Craft Hope Dolls

A few days ago, I was searching my way through blogland when I came upon Jade over at Craft Hope and her wonderful doll project for the Casa Bernabe Orphanage in Nicaragua.  The stories and photos throughout her site  are so heart-touching and full of love, all of them illustrating  their mission of helping others through handmade projects.  Be prepared, you will want to sew at least a dozen dolls – if not more!
I’m trying to make this a family project, with all four of the kids sewing their own doll to send.  I will probably need a lot of patience to see this through!  But nonetheless, we got started last  night.  One doll cut out and 4 more to go!
We are using the free pattern at Make Baby Stuff.  It’s straightforward and I think my kids will be able to handle sewing the seams with minimal(hopefully!) guidance. 
This is ds#1’s doll all set to be sewn.  He wanted to make a boy doll in case there were boys at the orphanage, too.  I assured him that there probably were boys living there, and that I was sure they would appreciate having a boy doll.  So we adjusted the pattern a little to reflect more of a shirt rather than a skirt – hopefully it will work!  I was really surprised (and proud) of his conversation while we worked.  He asked a lot of questions about the orphanage, why the kids were living there, what was it like living there, and even about the type of clothing they wore – all of it packaged together makes for some pretty heavy stuff for a 10 year old!   I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our next sewing session goes as smoothly! 
~Elizabeth~