Our South Texas Christmas

No kids visiting this year, so it was Phil and I and the dog-cat show.  We got a late start--for us.  I didn't roll out til almost 6:30!  I have a tradition of wearing my Santa Hat every year on Christmas morning, primarily to hide the bed-head.  Phil was up earlier, and had the music playing, the twinkle lights on in the living room, and some extra stuff under the tree--completely unauthorized, I can tell you.  We'd already agreed not to buy much this year.

An ornament with Juniper's handprint!

Every guy needs a weather station clock...

One of my sons and his wife sent presents as well (also unauthorized) to include Schultz and Willie.  The fur-babies were quite happy with this renegade gift-giving.

If you could see how fast his tail is wagging...

She's on a vet-assigned diet, but...it was Christmas, after all.

Phil and I had a gloriously lazy day, very quiet, full of reading, good music, and a late afternoon dinner of smoked turkey.  And naps. 

Schultz and Willie are always willing to hang out at nap-time.

Several of my friends in the doll world live up north where they're getting bad ice and snow, losing power, buried til the weather lets up.  To stave off guilt over our balmy temperatures, I have to remember our brutal summers.  Here's a rose I cut on Christmas Day from the front bed--they don't do nearly this well in the summer.  That hand-shaped pencil vase is actually life-size, to give you an idea of that rose's dimensions.  I really wish you could smell it...a fragrance so strong you get a little dizzy from it.

I hope your Christmas was full of warmth and good memories.    

Learning to post videos!

A while back, I posted photos of a doll on my facebook page.  The doll was a Harry Coleman walker doll, one that literally walks when you hold her hand and rock her side-to-side.  I found this doll on Ebay (for a whopping 7.99 plus shipping) a couple of years ago, and have enjoyed her company ever since.  A facebook friend suggested I video the doll in action, so the hubs got the camera out today and we did just that. 

Harry Coleman was a ventriloquist in the early 1900's, and noticed that little girls always wanted to play with the puppets after a show.  So he engineered this doll, keeping the body light by making it a mesh cage, and actuating the legs by means of small springs.  No mechanical parts (wind up or electric) are needed, so in essence, it won't wear out if kept in good shape.  There were metal head ones and this composition type material...most of them had wigs, but this one has molded/sculpted hair.  She's in rough shape--her other hand is in a box in my studio right now--but she's still part of the family.  I call her Ebbie.

Now let's see if I can add a video to a blog post! 

Tansy's a storyteller!!!

Who knew, right?  I was dusting furniture and had an assortment of things in a basket to clear away...all the tiny dolls seemed to gravitate toward Tansy.  Even the ceramic mini-schnauzer got in the act.  I guess Miss Tansy Butternut has found her calling.  The elf hat is just an affectation--she does have a whimsical side, y'know.

Tansy, twins, Beanie, Bearlette, and The Dog.

I wonder if she knows Night Before Christmas?  Probably does, since Sherri made her.  :~)

Welcome to our house.

Just farting around with the camera this morning.  Okay, part of the reason why is that I got the living room and dining room cleaned up enough to actually have people over (not dusted, yet, just tidy.  So don't look too closely.)

So other than a few doll pics, this is home.  I'm definitely not a decorator, I can't afford antiques, and (to fans of minimalism), my house is busy.  But it is home, and we like it.  Pardon the picture heavy post...it just worked out that way.

These are the Izzies I'm still working to dress, lined up by the hearth in the family room.  I like to keep them in "found" old clothes because when they're all sitting around naked, they whisper at me. (Dresssss usssss!!!) They're a motley crew, but it'll get better.

Remember after reading captions that you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

16" and 21" Izannah Walker repros...I love the red coat, but it doesn't fit her well.  I'll make a revised pattern from it, though.

21" Izannah, in a chair my Father-in-law made, with her lamb. 

16" and 21" Izannahs, one with only her petticoat and the other in a flannel nightgown.

These are tucked in behind the Christmas tree, under the living room window.  One is the Harry Coleman Walker Doll, the others are jan-made and up for adoption.

Waiting for Santa.

Here's a series of views from the chairs in the room.  I love chairs, and the hubs says I have a Chair Orphanage in our house, because I bring home strays.  But it makes for plenty of seating, right?

Our house defies a color scheme.  Blonde pine and dark Brazilian cherry?  No problem.

Stained concrete floors...easy to clean, tough and beautiful.  I carved the fish with a Dremmel out of a pc of 2 x 12.  Upper right is an antique calendar page/print of Dogs Playing Poker.  There's just no accounting for taste.

This coffee table has been with us since the kids were little...proud of its scars.  I painted it in (?) 2007.  The hubs created the leather insert for the mirror...his Triple Horse Celtic Knotwork pattern. 

The man I love is a skilled carpenter/cabinet maker with leather working talent.  Am I spoiled much?  :~D

View from the glider chair.  The Thoreau quotation tapestry is embroidery cotton on linen...I worked on it for years, but finished the border in 2010 while sitting with my Daddy in hospice.

View from the blonde pine chair toward the kitchen door.  Schult's purple pig goes well with the rug, don't you think?

View from the dining room.

Our simple Christmas table.  The big map on the wall is of San Antonio.  We love maps.

And of course, these rooms are full of dolls, tucked here and there.  I don't have an organized way of displaying them (although the hubs has offered to build a couple of glass-door cases next year for the more fragile ones...woohoo!)

Crazy Wax doll has found a friend, and so has the Martha doll, although she's still mad at me for leaving her in jammies with a people-size Santa Hat.  Humiliating.

Messy bookshelves, dear dolls. 

Martha-baby and friends.  She's still not talking to me.  I don't blame her.

Well, I have more photos, but this post is too full as it is.  I hope you all are enjoying the season, taking time to just breathe and enjoy the wonder of lights and music, and each other.
Be well.

Elf Shelf

I did finally get all the decorations out and up.  We have white columns on our front porch at this new/old house, which now look like candy canes (or, if you believe the hubs, like barber poles).  I didn't put lights up outside this year--electrical outlet issues--but maybe next year I will.

But the Elf Shelf is now on the mantel, and I guess it's a good thing because they sure spread out and took over!  Lord Elfwin is the guy reading "The List" on the far right (he's Santa's head civil servant in charge of the naughty/nice assements...we try to stay on his good side).  Astrid, the elf Pam sent me is next to him, and my first clay over cloth doll is there next to her.  The rest are just wee characters I have added up over the years.  Kind of like a seasonal doll collection.

The front entry has a little table where I've put Jack and the toy soldiers.  I'm not happy with this placement, but for now it'll do.  Jack is still very proud of his snowflake...he was one of my first challenge dolls when I was with Art Dolls Only.  Made with a wire frame armature wrapped in batting, then his clothing is sewn on and beaded/embroidered.  He has mohair, pointy ears, and a bag for the frost seeds.

The Schultz has enjoyed the recent cool weather as a good reason to snuggle.  It seems we don't sit down that he's not immediately on us, like glue.  Here he's keeping Phil company.  Such a good pal. 

So many dolls, so little time...

I'm not talking about the dolls I'm making.  Still haven't gotten to sewing unders yet, but all nine have their second skin tailored to them.

The dolls I mean are the ones I've managed to collect over the last few years.  All of them but one are still waiting for clothes!  Does that make me a bad doll-mom?  Gloriana (my Martha doll) has a baby gown on, so she's at least covered.  Tansy (my Sherri doll) came with incredible hand-stitched clothes that sometimes I remove just so I can re-visit the incredible sewing skill.  But the few papier maches, Bubbles the Effanbee baby, the Mad Alice, a really nice china, and a not-so-nice but endearing Anita type boudoir doll?  They're all sitting around either in what passes for unders, or in white baptismal gowns just to have something on them.

And now, I've added two more: Crazy Wax Doll (from Dixie) and Theo.  Theo was an ebay purchase that cost me a whopping three bucks plus shipping.  He is "supposed" to be a girl, but he and I know better.  When I learn from a friend of mine in nearby Seguine (or Diane?) how to refinish him, he'll need clothes too!

Theo.

Crazy Wax Doll need mucho help, but I love her all the same.  She's in really rough shape, so after a little more study, I'll make her a second skin, sort of like the Izzies, to keep her arms and legs from falling off.  Poor thing.  Not much to be done for her damaged shoulder plate or her melted face, but maybe with a little wig and hat she'll not look quite so...um, well, the hubs says I have to keep her somewhere besides the bedroom. 

Crazy Wax Doll has the coolest weighted sleep eyes!  But they "thunk" when she closes them.

In the meantime, I've been decorating for Yule.  I posted a story about our new tree...got it decorated and sat for hours in the glow of its lights.  I had so much fun unpacking the ornaments the kids made when they were little.  Every year we'd sit around and make new ones to give as gifts--a tradition I continue to this day.  So they have the year written on the back...some are clay, some are leather, some are wood.  And each has a story.

The Yule Tree.

My son Josh made this in school, and the little campfire is one I made in first grade.  The little paper spiral of smoke is long gone, but the felt campfire seems to endure.

This was one I inherited from my mom...it's a leaf that's been dipped in gold.

These little bead wreaths are some my Air Force students made me when I taught Basic Instructor Course.

I didn't get to the Elf Shelf or the collection of Toy Soldiers yet, but maybe I'll get it done tomorrow.  And as my granny used to say: if there's not another tomorrow, it won't need doin' anyway.

And last, a photo of my newest granddaughter, Juniper.  This is her first Christmas, and her first tree.
Peace, y'all.

Oh Tanenbaum, Oh Tanenbaum...

It's taken me ten years to finally realize the 3ft Christmas tree doesn't make me happy.  Yesterday I'd gotten out all the decorating boxes and tried to begin the task when I realized--it felt like a task.  Why is that?  I used to love this part!  I gave it up, hoping to find renewed inspiration with the morning.  But as the morning dawned, the realization dawned as well: it's that tree.  That poor tiny "down-sized" tree was like saying that with all the kids gone, I had no reason to enjoy a big tree. What's the use, when the kids can't be here?

I'm well aware the size--or even presence--of a tree doesn't have anything to do with a level of happiness.

But doing without my kids hurts my feelings so much already...why was I making it worse???  SO...today the hubs and I went and bought a big one.  I'm like a kid at, well, Christmas.  The tiny one will now have a little table in the family room by the fireplace (with the blue lights on it for Phil), so THERE.  I have two trees!  Pictures soon to follow of the crazy mess I call Christmas Decorating.

Of course in this process, the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations find their storage boxes, which makes it hard because Miss Gertie just arrived with her friend Miss Astrid (from Pam at Yoborobo--thank you!).  Miss Gertie might just hang out in my studio, where the calendar just doesn't matter.  She makes me smile every time I see her.  Isn't that just the best big ol' grin?

Gertie

Astrid

Astrid will have an honored place on the Elf Shelf, along with my very first cloth and clay doll.  Elf Girl never got a name, but she's a great sport about it.  Having no name is the least of her worries, if you were to judge a book by its cover.

Astrid and Elf Girl.

Boy, was my sculpting skill newborn back then!  'S'okay.  We all have to start somewhere.  Now Elf Girl has a new gal-pal, which is great because all the other elves are smelly boys. 

Tomorrow I will get the ornaments on the tree (must let the cat explore it tonight without tempting danglies...)  I'll get photos of the finished decorating, and photos of two other additions to my doll collection:
Crazy Wax Doll and Theo.

I hope your weekend is fabulous, dahlinks.

Bread and Butter

I don't normally eat bread or refined carbs.  But life's too short to completely cut out things we enjoy, so on Christmas and Thanksgiving, (okay, and my birthday) I'll give a little on the "rules".

Today we're headed across the street to spend Thanksgiving with our neighbors.  Our kids are scattered all over--the nearest one is a twelve hour drive--and the inlaws are in Arizona, so often the holidays find us "just we two".  For my part of the cooking, I am baking bread.  Ironic that I don't normally eat it, because it's one thing I make really well.

So a loaf of sourdough and a loaf of multi-grain, with special butters to go with.  I learned both the bread making and the herbed butters when playing in the SCA (y'know, those silly people who play like they live in medieval times).  I make Scarborough Butter and Spiced Honey Butter--both are super easy.

For each, you want to really soften however much butter you want to make (it freezes, so make plenty).  Then you decide which one (or both?) you want to make.  It's always good to make these several days ahead of serving, to let the flavors develop.

For the Scarborough Butter, add--you guessed it--sage, rosemary, and thyme.  The parsley goes on the plate as a garnish.  Use an herb grinder to grind the dried herbs into powder...I don't measure, I just put "oh, 'bout that much" into the grinder.  If you like strongly seasoned stuff, use a lot.  You can always add more butter if it's too strong.  Salt it too, if you like.  Blend well, then pour into muffin tins.  Refrigerate, then when you're ready to serve it, you can sit the muffin tin into a bath of warm water for a minute and they'll pop right out.  They look nice on pretty china saucers.

The Spiced Honey Butter wants pumpkin pie spices--allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little ginger.  Same seasoning rule applies here: you can always add more butter.  Mix in honey to the melted butter--I do measure this: about 1/4 cup per three sticks of butter.  Stir it all together, and put this in muffin tins too.

Hope your day is full of fun and laughter and good memories, whether there are few or many of you gathered together.  There's a lot to be thankful for.

Fall has fallen!

We actually have leaves turning color, and chilly temperatures that might. just. stay.  We can only hope, right?  I know folks who live up north who would tell me to be happy for the warmth, but we get enough warmth with our summers.  The hubs is not happy--he's a Phoenix boy, born and bred, so he'd be happy if it never got below 60.

I drove up to Fredericksburg this Tuesday to visit Edyth O'Neill.  We had a great day of "visiting" with dolls, as well as working in her garden a little bit, and setting up a couple of Christmas trees.  I look forward to when she posts her decoration photos--she has a good eye for display, and the antiques to do it up right!

A pile o' Izzies...and some un-Izzies, but they're all welcome.

Is it just me, or do their imperfections make them better?

Virginia visiting with Hannah.

On my way out the door, Edyth had me prune the culinary sage that grows near the porch, so I was able to bring home an armload of it!  I love sage, and so far have not been able to grow it successfully.  Fredericksburg is up in the hill country, a little less humid than down here.  I won't give up trying to grow it, but neither will I turn down an armload of organic sage!  As soon as I got home, I separated out the bundles to hang for drying (our office smells wonderful right now) and shared some with my neighbor across the street who loves to cook.

Lovely sage.  Enough to share, and to dry and store for a long time.

The Schultz supervised the Sage Bundling operation.  Very fragrant business that is.  When we came in, Willie wanted to know why we smelled so "herby".

The Schultz on his throne. 

One nosy cat.

Work on the Izannah dolls continues, with a few added tasks, so I press on.  Body suits first, and then clothes.  I'd get more done if I could just stay on track...but who's to say if those little tangents don't add to the art?  That's my story, anyway.  Nevertheless, we know what I'll be doing over the holidays.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Bound for Maryland

No, not me.  But Virginia is.  The lady she's headed home to will maybe call her something new, but I always seem to need a name for dolls while I make them. 

This doll is just about the perfect size to work on...large enough that the detail work isn't hard, but small enough to display well and feel delicate in the hands.  I have enjoyed her immensely, and hope her new Lady enjoys sewing clothing for her.  Virgina wears wool boots with cotton laces, tailored to fit her little bare feet. 

I have a couple of business-related projects I have to work on over the next two weeks, and then I'll get busy clothing these six Izannahs (and a few of their friends.)  Hope your weekend is fabulous, dahlinks!