Some gifts in the pipeline

A few days ago I started thinking about some kids I wanted to make presents for.  I'm meeting up with their mum, Hadley, and she is a crafty lady, so I hope I have found some things that are new for them.  I am writing this post in advance of our meeting, but wont post it until Sunday as I don't want her to see before we meet up! (Think I need a pic of a Dr Who type tardis here, as this feels a bit like time travel!)

Hadley is a newcomer to patchwork, but has achieved loads in the last year or so, and is very highly thought of in blogging and patchworking circles.  She writes a very entertaining blog with the bizarre name of Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle, and she's also very generous with her time and her comments. . . and I am going to meet her, real life, in person :-)

More about our meeting later, more about some gifts now!

I was blog surfing the other day, and found Southern Disposition - a great blog that was new to me.  I'd got to her via Ikea Hacker, and I stayed for ages.  She introduced me to Betsy McCall paper dolls.  These were issued in the 1950s to compliment the McCall girls' dress patterns, and are now available (of course) on the net.  I did some flaffing around to economise on paper, and then printed a few dolls and a whole load of dresses onto magnetic paper and cut them out.

I showed them to Niki to see what she thought and she exclaimed "I remember these" as she reached for them.  In fact the ones that she and Lisa had about 15 years ago were possibly not as good; they certainly had fewer dresses!!!  Hadley had twin daughters aged 4 and I hope that these will be ideal

Anyway, I have cut out one page of dresses, and two dolls

 

and there are more for the kids to cut out themselves (maybe with help from mum)

 

I had a great time with these.  Mum, I'm thinking of a set for India for Christmas, what do you reckon?

I also did a little machine embroidery for a scarf for their brother - so depressing to be embroidering on a fleece scarf this time of year :-(