Out on a Limb Part Deux: 2021--So Far...Not so Hot

Not a lot happened in January--at least in my personal world. In the big world: vaccine roll out, new president, capitol riot, impeachment, and a bajillion executive orders--all not so hot. What DID happen in my world was the following:

*Mary Early Bird, a sister in the branch in San Carlos and now my friend, asked me to make her daughter Summer (1 year old) a stuffed doll. I said no problem. I was wrong. This doll took me the whole of January to finish, because let's face it, you can't just hand over a doll. It needs clothes and a quilt and a little bag to carry all the clothes. She said she had made Summer a doll at one time and it turned out looking like Chuckie and only scared her, so I needed to do better than that. Fortunately, the bar wasn't too high. Here is my attempt:

Here she is undressed. There were 21 pieces to make this doll. Some of the instructions made no sense--like sewing the button on the shoe after it was all stuffed. How are you suppose to do that?

Here she is dressed. The hair was suppose to be done on an independent wig piece and then sewn on the head, but I lost the wig piece and just followed the directions from another pattern. I think it was easier the way I did it.

Here is the bag to carry her clothes.

Her quilt. I was very happy with the way the machine sewing turned out. I used my top feeding foot and figured out a pattern that worked.

Her nightgown.

I had made Summer a pillowcase dress earlier this year, so Mary suggested making the doll a pillowcase dress too.

This is called a camp dress even though it is actually a skirt and top. The women wear these to special occasions like Apache sunrise ceremonies. Many women wore their camp dresses to church. Skirt above and matching blouse below.

Underpants

White blouse above and coveralls below.

Mary sent this picture of Summer hugging the doll. She said she was kissing it and wrapping it in the blanket. Mission accomplished!

*We started back to church. We still only go to Sacrament meeting and the other meetings are virtual until this coming week when we will attend the second hour; the downside is meetings start at 9:00, my least favorite time.

*I have done a little substitute teaching. Next week I am scheduled for three days and that seems a little excessive to me. Two days or less is about perfect. I still enjoy the kids and they have no trouble telling me how things are done in their classroom.

*We have gone on lots of walks. We like to walk through the golf course and over the river bridge to Rose Road. Here is the river with lots of ice that I took earlier in January.

We often see a bald eagle perched in a tree.

Above are three sheets of ice jammed against the bridge. It looks like a paved highway.

Selfie along the river at a chilly 16 degrees.

*We made a trip to Jerome to drop off Jacob and Amber's Christmas gifts. It was nice to see them with our own eyes and do a little visiting. I made this for Amber to decorate for Valentine's Day.

*For Christmas, Audrey & Beau and Chad & Peachy gave me a membership to Storyworth. It is a company that sends out a question every Monday for me to answer. I email the response back and I can attach pictures with it. At the end of the year, it will be printed into a book. I have enjoyed it, but I spend most of the week looking for the pictures I want to attach. I know I have the picture, I just don't know where it is located. Once again, I am reminded how I need to organize and label all my pictures so I can find them.

Here is me in my Easter finery--hat, gloves, new dress, shoes, and anklets (I probably had a purse too). I also wanted this picture because of our 1950 something white Cadillac. I loved that car. Talk about roomy!

*Miscellaneous

One Sunday, Sandra brought some fun pictures in. Grandy and Pap above and Nadine and San below.

During the month, Sandra had her big pine tree removed. It was quite the undertaking. They removed the top half first. All that is left now is the stump.