Another couple of years have passed....

Being a grandparent is the most deliciously indescribable time of life!  Number four came along last February and he's a cutie.

I have moved from knitting, to finishing a dollhouse and furnishing it for my grandchildren, to making miniature furniture from kits, to sewing curtains for the dollhouse and now to making bedding sets for dollhouses.  A woman makes Dollhouses for Kids Battling Cancer and her work and that of the "Delivery Angels" who take them wherever they need to go in the country inspire me to make these tiny things.

I had to buy a sewing machine.  Had sewed most of my life, but after my kids were grown, I didn't do much of that.  Then I bought a Viking/Huskvarna machine and for a bit had some fun.  Put it away when I grew frustrated with adjusting tension - and Mom came to live with us.  So I purchased an inexpensive Brother - marvelous! - and began sewing again.  (My now-old hands just were not able to do much hand sewing - I learned this from making little curtains - so the machine was imperative.)  

I made dozens of bedding sets for little twin and full sized beds, stopped a while to make a t-shirt quilt.  Never made any quilt before - and it was a big project - but I like the way it turned out.

So now I am back to making little bedding sets.  I began by using some linen guest towels that had belonged to Mom.  For years I had been enjoying them, but in recent years the ironing was not so much fun; they were all clean and dry, and placed in a closet, unironed.  But such marvelous fabrics and delightful designs...these would make perfect bedspreads for doll beds.

So began a truly enjoyable hobby.  Vintage handkerchiefs also have lovely lace edging, or dainty embroidered flowers - both work well on a tiny scale.  I have retrieved my Viking sewing machine from the attic - it is now a 20-year-old machine, but in near-mint condition.  It has a computer for a great variety of stitches and it's challenging me to learn how to use it, all over again.  

With our holiday time approaching, the dollhouses are going to fundraisers and auctions and so I am busy making them with holiday colors - not specifically with Christmas or Hanukkah icons, but with those colors - trying to make them so they can be appropriate all through the year that follows as well.

When I figure out how to get my pictures into something I can get into this blog, I will post a few of the tiny creations.  Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy your family and a hobby as much as I do mine!

Beth