Every once in a while I get a custom doll order that gets me even more excited than usual.

When a mom contacted me about making Laura and Mary Ingalls dolls for her little sweetie's birthday, I couldn't wait to get started! As a little girl, I loved the show Little House on the Prairie, and even more close to my heart are the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I started with red calico and brown braids for Laura and blue calico and blonde braids for Mary.

Another essential piece was going to be the bonnets. I made these from some really pretty Liberty of London-esque vintage cloth napkins.

I modified the bonnet from a vintage Holly Hobbie doll pattern to fit these dolls. Isn't this sweet?

The dolls also needed some little white pinafore aprons over their prairie dresses, and then faces painted. Laura with violet eyes and Mary with soft blue.

Here they are completed and in their bonnets.

And here they are in their special winter cloaks, a sweet extra my brilliant customer added on.

I enjoyed this project so much and was so inspired by it that I've decided to reread the Little House books this summer, starting with this one:

If you are interested in a custom made doll of your favorite book character, click here for doll options, and here for costume and outfit extras.

With just a few hours until we ring in the new year, I wanted to look back on this year in my blog. Here are the top posts of the year by reader page views!

1. My Living Room Redo (top center)- It was so fun to document the transformation of my living room!

2. Decorating On A Dime (middle right)- Where I shared my tips for thrifting great home decor.

3. 4 Reasons a Custom Doll Might Be a Perfect Grad Gift (top right)- A fresh new idea for the ever-difficult-to-shop for Graduate.

4. Vintage Sewing Notions (top left)- It was a joy to take the time to photograph the pretty packaging of the vintage trims I've collected.

5. Mary Poppins Doll (middle center)- A childhood favorite comes to life!

6. Vintage Flower Brooches (middle left)- Another fun thrifted collection that I shared this year! (Many more to come in 2014!)

7. Hen and Chick Patterns (bottom center)- A new venture for me, I now have 10 different PDF sewing patterns in my shop! It was fun to look back at this post, the first two.

8. Halloween Dolls (bottom left)- I was thrilled by the support these stripey legged beauties received!

Thank you to all of my readers who have made it a joy to write this blog this year! I look forward to sharing lots more with you in 2014, from my latest dolls, to my latest vintage collection, to the state of my garden, it's going to be a great year, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it with you! Happy New Year!

This fox design is truly my pride and joy. I first designed him about two years ago. And though I've sold several, and have been featured in the Plush You! Art Show and the upcoming Stuffed Magazine with this fellow, he is very detailed and takes a fair amount of time to put together, making him a bit out of most stuffed animal shopper's price range. But he is so so fun and satisfying to make, so I decided to create a detailed, step by step tutorial/pattern and release him into the world for others to enjoy making!

I am so proud of the construction of his face, his elbows akimbo, his upturned tail, and his little tailored vest and collar, but I think I'm most proud of the way my son loves the fox I made for him. I had to make a new fox from start to finish for the pattern, because even though the pattern is tried and true, I needed to take photos of the creation at each point along the way. So I promised my son that the one I was making for the pattern was to be his very own, and I was so touched by how excited he was about that. Now that it's finished, he's been setting the fox on the couch beside him when he watches TV, on his headboard at bedtime. All of this with a kid who is used to him mom making him stuffed animals regularly! This is by far the most appreciative he's been of a mom-made toy.

I hope your kid feels the same when you make one for him or her!

Here's an example of a photo from the tutorial. Each step has at least one (and sometimes more) photo to guide you in the creation of your dapper fellow.

The pattern is available immediately via instant download! You simply print it out and you can begin your project right away.

I am currently finishing up a pattern for Fox's friend, Badger! And shortly after that I will begin to create the pattern for their friend Raccoon. And somewhere a little further down the road I plan to create a pattern of a Hare, as well as a sweet little Robin couple.

I can't wait to show you the Stuffed Magazine feature, because my son helped me make up such sweet stories for these little creatures; I'll share them with you when the August issue of the magazine comes out, any day now!

You can find the Dapper Fox Pattern in my Etsy shop now!

I'm so excited to announce my new line of throw pillow covers! I've been mentally working on these for a while. You see, I have so much wonderful fabric. And using it all up on tiny doll dresses and such would take 3 lifetimes!

I've also been wanting to branch out into some home decor products for quite a while. The perfect solution was to create these pillow covers! They combine my two favorite styles: modern, bold decorator fabrics with vintage floral fabrics and trims.

I think they are perfect for a bright a cheery punch of color on a living room couch, or a perfect compliment to a kid's bed or chair in a child's room.

Saturday night, I had the opportunity to attend the 20th annual Chair Affair design competition here in Boise.

I was my friend Amy Pence-Brown's plus one. She is one of my favorite people. I enjoy her company so much and I always meet new interesting people when I'm with her. She seriously knows everyone in town.

This was the 20th annual Chair Affair! Most of the chair (or table) designs were by college students. Many of the designs featured recycled materials, which I loved.

One of the highlights on the night for me was winning a chair in the raffle! Coincidentally, so did another friend who was there, Kathleen Probst.

Another highlight was meeting Jordan Cappella, who is an HGTV Design Star finalist, and was a guest judge for Chair Affair. He was lovely and so nice!

It was a lovely night of great company! Follow my Instagram feed for more pictures: @HenAndChick