Christmas nostalgia

We have pulled out all the Christmas stuff… so many memories. These broken little angels are from my childhood. My family had a whole group of angels playing instruments. They were part of the creche scene. They haven’t survived very well- they’ve lost arms, wings, haloes, instuments… one has even lost her head, but I can’t bear to part with them.

angels

Unpacking the ornaments is full of memories and artwork of friends. So much stuff that has no other place to go gets put in with the Christmas stuff.

ornaments

this is a perfect example- a project I did many years ago. It was my (rejected) entry into a show called the cone box show… I filled the little box (approx. 3″ x 3″ x 6″) with clay babies. There were more… these are what are left. Sometimes we have tied them onto the tree.

clay babies

Here are some doll ornaments. I made the angel for Eleanor’s first Christmas. The other 2 dolls are from the early 80’s, made by Martha Heller. I was at a friend’s house over the weekend and she had some of Martha Heller’s dolls also- a supergirl and a ballerina.

doll ornaments

The tree is up and decorated. The kids have made treats. Julian’s specialty is chocolate covered pretzels. Eleanor made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

cookies

And then there is all the other stuff going on…the washing machine broke and I am working on felting presents- ahhh- disaster!!! Ben to the rescue! Read about the washing machine repairs and also our fun with mushrooms over on Ben’s blog.

mushrooms

progress on an actual doll project

I haven’t actually posted about anything I’m working on for a while…. some of that is Christmas related, I guess. I have been working away, slowly, on my ladies. This is a picture of the feet- very fiddly… one finished, one pinned and ready to stitch- but I really like how it looks when it’s finished.

feet

and here are the various parts drying, after their first coat of gesso.

parts

Stuffing is the hardest part of these dolls. I find trying to get a smooth, thin arm very difficult.

Holiday Sales

julias dolls

Today was the RISD Alumni Holiday Art Sale. It is a great event! Lots and lots of great work, and I saw a few people I knew… always fun! The dolls in the picture are by Julia Lothrop, my new doll friend. She lives near me and found me through my blog- a very good reason to be doing this.
I also saw Salley Mavor. My favorite one of her fairies was Poison Ivy. In the photo you can’t really see the wonderful greenish tint of her face.
Grace Lin’s wonderful illustration drew me over to her table, and as I was looking at her work, it suddenly flashed on me that she is the creator of the Robert’s Snow snowflake project. The snowflakes are all on view here. What an amazing venture.
We drove back home, picked up kids at various places and headed over to the Bazaar Bizarre. As we drove by the building, there was a huge, long line… who knows how long to get in. I didn’t think the rest of my family was interested enough to stand that, so we missed it. I’m sorry about that- I wonder if it would be a decent venue for selling my bugs and other smaller things. I wanted to go because Heidi, from My Paper Crane was there. I thought it would be great to actually connect with someone whose blog I read! O well.

Skinner

More about yesterday’s busy day… In the afternoon, I went to the viewing at Skinner Auction House. Many dolls and so many teddy bears. If I could have left with one item, it would have been this beautiful lady- referred to as a creche figure.

creche lady

I love her face and hands… well,and her dress and proportions and really everything about her!

face

These veggie dolls were pretty cool too.

veg dolls

After looking at dolls, a quick stop at an orchid greenhouse- delicious!

dark orchid

light orchid

Gilda’s Hello Dolly

Oh, I had fun today…
I have been searching online for some little shoe buckles- I bought some a few years ago and I’ve used them up but I can’t find them again. Today I did what should be obvious and visited a local shop. I had heard about Gilda’s from someone at my Doll club, but never before had visited her place in Natick, MA. Mostly she sells at doll shows, but she has tons of goodies in her basement shop.
There were bins and drawers and boxes and piles of trims and ribbons-

gilda's 1

and flowers made of silk and paper and feathers and more-

gilda's 2

and shelves of lace- all cotton, the black lace is on the other side…

Gilda's 3

and dolls… and doll parts- wigs, eyes, mohair, silk roving…

gilda's 4

besides all that, she carries an amazing selection of fabrics- silk, cotton, brocade, netting, all the right weight and scale for dolls. Also, tons of buttons, charms, hat-making supplies, doll purse hardware, shoes. stands, patterns… WOW!
If you want to visit, you need to call because she is often away at shows- her website isn’t really working yet.
Gilda’s Hello Dolly
or
Gildasfabrics.com
197 Pond St.
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-0185

Gilda’s Hello Dolly

Oh, I had fun today…
I have been searching online for some little shoe buckles- I bought some a few years ago and I’ve used them up but I can’t find them again. Today I did what should be obvious and visited a local shop. I had heard about Gilda’s from someone at my Doll club, but never before had visited her place in Natick, MA. Mostly she sells at doll shows, but she has tons of goodies in her basement shop.
There were bins and drawers and boxes and piles of trims and ribbons-

gilda's 1

and flowers made of silk and paper and feathers and more-

gilda's 2

and shelves of lace- all cotton, the black lace is on the other side…

Gilda's 3

and dolls… and doll parts- wigs, eyes, mohair, silk roving…

gilda's 4

besides all that, she carries an amazing selection of fabrics- silk, cotton, brocade, netting, all the right weight and scale for dolls. Also, tons of buttons, charms, hat-making supplies, doll purse hardware, shoes. stands, patterns… WOW!
If you want to visit, you need to call because she is often away at shows- her website isn’t really working yet.
Gilda’s Hello Dolly
or
Gildasfabrics.com
197 Pond St.
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-0185