Before I do today’s post, and before it gets past the Christmas season, I wanted to share just a few pictures from the Operation 350 that my family was a part of a few short weeks ago. Operation 350 is an event that has been going on for 17 years and is held at a church here in town that operates the Food Pantry where I help out. Each Christmas they help 350 needy families with food, toys for their children and other needs that they might have. It is quite an operation and they run it very well. My hubby was a counselor for people who wanted to talk to someone, and he also helped box and stack up all the 350 food boxes (actually 700 boxes as it was two 25 pound boxes for each family). Anyway, here are just a few pictures from the day… He’s not in any of my pictures, but his fingerprints are on a LOT of those boxes!!!
(Once again, if your pictures are small, like some of mine are on my iPad, click on them to see a larger view.)
Parents who had children were allowed to come into the Toy Room and pick out an age appropriate toy for their children and then bring them to the area where Rebecca and I were set up as gift wrappers for their toys. I was told they had 1500 toys in the room and I believe it! It was like Toys R Us in there…
We had several gift wrappers and decided to cut our wrapping paper into small, medium and large squares ahead of time so we’d be ready when the parents started coming with their toys. I don’t know how many toys we all wrapped, but it was A LOT!!! Rebecca and I even wrapped a POGO Stick… and it looked great! The man couldn’t believe it. Yep, that’s my Rebecca standing there with the long red hair…
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It’s time to continue looking back at 2015 and see what all I accomplished… If you missed yesterday’s post, you can see Part 1 HERE.
Up for the first time in 2015 is Saige in her “Sweet and Sassy” set…
Ten Ping is the favorite in the house for a while, so she got another turn at modeling…this time… “Razzle Dazzle.”
Next was my nieces’s wedding out in Pennsylvania. Here are the final flower girl dresses on Hannah and Nora… they stole the show…especially when they danced at the reception…
Rebecca shows off her Civil War skills when she modeled “Let There be Lavender.”
Now it’s time for some Patriotic dresses… Lian starts us off…
Patsy Tonner and Elin show us a little “Patriotic Pride” next…
Saige got another turn at modeling again… this time in the Civil War era…in a dress I called “Second Glance.”
Ten Ping still seemed to be the favorite in the house… here she is in “Ain’t She Sweet?”
My Effner girls got another chance at modeling…it’s now school time, so you’ll see them in “School Girl Charm.”
Molly is showing off her green jumper and new white blouse…
Julie is showing us something from the 70’s again… “Pink Paisley…” It was my only dress this year that didn’t sell… I think I listed it too late in the season…so you’ll probably see it re-done for Valentine’s Day…
Eden filled in as Maryellen for me in a dress I called “Teacher’s Pet.” Another favorite of mine this year…
Ten Ping is still wanting to show off her modeling skills by showing you how pretty she looks in her black and red plaid dress…
Next up was Felicity in “Colonial Charm.” Everyone voted for what fabric to make my new Felicity’s dress out of… this green and red fabric won…
Janie, my 13″ Little Darling, showed her country side when she showed you how she could play the guitar…and look sweeter than ever…and I learned how to make cowboy boots…
A sweet Josefina came to live at my house in October and this was her first dress…”Muy Bonita.” I learned to make new moccasins for her too…
Sweet little Ten Ping seems to be stealing the show with her 6th dress of the year… this one called “Fall Fever”…
“Bluebell,” a Regency dress got a quick preview right before Christmas… Elizabeth always looks good in blue…
Well, I’m sorry, but I have so many dresses, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to see the last of my dresses…I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s looking back over the year…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a good idea this dress review was. We get to see our favorites again — I’m very fond of the green jumper and I see several others I could cheerfully live with — and you get to see how much work you did. There’s the early evolution of Ten Ping’s shoes that shouldn’t be overlooked. And the starts on her 4th of July dress. There’s my favorite green ribbon on the lovely Let There Be Lavender. I definitely want to see more of Josefina.
On a related topic, how does Kit look now?
I forgot to mention Hannah and Nora, who are wonderful. In the picture with the bridesmaids’ dresses, the younger one looks quite a bit like Ten Ping.
The food and toy project looks enormous. I don’t know what the project would do without all of you. And I thought wrapping my presents for mailing was a project. You all must have come home hoping never to see another box. You have made a lot of people happy, which is what matters the most.
HI Marilyn,
It was fun for me to see them all again.. makes me wish I could have gotten to everyone on my doll shelf… the poor Ellowyne dolls got completely left out… that should tell me something…
I haven’t had a moment to work on Kit’s lips…but I did get her out and was studying her look…
I had to look back at Nora and she does resemble Ten Ping just a little bit…I think it’s that stoic look perhaps…
Yes, the 350 project was a huge endeavor… I should have found out how many volunteers they had… MANY…
I was kidding Rebecca on the way home that day, telling her we’d probably be wrapping presents in our sleep! I don’t remember if I did… I was too tired… :o)
Thanks so much Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
I enjoyed your photos of your Operation 350 event. What a toy room that is! You must have wrapped hundreds of packages. And, what a lot of boxes of food! Does each box contain a mixture of food items? After our monthly church dinner (for those in need) the guests can pick out a bagful or two of groceries from the harvest table. We were all there on Sunday to help out; over 100 people came for dinner and groceries. We gave away a LOT of food!
Wow! You’ve made a lot of (beautiful) dresses this year. Have you counted them all up? Marilyn is right, Nora does look like Ten Ping in that group photo. What a cutie pie!
HI Cindy,
I wish I had remembered to put that panoramic setting on my phone and taken a 360 picture. It would have shown so much more than what I captured in my shots. There were books that went with stuffed animals all behind me, and sports jerseys and shorts too! They seriously had just about everything there!
Most of the boxes had the same type of stuff in them…. a big can of veggies, a box of crackers, cookies, soups, noodles, and lots more. Then as they went out the door with their 2 boxes on the dolly, they were given a frozen turkey or frozen chicken, a bag of onions, a 10# bag of potatoes, a carton of milk and sweet potatoes if they liked… The people had to have help with those dolly’s getting all their items…
Yes, there were 42 dresses made this year… a few more for a few people, the flower girls dresses, and tons of slips…
My sewing room needs a makeover in the worst way… we have yarn everywhere from last minute Skinny Scarf orders…
Thanks Cindy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I have followed your blog all year and had forgotten some of those outfits you made, so a recap was nice. The light purple dress on Rebecca is just beautiful; and Josefina is my fave, so I like anything on her.
Good job on Operation 350. I was the ministry leader for our church food pantry for several years, and I know how much work and organization effort it requires. But, it is so rewarding, especially during the holidays.
Thank you Carolyn,
I have some favorites in the bunch too… I wonder what I’ll make first for the new year???
It was very hard work but you are so right, it was very much a wonderful thing to be a part of…
Thank you Carolyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Our charity is called Christmas Cheer. People have certain days where they can apply and they amount they receive right before Christmas depends on how much money they make during the year and how many bills they have. Some people get 1 box, others get several and they are all boxed up for you personally depending on who lives with you, what gender/how many children you have, and so forth. 🙂
HI Christine,
I’m sure every town has some little something for the needy people in their community..at least I hope they do. I don’t know much about how the people are chosen for this…I do know they got to sign up right after Thanksgiving and it was quickly filled up…
I like the name of yours – – Christmas Cheer.
Blessings, Jeanne
I also participated in a Christmas event like Operation 350 at my church. Like you said, I had never seen so many new and nice toys and clothes in one place. They were all donated or bought with donated money, and it was spectacular. I was a wrapper and each wrapper was in a room alone with the family and their family guide. I had time to pray with each family as they were leaving with their gifts. It was certainly a blessing for the families, but I found that I was blessed greatly with the experience.
Love your dresses, and looking forward to what you come up with in the new year!
HI Anna,
Thanks for sharing how your church helped the needy here at Christmas time… It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of… I’m sure I’ll help out again next year.
It’s hard not to be blessed when you are a part of something like this, isn’t it?
I’m not sure who will be first, maybe I’ll just continue my list…and I’m not sure what I’ll start with… I guess we’ll see…
Thanks Anna,
Blessings, Jeanne
Yes, Nora’s expression does look exactly like Ten Ping’s. Thanks for doing this retrospective. I’m always so impressed with the attention to detail and how beautiful they all are! And now how many in one year!
I wondered how you knew what kind of toys went to boys or girls. I thought you were wrapping packages to be given out but didn’t realize the parents picked them out. That’s a wonderful way to do it. For the Fire Department, no wrapping is necessary.
Your real live Rebecca is just beautiful Her hair is lovely and every bit as long as the dolls’ hair. No wonder you don’t keep any doll dresses for yourself when you have the real thing to dress.
Can’t wait to see more dresses and thanks for the new hobby.
HI Susette,
The more I look at the picture of Nora, the more I see Ten Ping in her face… how sweet… :o)
I made 42 dresses this year…not a great number, but I tried…
It was fun to be in the Toy Room and help the parents out with the gifts for their kids. We let them in 3 at a time, so it wasn’t overly crowded…and we had the gifts on shelves, by categories… Young boys, Older boys, babies and Toddlers, Young girls and Older girls. We asked the parents questions like, “does your son like sports? , does she play with dolls? , is she a girly girl?, is she into reading? Does she like stuffed animals? and it was pretty easy to find something…
Tonight Rebecca was going to a cookout (on the first day of winter mind you!!!) and I french braided her long hair in 2 braids…it was pretty… she is lovely and so is her long red hair!
I’m glad you are enjoying sewing for your dolls!
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne! What a wonderful project Operation 350 is! It is so nice to know that there are such caring, wonderful people all over to spread Christmas cheer and Christ’s love! It doesn’t matter what denomination you belong to, it all comes down to loving your neighbor. We too, have a program like that at our church, which involves both food and gifts. It never ceases to amaze me how generous people are this time of the year when it is needed the most.
I am always amazed at how much variety you have in your beautiful doll dresses, Jeanne! They are all special and different. It certainly would be a dream to have a dress made by Jeanne Marie of my very own!
I had to laugh at Susette for mentioning that you have your very own real life Rebecca to dress!! I’m sure that happened a long time ago, but I think maybe now your real life Rebecca is doing her own dressing! Sorry Susette, but it just got me!
HI Linda,
Yes, I think the communities all around the country are doing lots for the needy families. It’s nice to be able to help out.
I’ve known several seamstresses who have sold all of their dolls except for one kind and sew exclusively for that doll. I’m not sure I would enjoy that…but things might move along quicker though. I do like the variety of my dolls… sizes and period wise…
Yes, Rebecca does her own dressing now…but there was a time… when I could make a princess dress and she’d love it! not so much now…
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
That 350 group is wonderful…love the idea that you wrap the gifts tooo…because otherwise I” bet they just didn’t wait till Christmas to get the gift.
There were so many darling outfits…your accessories are always set the mood and make it so individual!
Enjoy the rest of the week!
Christmas Hugs
Kathie
HI Kathie,
Thanks so much for your kind compliments on my doll dresses this year… I need to count up how many teddy bears I went through this year… hmmmm….
I do plan to enjoy tomorrow and Thursday… I need to get some shopping done though… yikes!
Blessings and big Christmas hugs to you too,
~ Jeanne
All the dresses are great, but my favorites are the 4th of July! Love the r/w/&b.
Having just finished wrapping here, your efforts were appreciated for sure.
HI Joy,
I’ve already seen some patriotic fabrics in the stores now, so I guess it’s never too early to find a new one that grabs you…
Thanks so much for your kind comments…
Blessings, Jeanne
I see that I typed “starts” instead of “stars” — I meant I liked the stars on Ten Ping’s patriotic dress.
To see the blog, I have to go to the end of the screen and then move to the top. This is especially nice right now as I move from Blue Christmas favorites, through My Life clothes, to Jeanne Marie Part One, and the Jeanne Marie Part Two. All those beautiful dresses — what a treat.
I am so glad that other people think Nora looks like Ten Ping in that photo.
HI Marilyn,
I read right over the “starts” from you…but will leave it since you’ve posted this correction!!!
Tomorrow will be one more day of dresses… I’m glad you have enjoyed them… I have too!
Blessings, Jeanne