Hello, hello! How patient you've been. We are in full summer mode around here, which means our annual trips around the great Northeast (Upstate New York! New Hampshire! We are total jet-setters), scrambling to work when we're home, and lots of projects. I want to write about the fabulous cooperative day camp we ran with friends (this is such a brilliant solution for the cashless and campless), or seeing my nephews, or how profoundly this has become the Summer of Snakes (why is that?). But instead, I'm going to send you to family.com, to my recipes for Asian-style Chicken Salad (man, that is a good salad), and the creamy, dreamy Mango Popsicles that we did, in fact, serve our aforementioned cooperative day campers. I am getting through your requests, though a camp meal? Really? It's going to look so gross, but maybe I should do it anyways.
And because it's what we just spent an evening doing, I wanted to alert you to this fabulous idea that I found on-line, when I was Googling "baby doll clothes free patterns." Thanks to the fabulous "Baby Clothes to Dolls Tutorial" over at a blog called Obsessively Stitching, we spent two dollars on baby clothes at the Salvation Army, and are now well on our way to the lovely, cottony baby-doll wardrobe of Birdy's dreams. And I didn't even have to futz around with a pattern! Not that I didn't jab a pin into my own forearm and say the f-word. Or manage somehow to sew the neck hole closed on my first pass over the sleep sack. Or tear a little hole in the onesie as I was removing the Salvation Army stapled price tag. Or lie down on the floor and say, with one arm flung over my eyes, "My god, enough, I'm done," about *doll clothes*. But still. I am so happy not to have spent the real money on real doll clothes. I am so happy to be rid of the revoltingly pilled nylon nighties that the dolls came with. I am so happy that Birdy's so happy. It was worth every curse.
Tomorrow we leave to visit friends in Maine. Wish us a bon voyage! Send us your clam shack recommendations! Take care of yourselves and have fun! xoxoxo
Thank you for the baby doll clothes ideas! Our third child is the first one to give a hoot about dolls, so this is all new to me.
ReplyDeleteWe'll be heading to NH in August--I can't wait!
Bon Voyage on your travels to the Great State o' Maine. I get to go there next June for my 20th college reunion.
ReplyDeleteLove the baby doll clothes. I'm glad you posted this before I got rid of all the baby clothes. What a cute idea. Since my daughter's freakish obsession with dolls isn't fading, I might as well make them some decent outfits.
ReplyDeleteYour summer sounds so fun! Those baby doll clothes look great!
ReplyDeleteyum, and THANK YOU SO MUCH for the doll clothes idea! I can't wait to get started and I can't believe how perfectly you read my mind. I totally needed this idea this week, as I was planning on making some new clothes for H's dolls (clothesless they are as they are from gwill) for her birthday! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter - also Birdy's age - had the same baby! Ah, that precious face... Thanks for the link - you answered my pattern prayers.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear about the co-op camp one day!
I mean she has (with an "s") the same baby. Man, what a difference a "d" makes.
ReplyDeleteHave fun in Maine! Of course, there is the ever popular Bob's in Kittery to suggest if you're dying for clams the minute you cross the state border.
ReplyDeleteWe've been having fun making paper doll clothes for paper dolls, and just got a huge bag of scrap material to use. It's so fun and easy! Hardly any swearing. ; )
I'm dying to try those Mango pops! They look like just the excuse I was needing to get some popcicle molds.
Wishing you lots of sunshine!
~Kiki
Are those Bitty Babies? Man, I always wanted one of those when I was little.
ReplyDeleteAlso, re: Clothes That The Dolls Come With. They do suck, don't they? With the cheap, cheap ugly fabric and the pilling and the nasty velcro snaps?
We LOVE Maine and will be going at the end of the month. If you will be staying anywhere near the coast, it is worth it to buy temporary clamming licenses from the town's city hall. (Typically $2 per person.) It makes a really fun activity for the kids, you are allowed to dig more clams than you can possibly eat, and it costs much less than buying them at a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteOk, please please please tell me where you got that first baby in the picture. The second baby is lovely, too. I cannot find cute babies for my baby-lovin' four-year-old. She has two ugly ones right now. I'd like to get her one like Birdy's.
ReplyDeleteTracey M, do you remember what the baby is called/ where it came from?
I love the doll clothes idea. I'll learn to sew just so i can do that project... though the armhole hemming looks daunting.
I love your description of miso, perfect!
ReplyDeleteLoved the baby clothes idea. Since I don't really sew, I just bought the big baby doll so it could wear my daughter's baby clothes (although they are still a little large).
ReplyDeleteWe want details on the day camp coop!
Hope you've had a wonderful time on your trips!
I wanted to say this here instead of over at the disney site, but I freaking love quinoa and can't get anyone else in my house to like it. Maybe I need to follow the steps you've got there and they'll like it better. I just throw it in with some water and a cube of chicken bouillon and serve it with, well, chicken. They love brown rice and wild rice, but don't like quinoa? It doesn't make any sense!!!
ReplyDeleteAdorable! Thanks for the recommendation...heading over there NOW.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation.
Oh, they're so CUTE. Much better than pilled nylon. Lucky Birdy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the doll clothes tutorial--excellent! And bon voyage!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea for doll clothes...we are knee deep in girls here so I have plenty of clothes to choose from.
ReplyDeleteHave fun on your travels. I was thinking of you you believe it or not. Our summer road trip is going to be to Boston this year and we are going to visit the Cape as well. Each time I think of the Cape I think of all your stories.
If you have the time and there is something we absolutely should not miss, please let me know!
Wow. Thank you so much! I guess I know what I'm doing tonight...
ReplyDeleteAs for clam shacks, we are in Southern Maine, and there is a little shack in Wells that has fantastic fried clams... The Fisherman's Catch! Besides Bob's in Kittery there is also The Clam Shack on the line of Kennebunk/Kennebunkport (worth a wait in traffic! www.theclamshack.net)or the ever popular Ken's Place in Scarborough. Enjoy Maine!
hi c -
ReplyDeletethanks for the quinoa recipe! the sundae part makes me smile. i have two standards that i use all of the time, but i always feel stumped when i try to get adventurous. my "adventure" usually ends up being a pat of butter and parsley. xoxo e
I don't know if you knit, but I am in love with these dolls! They're really easy to make too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dotpebbles.com/index.htm
Your doll-clothes-from-baby-clothes project made me smile, not just because they came out great (they did!) but because it made my think of how I saved an itty bitty newborn dress of my daughter's for her dolls to wear, and now - she's 5 - I catch her wearing it around the house herself as an itty bitty tank top. Premonitions of her at 13.
ReplyDeleteWhat would it take to get you to post about the day camp? Begging? Pretty pleeeease?
What a wonderful idea for baby clothes! I've been taking my kids' old baby clothes and turning them into doll clothes at a furious pace. They are all a bit crooked, but it is pleasing me to no end. Cathartic, since I can't find anyone to take the old clothes and can't quite bring myself to give them away. My husband has gently asked "um, just how many doll outfits do you suppose we need?" but I don't quite hear him yet, if you get what I mean. My oldest daughter is starting to suspect that this project has something to do with what *I* want and not the dolls' need for clothes, but it is so nice to see those sweet rompers and onesies back in circulation again!
ReplyDeleteI have so much baby clothes I feel like they are coming out of my ears. This is a great little project to do with them. I'm sure my daughter will love dressing her baby dolls in what her mommy used to dress her in!
ReplyDeleteoh! They turned out so cute!! Brilliant idea on the first one to cut out the extra length from the middle -- that way Dolly's onesie can still snap!
ReplyDeleteFabulous!