Remembering Janice

Janice Gray, the mother of my old friend Dona, recently passed away. She was as glorious a human being and as full of life and love and laughter as anyone I have ever met. I could write pages and pages about her and that still wouldn't do her justice. More importantly nothing I could say could ever properly explain how it felt to be loved by her. When Janice loved you- man, you knew it. I knew it. Even though I won't see her incredibly blue, beautiful, smiling eyes again or watch her throw back her head with a hearty laugh or almost believe her amazingly serious, deadpan face when she was delivering an incredibly witty zinger, I know she lives on. She's in the hearts of all those who were lucky enough to know her.

She and Dona were extremely close. When thinking of an image that would mirror thier relationship this is the one I came up with. It's called "One Heart" and seems appropriate for a Valentine's Day post.

There has been a tribute page set up in Janice's honor. I hope the family posts on the website the picture that was on the flyer at her memorial. There she was, dipping her bare feet in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. She had her jeans rolled up, head back, arms triumphantly extended and a huge smile on her face. She had written in the sand "I WAS HERE!"

Oh yes, Janice, you most certainly were.

Spice Tree

We went up in the mountains to get our Christmas tree this year. Okay, we got three trees -(hey, they were only 5 bucks each!) We have one in the living room, one outside with lights on it and I couldn't resist a little one for the kitchen. My friend Clarice at Storybook Woods always has a wonderful tree in her kitchen and I always love it so thought I would give it a try this year. I fell in love with the wispy, droopy hemlocks I saw up in the mountains and really wanted one. On the long drive home I decided I'd do a tree with just spices on it and I went through the bulk spice section of our grocery store in my head, trying to decide what to make out of whole spices. So this is what happened...

I loved the color and idea of a pink peppercorn garland but found it tedious and near impossible to string those things so I resorted to smearing raffia with hot glue and pressing the mixed peppercorns on as best I could. I drilled holes in whole nutmegs and strung them up with cardamom pods and juniper berries. I couldn't resist painting star anise gold and hanging them here and there along with whole chiles (Hint: When stringing whole chiles with needle and thread, please don't absentmindedly stick the needle in your mouth. Let's just say it's a bad idea.)

Did a small garland of cinnamon sticks, juniper berries and cardamom pods too. Then decided I was spending too much time on this and had to get back to other projects -like baking! (Note the Christmas braids cooling under the spice tree..) I didn't even get into the whole cloves and allspice I purchased. I also had dreams of an angel with bay leaf wings that never materialized. Maybe next year. This was fun and I love my little sweet smelling tree. I'm sure there are a million variations of this sort one could come up with. It was fun to work with natural materials and within the confines of a theme....I highly recommend this project. (ps-the tree is resting in an old enameled pot that's filled with gravel and water)

Holiday Needle Felting

Here are the latest needle felted dolls I recently created for a Christmas sale. These are sculpted with a barbed needle from 100% wool. The eyes and lips are also entirely made with small bits of colored wool felted into place with the needle. To the right is a tree full of holiday characters. You'll see a couple Jack Frosts, a brownie at the bottom, a playful little pixie or two and a jolly old elf in red. (Sorry pics are so small. Please click on photo to enlarge.)

Old Man Winter (below) is blowing up a storm of ice and snow. He's wired onto a wooden base. This is one of my first experiments with wrinkles and baggy eyes and I'm pleased with how he turned out.

And on the bottom left is a little dark haired angel peeking out of a felted sweater stocking. She was created for an annual gift exchange and I'm glad my good friend Mary ended up with her. I like her (the angel and especially Mary) a lot!

Cozy Fall Recipes

Let the fall leaves fall
And the cold snow snow
And the rain rain rain ‘til April:
Our coats are warm
And the pantry’s full
And there’s cake upon the table.

-Clyde Watson

I often recite this poem to myself this time of year. This is how fall feels to me. These days we have a fire every day in the old wood cookstove in our kitchen and painted dolls dry in the warming oven. The freezer is full of fresh local meat and berries, the winter squash are picked and stored away and the winter vegetables wait to be picked at our convenience. Fruitcakes are made and aging to their best. I like to be stocked up. I like to cook hearty dishes and soups this time of year. The house is cozy, the orchard is bare and the air is brisk. Lovely! Let the cold wind blow!

When Autumn rolls around I often make the following recipes. They are favorites of ours and I hope you enjoy them too.

Winter Squash Custard (aka-”Pumpkin Pudding”)
This is like the inside of a pumpkin pie yet not quite so rich and sweet. Yet it’s certainly rich and sweet enough for my family to think it a great treat. The fall we harvested too many butternut squash from our garden I developed this recipe to help use them up. I modified my favorite pumpkin pie recipe to made a dessert that wasn’t quite so rich and sweet. I really prefer winter squash in this recipe as it’s much richer and sweeter than pumpkin . A butternut squash a little on the large side should give you plenty for this recipe. Hubbard squash would also be great.

To cook a butternut squash: Cut squash down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Place cut side down in a 9x13 pan. Add about 1 inch of water and bake in a 350 degree oven until the thickest part of the squash is soft when pierced with a knife. Let cool and scoop out the orange flesh.

3 c cooked winter squash
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1 c heavy cream
4 eggs
1 1/2 TB flour
3/4 tsp each cinnamon and vanilla
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
-pinch of salt
1 TB fresh ginger juice (optional-but I always add some fresh ginger of some kind!)

Combine all ingredients except heavy cream in a large bowl and puree with a hand blender until well blended. Add cream. Alternatively, mash the winter squash with a potato masher then add rest of ingredients. Pour into buttered over proof dish (I like a 9in round casserole) and bake in a 325 oven until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean-a little over an hour...

Triple Ginger Gingerbread
This is my favorite gingerbread. It’s dense and spicy. Best to bake it in a bundt pan or some other type of pan which you will turn over and serve bottom side up as the gingerbread tends to fall in the middle. This has never bothered me, however, or anyone else who has tried it. I think it improves by sitting for a day (even two!) tightly wrapped on the kitchen counter so it’s a good dessert to make ahead of time. It also freezes well. The day you want to serve it just whip the cream and serve!
I’ll give you the original recipe (from an old Bon Appitite magazine) then my healthier variation below. The variation really is wonderful and you won’t feel deprived at all. The variation would almost work well for muffins.

First:
Pour 1/2 c boiling water over 1/2 c finely chopped crystallized ginger. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Sift:
3c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda’
1TB cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt

Whisk together in large bowl:
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c oil
1 c molasses
2 eggs
1 TB grated fresh ginger

Add the warm water/crystallized ginger to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Now add the dry ingredients to the wets and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake about 1 hr at 350.

Healthier variation:
Substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose, increase eggs to 3, warm water to 3/4 c, reduce oil to 1/2 c and use unrefined cane sugar (such as Rapadura) instead of white sugar. Healthier yet still delicious!


Enjoy!
(Wow-two posts in two days?)

Folk Dolls, Mr. and Mrs. Apple

When I tell people I like dolls many of them proudly haul out a Madame Alexander or a fashion doll still in the box. While these dolls can be lovely they really don't excite me. What I want to see is the doll your grandmother made for your mother during the depression when money was tight. I want to see a doll that was made with more love and ingenuity than money and materials. I want to see a doll that was made to be loved by a specific child. I want to see a folk doll.
If you too like these kind of dolls then you will love Wendy Lavitt's book American Folk Dolls. I was fortunate to snag this book at a rummage sale this summer and I read it cover to cover, not missing a word. For the most part the chapters are arranged according to the material the doll (more specifically, the head) is made from (i.e.-Cloth Dolls, Wooden Dolls, Apple Nut and Bean Dolls, etc.) but there also are chapters on native American dolls and black dolls. Real life stories and historical accounts abound in this text making it very interesting and at times heart rending. Plus there are lots of great color photos!
I thought I'd share my very own folk dolls with you. Every year when I get Mr. and Mrs. Apple out of the box marked "Autumn" I appreciate them more. I think they're wonderful. This is an apple-headed doll couple busy in the act of pressing cider. These were made by a friend of my grandmothers and given to her probably 40 years ago. (I need to find out her name and give her credit.) My grandparents had a farm and pressed cider every year so I think the friend thought this a very appropriate gift. These dolls and their accessories were displayed in my grandmother's china cabinet for years and I remember as a child looking at their wrinkled faces, amazed these heads were actually apples. When I was young the faces were golden brown. Now (I'm almost 40) they're quite black and it's hard to see their little black eyes shining out.

My grandmother gave these to me a few years ago because she knew I liked dolls. Since then I've had plenty of time to study the lovely couple and their accessories and I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity shown by their maker. This is not a dollmaker who ran down to WalMart's craft section to get what she needed. Let me tell you what she used. The details are amazing:

First of all the couple has wire bodies wrapped in old nylon panty hose, covered with homemade clothes. Hair is sheep's wool. Hands are wool stuffed felt, boots are hand stitched naugahyde. Mrs. Apple has lace-trimmed bloomers.

The basket holding the apples is a painted styrofoam cup with wire handles. The apples inside include painted salt-dough apples with toothpick stems.The cider jug is a painted medicine jar one would stick a needle into. Its handle is a piece of elbow macaroni! (I didn't realize this until I dropped it last year and broke off the handle. I was heartbroken until I took a closer look at it. Then I laughed and went to my pantry for another
"handle" to glue on. I still need to paint it.)

The apple press is made from entirely scavenged materials-
styrofoam, a plastic plant pot, etc:

The "apples" in the press are torn foam cushion.

The fancy looking black brackets holding up the bar are plastic, department store sock hangers!

The only things I can see that are specifically store bought are Mr. Apple's hat and the cat. I try to store them in very dry conditions but I'm sure even with the best of care these apple heads won't last forever. Maybe someday I'll have to carve new heads for them. I hope I can pass these along to my grandkids as I really think they're wonderful and true folk dolls. I hope you like them too. Thanks for letting me share about them!

Wooden Dolls..in progress

To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn
There is a Season Turn, Turn, Turn....

This has been my theme song ever since my wonderful husband bought me a lathe. Have I mentioned he's the dearest man who ever lived? Well he is. He not only bought us a lathe but he patiently showed me how to use it in such a way that I would not harm myself or others. Very helpful! I hardly had to nag at all.

There's something very satisfying in making something out of nothing. This is wood that would have been burned in our stove. Who knew there were dolls hidden inside our firewood?

To the right you can see two dolls that I've finished turning still on the lathe and "blanks" scattered all around. This is how all the dolls start out.
When the dolls come off the lathe I cut them apart with the band saw then shape them using the belt sander. I sand off the back and stomach and leave the shoulder/chest and the hips/bottom alone so the curves look somewhat womanly. (Looking at the photo from left to right you can see the progression from unshaped to finished.-click on photo for close-up) Then I cut the bottom of the hips and leave a piece in the center that I can secure the legs to. The body is drilled and limbs are attached using a 3mm elastic cord. When made correctly the arms will hold in any position and the legs will lock standing up and sitting down. She sits very securely. She can't stand alone but hey, even that bottle-blonde Barbie has to be propped up!
I enjoyed the look of the woodgrain of the first doll I turned and regretted covering her up with paint (she's the green one). I decided I wouldn't do that again. I want to celebrate the wood, not conceal it. The facial features and hair are drawn using my daughter's PrimaColor pencils. Everything is sealed with good old shellac. Old fashoined and non-toxic. It's a bit shiny, though. Must dull that. I don't want to antique these dolls but I also don't want them looking shiny and new, either.

The color variations you see are a result of the different woods used. The light colored dolls with faces are vine maple. The doll with hair is hemlock. The unfinished ones are alder and hemlock. These are darker and have a prettier grain but they tear out on the lathe. The maple turns "like buttah".

I don't have anything in the photo for scale but I measured the standing doll. She stands 9 1/2 inches (50 cm) tall.

I always stitch a little heart onto the dolls I make for my kids. If the doll is for a birthday I'll stitch the age of the child in the heart. I'm ripping off Raggedy Anne I know, but as a child I loved peeking under her dress to see the red heart on her chest. So I thought I might as well color a little heart on the chest of my wooden dolls. I hope the child who ends up with one of these dolls discovers the heart and likes it.

Clothes? This is not my strong suit. I've figured out what dress and pantaloons I'm making but haven't made them all yet. Will show them when they're all done and ready for sale. Trying to do a production-line type of affair.

The backdrop for these photos is a shelf in progress made by my husband. He hand carved the gold star and we all collected the redwood cones that make up the textured inlay. He's carving some great stuff lately. I'll post photos of his creations when I can.

Embroidered Dolls

I've been communicating with Ana, my wonderful new dollmaking friend in London. If you love doll blogs you must check hers out. Her list of dollmaking links is exactly what mine would be if I had a list! Click here to visit her blog. Anyway, we've been talking about embroidered doll faces so I thought I'd share some of the dolls I've done this way. (For a closer view click on photos)

Here's Anne Elliot (I have an Austen thing going with some of my dolls) and little Bettina in brown. (Thank you, Judi Ward for the small doll pattern!) They're both made basically the same way. I sewed the skin fabric to the dress fabric before I cut out thier bodies. Then I just took some more dress fabric and gathered it round and sewed it on to make a skirt. I'm not a good seamstress and hate following patterns so this is how I get around it.

Here's a close up of their faces. Anne was the first doll face I ever embroidered and I like her wistful look very much. I love Bettina too. The blush on their cheeks is from Rembrandt chalk pastels. I've stained enough clothes with those things, I figured it would last on their faces.

To the left is a little doll in pink I made for a little friend's birthday yesterday. I think I tried too hard with her face and I'm not too crazy about it. She looks too sophisticated or something. It seems the harder I try the less I like the results. If I just wing it without caring too much about the results things seem to work out better! I'm sure this will all improve with experience. Anyway, she has painted ballet shoes. She's made from the same pattern as Bettina.

Below her is a gaggle of cuddly wool-stuffed velour gnomes I made for a Christmas sale last year. They are made in the Waldorf doll tradition with little noses, simple faces and pointed hats. They're very sweet. Sorry the photo is so dark.