A Swimming Pool Kind of Day

Here in Iowa and most of the Midwest there is a severe heat advisory.
The heat index today is supposed to be 115 degrees.
The only place to be today is indoors in air conditioning.
If you have to be outside the place to be is at the pool.

We grew up in Minnesota just across the Iowa border.
The public beach of Big Spirit Lake was just two miles from our home.
Big Spirit Lake is the largest natural lake in Iowa at 5,684 acres of water.
Because the lake was so close you would think that as children we would go there often.
We did not.
We only went to the lake about once a year and it was such a big deal outing.
We did however have our own private swimming pool right in our backyard ...well kind of.

This was what we used for a swimming pool.

This is not actually a picture of use three girls but it certainly could be - although we never wore swim caps.
Yes believe it or not we used a dishpan for a swimming pool.
We were much more fortunate than the 3 girls in the picture.
We did not all 3 have to crowd in one tiny little "pool".
Each of us had our own private - dishpan.

My sister Linda has always been a sewer.
You can always count on her to have a sewing kit.

Deb needed her wedding dress tucked in a bit
on wedding day…
Not a problem - just one call to Linda and problem solved.

Linda does more clothing sewing than quilting.

However, since Santa Claus brought both her and her granddaughter
American Girl dolls she has been making clothes for the dolls
instead of clothes for herself.
She says their bodies are much easier to fit than
a 60 something post menopausal body.
She also is somewhat of a shoe addict.

She had the tell-tale signs of this addiction at the early age of 4.

She found a website with sooo many adorable doll shoes.
She wanted to buy them all.
But it would be silly to buy 106 pairs of doll shoes. And then of course she would have to make 106 outfits to go with each pair of shoes.

Linda is very creative.
She came up with a plan.

I sent her fabric...

she ordered the shoes…

she sewed many adorable outfits.
All with matching shoes.
(These are just a few of them.)

(I am supposed to tell you that she forgot to
change Lanie's shoes before she took the picture.
And her sewing room does not always look like this.)

One might ask, does a doll need 106 outfits with matching shoes???
No not really.
Her plan was to make the outfits and sell them.
She donates the money to local charities in her town of Montevideo, Minnesota.
Some of the money went to buy swimming pool passes for children who could not afford passes.

It's a win win situation.
Linda gets to buy shoes and sew clothes...

and some very lucky kids are finding heat relief
at the pool on this very hot day.

Let's all try to do a win win something today.

From my heart,
Sandy