Feeling Fall!

Three little babies sittin' in a tree...


It has been so lovely and cool here the past few days that I feel completely revitalized. All kinds of doll ideas are popping into my head...now if I can just find the time to make them! And so for your reading pleasure, and because this is after all my birth month, a couple of September poems...Enjoy!

Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
- William Wordsworth, September

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.

- Helen Hunt Jackson , September

Witches Three!

Here's a trio of witches I just finished for a commission, aren't they cute? A mommy kitchen witch and her daughters; a love witch and a green witch. Imagine all the trouble that combo might get into!

Because of the low response to the fabric exchange I've decided to hold off and try again in January. If at first you don't succeed...
And I have a big round birthday coming up in September so I think it just might be time for another gift away in celebration...something special this time! (How's that for a tease?!) Stayed tuned for more details.....

But while you're waiting you could head over to The Cart Before the Horse blog where Jo is giving away an awesome doll like this! Pretty wonderful, so go check it out!

When the bough breaks...

I have been terribly bad about posting on any kind of a regular schedule lately and that's something I'm going to work hard on changing now that school is starting up again. Actually I have a really good excuse for my absence this week...now I sound like one of my teens when they've come in after curfew, "I swear I have a good excuse this time!"... but we had a bit of a calamity here Wednesday night and things have been in... hmmm... let's just say a "state of disarray" ever since.
We had a small storm that night, nothing major, no heavy winds, no fierce bolts of lightening...but as it was winding down I heard a strange cracking noise that went on for several minutes followed by a dull THUD. Then the power went out. I looked out the front door to find that the massive, 100 + year old, Black Locust tree next to the house had decided that it was tired and that it was time to put down one of it's trunks. There was no horrible crash and amazingly nothing except a few power lines were damaged. Even my neighbor's bushes and flower garden came through unscathed! And usually his car would have been parked right where the trunk fell but he was gone at the time. It really seemed like the tree decided it was just time to put down the burden. Unfortunately there is a huge crack running down the middle of the rest of the tree so the whole thing will have to come down....it's heartbreaking to loose a giant tree like that. Who knows all the history that he's seen go past, it's like loosing an old friend as we've lived here for 25 years.


It's been kind of crazy ever since. First the parade of firemen, police, and power company people; then the next few days more power trucks and employees discussing whether the rest of the tree was in immediate danger of falling...they decided to take off some more limbs to prevent more destruction of power lines...then my hubby, son and neighbors wielding chainsaws to clear the debris, and tomorrow the tree guy will be back to take down the remaining tree. I know I'll shed a few tears in the process, I hate to see him go.

These pictures were taken Thursday morning after the firemen had removed all the limbs in the street and the power lines were back up. So you can see I Do have a pretty good excuse for my distraction! Hopefully we'll be getting back to normal soon.

Tiny Crow Girl Dolls

As you probably saw in the last post, I've had crows on my mind lately and these two are why.

I just finished them yesterday and they are so tiny and cute, just 7" tall. I was thinking of the Counting Crows rhyme the entire time I made them and they seem to personify the number two...
One for sadness, two for mirth;
Three for marriage, four for birth;
Five for laughing, six for crying:
Seven for sickness, eight for dying;
Nine for silver, ten for gold
Eleven a secret that will never be told.

There are so many versions of this rhyme but this one is my favorite and seems to be the one on which Heidi Holder's marvelous book is based.


The illustrations in this book are breathtaking and it's certainly one to have if you love beautiful childrens' books. ..and you know I do! Crows and kids' books...a perfect combo for me! There's also a fascinating explanation of the Crow augury here that might be of interest to other Corvidae fans.



Now an update on the fabric swap. So far we have had only 9 people sign up and this just isn't enough. So I'm debating scrapping the whole thing or maybe giving it a try in January. What do you all think?

Shake, Rattle. and Roll!

I love a good thunderstorm. The kind where the wind blows the rain sideways, the lightening lights up the sky in crisp, white, electric zig zags and the thunder booms so loud that it shakes the house. After a month of absolutely not a drop of rain, this week we've had intense nightly thunderstorms and I have to admit I think they're wonderful....even when they wake me out of sound sleep! Besides enjoying the show, I think of my garden getting a good soaking and how that will turn into all kinds of lovely flowers and yummy things to eat...what's not to love?

Speaking of lovely things to eat, this fellow wandered into my head recently demanding to be made...these Looking Glass Rats are very demanding! Let me introduce you to Bander and Brillig. Not only are they obvious fashionistas, but they (he?) are also connoisseurs of gourmet foods, fine wines, and evenings at the opera. These fellows can quell or inspire with just a glance and are often to be found backstage at the best fashion shows. Appearing now in my shop!

The Swap is ON!

Well the show last weekend was kind of slow but definitely lots of fun. Wonderful friends getting together to turn my humble abode into an amazing art gallery for a day...how could it not be fun? I'll post some pictures from the actual show this weekend but for now I wanted to get to the 'Swappin' that I promised!

So Swappin' Fun Time!
First off I want to give credit where it is due and say that I absolutely lifted this idea from Jo over at The Cart Before the Horse blog...a wonderful, magical place that is one of my favorites to visit and if you have not been there do yourself a huge favor and go check it out as soon as you're finished here...I only hope that I can do as good a job of organizing as she did because she made it such fun! Of course being the complete fiber-aholic that I am this idea was too good not to share, maybe one of you will be the next to pass it on?

Okay here are the rules:
Cut four 9x9 inch squares from five different fabrics (100% cotton only, please). That's 20 squares in all. (You can easily get four 9x9 inch squares from a quarter yard or a fat quarter.)
Try to send fun interesting fabrics ...the kind that are so hard to resist. I'll gather them together, shuffle them up in a precise pattern known only to me because I haven't figured it out exactly yet, and send out 20 new pieces to everyone! Who could resist a plethora of riches like that? So the first 19 people who respond that they want to play will be in...don't forget to include your email so I can send you my address and the fun can begin!

I uploaded a BUNCH of new stuff to the shop this week, with more to come, so drop by for a visit and we'll have a cuppa tea! Well it will be virtual tea but the sentiment is there.

A Naiad

So here is the doll I made for the ADO Elements challenge. She's a Naiad, a type of fairy or nymph that inhabits the rivers, streams, lakes, marshes, fountains and springs of the earth. Naiads, or Undines as they are also called, are found in the folklore of many cultures. A Naiad's essence was bound to her spring, so if a naiad's body of water dried, she died. While poking around on Google today I found out that naiad is also the name for the immature form of a dragonfly...how's that for serendipity? So my element is of course Water! There is tremendous concern in the world today about the availability of clean drinking water for both humans and animals and the naiad, with her dependence on her water source, seemed a perfect representative to me. This doll was made by stretching a cotton knit "skin" over a cloth and wire armature.

Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to check out the other elements from the doll artists of ADO. You can find a complete list of participants by clicking on the link at the top of the page or right here!
Tomorrow is the art show here at the Nest...pictures to follow later.... and fabric swap info as well!