Raggedy Ann

I'm missing my boys this Halloween Eve.  A bit of the empty nest syndrome I guess.  Halloween was so exciting when they were young.  The chill in the air, the frantic last minute costume finalizations.  Seems like that's when a lot of sewing got done around our house too.  Costumes...making them or adjusting the store bought ones to fit.  I really miss that!  That's something that my mom always did for us too.  Made our costumes.  My favorite was the year I went as Raggedy Ann.  She sewed the apron and put together the rest of the outfit but the part I remember most was the red hair.  She made it out of a mop head...dyed it herself.  I recently went rummaging through my folks picture boxes but all I could find was a couple old slides.  So this print isn't the best.  But here I am as Raggedy Ann.

I actually think I look a little sad here...but my make up was running (after bobbing for apples...do they still do that?).  At least real Raggedy Ann dolls have that permanent smile and wide open eyes.  Not to mention the hidden "I love you" heart.

Raggedy Ann was my favorite doll as a child.  And when they came out with the 85 year anniversary version, my mom bought me one.  I think it was in 2000?  Anyway, I had put that in storage several years ago and recently went foraging through mountains of boxes trying to find her.  Fortunately, I did. 

So just in the last few weeks I have been entertaining the thought of making a Raggedy Ann quilt.  Specifically, I want to do one with embroidered blocks. In fact, my mom is going to help with the embroidery. At least that's my plan.   ; )   She used to do that too.  A very talented woman who passed on her love of sewing to me.  I'm thinking maybe a redwork type quilt.  If you've seen or know of any nice Raggedy Ann patterns out there, let me know.