Makayla named her Rita

...and immediately took off her socks... checked out her underpanties...
remarked she was wearing some... and then took her into her play area
to start working making a block fortress. My daughter has also since
informed me Rita is making various demands already! I feel so good,
now. Happy Birthday, Makayla!

So, Today's the day to mail her off

Look what someone wrote on my wall at the doll site:

"She is so sweet! Your granddaughter is going to be so happy!
Love it that you created her from recyled items!! I think it is OK to feel blue about sending off what is a part of yourself. I would like to share a quote with you that might make this clear.
Dolls with Soul by Hilegard Gunzel
"Doll Artist aim to produce dolls which are the mirror of their souls. A doll produced with this intention is never a cold and lifeless object. It may show mistakes and defects in proportion and workmanship, but it "lives".
I keep this by my work desk as a little reminder. I really hope Makayla treats her doll like the treasure she... is as a part of her Grandmother."
-- Ellen

(I made her socks longer, and fussed a bit more)

My heart is aching

I am sending a doll away tomorrow for a very special person. She loves blue, her eyes are blue, she asks me: "Grandma, don't you just love my
beautiful blue eyes?" She's four. So. I made her a doll.
A rag doll. A squishy, no wires, simply simple rag doll. She's 17 inches
tall, she's all cloth. She's dressed and her wig is made of an old sweater
all unraveled and sewed onto a cap. Her face ... well. You look.
You see.

She's almost done. I still need the right sized buttons to finish off the
barrel cuffs and the closing of the back of her bodice. But, all in all,
she's a great prototype for the Hoffman Challenge doll I need to create
by the end of July.

Now, onto the Story book doll, a few yo yo dolls to be finished off, and
two baby quilts. A manipulator's work is never done.

work so far on baby doll

Here's the baby doll's three piece underpining set. I have her dress
made, as well, but on of my most loyal fans kept asking for a picture
of the doll's underwear. So here it is! ;-D

here's pics so far

I have been busy

Last week, the most amazing parcel arrived at my house.  It weighed 53 lbs and was crammed full of silk
douponi which was appliqued with silk velvet and embroidered with silk thread.  It was a gift to me from
my sister-in-law, Kate, who decided her new home in Florida did not need those drapes anymore. 
I am over the moon, it's the most glorious cloth I have held in years and I've been deconstructing it to make
draperies for my own home.  There, are, of course, snippets here and there for dolls' clothes!!!

I also have cut out and stuffed   Callie, and finished painting the child doll's face, Prissy...
and made her wig and am in the process of making a white muslin horse as realistic as possible for a
future doll challenge--Lady Godiva.

I have made some frilly black camisole and brazillian panties for Geneva, too.  Pictures will be forthcoming.

...But, I haven't got a thing to wear!

Painting Geneva has been a trial. I finally got her makeup done this
afternoon. Thea is trying to convince her she will have something to
wear before long.

They are quite

a study in contrasts, no?