Aztec Wishes Donation 2016

For the first time ever I went with DH to drop off the Aztec Wishes donation at the local tech high school this morning. The coordinator of the toy drive had mentioned she'd like to meet in person, so DH and I scheduled a drop off time. I have no idea where the time has gone this holiday season. I was on track until Thanksgiving and then time seems to have just disappeared. We normally drop off right after Thanksgiving, but this year one thing or another kept coming up and we were literally up against the drop off deadline this morning and we scooted in with drop offs from our Crochetville friends Tampa Doll and Darski.

DH and I were debating if this was equal or larger than last year's donation. With different box sizes it really is hard to compare. However, I will say thanks to Darski and Tampa Doll and all those who answered my wish list requests, it is a sizeable donation to help kids have dolls to play with this Christmas season.

We had 4 18" dolls, 1 8" Baby Doll, 1 12" Baby Doll, and 1 15" Baby doll. All the dolls have clothing, most have blankets, and two of the baby dolls have carriers. We had so many 18" doll clothes they bought more 18" dolls to accommodate our offerings. I normally just send 2, but AC Moore oddly let me use a 55% coupon on a Springfield doll, which I haven't been able to do for years, so a 3rd doll suddenly became doable.

I still have 2 more of my projects to post as it's been a crazy year and Blogging has not been as consistent as I'd like. I will get to posting them though because having a written record helps me remember what I've done and gives me some clues about what to try and what to avoid the next time I pursue the project. I some how seem not to have posted Darski and Tampa Doll's contributions although I did post them on Crochetville. I'm going to include them here again to have a complete record of what has been done to keep this project going.

Tampa Doll sent the Clown doll dressed and the other two outfits as her donation this year. Her work is always so detailed. I especially loved the Dorothy dress done in thread. As someone who always struggles with my thread work, her work always amazes me.

These are Darski's donations which included an 8" baby doll and so many beautiful 18" doll outfits that it is just beyond words to describe.

As always Donna was thrilled with our donations. There was only one student there when we arrived, but on seeing all the boxes he quickly recruited other students in the program to help him bring all the donations back to the room where they are being sorted for distribution.

Little Spring Dress for 12" Baby Doll

As I mentioned in the previous post this pattern was gifted to me by a Crochetville Fairy Godmother during one of our Wishlists. The pattern is available for purchase here.

I've yet to get it to fit the doll I intended it for when I put the outfit on the wishlist. This time I decided I'd have more control with a lighter yarn so I went with Caron Simply Soft for the variegated color. It soon became clear that the outfit was better suited to the smaller Melissa & Doug 12" Baby doll. That worked out fine since I tend to end up with far fewer outfits that will fit the smaller baby doll by donation time. One less pattern for the 15" doll hardly seems a problem.

Sunshine Sundress for 12 Inch Baby Doll

This project helped me reach a couple of my goals for this year increasing the number of outfits for the 12" Baby Doll and to use up yarn on hand. I had ordered more Red Heart soft yarn than I needed for another project, so using up a partial skein for this outfit seemed like a good choice. If you don't recognize the pattern, this is the same sundress pattern that I used for the 15" doll dress I made in pink. You can find that pattern here. The Red Heart soft was a lighter yarn and I used a smaller hook. In order to finish off the skein I made a small basket to go with the outfit.

I'm on my way to having a decent number of outfits for the smallest of the donation dolls this year. Being willing to experiment with using the larger doll patterns with lighter yarns and smaller hooks seems to have helped with the job.

Watermelon 12" Baby Doll Dress

One of the things I've enjoyed this year is trying to adapt patterns, yarns and hooks to get one pattern to fit both baby doll sizes. This is an adaptation of a free 14" baby doll pattern found here. The yarn was a lighter weight kind of coarser yarn I inherited when a friend passed away. I had used up most of the yarn on another project but thought I'd have enough to finish the outfit for Melissa & Doug 12 Inch Baby Doll. I underestimated the amount of yarn I needed, but got to thinking about color combos I'd seen for a child's dress and decided to experiment with some Red Heart Lime colored yarn. It worked, creating my Watermelon Outfit.



This encourages me because in years gone by, I've stuck to experimenting with outfits for the 15" doll, but been far more hesitant to play with stuff for the smaller doll, meaning that she always goes off with a smaller bag of clothing for the donation. This will be the largest donation that goes off with her to date.

It has also been great to use up more of the donated yarn in my friend's memory. I need the room and it makes me feel good to know her legacy is one that will make little ones happy.

Aztec Wishes Donation Headed Out

DH is delivering this year's doll donation to the local tech high school's Aztec Wishes Holiday gift program and thanks to friends at Crochetville it is the biggest donation I've ever made.

This year we have more baby dolls than ever. Thanks to Darski and Tampa Doll at Crochetville we will be sending a beautiful rag doll, an 8" doll and an additional 15" doll in addition to the yearly 12" and 15" baby dolls I usually send. I also warned the director she was going to need more 18" dolls than the two I normally donate to accommodate the beautiful boxes of clothes sent by Darksi and Tampa Doll. I can't wait to hear the director's reaction to all the donations and the kids realization that their program has reached beyond the United States into Canada.

I also need to thank Crochetville friends who have donated tights, shoes, and patterns to the cause. While some patterns are repeated yearly, for my sanity, I need to try new stuff each year to keep this donation project interesting and engaging. Thanks to all of you there are some little girls who will wake up this Christmas not just to dolls, but to dolls with beautiful clothes and accessories. Thank you all.

Baby Jenna Summer Outfit

Melissa & Doug Jenna - 12" Doll has been a staple of my donations for the last few years. I stock up when I find her on sale and it has helped to standardize the patterns I need to work on each year.

Recently I came across a free pattern on Ravelry for Baby Sasha and was curious to see if it could be adapted. You can find the pattern here. One of the big challenges in working with baby dolls is the sizes vary greatly. Baby dolls come in all lengths and widths. A 12" baby doll may not be equal to another 12" doll but it is a starting point. In this case I'd never heard of the Sasha line. After a little online research I discovered Sasha is generally considered more of collector's doll than a play doll, but the length was comparable. I had no idea about the other dimensions.

I had to increase the hook size and add a finishing edge, but other than that, the outfit cute and I thought it was rather cute. This was a great chance to work on using up my stash as this was made from Pound of Love baby yarn that has been in my stash for a bit.

Barbie and American Girl Doll Free Patterns are listed on my blog at these locations:

Barbie Crochet and Sewing Page

Barbie Knitting Page

Ken Page

Kelly/Skipper Page

American Girl Doll Crochet and Sewing

American Girl Doll Knitting

Doll Blankets and Pillow Patterns

Baby Doll Patterns:

Baby Doll and Cabbage Patch

Additional Doll Patterns also Available on the Holiday Blogs:

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Baby Jenna Hat, Pants, Booties, and Sweater

This is my first outfit of the 2015 donation year for the Melissa & Doug Jenna - 12" Baby Doll that will got to Aztec Wishes.

I find this doll the most challenging to get the patterns to fit. While there are lots of retired patterns out there for 12" baby dolls, they seem to have slightly different dimensions. I started out working with TD Creations Erin pattern 7106. That is the best booties pattern I've found and will be coming back to that one later. The pants were a little short between the crotch and the waist, but otherwise fitted well. I had to improvise the shirt using another pattern.

The hat was actually the test hat I made using the mini slouchy hat pattern found here. When made to directions I got a 12" doll hat not an 18" doll hat. It worked for me since I often trade out items if they fit another doll.

I think it is a good start to getting her some clothes for next year's donation. I found to my shame she had far fewer items than the other dolls as I packed up this year. So, I'm going to have to work harder to find items that work.