i'd like you to meet two new members of our family . . .

Had you going for a minute didn't I? These fine friends are Alex (Alexandria? ) and Oliver and they have been adopted by Gennie and Josiah. We've been looking for quite a while for a baby that Josiah (yes, boys need doll friends, too) could drag around as a cuddly-something since he likes to terrorize his sister by stealing her babies, stripping their clothes and poking them in the eyes. Gennie could only take so much before she started closing her door to keep him out, then one night she decided to lock the door handle and leave the room, closing the door behind her. . . she was sure a locked door would be better to keep him out permanently.

Yeah, well, it kept us all out permanently until we found something small enough and long enough to fit in the release hole of her 1950's door knob. Good times.

Anyway, I saw these delightful little friends on a blog I lurk and LOVED them right away (Allie, if you're reading this, thanks a ton! They're perfect!) She had found the pattern and made them for her 3 yr old daughter and posted photos of them and I just had to try them out. I didn't want to pay for the pattern because let's face it . . . when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm cheap and usually want to see if I can do it myself before I shell out the cash for the real thing. Then if I can't get it to work I happily run to the store and buy it to relieve the frustration.

For Alex and Oliver I found some photos of other dolls made with that pattern and kind of combined them to make my own pattern. Alex's face isn't quite right but I didn't notice until I had her sewn and stuffed . . . and Gennie loves her to pieces so who cares? I did better on Oliver but they aren't as big as I'd like them so I revamped the pattern to make it more what I wanted. I'll be working on some more in the near future so if any of you out there in blogland love homemade stuff as much as I do and want/need a new friend, holler at me and I'll give you the info.
(Gennie was home with a cold this week so Alex arrived just in time for some cuddling.)


ETA: Relating back to the stealing of his sister's babies, the first thing Josiah did with Oliver was to tug at his sleeves and poke him in the eye. Some things just don't change, I guess. :)