Sunday, November 11, 2012

Dolls and Quilts

One of my fondest memories growing up was going to the Ford Rotunda in Dearborn to see the doll display. My grandmother and my aunt had both made dresses for dolls for the Salvation Army. Before the dolls were given to little girls at Christmas they were put on glorious display in the Rotunda. I must have been about 4 or 5 years old, and the memory of all those dolls is still strong.

Many years ago, I found out the Salvation Army still had the program. My quilt guild (The Capitol City Quilt Guild) would receive about 100 dolls in September from the Salvation Army and would distribute them to guild members to dress and accessorize. When I heard about it, it brought back that wonderful memory and I knew I wanted to do one. Each September I would forget about the project and was wistful when the dolls were displayed at the guild each November, swearing I would dress a doll 'next year'. This year I was at the guild meeting in September and they had some extra dolls. Yay! I finally brought one home and here she is. I made her a dress and knit her a sweater. I also made her  little quilt. 

Dolly in her dress and sweater.


Dolly's dress showing the ruffles.


Dolly's Pinwheel quilt.


The pinwheel quilt was made from leftovers from the quilt below. I made this quilt for my nephew Charlie when he was born. It is a Snowball and Nine Patch. The snowballs were made using magic corners which left me with leftover half square triangle units that I made into pinwheels. I need only two more pinwheels to make the quilt for Dolly.


Till next time......Happy Quilting!

13 comments:

  1. Wow, you are going to make some little girl sooooooo happy!! Great job. An adorable dress and then a knitted sweater and a quilt too --very generous.

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  2. When I worked in Flint, at a bank in the 60's, I used to make dresses for those dolls too. They put a display in the bank of the dolls the employees dressed. A couple of times I won recognition for the dolls I dressed. I had no patterns, I just made up the dresses. What a memory to bring back. I had forgotten about it. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Last year about his time a group put out a request for doll bed quilts. It was a company who did kitchens but during slow times the workers made beds...last year they made a lot of beds and outran the quilters! I'm sure a little girl is going to love this doll, her sweater and quilt!

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  4. What a lovely post. So pretty - love those little pinwheels and the doll all dressed up. Salvation Army does such good work. I'm sure this dolly and her fine clothes and quilt will make a little girl smile this Christmas.

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  5. I remember reading about that project in the paper when I lived in Michigan. I never went to the display of all the dolls. Your doll is dressed very nicely - love the hand knitted sweater, and all the girly ruffles on her dress. And her quilt is perfect! Good job, and some little girl will love her and tuck her under her quilt each night.

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  6. She's so cute! Love the little quilt that goes with her.

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  7. The little sweater is really impressive! Love the whole ensemble.

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  8. What a wonderful gift - The girl who gets it will be thrilled!

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  9. That sounds like so much fun -- both seeing the dolls and dressing them!

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  10. My quilt guild meets on Thursday night and I get to see all the dolls on display. Yipee!

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  11. Dolls are looking much pretty than your quilt, it is because i like dolls very much.....;-)

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  12. I loved the Ford Rotunda show as well - it was an annual holiday trip for those in the MacDowell household...

    Love the doll and quilt you just finished.

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