Dolls for My Girls (from their drawings)

I need to write about these dolls.  I had planned them for a very long time and finally finished them this spring.  They now live in Brooklyn and I hope they are well taken care of.  It was truly a labor of love.

They are modeled after drawings that my girls did when they were about 3 1/2 years old.  I saved the drawings...they are in a frame on a shelf in my bedroom.  Some time ago I saw...maybe on Etsy or some blog or somewhere...dolls modeled after children's drawings.  

I had no idea how to start...so I just did.  I enlarged the pictures at home on our printer/copier.  The entire pattern fit an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.  I used Sulky Sticky Fabri-Sollvy (a self-adhesive, fabric-like, water soluble stabilizer...magic stuff) to transfer the pattern to linen cloth (an old pair of my pants).  I still wasn't sure what to do next.  So I just started.  I did the long-legged guy first.

I used whatever embroidery stitch felt right.  There is a lot of chain stitch.  It made a bolder outline and I love filling in with it.  I hadn't planned on the hair but I love it.  You can't see it well but the drawing does have a tuft of yellow-gold hair.

The back of this doll is made from Dad's old t-shirt....I included Jo's (the artist) initials, the date the picture was drawn, and my initials.

I used chain stitch again on the second doll.  The skirt is made from a scrap of batik that Cara brought back from her study-abroad in Ghana.  The circles are stitched with a running stitch to give it more texture.  My friend, Karen, gave me some pointers on this one as I was making it.  The back of this doll is made from a skirt that I wore to Cara's graduation from Guilford College.

I have plans to do this again.  My mentee, Meosha, drew a snail that I hope to finish some time soon.

Like the dolls, I will just start stitching.

Girls' Day

The Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri) or Girls' Day is March 3.  That's today.  So why am I so late coming to this game?  My house is filled with dolls.  Every room has at least one doll.  Some have many more.  I also am the mother to two girls.  So why didn't we celebrate Girls' Day?  I am sure that I knew about it at least 14 years ago.  I have no idea.

But it is never too late to start.  And it gives me an excuse to start sharing my dolls.  So in celebration of Girls' Day here is a quick picture of a few of the dolls that live here.

From left to right:

My mother's doll, probably around 1935; a plastic baby doll that my parents picked up at a flea market, I think; another doll that my parents found somewhere (It was a tradition for my dad to give me a doll every year for Christmas);  my guilty pleasure Blythe doll; Betsy McCall doll, around 1962; Raggedy Ann made for me when I went to college, 1973; black doll was a Christmas gift in 1971; another flea market find; Sister Belle by Mattel...she talked...one of the first...gift in 1961 when I had my tonsils removed; Mimi Kirchner doll bought two years ago.

You have no idea the can of worms I have opened here.

I Really Needed This

We live in an 85 year old house with very little storage space....as in no big closets, no pantry, and very little cabinet space.  So the last thing I need is another set of dishes.  But that is exactly what I bought a few weeks ago.  I just couldn't resist.

I stopped by an estate sale with two friends after we finished our morning walk.  These dishes just screamed at me.  Of course I had neither money nor checkbook with me and I seriously told myself that I just couldn't find a place to put them.  I went home.  And I kept thinking about them.

Around noon I went back...checkbook in hand.  I had decided that they couldn't possibly still be there...the price was too good.  And I was going to be okay with that.  But they were still there...and I bought them...along with a book of short stories, a travel guide to Costa Rica, and Bill Clinton & family paper dolls.

They rode around in the back of my car for a few weeks.  I finally unpacked them and I have found a place to put most of them...well, maybe half of them.  I originally thought they were carnival glass...but after researching, I find that they are actually yelllow irridescent depression glass.  They were made by Federal Glass Co. between 1933 and 1939.  The pattern is called Normandie. 

So now I have 78 pieces....and couldn't be happier about it.

It's Fall!!

And we're just hanging out in the pumpkin patch.

The William H. Johnson Dolls

William H. Johnson (1901-1970) was one America's most important African American painters.  I admire his work immensely.  I have this in my office/upstairs hall.

A number of years ago...maybe 15...at a gift shop in the neighborhood, I found these dolls.

I do not know the craftman's name but I do remember that she modeled her dolls after William H. Johnson characters.  They are special.

The Crazy Quilt

A labor of love...and a lot of work.  This quilt was a long time in the making.  My great-grandmother, Mary Allen, pieced it sometime around 1940.  I'm not sure how my mom knew when she made it.  She never shared that.  But somehow it came into her possession and was stored in her cedar chest for as long as I can remember.  We used to take it out and admire it from time to time.  But Mom finally decided to finish it.

It is mostly made from scraps of satin, but evidently Mary ran out of that and finished it with cotton scraps.  Mom embellished it with embroidery and, in some cases, scraps of lace, etc.  I know that she had great fun finding the right patterns to use...and I think she designed some of them herself.

My mom was an amazing seamstress and did beautiful handwork.  This was her last big project.  Soon after she finished it, and probably before that, she started getting pretty forgetful and confused...making it all the more special.

Guilty Pleasure

Or one of my guilty pleasures....

I bought  a Blythe doll!  Don't ask why...there is no reason except that I wanted one and I could.  But now she needs cool clothes and cool shoes and a new haircut.  I think that the very talented Cara Craig of Figaro Salon (and author of Hair Peace) will give the trim.  As for the cool clothes...stay tuned.

They're Home!

My dolls are home...my Mimi Kirchner dolls that is.  I blogged about them here.  They will be my inspiration..if I ever get around to making dolls.

Little Red Riding Hood living on the living room sofa.

Sweater Baby living in the spare room upstairs.

I Bought This!

If you read my last post you know that I am in love with the work of Mimi Kirchner.  Mimi is having a sale at her Etsy Shop.  The sale started yesterday morning and runs through Monday.  I may have been the first person to log on Thursday morning...I actually logged on before she marked things down.

And I bought this.

This is actually one of her older dolls..I think it was made in 2006...and was just added to the shop Thursday morning.  I also bought a Sweater Baby.  I couldn't find a picture on the blog but will post one of both of them when they arrive.  They are on the way!!!

Blog Envy

You don't get added to my blog list easily...as I don't get added to almost anyone's blog list ever :)  If you are related to me you probably go on automatically...but I think you are worth it.  But if you are not related to me...you must really rock.  Recently added...Doll...oh, the work of Mimi Kirchner...I so want to be her...doll envy...whatever!!!

Favorite Things-Part 2

I love my house...or should I say home.  It's not big...actually it's kind of small...but there are only two of us now so it is big enough.  Getting to only two of us and dealing with a small house is another story.

There are so many "favorite things" here.  Some are pretty obvious.  But I don't think this one is...I doubt that my family has even noticed it. 

This sits on a shelf right at the front door.  I see it every morning when I go out to get the newpaper.  First, I love the bowl.  It is one of several carnival glass pieces that I have.  The bowl is filled with deodar cedar cones that we saved from a tree that used to be in our front yard.  It was a beautiful tree and produced beautiful cones...they look like flowers.  For a while it was just the bowl and the cones. 

My dad died in February 2009.  He was special...in oh so many ways :).  He was a wood carver, among other things...and the bird in the bowl was an unfinished piece that I took from his workbench.  It just seemed to want to be here.

Favorite Things-Part I

The Bottle Tree

Several years ago BC ran over a yellow jacket hole while mowing the grass.  Needless to say, the yellow jackets were quite angry...and of course, they took it all out on BC...swarming, stinging, and stinging some more.  By the time he got inside he was stung on every uncovered part of his body.  No Benadryl in the house.  I offered to go to CVS...less than 1/2 mile away...but he insisted that he could handle it.  It wasn't long before I received a call from the pharmacist.  BC had passed out in CVS, an ambulance had been called, and they were taking him to the hospital as a precaution.  Long story short, we were out of the emergency room in record time (getting there by ambulance sure makes a difference), BC is allergic to bee stings, and we needed to kill the yellow jackets.  We poured gasoline down the yellow jacket hole, killed the tree, and made the best bottle tree ever.

Passion Flower

Last fall I saw a passion flower plant at one of the houses on the Forest Hill House Tour....it was beautiful!  This spring I bought my own and planted it so that it would climb the stair rail of my back porch.  It started out kind of slow...and I thought that my brown thumb was at it again.  Then recently the vines have been out of control...but no blooms.  When I started to cut some of the craziness back a few days ago, I noticed buds....and now there are blooms...only 5 for now but there is the promise of many more.