At the sewing machine

That is where I have spent most of the day today. I got a lot of quilting done on my Baños piece today. I am still amazed at how much quilting adds. If you ask me why I prefer to work with fabric rather than paint or something else, this might be why. Here is the vine with part of the leaves quilted and part yet to quilt.

And a closeup of the quilted leaves.

The quilting really is a fun part of the process for me—very spontaneous and free. I don't mark any of it. I just go at it. You can see that I am not really precise at all. Stitch length varies, which is kind of a point of disagreement among quilters. Purists strive for very uniform stitch length. I strive for "good enough."

After lunch I put the quilt aside and started on doll clothes. I rummaged through my stash and found everything I needed, avoiding a trip to the fabric store. I even had the buttons for the shirt in my tin of buttons. Sofia had specified that she wanted "pants and a shirt with buttons."  Nothing fancy here. No pockets, zippers, collar, trims.

This is Tati the tattooed baby. Not the prettiest doll I have ever seen, but beloved by Sofia. (If anyone knows a good way to remove ballpoint pen ink from vinyl I'd love to know. Emily and I have tried everything we could think of.) She has had the doll for a couple of years. It came dressed in a knit sleeper. Sofia has been quite happy to carry her around naked up until recently.

I also made her a pair of panties, not shown. Kristin's suggestion for a simple dress sounded great so I made this dress, gathered with elastic cord. The elastic makes it really easy to get on and off. I did fancy it up a bit with the heart applique.

Sofia will be over this evening for awhile and will probably be pretty excited to see the new clothes. In my rummaging I found a scrap of aqua fleece that I think will be perfect for a little jacket, but I will make that later.