New Clothes for Alphonse

I’ve taken a break from painting and renovating for a while and have been spending the last couple of days working on and playing with my doll collection.

My mom started teaching me the fine art of needlework at the young age of 6. She is a saint and had the patience of Job. She tried to teach me patience, but it was easier to learn how to sew. I’ve always wanted my projects over and done with. If an idea pops into my head in the morning, I want to see it finished by the end of the day. I doubt that will ever change, but at least now I can be satisfied with an in progress project at the end of the day that is well done.

My Gram lived with us when I was growing up. She was an artist at everything she did. She was an accomplished pastry chef and seamstress. When she wasn’t baking, she was sewing or crocheting. She never used a sewing machine. Everything was hand sewn. Her stitches were perfect. Countless times I had to tear apart and redo a project because my embroidery wasn’t perfect or my sewing stitches were uneven. Of course I did it begrudgingly, but 60 years later I appreciate that she was a stickler for perfection. Proof is in the pudding… Practice makes perfect.

It’s been a good 15 years since I’ve knitted anything, and I wasn’t sure that my arthritic fingers would survive the project, but they did. They are actually thanking me today for the variation in exercise.

Here’s my latest project. Alphonse now has a new hat and sweater for the upcoming fall days.

Alphonse, Aimee and Chelle

Hubby just looked over my shoulder and said they look like tourists and I need to place them on a street in Paris. Now he's got my imagination running back to childhood days when my dolls had their own little lives and we pretended we were playing hide n seek with Gram in Great grandpa's vineyard in France.

Back to reality. The pattern for this outfit is in my head. I had a vision, I picked up needles and yarn and this is the result. Things happen with me that way... I really do hate to follow instructions and only do it as a last resort. I did keep notes though, as I'm planning on making something similar for Aimee, just different colors. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the outfit also fits her. She's 2 inches taller than Alphonse, but the difference is all in the legs. Body, head and arm sizes are all the same. Hmmm much like real life. Alphonse would be a "regular" and Aimee a "tall".  Ok... so now I'm being silly, but playing with dolls does that to me.

Bye for now. We're off to the Eiffel Tower!

                         Huggs,

                                     Joanie