A special gift for a special girl

The wait to bring H. (that's our daughter-to-be's initial) is already weighing heavily on me.  I'm sure that some of it has to do with the fact that there is still a small part of me that has never quite recovered from the eons long wait for K.  I will never understand this side of heaven why we had to wait for so long for him while he was not quite thriving in his orphanage.  I'm remembering that sense of depression I had a little too clearly these past couple of days.  I'm going to have to give myself a good talking to, because my conservative estimate puts us travelling in November at the earliest with January '12 a strong possibility.  The bright side is that H. is in a wonderful place where she is being cared for and nurtured and loved.  Outside of being home with us, I couldn't ask for a better situation for her.  I've wallowed for two days and now it's time to move on with life.

It does help to make preparations for her, though.  Here is a project I started before we received the official green light, hoping that H. would be allowed to become our daughter.  It's a felt playbook for a felt doll that will be perfect for travelling.  It is still very much a work in progress.  These three felt panels will be attached to an outside cover that will have H.'s name embroidered on it and it will fold into thirds for easy packing.  (Please ignore the worse than usual photographs.)

The left panel has two pockets to keep the loose things in, the center panel is a bedroom, and the right panel is a picnic.

Here is the felt doll who lives in the playhouse.  I still want to put shoes on her and experiment with a coat.

The bed has a separate pillow and blanket as well as a book (of course) and a teddy bear.

The blanket will be sewn down, but the picnic basket and plates of food are separate.  The apple tree also needs a few more apples.

Here is a closer shot of the plates of food... two plates, each with half a sandwich and a banana.

There is still quite a bit to do, but I have a few months to finish it.  It has become the project I grab when I head out the door and I know I will be sitting with idle hands.  I wish I could take full credit for the idea.  I have really just altered a similar idea I saw at ikat bag.  (One of my very favorite craft and sewing blogs.)

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And finally the giveaway winner.  Using a random number generator (because choosing one number between 1 and 5 by myself is too much work), commenter number 1 wins!  So, Jennifer, I'll be contacting you with the details.