Baby Doll Diaper Bag

When possible I like to add fun extras to the doll donations so kids don't just get the doll, they get fun stuff that adds to the joy of playing with the doll. This year both the 15 and 16 inch baby dolls got their own diaper bags. Several years ago I got the gift of a pattern for a diaper bag that included a changing pad, wipes, and a bottle. The pattern is no longer available for purchase as a separate item you have to purchase it with the doll pattern so the price has gone up. For those of you interested the pattern is available for purchase here.

I try to challenge myself and include stuff I think kids would enjoy playing with as I make these items. I had hoped to get further but life often intrudes. I introduced play food and only got one jar of carrots made. Perhaps next year I can do better. The pattern I used was free and available here. This pattern also included the bib I made for both doll bags.

Lastly what is a diaper bag without at least one diaper? This has been my go to free pattern for diapers and thankfully it fits the new 16 inch baby doll too. As I went to share the pattern I found the blog has gone and even the wayback machine can't find it sadly to share with you. Update to say the Wayback machine came through at least for a short while. They don't hold on to entries forever so if you want it I suggest you download the pattern from here. One more lesson that we should always copy and save the patterns we love because there is no telling when they are going to leave the Internet never to be seen again.

I'm not going to jinx myself by saying I hope to get more done next year on the diaper bags. That seems to be the kiss of death. I will say they were a huge hit when I dropped them off at Aztec Wishes. The accessories were the hit of the day. I will have to see what I can do. I'm already trying to see what I can find for cotton colors for the bags. Our local yarn places don't seem to carry the big cotton handicrafter yarn that I used to use for these and had been using up back stock to make them. I may have to resort to ordering online. That is for another time.

I am pleased to note I did finish up the first baby doll donation for 2018, which I can hopefully post about once I've finished documenting the year that was 2017.

Doll Carriers

I've done a lousy job of tracking my progress this year, but one of my reasons for blogging is to have a record of what I did to help me decide what to keep doing. So there is nothing wrong with going back to document. I dropped off this year's doll donation and while smaller, it did have some interesting additions this year I want to track and remember to see if I can in fact build on for next year.

First up are the doll carriers. I used the last of the Mary Maxim 15" baby dolls up this year and had to move on to JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Washable Soft Body Purple Play Doll - For Children 2 Years Or Older, Designed by Berenguer which is actually a nicer doll. It has required adjusting a few of the patterns to fit the slightly larger body, but overall I like the look better.

As for the carriers, these are much nicer than the doll baskets I'd made in previous years using the pattern from Dressing Up Dolly, Leisure Arts 2725. An added advantage to my readers is the carrier pattern is free and available on Ravelry here. These carriers are much more stable and user friendly for little hands. Just a note on what I did for myself and others. I used worsted weight yarn and I didn't make a mattress. The dolls fit fine. I did use the blanket pattern from the Dressing up Dolly booklet, but there are plenty of doll blanket patterns out there to use.

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.