Annie Get Your... ...Needle. And Thread. And Paint. And Coffee

Hi Everyone,

It seems I have gotten distracted again!  A bit over a week ago, I was looking on Instagram and saw the cutest rag dolls.  They are made by raggedyoldannies, who is really Nicole Campbell.  If you are not on Instagram, you can find her facebook page (raggedy old annies) or visit her website www.raggedyoldannies.com.  Alas, all the photos of completed dolls that she was selling were spoken for.  While visiting her website, though, I discovered that she sells patterns.  Two patterns screamed "me," so I ordered them.  Since they are PFDs, they came later in the day.  I got started.

Meanwhile, I was still drooling over her cute, cute dolls!  I finally broke down and have ordered one from her.  While waiting, though, making my own has been fun!

The first pattern I chose was "Miss America."  She featured a banner saying "Miss America" and a crown.  I decided to change the banner to read "The Patriotic Quilter" and left off the crown.

Instead, I made her a quilt!

I made it simply by fussy-cutting some flags out of a piece of fabric, using a glue stick to place them, and then just stitching around each one--raw edges and all.  I layered it with some batting and did a little simple quilting with my "hand quilting" machine stitch on my Bernina.  It isn't bound.  It all adds to the primitive look.

her dress is trimmed with rick rack--my favorite!  And her bloomers have a tiny crocheted lace edging.  Another change from the pattern directions was that I made her legs from striped fabric.  I did paint her shoes on, though.

Up next was "Sammy Annie."

She gets her name from Uncle Sam, of course.  She has an aged tag with his likeness.   I adore her big, big grin!

Her legs are totally painted--white with red stripes.  All the facial details are stitched.

Her bloomers are trimmed with a vintage red and white lace.  You can't see them, but they are white with tiny red stars.  

Once you get the dolls all complete and have the clothes stitched up, they get aged in a coffee bath.  I was a bit nervous as I thought everything looked great before, but I adore the "antiquing" that the coffee produced.  The most difficult part of the whole process was to be patient while everything dried!

They look so cute on a couple of my little red chairs.

You know who else likes loves my red chairs?

My nephew!  I can't believe that it was one year ago this weekend that I was at quilt retreat in Virginia when my sister had to have her baby early a she had developed preeclampsia.  

Despite being about 6 weeks early, my nephew was just fine and didn't have to be in the NICU.

And now on Sunday he is going to be one!  I will confess that since I finally got to meet him in July, he has securely wound me around his tiny finger and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Have a great weekend!

JoAnne