Buttons and Binding

 Happy Monday!  

I hope you had a great weekend!

Today's post is about a project I just finished.  You may remember that I posted that I wanted to make some doll quilts for the little girls in my family.

First off, thanks to Susan and Nann for suggesting I name my doll after Nana Elsie.  The doll's name is now Elsie Elnora after my grandmother.

My goal was to make quilts for the 8 little girls (and 1 grandmother) in my family by July 4.  I had suspected there would be some kind of family get together and sure enough, the kids will be together on July 2 at a family picnic.

One of the challenges was the sizes of the dolls.  Some of the girls have 18-20 inch dolls; others have smaller dolls.  Never at a loss for using up scraps, I made two size quilts.

The larger quilts (20x24) have 4 patches and buttons on the plain white block.  I admit, I am obsessed with these red and white buttons and used a red and white striped fabric for the binding to coordinate with the buttons.  

I have no idea who gave me the buttons.  For years people have been giving me things from their relatives who no longer sew.  But the woman must have loved these buttons.  There were a couple of hundred in the bag.

I still have some left!

When these were done, I started on the smaller version quilts.  I think the quilts measure 14 x 18.

I had buttons for these too!  Cute vintage bird buttons that I used to adorn the tops of the quilts.  I think the buttons were from the 1950s.

But there was one challenge.  Two of the girls have little brothers aged 1 and 2.  I'm always worried about choking hazards so I used iron-on appliques to adorn their quilts:

And then I thought...I should make each doll a pillow too!  Except I wasn't even done with the doll quilts (18 of them) and wondered, what shall I use?

Years ago, I bought a hankie wreath at a flea/craft fair:

I got tired of it a few years ago and packed it away.

Would the hankies work?

In fact, the hankies were new (not vintage even) and made of a cheap batiste fabric.  Not great for blowing one's nose but perfect for a doll pillow.  I did a couple of prototypes but I decided I wanted the pillow to look like it had a pillow case on it.

And if all that wasn't enough, I bought each girl a baby doll.  

A girl can't have too many.  

Today the grandmothers are getting together at my mom's for lunch and I will give them each the quilts, etc. for their granddaughters.  The kids will be at Paula's the night before the picnic and they may as well play as soon as possible.

Even if none of the girls like any of these gifts, it doesn't matter to me.  I've had a blast making these quilts and using up things from my stash!

Wishing you a safe and happy day!