Back to the Real World

Got up at the usual time today. Not another day of sleeping in as there is too much to do, but it sure was nice to have a few days off. Since I didn’t get much accomplished today that would be worthy of blogging about, I’ll share a quick project that I pulled off for my 13 year old granddaughter and her best friend during spring break. They were going on a special church trip, the annual choir tour for our youth. I thought they needed some Mimi-made pillowcases since it was their first choir trip and neither of them had been away from their families for that length of time before.
I had some cute Nashville Cotton Company fabric in my stash, as well as some coordinating microcheck from Spechler-Vogel. The fabrics and overall color schemes were selected because I had only 2 colors of the trim shown. In other words, I was tied to pink and lime if I used the trim. And I thought the trim had the ability to carry the pillowcases.
The method I used was simply this....
I turned a standard pillowcase inside out to see how it was put together and measured the pieces so I’d be sure to have pillowcases that would hold a standard pillow. Instead of a hem, I added a contrasting band and stitched the trim in place before seaming the pillowcase and contrasting band together. Since I was in a big hurry, having thought of this only the night before they left, I used the serger for construction making it extra quick work. Not one bit of hand stitching did I do - I was able to stitch in the ditch to close the contrasting band because of the trim that had been added. The girls were delighted to receive their little gifts just as they were boarding the bus.

Now while I was at this task, the materials reminded me of the adorable doll I had recently purchased from Melissa Conroy. Melissa is the daughter of Pat Conroy, the well known author whose latest book is South of Broad but probably better known for Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. Melissa is the granddaughter of one of the founding members of The Random Readers, the book club I belong to; so I feel just a little bit connected. Melissa is an artist by profession, but she has written her first book, Poppy’s Pants. The book is a charming story that is a suggestion of her life growing up with her famous father. It seems that Pat Conroy wears khaki pants every day. In Melissa’s story, the little girl, Penelope, repairs a tear in Poppy’s pants. The doll shown here is Penelope from the book. Each Penelope that Melissa makes is a little bit different. Melissa also makes a doll named Poppy, and every one of the Poppy dolls is wearing khaki pants. She has a large variety of dolls, all adorable. Makes me want to be a kid again so I wouldn’t feel like a nut asking for one of her dolls for my birthday. Melissa’s website is www.melissaconroy.com. which has a link to her line of dolls called Wooberry dolls. Her dolls are delightful and her first book has been a huge success. Visit her website for a glimpse of her talent. I believe she has a bright future as a writer and artist. And I can attest that having had a number of telephone conversations with her, she is as nice and generous as she is talented.