I got another box of 20 dolls finished and mailed off. Just another 18 more to go and I can start working on their dresses. There are two of the dolls I am so tempted to keep. One favors a picture of my mother when she was young and the other is just very unique. The one pictured here is the unique one. She has a turned and tilted head. She is looking down more than the others. It is hard not to keep the ones that are truly different.

I have an earnest desire to make a new doll. The day is almost over but it could still happen.

My husband has built a beautiful 5 ft tall lighthouse for the front yard. He put a solar light at the top and a chain around the top.

It is hard to see in the picture but the little chain goes around through the posts that stick up around the light. We may try and see if they sell.

Can it be?

January is almost half over. It seems that Christmas was just around that last corner.
It just doesn't take long for the days to pass. I have nothing new to report. However, I'm working steadily on the dolls for the Land Of Sky event in March. A friend gave me two passes to see the Biltmore house in Asheville while I am there. How wonderful! I am looking forward to it. But I don't want the weeks to pass too quickly.
I think that sometimes I wish my life away and am so busy thinking of what comes next, or of somewhere that I am not that I cannot completely be aware of how wonderful the moment is, or how grateful I can be about where I am.
In fact, yesterday as I was feeling sorry for myself and being angry at God for what I did not have and how hard this was making my life, He reminded me that even if I had the things that I thought were going to make my life easier; life would not be easy. Life is always going to be hard in one way or another. Whether it is broken relationships, personal or national conflicts , financial issues or health issues, there will always be something that makes life harder than what I would like for it to be. But the test of every trial is whether or not I am willing to rely on God and trust Him with whatever may come my way. In fact, I now realize that this experience of not getting what I want is actually something that I need. If I can learn to trust my God in this situation then it will be easier to trust Him in the next. So what I really need in this situation is not to get that thing I think I need, but instead learn how to trust God enough so that in this and in future difficult situations I can respond in a way that displays faith in Him with grace, mercy, lovingkindness and wisdom.

Oh.. it just occured to me. It's not HOW I get out of this trial. It's WHAT I get out of this trial.

This is my first attempt at a pin lady. I made her face from a covered button. I don't wear pins. She will probably be a gift. But it was fun. We had a small challenge in one of the doll making groups I am in on line. Nice little distraction.

Today I am doing that fasting thing in preparation for one of those procedures you are required to have once you hit 50. ARGH!! If everyone else can do it. So can I. I'll be working on dolls today so maybe that will be a good enough distraction.

Well, today is the day I get a lot of work done on those 60 dolls! I hope.

I had to take just a little time off and work on a little bitty project. I really like Flora's bead head dolls at her bonehead studio blogspot ( http://boneheadstudio.blogspot.com/ ). So I had to try to make myself one. Here is how it turned out.

I think it turned out really cute. I did not take the time that I should have so the next one should be a little more to my liking.

I might try some larger beads to make heads from. One of my internet doll groups are making faces on large covered buttons. I have not finished that one yet, but it is a fun way to do faces and not have to make the entire body.

Yesterday I went to my new cloth doll making club. It was the second time we met and there were only two of us. But we had a blast. And I have to post Heera Prabhu's dolls on my blog so everyone can see what a great job she does.

What do you think of her Eleanor Peace Bailey Doll the Celtic Princess? She also brought in one of my favorites that she made, the kids playing leapfrog.

How cool are they!?

We had a great time of sharing about doll joints and talking about what we will do as a club in the future.

Sometimes I think that I will never really learn how to paint these dolls. The little buns in the back get to me every time. And no matter how hard I might try to paint them all alike. Never happens. So of course, I quit trying.

Here are the 11 dolls at the fixative stage. After the fixative dries I will seal them. I like a little shiny sealer. And then they will be ready for their legs ( which have not been painted yet) and their clothes.

UGH! I am ready to do something entirely different now. Oh.. have to say, all the dolls came out pretty except for the one I was making for myself. I was working on a different doll to be my first doll of 2009. YUck . I had to sand off her face and start again. I think the problem is that I am not really working on the doll I WANT to work on for my first doll of 2009.

But she would take too long and I have too much to do.

Well, here it is the first day of 2009. I have heard it said that what you do the first day is an indication of what you will be doing the rest of the year. Well, I guess mine will come true since I cleaned house, cooked supper and made dolls.

BUT... I also had my husband stuffing dolls the better part of the day. And I got a LOT of dolls started. So hopefully that is an indication of how well things will go the rest of the year. I know it is hard to tell but the picture below is my husband stuffing a doll leg! Whoo HOo!! And he does a good job too!

I even got started on a new doll for myself and finishing up on some that were on hold.

This is my new doll. She was originall a reject but I thought I would try some new techinques with her and now she might be a keeper. Look at the opposing thumbs. I just have to decide whether or not to gesso and paint her or leave the cloth unprimed and paint the features.

Happy New Year everyone!