Lovely Day

As much as I loved being snug inside my house this past weekend curled up with extra sweaters and blankets and many,many cups of tea watching Dark Shadows dvds while the cold wind and rain beat at my house...today was so wonderful. Bright, kind of warm...just a lovely quiet sort of October day. I took my little poppets-in-progress outside. They fit just perfectly in the basket I'd picked my grapes in. All their little torsos and limbs... The first two to be sewn together, basking in the afternoon sunshine. Their naked for now...but don't tell. I have to sew up a batch of petticoats and maybe aprons. Their mismatched. All the fabrics came from a wonderful little fabric shop in Hyde Park; the fabrics are Civil War reproduction prints. My picture doesn't do them justice. The prints are so wonderful; you can immediately picture a ladies' or young girls' dress made from them. That's my story for these little poppet dolls; made from the leftovers after the new dresses are sewn. Sweet little rag dolls made with love. I think they may even carry tiny nosegays or sachets when they're done. I don't think I'll do faces though. I'm hoping to connect with a friend who has sheep and get some washed fleece for little wigs. And I'm going to 'gently' age and prim-ify them.

So I sat outside this afternoon with my dolls and my little dogs, enjoying the autumn day. I got alot of sewing done too; much more than I'd accomplished in the house over the weekend.

However, over the weekend I refined these sketches a little and right now I'm deciding exactly what to do with them. I want to do pen and ink, but also watercolour paintings and little canvases too. The beauty on the left is Ondine; the one on the right is Hester. They have sisters who are currently in progress.

While I adore Ondine...Hester is the belle of the season. I am hoping to finish her by early next week. She has a story, which slowly unfolds as I work on her and decide what medium suits her. I have written some of it out and when she's done I will post it with her.

So...this was my lovely peaceful October day. I'm glad I got to have it and that I was able to truly be inside it and enjoy it the way it deserved.