All the little cloth girls and I were so glad that you could join us yesterday, as we celebrated the 205th anniversary of Izannah Walker’s birth! It was a joyful day in the doll’s very tall house! Today is much quieter, since there were plenty of English muffins left over for breakfast and quite a bit of cake for dessert too. The doll’s also received another birthday delivery from Mr. Twigg and his faithful horse and wagon. Thankfully this parcel was much easier to bring inside.

This evening’s after party is a chance to sit back, relax with friends and chat about all the tea party particulars. ❤

The Little Christening Pincushions Shown Throughout the Doll’s House

If you have been curious about the small decorative pincushions that Sarah Alice and Isabeau were making you will be able to read more abut them in my upcoming article about the history of infant pincushions, titled Welcome Little Stranger which will be in the December 2022 issue of Early American. The article also include instructions for making some of your own. The all three versions pictured, as well as other larger pincushions are included in the article.

Baking for the Tea Party

Sourdough English Muffins

Yes, I did make really tiny sourdough English muffins from scratch, then cut and toasted them in a hot skillet! The jelly and jams that the dolls served at the tea party were also homemade, wild violet jelly made from the violets that I picked from my farmyard this spring, black currant jam made with currants from my garden, and peach jam made with peaches from a local farm. I added a generous pinch of cinnamon to the peach jam to make it taste like peach pie. If you’d like to make your own English muffins I suggest the King Arthur recipe, which is the one I use. I made my own sourdough starter using wholewheat flour. When I bake these sourdough English muffins I use at least 50% wholewheat flour. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-english-muffins-recipe

Prairie Stack Cake

Tillie Lamb’s Gingerbread Layers

This is the recipe that I used for the gingerbread layers of the doll’s latest birthday cake.

Rum Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

2- 1/2 cups flour

1- 3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup molasses

3/4 cup hot water

1/4 cup rum

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Combine butter, sugar and egg.  Stir in dry ingredients alternately with the molasses, water and rum.  Pour into a buttered 9 x 12- inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  You may substitute buttermilk for the water and rum.

Pumpkin Cake and Spice Cake

Here is the hand written recipe card that I copied from my mom’s recipe for Pumpkin Cake 40 years ago. The recipe for the spice cake came from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book that she gave me in 1975. I substituted raisins for nuts in the spice cake because the dolls and I like it much better that way.

Cake Frosting

Use your favorite cream cheese buttercream frosting ❤

Alphabet Cookies

Fun Fact

I had to open eleven out of twelve individual packs of Mini Alphabet Cookies to be able to spell Izannah! Surprisingly there were abundant “I”s and “Z”s. The letter that took the longest to find was “N” followed by “A”. I purchased the cookies at Aldi.

The Mysterious Delivery of the Large Wooden Settle

At the end of the birthday celebration the unseen Mr. Twigg leaves a large wooden settle at the front of the doll’s house. Mister Twigg is the little cloth sister’s neighbor who runs a delivery service along with his trusty horse and large wagon. Mister Twigg delivered my birthday present to the dolls. The settle was lovingly made by Seth Tudor, Tasha Tudor’s son. It is 1/3 scale and is a miniature version of a settle that was in Tasha’s house. He makes them in three different scales. This particular size will also work for American Girl’s dolls. The three drawers on the bottom are functional. I’m fairly sure that you can reach him through https://www.tashatudorandfamily.com/ , though I contacted him through the Take Peace Facebook group that I am a member of.

The little cloth girls and I will be painting their settle a custom color once the girls stop squabbling over exactly what that color should be!

Flowers

All of the flowers came from my gardens ❤

One Final Surprise!

The dolls were quite thrilled when Mister Twigg came again today to deliver a parcel. It was a lovely birthday present from their dear friend Kay, who often spoils them with holiday gifts ❤ Thank you Kay!

Thank You for being a part of our twelfth annual Izannah Walker Birthday Celebration ❤ ❤ ❤