My 19 inch reproduction Izannah Walker doll will be available for sale on Monday December 1st at 8 p.m. Eastern time (7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, and 5 p.m. Pacific).
Good morning everyone! I hope all of your Thanksgiving plans and chores are going well! Just two more days to go!
Here at home and in my studios there is quite a bit of frantic activity. I have a wonderful new black Izannah Walker doll almost complete!!! She is just waiting for buttons, buttonholes, drawstrings and a pocket to be sewn onto her apron ❤
I also have 3 18inch tall Izannahs nearing completion ~ an Isabeau, a Sarah Alice, and a Zanna. Plus there are two sweet Lizzybits somewhat impatiently waiting in the wings for final detail painting and clothing. After more than 2 years of crazy house repairs, some emergency and some planned, plus an autumn of various illnesses shared by my 5th grade granddaughter and teacher son, things are finally slowly getting back to a more normal state. Hooray! It’s so nice to have more or less uninturrupted studio time, and such joy to be surrounded by little cloth girls instead of workmen.
I haven’t quite decided which day to offer my latest black Izzy for sale, since it’s such a busy holiday week. If you have been longing for a black Izannah Walker doll please feel free to email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com with days and times that you would prefer. I’d be happy to take a look at everyone’s preferences and try to choose a time that would be good for the majority of interested buyers. This black Izannah is VERY strongly influenced by the single known remaining example of Izanah’s black dolls. If you aren’t familiar with her go take a look at the Theriault’s auction where she last sold . My reproduction has faded wool hair like the original, along with her lovely rich skin tone.
I had fully intended to write “this look behind the scenes” post yesterday, but when I sat down to write I actually fell asleep sitting up! LOL It’s been such a busy week that apparently my body decided I really needed a nap. The thought that it would undoubtedly be a much more coherent post if I waited to write it until today kept me from feeling too guilty. I hope this inspires you to play with your dolls! You’re never too old to enjoy the magic of dolls…
Even Cleaning Is Much More Fun When It’s Doll Sized
Just like in real life, the first thing on the list of party preparations is cleaning! I started cleaning the doll’s house about two weeks prior to the party. I basically dusted, swept, tidied, washed dishes, and cleaned windows. The antique library steps that you see in some of the photos are what I use to reach the bedroom and the attic. ❤
I love my painting studio! It’s filled with windows and generally has wonderful light all day long. When the week prior to the party started to have weather forecasts that were filled with dark clouds and rainy days I knew that I might run into difficulties trying to photograph the doll’s celebration and all of the little details in their house. My solution was to pull the umbrella photo light stands, that I bought over 20 years ago from local artist and dollmaker Rainie Crawford, out of the top floor of my tack barn. At the time that I bought the lights my youngest son was getting ready to apply to several art schools. I knew that I was going to have to photograph his portfolio and thought they would also be great when photographing my own work. The lights were far from new when I acquired them, as Rainie had used them for years to photograph her own dolls and bears for the ads she ran offering her patterns for sale in the back pages of popular women’s magazines.
Getting the light stands out of the barn and cleaned up was a chore! The whole time I was cleaning them I was keeping my fingers crossed that in the end they would actually work. Thankfully they still work perfectly and they made such a huge difference! You can’t even tell from the photo images that it was a dark stormy day outside.
P.S. The lights were excellent for photographing portfolios too! He was accepted at both Pratt and University of the Arts, and chose to attend Pratt. He graduated with a degree in illustration which he has used throughout his very diverse career. ❤
Minature Baking Is More Fun Too!
An important part of every good party is food! This year I baked Joe Frogger cookies, which are a great favorite of both the dolls and mine. The recipe that I use comes from my very worn and tattered 1982 copy of Better Homes & Gardens Classic American Recipes. One of the things I’ve always loved about this cookbook is the little bits of history that accompanies each recipe. “Uncle Joe was an old man who made molasses cookies in Marblehead, Massachusetts. They were called Joe Froggers because they were as big and dark as the frogs in Joe’s pond. Fishermen found that they kept well at sea and traded them for rum, one of Joe’s secret ingredients.
Joe Froggers
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons rum
Beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds, add sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Stir in molasses, water and rum. Stir dry ingredients together separately then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until well blended. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. (I don’t always do this. Sometimes I bake them immediately, especially when I am just using plain circle cutters.)
On a well floured surface roll dough to 1/4 inch. Cut with a 4 inch round cutter. Place on greased cookie sheet. (baking parchment paper or silpat mats will also work) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool about 60 seconds before removing to a wire rack. Makes 18 – 22 cookies. I often sprinkle my cookies with plain sugar before baking for just a little bit of sparkle.
The dolls also requested ice cream for their party, which turned into a bit of a challenge. Even though it was a dark rainy day the outside temperature was a steamy 79 degrees. Inside the studio the photo lights, which create a LOT of heat, made things even warmer. In order to keep the ice cream from melting too quickly on it’s trip out to the studio I took it out of the freezer then immediately placed it in a well insulated cooler with multiple ice packs. Once the lights were in place and the entire vignette inside the dollhouse was ready to be photographed I scooped the ice cream into the little bowls using a very small scoop, like you would use to scoop batter into a mini muffin pan.
If you’d like to follow Zanna’s example and make homemade ice cream, this is the one she and I always use.
My Favorite Homemade Ice Cream This is my favorite recipe of all the ones that my mother used for Vanilla Ice Cream. It wasn’t her favorite though, she was known to cut down on the sugar as she thought it was too sweet. I think that it is just about right the way it is listed in the recipe. Use very good quality vanilla. I like ground vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste because of their added depth of flavor.
Directions: Heat Eagle Brand, eggs, and sugar in top of a double boiler stirring constantly. While continuing to stir add half & half, cream and vanilla. remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl and add one quart of milk. Cool in refrigerator. Freeze in ice cream freezer.
Ice Cream Magic!
The combination of the very cold ice cream, the extremely hot photo lights, and high humidity, caused the ice cream in the bowls to start smoking like dry ice! It would have been so nice to share such a fun magical moment with you, but try as I might the effect didn’t show up in the photos.
Did you guess that the tiny ice cream spoons in the photos are antique silver salt spoons? The doll’s routinely take turns polishing them to keep them bright and shiny.
And then it was time for presents!
As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, all of the odd occurrences and secret meetings leading up to Thursday’s party were because the dolls were busy creating presents for each other this year. ❤
The Paper Silhouette from Ismay ~ In reality this is a silhouette that I cut from parchment paper, using an x-acto knife, aged with tea in the oven, then mounted on black cardstock.
The tiny printed and stuffed kitten & hen that the sisters made for Izzybelle ~ These miniature marvels were actually made by the extremely talented Lolly Yokum of Laurel Leaf dolls. She also makes a variety of miniature cloth dolls that include amazing tiny Izannah Walker dolls https://laurelleaf.com/toys.htm
Izzybelle’s Seed Envelopes~ The little seed envelopes were inspired by an amazing gift I received from one of my very dear friends, Sandy Conners, another very talented artist who’s original art graces her beautifully hand carved wood blocks and letterpress prints. I love these perfect little seeds packets and glassine envelopes so much that I haven’t yet been able to decide what seeds are special enough to put in them ❤ So for the time being I keep them with my favorite antique gardening implements and admire them frequently. When Izzybelle caught me daydreaming over these tiny works of art she begged me to let her have them for the seeds she’s been saving. Instead we compromised and I agreed to help her craft her own using the sweet little printed sheet of all the packet illustrations that came in Sandy’s gift. To create a template for Izzybelle’s seed envelope I carefully took apart a commercial seed envelope and reduced the outline using my office copier (I couldn’t bear to do that to one of Sandy’s). Izzybelle’s seed envelopes have red wax seals on their back flaps to hold them closed.
Charlcie and Eliza Jane’s Packets of Tea ~ The smaller one cup packets are actually tiny parchment paper envelopes that I cut with a scrapbooking die cutter. The larger packets are simply a folded rectangle of parchment paper (the actual real paper kind and not what you bake with). Both packets are sealed with red wax that I stamped with the sister’s very small antique ivory handled stamp. Inside the packets contain either dried peppermint, apple mint, or lemon balm. All three herbs were cut from the herb garden outside of my kitchen door. Normally Charlcie, Eliza Jane, and I lay the freshly washed herbs on clean dry towels in a shaded room to dry. If we are in a hurry, we lay a single layer of clean herbs on a clean paper towel and microwave them in 15 second intervals just until they begin to feel slightly dry. then place them on a counter or table to cool down. They should finish drying as they cool, if they aren’t completely dry they can go back in the microwave for 15 additional seconds. Do not microwave too long, as the herbs can burn.
Tilly Lamb & Sarah Alice’s Gift of Dried Pressed Flowers in a Gold Frame ~ This gift was really quite straight forward. It is made from flowers cut straight out of my flower beds, pressed between two sheets of white of paper, weighted down with bricks! Of course you could also use a flower press, which would undoubtedly be easier. After the flowers had completely dried I carefully used a dab of glue to attach them to yet another piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside of a small gold painted wooden frame.
Isabeau and Zanna’s gift of a Sewing Sampler Book for all of the sisters to share and contribute to. ~ I will be writing an in-depth look at girl’s 19th century sewing sampler books in the near future as the little cloth girls begin working on theirs in earnest. We would love you to follow along, and perhaps be tempted to make one for yourself or your dolls.
The Repurposed School Book Turned Scrap Book that Cloe and I gave my Izannah Sisters ~ This was a fortunate antique find. I love the idea of someone reusing this little book to hold their treasured clippings and colorful paper scraps!
Once upon a time there were 10 well loved painted cloth dolls, who had all been brought to life by an amazing dollmaker named Izannah Walker. Because the little dolls had trouble remembering back, all those many years ago, to when they were very, very new they have all decided to treat their dearest Izannah’s birthday as their own. So every year they have a big, lovely birthday party to celebrate Izannah Walker’s birthday, as well as each others ❤
At the moment Zanna and Izzybelle are in the kitchen putting the last finishing touches on the refreshments. The dolls had quite a discussion about exactly what to serve today. Last year Isabeau and Sarah Alice were in charge of the kitchen and got a bit carried away! There was soooooooooooo much cake left over when the party ended! https://izannahwalker.com/2024/09/ After talking about it for quite some time, they finally decided to put the very sensible Zanna in charge of baking this year. Izzybelle insisted on being Zanna’s kitchen helper, even though the rest of the dolls were silently shaking their heads no.
Zanna proposed that each of them should name their most favorite birthday treats and then everyone would vote on them. After the votes were all counted Zanna announced that she would make the top two favorites, Joe Frogger cookies and vanilla ice cream! Charlcie and Eliza Jane were quite worried that there wouldn’t be enough ice left in their ice house from last winter to freeze ice cream, but somehow Zanna managed to come up with exactly enough.
“Izzybelle how many times have we told not to kneel in the kitchen chairs? Eliza Jane is going to have a fit if she sees you doing it again, and she’ll be sure to scold you about behaving like a proper young lady!” “But Zanna I can’t reach everything if I sit that way!” wailed Izzybelle.
“Alright, but just this once, and only because we need to hurry!” “We still have to put the candles in the Joe Frogger cake and the candle sticks”
“OH IZZYBELLE!” “What have you done now?” exclaimed Zanna with a huge sigh. “Carefully carry the platter of cookies upstairs please, without any more tasting like a good girl, while I scoop the ice cream.”
Such a great deal of excited chatter greeted Zanna in the parlor, with all the little cloth girls talking at once! “Oh my goodness Zanna, you and Izzybelle out did yourselves!” “Look at the ice cream!” “What a magnificent tower of birthday cookies” “Which one of us should blow out the candle?” “Tilly Lamb you blow out the candle while the rest of us make wishes ❤ ” “Remember Izzybelle don’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true!” “Are you sure we shouldn’t open presents first?” No Izzybelle, tea and treats first, then presents. You know that’s the way that we always do it.”
“NOW is it time for presents?” asked Izzybelle squirming with excitement. “Yes!” chorused all of her sisters!
(So THIS is what they have all been planning!)
(The dolls aren’t the only ones keeping birthday secrets…)
“Izzybelle you can go ahead and start opening presents now!” “I’m going to start with the one that has my name on it!” she declared. “Now the one I made for all of you!!! ” “It’s seeds for our garden!” “Are you surprised?” asked Izzybelle. All of her sisters tried to hide their smiles as she proudly announced “Look! I saved lots and lots of seeds from my runaway tomatoes!”
After Izzybelle made a start in unwrapping the birthday gifts, some of the other dolls joined in. Ismay gave her sisters a lovely hand cut silhouette. The lovely blue indigo wrapped parcel contained peppermint, apple mint, & lemon balm teas from Charlcie and Eliza Jane. Isabeau opened the framed flowers that Tilly Lamb and Sarah Alice gathered from the garden and pressed. (Which explains why there was a brick on top of the books!) When it was Ismay’s turn she unwrapped a sewing sampler book, made from hand made paper, that Isabeau and Zanna started to keep all of the sister’s needlework examples in. The very last birthday was the one from Cloe and me. I think Hannah was quite surprised to untie the twine and find a somewhat tattered schoolbook!
Once the dolls looked inside, they could see that the little book was actually a scrapbook full of verses, essays, and pretty lithographed paper “scraps”.
“This has been the best day” murmured a tired, but happy Izzybelle. To which all of her sisters agreed…
We hope you have enjoyed attending the doll’s birthday tea party. If you’d like to read a bit more about the behind the scenes activities necessary to set up all of the party scenes, as well as a more detailed description of how their birthday gifts were made (including Izzybelle’s seed packets ~ which were inspired by a lovely gift from our dearest, most talented friend Sandy Connors of Honey Bee Press ) please join us here tomorrow for our “After Party” post.
I’ve been noticing a few out of the ordinary little things for several days now. For example the parlor door, which is never closed, is mysteriously shut at odd times through out the day.
When I peeked through a crack in the door, I spied the little cloth girls whispering excitedly to each other…
… and then there are all the little out of place bits and pieces that keep mysteriously appearing and disappearing in their very tall house.
First it was tiny baskets of herbs in the kitchen, with little bits dropped on the floor, as if someone had hurriedly just left the room.
Next I noticed tiny bits of paper on the parlor table, at the same time as Ismay was scurrying out of the room on silent stocking feet.
After Ismay departed I saw that there were sewing implements inexplicably tucked under the shawl draped over the parlor bench!
Even odder sights awaited me upstairs in the bedroom. A trail of pansies and leaves led me to a stack of books, with a BRICK on top, that had been hastily shoved under the bed??? There was yet another book protruding from beneath the mattress of the adjoining bed! It looks to me as if the sisters are keeping birthday secrets. Won’t they be surprised when they find that I have a birthday secret of my own!
Please join us here tomorrow September 25th at 5 p.m. Eastern Time for a grand birthday tea party in honor of Izannah Walker’s 208th birthday.
As I am sure most of you know every year my family of antique Izannah Walker dolls and I have a multiday celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday on September 25th, which also includes a release of my newest reproduction Izannah Walker dolls for sale. I always try to time the doll sale to coincide with the birthday celebration, though occasionally I run into issues that delay the doll sale a little bit. It looks like the sale will be delayed this year because the paint on the dolls isn’t quite dry enough for me to sew them together. The lamp black paint on their boots takes an especially long time to dry, and after looking at their boots for a few days I think they are going to need at least one more coat of paint. There is high humidity and rain in the forecast for the rest of this week, so I honestly don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to finish them, though it should be relatively soon.
This delayed time line gives me a bit of flexibility about the exact day the dolls will be making their debut. Generally I try to alternate days and times to be as fair as possible, since I obviously can’t tailor the release to match everyone’s personal schedule. If anyone wants to drop me a note at paula@asweetremembrance.com and give me an idea of the best online doll shopping times for you I’ll set up a file that I can look through whenever I schedule doll releases. This doesn’t mean that all the release days and times will be exactly what you want, I’m sure they won’t – it just means that I’ll try to take your preferences into account as I rotate days and times.
This year I am making six dolls which are all sentimental choices. Two of them are 16 inch Lizzybits, which are one of my smaller dolls. I would say that the majority of the antique Izannah Walker dolls that I am personally aware of are 18 inches tall. The smallest that I have ever read about is 13 inches. Next in my current line up are Zanna, Isabeau, and Sarah Alice who are all 18 inches tall. Zanna was my very first antique Izannah Walker doll and Isabeau was my second, so they both have a very special place in my heart. Sweet Sarah Alice is named after Sarah Alice Langworthy the little girl pictured in an antique carte de visite that I own. You can read about the real Sarah Alice here https://izannahwalker.com/2017/09/25/remembering-sarah-alice-langworthy-happy-birthday-izannah-walker-part-2/ . The last doll that I will be offering for sale is a special 20 inch tall black version of Isadora – based on the only known black Izannah Walker doll (18 inches) that sold most recently during day one of the Theriault’s “Rosalie – A Life of Dolls” Marquis Doll Auction.
There is a somewhat long story as to why I have chosen to make this doll 20 inches tall, which I will be relating in her description when she is offered for sale.
You can read about the various molds that I make my historically accurate reproduction Izannahs from, see the original antique dolls that the molds were made from, and see a few previous examples of reproductions of those dolls here https://asweetremembrance.com/category/izannah-walker-reproduction-dolls/
My 14 – 18.5 inch dolls sell for $1695.00*. 20 inch dolls are $1900.00*
Prices include free shipping and full insurance to any U.S. address. (at the current time I’m unfortunately only selling and shipping dolls within the U.S. due to all of the tariff and exchange rate issues).
*Dolls with bare feet, or clothing that is especially elaborate and/or made from more expensive antique materials, cost more.
If I do happen to have time to make any extra dresses or accessories, they will be sold separately this time around to give everyone as many options as possible.
I’ll send you all another update with the date and time of their debut when the dolls are dry enough to sell.
In the meantime I hope you all enjoy all of the other birthday happenings. The main party will be posted at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, September 25th on www.izannahwalker.com, with a few other birthday posts in the days before and after. (We like to make birthdays last as long as possible here!!!).
Thank you all for your interest in my reproduction Izannah Walker dolls! If you ever wish to be removed from this mailing list, just reply to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line.
Sending Huge Hugs from all the little cloth girls!
Just 14 days until Izannah Walker’s 208th birthday and my annual celebration. I’ve been spending quite a lot of time tucked away in both studios, and in my office (aka my late night sewing lair!) working on a variety of my reproduction Izannahs. I have to admit that I’ve been falling in love with these new little cloth girls a bit more every day ❤
I’ve temporarily set aside the large group of Charlcies in hopes of having some birthday dolls available! Reproducing Charlcie is a more lengthy and complicated process, which I will go right back to after bringing some of her smaller sisters to life. I’m still not entirely sure how many of the six dolls that you can see on my painting table will be finished by the 25th. I’m hoping that none of the remaining construction projects start in the next two weeks, but they are all subject to when the various tradespeople are available…
Regardless of any chaos and interruptions, all the dolls and I are greatly looking forward to their big birthday party and we hope you are too! We’d also like to take a moment to thank you all for your lovely messages and support. The proceeds from my dollmaking help fund the care, repair, and restoration of my 18th century home, barns, and the surrounding remnants of original farm land.
Naturally the party preparation involves cleaning house… and just as it is in every house the kitchen is the by far the messiest room!!!
On this twelfth day of Christmas I am looking back at some of my favorite Christmas moments during the past 39 years of A Sweet Remembrance, from St. Nicholas Eve right through to the last bite of Twelfth Night Cake. Thank you all for enthusiastically welcoming my hand made creations into your home and lives. You have made owning my own business and being a working artist a joy!
Each year brings it’s own share of obstacles, and difficulties because that is simply the way life is, but it also brings so many amazing moments… I am very much looking forward to a year that is filled with more! More dolls, more days working in my studio, more spun cotton figures, making more tiny dresses, more gardening, more time to paint, more days full of everyday things on my remnants of an 18th century farm, more family, more baking, more creating, more everything! I hope you are looking forward to more too ❤
All of the little cloth girls, spun cotton characters, mohair animals, bears and I wish you a wonderful 2025 filled with peace, love, joy & all good things!
Isabeau and Sarah Alice always insist on fresh from the garden berries, especially for special occasions ❤
Isabeau spread homemade violet jelly in between the glazed layers of vanilla bean and bergamot flavored yellow cake. Violet jelly??? Why is it green? The doll’s homemade violet jelly is green because they don’t add the lemon juice that most violet jelly recipes call for. The lemon juice causes and lovely chemical reaction between the steeped violet flowers and the acid in the lemon juice which turns the color from pale green to lavender. All of the little cloth sisters have most discerning taste buds and feel that the lemon juice overpowers the lovely delicate taste of the violets, so they choose to omit the lemon juice and have spring green jelly instead.
It’s always fun to use fresh herbs and flowers to decorate a special cake. This year the girls chose fresh sprigs of thyme, autumn pansies, and catnip.
The tiny three tiered cakes are a nod back to the 2nd Izannah Walker birthday celebration here at http://www.izannahwalker.com in 2011. The original cake shown above in the far left image was decorated with borage flowers, so using herbs & flowers is one of our long running traditions.
If you are suddenly curious about what type of cake Isabeau baked for the 2011 birthday cake it was a very old receipt (yes, so old that it was called a receipt rather than a recipe) for Pound Cake.
Pound Cake
Beat one Cup of Butter to a Cream, slowly beat in one and one third Cups of Sugar. Add one Teaspoonful of Mace and beat in five whole Eggs, adding them one at a time. Sift in two Cups of Flour, turn at once into a greased and floured Pan or Mould and bake slowly for one Hour.*
*Isabeau baked her cakes in a 300 degree oven, 30 minutes for the doll size cakes and two hours for the larger people size version.
All of this looking back at the 2011 birthday cake has convinced Sarah Alice that now you are going to be dying of curiosity and want to know the receipt/recipe for the very 1st birthday dessert that the dolls baked in 2010. P.S. Please pretend that you are, even if you aren’t, just to make her happy.
Birth-day Pudding
Butter a deep dish, and lay in slices of bread and butter, wet with milk, and upon these sliced tart apples, sweetened and spiced. Then lay on another layer of bread and butter and apples, and continue thus till the dish is filled. Let the top layer be bread and butter, and dip it in milk, turning the buttered side down. Any other kind of fruit will answer as well. Put a plate on the top, and bake two hours, then take it off and bake another hour.
This receipt (aka recipe) is from Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book by Catherine E. Beecher. Catherine Esther Beecher was born in 1800 in East Hampton, Long Island. She founded the Hartford Female Seminary in 1823 as well as other schools for young women in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. She wrote A Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841) and Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book (1846).
Notes:
After buttering my dishes I dusted them with sugar, before layering in the bread and butter.
I cut the crusts off my bread, as the pudding was for a special occasion, but you certainly don’t have to. I saved the crusts as a treat for the wild birds in my yard. You may also save them to make stuffings, bread crumbs, or croutons.
I chose cinnamon, mace and nutmeg as my spices.
I baked my doll sized pudding in a custard cup, which would also be nice if you want to bake yours in individual portions.
I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and baked my puddings for 15 minutes, then I reduced the oven temperature to 250 degrees and continued baking for the remaining 2 hours and 45 minutes. I removed my doll size pudding from the oven after 30 minutes of total baking time. Your baking time is going to depend a lot on the size of your dishes and the thickness of your pudding, so check your oven fairly frequently. It’s also a good idea to put a cookie sheet under your dish, because my pudding bubbled over as it was baking.
“What are those little green crumbs that are showing up everywhere in the photos?” The green cake crumbs are supposed to represent moss, and were made by adding green food coloring to just enough cake batter to fill a single cupcake in a cupcake pan. After the cupcake baked and cooled Sarah Alice crumbled it to bits! Which she laughingly admits is one of her favorite baking chores.
shhhh… Both Sarah Alice and Isabeau sometimes help me post stories from here at the doll’s house on Facebook and Instagram. Afterwards they have been known to do a little late night scrolling for baking ideas… They found the idea for cake crumb moss from mustloveherbs . (and obviously the internet is their most well guarded secret tip!)
mmm ~ there are delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen, where Sarah Alice and Isabeau have taken over all of this year’s birthday party baking… ❤
“Ohhhhhhh Isabeau! I think we baked too many cakes!!!” wailed Sarah Alice. “I told you that I didn’t think we needed to triple the recipe.” calmly replied Isabeau. “Don’t worry, it will be alright. If nothing else we will all have cake for breakfast in the morning, and declare it to be a special treat!”
“Oops! I think I dropped a crumb.” “Are you sure?” “I don’t see one.” “I wonder where it went?”
“Everyone will be arriving soon, so we really need to get some of the cakes decorated” said Isabeau. “I’ll start layering the violet jelly in between the layers of this cake Sarah Alice, if you will tuck some of these pansies around the littler cakes.”
“The cakes look beautiful!” pronounced Sarah Alice. “Maybe I was worried for nothing.” “They are going to make the tea table look so festive!” “No one will be able to resist seconds, and maybe even thirds…”
“We’d better hurry, we still need to put the trifle together.” “Now where did I put that trifle bowl???” “The last time I saw it Izzybelle and the little boy next door were taking it back towards the brook.” “Izzybelle, will you come down the the kitchen for a moment?” “Izzybelle, hurry up!” “We’re running late, and it’s almost time for our guests to arrive!”
“Izzybelle do you know where our glass trifle bowl is?” asked Sarah Alice in what she hoped was a reasonable tone. Poor Sarah Alice is having a difficult day and trying so hard not to panic. She’s quite nervous because this is the very first time that she and Isabeau have done all of the birthday baking by themselves. “Didn’t I see you and James carrying it down towards the brook the other day? asks Isabeau. “Well…. we did, but…” replied Izzybelle quite slowly. “But what?” prompted Isabeau. Nervously Izzybelle admitted that she and James just “might” have borrowed it to use as a temporary home for a poor injured frog that James is nursing back to health. “That’s all well and good,” said Isabeau “but we need to put together the trifle, and I am not just going to toss the cake and raspberries into the cream crock and stir it together! This is a special occasion. It’s our dearest Izannah’s 207th birthday and I for one want everything to be perfect.” “Izzybelle, quickly run over to the big house and see if you can borrow some kind of pretty bowl to put the trifle in.” orders Sarah Alice in her “must be obeyed big sister voice”.
Izzybelle ran back and forth across the farmyard as quickly as she could, especially considering that she had both of her arms full of borrowed dishes. “This is all I could find!” gasped Izzybelle, who was trying to catch her breath. “An egg cup and a tea cup???” asked Isabeau. “They’ll have to do.” decided Sarah Alice. “At least they are both very pretty…” and without anymore talking Isabeau and Sarah Alice set to work layering fresh, moist cake cubes, rich whipped cream and fresh garden raspberries into their borrowed make-do trifle bowls. But what about Izzybelle you ask? She very quietly tiptoed upstairs to the parlor before anyone asked her anymore questions, or sent her on another errand.
Then before you could even stop to take a deep breath the sisters all gathered in their parlor to welcome their guests to the party…
Everyone agreed that it was a wonderful party, and that Sarah Alice and Isabeau’s foresight in providing prodigious quantities of cake was very much appreciated. They also admired the wonderful present of a new book for their library that was written and illustrated by two of their dearest friends, and read out loud to all the guests by Izzybelle (who needs to practice her reading). All of the little frustrations and business of the day melted away, as the dolls celebrated the amazing dollmaker who brought them to life so many years ago… ❤
Izannah Walker Journal 