A Beginning

While I am not at my leisure to spend hours documenting all that went on during Project Dollway (the baby just does not nap as much as one might think! hehehe) I will try to document both what I remember of the interactions with Ted and what went on in MY head as I designed.

The first thing to note is how we got picked in the first place.

I was very excited when I read about the competition. I love to draft patterns and enjoy the "challenges" set by some of my loyal customers, many of whom send pics or fabric with a gorgeous vision in mind. It often takes several shots, but I like to think that I can usually produce what they were dreaming of for their collection.

I was so excited that I tried to get everyone I knew among my doll sewing friends to also apply. This was in February. The deadline was the 1st of March I believe. I sifted through my pics and found a few of my favorites. I wanted to show a variety of dolls, a variety of styles and yet still be very clear about my style and preferences. (While it doesn't happen very often, occasionally things get made here in this office that are decidedly not "boxpleat" even when I made them.)

Here is a link for the page I submitted as my "Application" for Project Dollway:

Application


The day after the application was due we received an urgent message from our representative at
"LDS Family Services"
(our adoption agency) saying that a birthmother had selected us. They hesitated in calling us because the birthfather was saying that he would refuse to sign the paperwork, but had decided to let us know so we could begin to prepare, just in case. The baby was due April 2.

I can't remember if it was before or after the deadline that I ran in to Pat Henry (one of the Sponsors and Judges of the competition) in a chat room. Jokingly I told her that they needed to pick me so that we would get our baby. Surely an international competition stretching out for months would be enough "inconvenience" for even our family. I think this chat may have actually occurred BEFORE we had gotten word from the agency. We have a long tradition of "inconvenience" as part of our family planning. After 4 unsuccessful years, and a decision to "not TRY" while we were going to be in a different state every 6 weeks for almost a year, Miss Senneth (now almost 5) made her belated appearance on the scene. I didn't see the same physician more than twice during my whole pregnancy!

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