Ruthie's all Dressed and Ready to Play

Ruthie's dress is finished now.  Although it doesn't show in this photo, she also has underpants (a modest prairie dog).

After finishing the sewing, I added the crocheted trim around the collar and down the sides of the front panels.  To do the trim, I thread the end of #40 crochet cotton on a needle and make a row of small running stitches along the edge I want trimmed.  Then I can crochet the trim into those stitches.

I think she looks very pretty in her sundress.

Here's the "back story" for Ruthie and the other animals that will soon be joining her in Lone Willow:

"As the great prairie stretches far to the west the effects of the distant Rocky Mountains begin to make their presence known.  They block much of the moisture coming from the Pacific and the land becomes arid, soon to give way to the American southwest desert landscape.  The places where the two landscapes meet are neither here nor there - neither prairie nor desert - good places to pass through, places that time forgot after most of the few hardy settlers who chose to take a risk here moved on.  Despite all that, the chuchyard at Lone Willow is a peaceful place.  The breeze murmurs gently through the leaves of that lovely tree.  And under the tree, the animals find respite from the summer heat as well as some shelter from the winter's cold."