Smocked Doll Bishop

I made my first ever smocked bishop doll dress. The pattern came from Dolly's Wardrobe by Children's Corner. It is the doll version of the little girls' pattern, "Betsy". I have tried other patterns before, but always been too scared to actually do anything. For some reason, this pattern didn't scare me. I just resolved that I would do it!! I got the pattern in the mail on Monday and the dress was finished in time to take for show & tell at smocking guild on Wednesday. I love quick and easy project like that. The *only* thing that was not simple was applying the neck binding. It took me 3 tries to get it to line up with my stop row of cable stitching, but I am sure that gets easier with time. I am ready to smock another one! :-)

Smocked Music-Themed Doll Jumper

My latest Etsy offering is this music-themed smocked doll jumper. I had started the smocking months ago - maybe even in 2010 - I don't remember - but I never put it together. I couldn't even remember which pattern I was using when I first smocked it, so I pretty much designed my own. I opted to go with a pleated skirt rather than gathered skirt - it gives it a more straight line rather than the poof of a gathered skirt. This fits 18" dolls such as American Girl and Gotz. It is modeled by my Gotz Martha Pullen doll.

A Gorgeous Day In Amish Country

There's nothing like getting stopped behind an Amish buggy at a stop light. :-)

This Amish farmer was going from one farm to another with his work horses.

A horse and buggy parked outside an Amish school house.


A typical Amish farm. I always love the clotheslines.

A Day with a Psychologist

Our Saturday was spent with a psychologist spending most of the day in our home. He spent over 5 hours doing different tests with Timothy. It was actually fascinating. When he was all done, he told me situations in which he thought Timothy would have trouble -- it blew me away because he was *exactly* right with *everything* he said. It was as though he was able to see inside his brain through these strange tests. The bottom line is that he has not scored all of his testing, but he is almost certain that his diagnosis will be the same as Timothy has previously received - Asperger's Syndrome. While there is some relief to that, there is also some sadness. As much as I know the struggles we have - it would also have been nice to hear that there was nothing wrong with him - that we just need to change our approach to him. It's hard to comprehend that your children doesn't have the ability to process things like a normal child can. It is a relief because with the confirmed diagnosis, he is eligible for many services that we will soon be able to access to help him - including a behavioral therapist who will work with him in our own home at least weekly.

Ensemble completed -- what next?

The completed ensemble is finished!! I added a personalized hair ribbon to go with the jumper set. This was a lot of fun to make.

Now it's time to get back to smocking. My first plan is to embroider a t-shirt for smocking guild. SAGA now has their logo digitized for members to download. I am going to embroider a pink t-shirt with the SAGA logo. I am thinking of using variegated thread for it, but I my stitch out a sample first to see how I like it. I am also thinking of adding "Pagoda Pleaters" to the logo as well. I will have to figure that one out and will post pictures when I get it done.

Today is going to be an interesting day because we will have a psychologist visiting with us for most of the day. He is doing an evaluation on Timothy. For the most part, I get to go on like he's not even here. He will be doing some testing with Timothy and then interacting with him.

A Most Flattering Rejection Letter

I got the most flattering rejection letter from Kathy Barnard, editor of Sew Beautiful magazine. I recently submitted photos of my smocked denim purse as a proposal to be published in Sew Beautiful. She sent back a very nice letter that actually made me quite happy. She said that they did not have a need for a nautical-themed bag as they have something very similar appearing in an upcoming issue. However, she also said that my smocking was "very cleanly executed." WOW. That's quite a compliment from the editor of Sew Beautiful. I never thought I would be happy about a rejection letter, but this sure made my day! :-)