my just owning it.  Much as Lynn talks about it belonging in her Sunday School wing, I also think it could belong

• In a pediatrics ward
• In a raffle to fund missionary work, St Jude, or lots of other worthy causes
• In a youth center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA, etc.
• In any number of organizations devoted to children or peace or diversity and inclusion
• In a school
• Certainly in a church

So, I'm starting this quilt with no purpose in mind but with the confidence that there will be an opportunity to use it in a way that brings some small assistance to some organization.  What about you?  Would this be a quilt for your guild to take on for some local organization that has meaning?  Don't you just love this?  I told you I'm in love.

We leave on Friday to babysit for a about a week.  I'm not taking my machine -- but I am taking scraps to cut when I'm alone.  Do you see this tote?  I almost didn't get the top closed and it's definitely bowing.  I'll now be cutting the smaller pieces with my little dollies in mind.  Just think of the clothes they can wear.  Dresses made of batiks or florals or civil war scraps.  Or, pants and shirts made from collars/cuffs from recycled shirts, homespuns, and who knows what!  How about robes made from ethnic scraps?  So many opportunities to dress these little dollies.  I may also take a package of skin tone solids I bought at Keepsake Quilting 15+ years ago and had no idea what to do with them.  That really would give me a head start when I decide to work on these because they really do go amazingly fast considering the small pieces.

I hope you are inspired by what you're working on!  Jan

I'm linking to WIP Wednesday and Made by Me Wednesday -- take a peek at all the goodies on those cool sites!