The Hand Stitched Doll

May I tell you what it is like to sit here in my studio hand stitching a doll?  Music is quietly playing.  Outside it is windy and cold and pretty much miserable.  There is a heating vent at my feet.  There is fabric and needle and thread. 

If I turn off the music there is only the sound of the wind outside and the thread moving through the fabric.  The doll rests in one hand with my fingers pinching the areas to be stitched.  It is heaven, of the oldest and most valued kind.  I feel the connection of early sewers sitting in front of a fire place - perhaps only a lantern to light their way. 

Meanwhile stories float through my mind and heart making a place for this soon-to-be finished hand stitched doll. 

"A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live." - Bertrand Russell

"Wonder"

...and so I crept up to the attic one afternoon - with a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and a thermos of hot tea in the other.  It was sunny in one of the corners and I settled down with an old quilt and my repast to see what might happen.  After a few sips of tea my head started to nod and sleep overtook my assignment to watch the trunk.

Upon awaking I found something/someone perched upon my knee.  It was all I could do not to jump up - but my tea cup was still in my lap and so I just uttered a weak little "EEK".  "Who are you?"  "I am one of The Whisperers -- weren't you expecting me?"
  

Apparently "The Whisperers" are designated to remind each of us of the most beautiful things of every day life.  "Wonder" had been sent to check me out - to see if I was a good candidate to be given this reminder.  Others, she explained might be given the gift of 'joy', 'peace', 'frolic' or 'magic'.  I didn't dare tell her that 'frolic' or 'magic'  sounded like much more fun than 'wonder' but when I thought about it it, I figured it wouldn't be all that bad after all - one never refuses a gift. 

Now I have a goal, with this little reminder nearby, that I must greet each day with wonder, to look for it in the simple small environment of my life and to nurture it so that I may pass it along.

"Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods." - Plato

Whispers In The Attic

Perhaps I should call this the ‘year of the secrets’ – first I find out about the Piffles and now something new has been brought to my attention.  Once again I must ask for your total discretion – shhhh…

One of my dear friends came sneaking over to my house late into the other night. She was quite discombobulated – with her hair almost standing on end and her eyes wide. Once I was sworn to secrecy – even to giving her a double oath – she told me her secret.

She has ‘spirits’ in her attic!!!!  She swears this is so – that she was doing some early spring cleaning and went up to the attic to clean out a trunk. ‘Spirits’ flew out of the trunk as she started to open the lid.  Here’s where I had to stop to give her a cup of tea and settle her down.  I was afraid she herself was going to fly she was so agitated. 

She quickly closed the lid and popped right back out of that attic hole, closing the door securely. Once down the ladder she swallowed a pill and  took to her bed (although it was only 2 in the afternoon). 

Upon waking she thought it was a dream – but is afraid go to up there to check it out and that’s where I come in…


"We have to stop and be humble enough to understand that there is something called mystery." - Paulo Coelho

Anthropology

Do you think doll makers are anthropologists in our own way?  Through our  hands, hearts and especially our imaginations we can create whatever creature comes to mind.  

Sometimes they seem to come from far off lands, not yet even discovered.

Other times they are other versions of our species.

Did you ever think of yourself as an explorer?  I didn't until I started inventing little communities.  Its great fun isn't it - to be an anthropologist right in our very own studios (or backyards)?

"Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess." - Margaret Mead

And the winners are...

Starr of Wonderland Woods
Margaret Hall of A Myriad of Thoughts
Penny of Back Valley Seasons
B. Garner Bethany Garner (Bethany, please contact me re: your address)

This is going to be quite exciting for each of these dolls -- flying away all over the world.

 I know they are each going to be very, very happy.

"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Running Out Of Rooms

Sad news in Lickety-Split.  Poor Mother Murphy is not doing well.  Unfortunately her lumbago, rheumatism and bursitis are all rebelling as she climbs up and down the many stairs at the boarding house.  Add to that -- the county recently sent her a letter telling her that her neighborhood is not actually zoned for boarding houses.  Well, long story short -- she is packing up to move to a downstairs apartment in Arizona.  Woe is me!!

That leaves our intrepid little boarders without a home.  I'm hoping I can recruit new homes for them - what do you think - is there room at your home, or in your studio for a a new tenant?

Leave a comment here and I'll pick a name for each boarder.  I'm sure each winner will provide a warm place for these waifs.  The winners will be announced on Saturday the 14th.

"Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home." - Mother Teresa

Letting It Come

Just doodling a few ideas.  Thoughts randomly flitting around inside my head and heart.  Changes coming, I feel it, new thoughts and ideas.  Perhaps even a few old ones, resurrected in a different form?

I’m being drawn for some reason – toward the old and the simple and the plain and the quietness of white and off-white and tea dyed luxuries and hanging vintage. Soft pinks and blues and aquas – all either stained or muted with off white

The shelves are filled to the brim with several communities of dolls.  Sitting here smiling at me – thanking me for their stories. 

And so I think that whatever is coming must hang on the wall – or from a dowel – or on a hanger of sorts – for there is no more room in the cubbies nor in the shelter of shelves.

Hmmm will these thoughts become something?  Or even some things?  Who knows – but for now I’ll just let them gather slowly…

"I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke.  Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?" - Zhuangzi

Alberta Algorythm

I was recently quite discombulated by my newest Piffle acquaintance.  You see she is a mathematician and I am most definitely not!  I had to take Algebra twice, once to get a "D" and summer school to bring that all the way up to a "C" (and only because the teacher was kind).

So imagine my amazement at finding such a brilliant Piffle -- living here in the forest, studying numbers.  She did spend quite a bit of time trying to explain to me that the whole world, indeed our universe, is based on math.  Egads I wondered, where does that leave me?

As people who have an expertise in an area are prone to do - Alberta wanted to talk about math all afternoon.  She was sure that she could explain all of the various theories and equations if I would just sit still and listen.  It was nice to meet her, but sadly I came home thinking more about my checkbook balancing than I did about the Pythagorean theorem.

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." - Albert Einstein