My Rag Doll.....PSA: Read the Reviews Before You Buy

 The short  answer...save your money and look for a book with better instructions...especially if you are a new sewer.

For me it is buyer beware...always read the reviews...

Well I fell in love with the sweet dolls and the images of the cute outfits and well ordered without reading one review, and what frustrates me more than anything...why there hasn't been any revisions made to the book, or edits added on the publishers website?? With all the negative reviews and all the issues with this book, it is still for sale and there have been none that I can find. If the author and designer had just had her patterns reviewed by testers and done some revisions before publishing, or if the publisher had made sure the contents of the book was solid and complete... or after the fact added some help for the many struggling...it really is just too bad.

With all that being said....If you are looking for a sweet coffee table book, with the cutest pictures of dolls and cloths and fabric swatches, buy this book...but if you want full sized patterns, full instructions and illustrations, take a pass.

The patterns need to be copied and some pieced together and all need the seams added, the instructions are lacking critical information and there is not one illustration on construction included. I have also found to date, one outfit (the leotard) that sews up too small to fit the doll. I have only sewn 2 of the outfits to date, the ballerina and the bedtime doll's outfits, mainly because it has been a labour of love for my granddaughter and everything gets sewn, seam ripped and resewn multiple times...it has been very frustrating to say the least, but I refuse to be beaten by it and the doll is meant to be her Christmas present.

I found a great tutorial online (YouTube, How to Sew a Rag Doll Part 2) for adding doll hair and that went very well other than the fact that I added way too much, or should have used a finer yarn, lol. 

I also managed to embroider her face on, but not being much of an embroiderer I'm not over the moon happy with it, but happy its done.

...and that leotard that was too small fits as a top, so I made an extra ballerina skirt to go with it and the extra knit shrug (again critical information missing in the pattern, no yarn weight given or tension)

Well that is it for now...a few outfits and I need a break, so onto some easier sewing projects that need to be finished for Christmas.

Have a great weekend, and Merry Christmas.

What's on my Sewing Table and a Health Update

If you are interested in my latest health update, click on the tab along the top of the page....

I am way behind on wedding quilts...I put off my son and daughter in laws when I was going through my first cancer treatments and I just couldn't get myself back on track to finish it as a full sized quilt. So it was finished for their little one coming this month (pictured in last post)

So I thought even with everything going on I needed to get a move on and get a quilt made for them...beacuse now my niece got married and I need to make another quilt for them, lol.

I looked up a few options, didn't really have it in me to design one, and this is the fantastic quilt they chose. A beautiful quilt pattern by Krista Moser.

It's hard shopping right now as colours can be off from what they show online...so I had a few mishaps, but overall I think I got enough right for a wonderful version.

This is my version of the gold that runs through out Krista's picture quilt. There is a bit of a metallic in the print.

Totally off topic of crafting or sewing...but if you love humbugs, or have a childhood memory of them, like I do...these are the best! Stilwells Humbugs, made in Quebec, Canada.....so buttery and just the right amount of mint...(no affiliation, just yummyness I am sharing)

I've been organizing my card making area too. I purchased a roll of magnet and some chip board and have been mounting my dies to keep them all together and with the coordinating stamps. It's been a lot of work, but a lot of fun and now I can find everything. I also use an app to organize what products I have called Nest Egg...after purchasing a die twice a few times because I forgot I already owned it I figured I needed to catalogue them. It's working out great.

Now that is a lot of magnet...24" wide with adhesive on the back...it is working out so amazingly! Purchased through a local print shop (Alpha Graphics and Signs) They were so helpful, even to carrying it to my car, because that is a very heavy roll...

 

So I decided on a variety of sizes based on the dies sets and the size of the clear plastic envelopes I was using...and the storage basket they would go in.

I am mostly done except for the Stamptember products I purchased that I am still waiting on....and if you are wondering what Stamptember is...it's an amazing event put on by Simon Says Stamp every September, all month long, that includes collaboration stamps and dies and sets from various companies that are limited amounts and only available during the event. So much fun, so many amazing products this year

Well that's it for now....

Happy Crafting everyone and an early

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians

On My Sewing Table and Health Update...

 Just want to be clear...no affiliate links in my post...just stuff I want to share and make it easier for you to find.....

Also if you are wanting to read the latest health update, I made a page to keep them out of the blog posts. No-one has said anything but I just wanted to keep this part of my blog just for the sewing and card making fun. If you look along the top just below my log you will see a tab that is labeled My Health Journey, all future updates will be posted there. I will try always to let you know if there is an update, but you can just check every so often. The latest update will always be the top. The page is just continuous, so the division will be the dates. Thanks all for the continued prayers and support! 

Now on to the fun sewing and crafting projects......

When my daughter was expecting I wanted to make a toy for the baby and found the Funky Friends Factory. Needless to say if you have ever looked at her patterns, they are all adorable, so I purchased 3. An elephant, Ellie; a lamb, Lamkins; and a horse, Horsey. I made Ellie for Ava and now that my son and daughter in law are expecting their first in Oct. Horsey has made his debut. Seriously how cute is this pattern....I used a brushed cotton and a flannel for the hooves and ears. I didn't have any fun fur so I improvised with cream yarn for the mane and tail. 

 I found a number of tutorial on YouTube for making a cute little onesie card (here's a link to the one I used to make a template)...so this happened! Just adorable and by changing up the colours and extras can be made to go with any theme or gender....there will be more made of this....

I finally finished this what should have been my son and daughter in laws wedding quilt (2yrs late) as a baby quilt for the little one coming! Have you ever started something and then just lost the mojo to finish it as intended? I know I have some good reasons (stopped during my first cancer battle) and just couldn't get the mojo back to finish it as a queen sized quilt....I'm happy to see it finished and Briana loves it, so win, win!

Here's a sneak peak or look at something I haven't even posted to IG yet! My daughter in law follows my account and the shower (drive thru, socially distance) is happening this weekend...

I made this card following along with a Laura Bassen tutorial with dies and stamps that I have in my stash...love how this turned out. (For anyone interested I used the MFT Impact Alphabet dies and Hello Little One stamp and die set; Your Next Stamp Welcome Baby for the sentiment)

One of the 7 crazy quilt tops I made using the Accuquilt Crazy Quilt die...I finished this one using the Churndash block die for the backing! Had to be a farm themed quilt for this little blessing!

John Deere and farm animals and wheat fields...perfect little quilt for the next generation of potential farmers. 

Have a great weekend everyone

Sewing and Health UpDate....

 

Those of you who follow me on IG will know I have been having a great deal of fun with a new die for my AccuQuilt GoBig cutting machine. The dies aren't cheap so it felt good to whip up 7 baby quilt tops over about 5-6 days. The die is called Crazy Quilt and it was a great way to use up a bunch of FQ pieces. You could lay scraps on the different cutting sections if you really want to use up some of you smaller pieces, but it would take a lot longer in the cutting process, so I just cut the recommended size of fabric.

The die creates a 10" finished block so all the quilt tops are 40" square. 

I also had pieced 3 quilts the traditional way, so I have 10 baby quilts waiting to be quilted.

Unfortunatley I haven't been on my machine for awhile and it and I seem to be out of sync. 

Software issues and operator issues I am sure and thought I would be able to get to the heart of the problem with a phone call to the company today, but life took me in a different direction.....

I received the call from my Oncologist while I was waiting for the technician to call back to help me with the long arm....

While the news was not what I was praying to hear, there was good aspects to it (if you can call it that) I am out of remission, the lymphoma is back, but the biopsy shows that it is the same low grade, slow moving kind that I was diagnosed with Dec. 10, 2018. It's not good that it has returned so quickly after I had such a good reaction to the treatment. (It was quite advanced at the time of the first treatment...) so my oncologist is referring me to a sister hospital in Hamilton for a second opinion on how to proceed and with which treatment. So now I wait again. Trusting in my great big God, who can do exceeding abundantly beyond all I can ask or think (Eph. 3:20) And ask that you all keep praying for me. 

I'm leaning in...holding on in faith...waiting on the Lord... in prayer for strength and peace...believing 

Knowing there is nothing too difficult for God!

More Words of Inspiration and a Health Update

So I thought I would put more of the words of inspiration through out this post to help brighten it up...if you follow me on IG you will already have seen these, but I didn't think you would mind a second look.

As some of you will know I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2018 and went through 6 rounds of Chemo Jan-Jun of 2019. I had been in remission but found some lumps again back in Nov of 2019. My oncologist thought it was something else and wasn't worried, but the lumps where still there so by February I was asking my family Dr. for an ultrasound. Then the Virus hit and my ultrasound was cancelled the day before I was to go in. There have been a lot of balls dropped and delays, which lead to today...I received a phone call from my oncologist and the surgeon. 

In a nut shell the biopsy that was done but was deemed  inconclusive was positive for lymphoma but not enough tissue to determine if the lymphoma has changed into a more aggressive kind, thus the surgery to remove a lymph node and test. Once the surgery happens it takes 10 days for the full results to come back. I will be seeing my Oncologist and surgeon this week and the surgery will more than likely happen next week. 

I'm choosing to stay positive because I know God has this and goes ahead of me and will be with me for this whole journey, I am never alone. 

I also can't express strongly enough to you how much all your prayers and good wishes have meant to me!!! To know that so many of you are lifting me up in your prayers, it's such a comfort and gives me such peace and hope. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I'll post again soon with more words and another update when I know the full picture, but until then...enjoy these words and please keep me in your prayers. 

God is bigger than my fears and He's bigger than Cancer!!

I'm Back....Week 1-5 of Words of Inspiration....

I'm back posting here on my old blog site...

If you have been following along you'll know why...

I was hoping to export my blog posts and have them imported here, but I have tried and failed multiple times so I am giving up and will just start here with the picture posts of the Words of Inspiration blocks I have been posting during the Covid Virus lock down.

Don't forget, if you have a word of inspiration you want to see sewn in fabric, just let me know in the comments below. If you want to see the words daily as I post them you can follow me on IG @upstairshobbyroom

Have a great week everyone and stay safe!

P.S. I will be trying to work on and update my blog over the next little while so there may not be much posting other than more weekly updates on the new words! Oh and I will be working on a pattern for the alphabet too. So watch out for that too.