Happy Birthday my Little LuLu

Lyssie (I also call her LuLu) turned three yesterday. I can't believe my little baby is getting to be so big. This birthday snuck up on me a little (I've been a bit more focused on the party rather than the real birthday) so I was short on time for finding her a present. What do you get someone that pretty much already has everything by three years old? So, I went the handmade route - and I love the result. She wasn't as excited... but really, it didn't matter to me as I know kids her age often prefer the wrapping. The doll did get a little attention here and there and I'm sure after time she'll be welcomed into her little circle of friends.

The shows the back of the blanket that I made for the doll. It was a last minute decision since I didn't have time to make more clothes for her. The blanket is a little small as the piece of orangish fleece that matched was on the small side since I bought it as a remnant.

I had just received the two orange flower buttons the day before in a package of random buttons I had bought myself. They were perfect on her, reminding me of the cartoon character, Kai-Lan.

Sorry about the darkish photo. But this shows the other side of the blanket with the stitching I did. This was a practice run as this is the type of stitching I was hoping to do for the charm quilt. I'm reconsidering it as it wasn't really easy to do on such a small scale. I might need to keep it simple and do straight stitching. We'll have to see how ambitious I'm feeling once I get closer to sewing it all together. I also made a quick crochet dress for the doll. The doll pattern was one that I bought off Etsy, the Rosie Ann doll. But, of course, I made modifications (she sits on a flat bottom and I machine stitched the arms and legs into the body for durability - and of course, I made my own hair and eyes with fleece scraps I had). I was a little disappointed with the size of her and will be making a larger one some time down the road.