Make Something Monday #11

Since joining Swapbot, I have found myself practically unable to pass up any Dotee doll swaps. Dotees are little dolls (from 4-6 inches) with a hanger and a tail. They are usually embellished and often the swaps have some kind of theme. I have acquired a darling collection of the little hanging dolls for my sewing room. They hang sweetly from the edge of a high shelf over my sewing machine. I posted a picture a while back of the first Dotee I received in a swap, but I haven't posted any pictures of the Dotee's that I have made. So here is the little army of Dotees that I have sent out to places as far as Israel and Canada and quite a few states.

Thank goodness for running water!

We're all doing a happy dance here for running water. It's similar to a rain dance, I think, but more in the thankful line than the asking line! We woke up this morning to all frozen pipes. It had dropped into the single digits last night, and we forgot to take the precaution of letting the faucets drip before bed. We do have an outdoor freeze-proof faucet so I was able to bring some water in from outside. While trying to defrost, we enjoyed these yummy breakfast puffs made from a recipe posted on be the thread. Then just as we were finishing up our late brunch and I was trying to figure out the best way of cleaning up without water, Ivy tried the faucet and it spluttered! Thankfully we had water again and no broken pipes, which is always a worry for when they thaw out.

I'm longing for warmer weather. Usually we get through the winters pretty unscathed here. We normally have a couple snowfalls that keep me from getting my minivan up and down the driveway for a couple days, but usually we can get my husband's 4wd Blazer in and out. Last week we had no power for a day, and this week no water. It was the first time in over five years that we have lost power for more than a couple minutes. It was out about 12 hours. I don't know which was worse, but I think I am going to go with no power because our furnace needs power to operate. So it was a wee bit chilly last week, and we wound up packing the tribe up and walking over the hill to my parents' house. They live right next door. (Down a treacherously slippery driveway if it's covered with snow and slush. I only fell once...) I'm going to double check with hubby, but I think it's a very good possibility that we forgot to pay the weather man off this year!

While doing without, it always strikes me how much we rely on things like power and running water. We don't even realize it until we have to go without. For instance, last week, I had taken a few candles into the bathroom and was returning to light them. As I walked into the bathroom, lighter in hand and eyes focused on the candles, I reached to flip the light on! Duh...there's no power--that's why I'm lighting candles! This morning as I was cooking, I kept turning to the sink to rinse my hands or wet the sponge. It's so much extra work having to bring water from outside (even if the faucet is two steps from our porch) and heat it on the stove. I considered doing dishes--even had gotten so far as to fill the sink with hot water when I realized I needed something to rinse the dishes also and that brought my plans to a screeching halt. I felt pretty secure in the knowledge that nobody was going to bother trudging up our hill in this cold and snow, so I left the dishes until we had water. It makes me admire our ancestors who really worked for the simple things we take for granted and thankful that most of the time we do enjoy these conveniences.

And look what arrived today in the mail! A little Dotee doll named Ruby and all dressed for the cold weather. I received her as part of a red Dotee Doll swap on Swapbot. She came with the cutest card and story, too. She's from Wales where it is also a bit chilly, and she admired the wooly warmness of the sheep there. So that's why she is all wooly and warm. Plus she has her snuggly hat and scarf to keep her toasty--and a good thing too with the weather we've been having! I did have to fight Ivy for her, but I think I prevailed! Thanks Haloquin for sending her!

Swapping Fun

I somehow stumbled across Swap-bot in my wanderings. I thought it looked fun, especially the craft related swaps. But I found that lots of swaps are restricted for people with plenty of good feedback from completed swaps already. So it sort of means you have to start with smaller swaps and work up to larger ones when you have the ratings to back you up.

My first swap is taking place right now. I signed up for a fast turnaround swap where you have two people you are to send 4 cards to and in return, you will receive 4 cards from two other people signed up in the swap. I have actually already received my cards from the people who sent to me. I'm sending my cards out tomorrow because I didn't get a chance to finish up my little gift bags for the cards until this afternoon. The first set that showed up for me included 4 cards made from pretty handmade paper and a pretty writing pen. The second set had four square cards of pretty papers and colorful envelopes plus two sweet little thank you cards and a little note from the sender. I'm sending out two sets of four different cards enclosed in little fabric gift bags that I whipped up with little felt birdies on the front. I considered doing two different fabrics for the bags, but wound up using the same because both people listed red as one of their favorite colors.

I'm looking forward to a fat quarters fabric swap around the end of the month. And in between, I also have a bookmark swap that I signed up for. And then maybe once I have a few ratings under my belt, I'd like to start signing up for some of the more crafting related swaps. Some of the popular swaps over there seem to be Dotee dolls. They are simple little dolls that you can hang up and most also have some kind of tail. They are really decorations, not toys. I see a great potential for them as sewing room decorations! You can see a bunch of them in the Dotee Dolls Flickr group.