Donut Shop On-The-Go

Earlier in the summer, I became obsessed with this project
for the girls' Christmas present. I'd always liked the idea of
playing storekeeper of any kind, which was the motivation
behind their cardboard donut shop/candy emporium/
general store. I noticed, though, that they liked the delivery
aspect of vending - they enjoyed taking orders and then
delivering whatever we wanted on little plates or (in cases of
take-out) paper bags, pushing their grocery carts or strollers
from patron to patron.

So the portable donut seller idea was born- it reminded me
a bit of crackerjacks and peanut vendors at sporting events.

You know - the kind with the little hats

and paper bags

and little pouches for holding money;

little vendors like this one:

So this little vendor model got a sneak preview of the tray


and its accessories

which, in my typical manic way, I made three sets of
two of which got sent away to other little vendors for Christmas.

What were their wares?

Well, donuts, of course -

but sewn, not fried

so they have zero calories

and still come in many flavors.

But first, credit where it is due: I first chanced upon this post
on Skip To My Lou in the summer and thought I must sew one
of her donuts with her pattern. I couldn't stop at just one,
naturally, so I cut out enough pieces for almost forty, put them
in a small storage box with embroidery floss and began
hand-stitching the "sprinkles". This became my spare-moments
project - the one I reached for while nursing Kate on the
swing on the deck in the summer, curled up on the sofa after
the kids were in bed at nights, on long car trips to visit
out-of-town family and in waiting rooms at the doctor,
dentist and (less often) hair-stylist.

Initially, they were all meant to be identical
chocolate-frosting-with-party-sprinkles

but, inspired by the seasonal colors of real donuts in our
local supermarket bakery, they diversified to represent some
of the different holidays and seasons we celebrate.

Valentines' Day: pink frosting on vanilla

Easter/Spring: vanilla frosting on chocolate

Independence Day

Thanksgiving/Fall

Christmas

and classic all-season
chocolate frosting on coffee with sugar drizzle and
a lone mocha on vanilla with chocolate sprinkles.

Three dozen donuts and six months later,
they were all sorted into their trays

and, with assembly instructions,

packed into bakery boxes
and sent on their way -

but only after passing rather stringent quality control tests
by the littlest of all donut vendors:
Don't worry, the donuts were confiscated
before she could actually eat any.

A thoroughly fun project but long. Took even longer than
the Dress-Up Box did. And challenging in parts - the tray,
for instance, was fabric over flexible plastic board. I'd
considered cardboard but it bent easily and wouldn't stand
washing. So I cut up a new Ikea flexible chopping board and,
apart from being a little heavier than I'd imagined, it worked 

well. The sewing machine and I wrestled with the corners a 

fair bit but we made it without breaking any needles!