Pillowcase dress question

 Recently in a church periodical there was an article about making dresses from pillowcases for children in Africa.  We have a group going on a mission trip in April... not to Africa, but a place where the little girls would love to have a new dress.  Word has got out and I received a call from an elderly lady who had lots of pillowcases, so I went to pick up a whole bag of gently used pillowcases with the hope that our quilting group could convert them into cute little dresses.

My problem arose when I pulled out 4 of these "house" pillowcases with a great ruffle on the bottom.  They would make real cute girly dresses with that ruffle, but the houses are sideways.  I have thought of cutting a square out and turning the house, and stitching it back in place in the correct orientation, but I'm not sure it would turn out OK.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I should deal with this house issue?  Is there something I could add, or cover up, or should I cut the front off and sew the backs from two to the front of the other two... if that makes any sense.  We will tackle this project after the first of the year, so I do have some time to think on it... but in the meantime I thought someone might have a good alternative.
 
On another totally different note, the other day I was looking for something in my sewing room. In the process of my search, I uncovered a few UFOs.  Not all of my UFOs are quilting related.  I had a few knitting projects and a cro-knit afghan among those that I discovered. I have already finished 3 of those UFOs... two scarves and the afghan.  I have alot more knitting needles than I remembered having. There are many quilting projects as well, hiding in my sewing room, and I think I need to make a list and add to it when I make these discoveries... so they don't stay lost too long.

I finished one of my own quilts that will be a Christmas present.  This has been an ongoing project for more than a couple years... the pieced blocks anyhow.  Originally it was for one grandson who is now too old to appreciate John Deere... at least not a quilted one.  The panel was a great find on eBay.

I have a couple grand-daughters that will be receiving their first sewing machines this Christmas.  I have decided to put together a sewing kit for each of them.  One of my additions to their boxes I finished in one afternoon... these cute little pincushions.  I asked my husband which chicken was the cutest... I didn't take the time to make the new ones from 2 little log cabin squares .  Even though the beak and comb on the new ones are cuter... he thought the original one I made a couple years ago was much cuter. Quicker is not always better.

I lost my directions and did a Google search and found some pretty good instructions.  The part I liked the best was the filling.  I had previously used sand.  This lady used rice.  Now I'm thinking rice was too coarse and would look pokey.  She used a little coffee grinder to run the rice through.  What a great idea... I never would have considered that... but it worked beautifully. There are still bits of rice, but most of it is almost the consistency of coarse salt.  I think the girls will like these... they won't have my original to compare it to.