Winter -- especially the cold we have had lately -- is a good time to stay inside and amuse oneself with one's toys. Aside from my computer, with which I have a love/hate relationship, I think my favorite toy is my Janome 4800 Quilter's Companion sewing machine. It does wonderful things! It has 223 fancy stitches, including script and block alphabets and pretty motifs.

There was a time when I made myself clothes for a conference I went to -- but living in the country doesn't afford one the opportunity to wear fancy clothes, even to church. So I have taken up making doll dresses. I found a basic pattern which I can fancy up to my heart's content, using scraps of fabric, lace and other trims, specialty threads and my imagination.

When I was little, I didn't have fancy dolls, and rarely had changes of clothing for the ones I had. So it's been fun to make things for 18-inch dolls with hair and stories about them. I have made a Christmas ball gown with velvet and satin, and some "daydresses" with lace and embroidery to pretty them up -- and tucks and pintucks and portrait collars. If I want to make a dress, it takes only a couple hours with my machine, and if the dress doesn't come out exactly right, the doll isn't going to complain!

I'm thinking of devising a way to make it a business, but I'm a little wary of taking that step. It might take all the fun out of what is now a way of letting my imagination soar.