On Friday I spent a wonderful day at the home of Peggy Flavin, who is a very talented doll maker and good friend. I got to know Peggy last year when she attended my Izannah retreat and from the very first moment we met I felt like I had known her forever!
Visiting Peggy was such a treat and definitely one of the highlights of my year. This was the perfect season to drive up to Cape Ann, as the leaves are just starting to show their true glory. Autumn deepened the further north I went. However even a fall drive through New England can not compare to the joys of visiting a true kindred spirit. Not only does Peggy make and collect dolls, but she lives in a beautiful 18th century home. Every bit of her house is filled with wonderful treasures, remarkable details, and love.
Since our mutual friend Susie couldn’t be with us on Friday, Peggy and I arranged the next best thing. Peggy’s doll Lucy and one of my Izannahs, that will soon be headed to live with Susie, had a nice chat by the hearth and tea party.Edyth and PeggyMy dolls asked Lucy to share her knitting tips, as they all admired her cozy warm shawl very much.Best friends ❤There is no better way to spend an afternoon than playing dolls with your friends! One of the Isabeaus that I just finished making is going back home to Texas with Edyth.
An added pleasure of my visit to Peggy, was getting to meet and spend time with Edyth O’Neil, extraordinary rug hooker, antique dealer and doll collector. The three of us spent all afternoon talking about dolls, dolls and yet more dolls! Listening to Edyth brought back memories of my mother, aunts and grandmothers, as they all shared her soft Texas drawl and expressions. In the evening we had supper at the remarkably cozy pub that Peggy and her husband Dennis own. Both the food and the company were amazing.
Haddock with salsa, panko bread crumbs and cheese at Halibut Point in Gloucester, Ma.
On Saturday morning we were all up early, so that Peggy and Edyth could attend a meeting of the Doll Collectors of America and I could head to Sturbridge to pick up some of my furniture that Angel House has been reupholstering.
I had a splendid visit to Gloucester and can’t thank Peggy and Dennis enough for making me feel so welcome!
I did manage to squeeze in a visit to the Wenham museum to see their remarkable 15 inch Izannah Walker doll. She is so small and perfectly delicate…Back home again with a full load and a happy heart!
** Peggy and Edyth both have wonderful blogs. Peggy is just getting hers set up. What she has so far is excellent. Edyth’s blog is long standing and always an interesting read!
The girls and I are on our way to visit one of our favorite people, doll maker Peggy Flavin. We are looking forward to a fun day of dolls, antiques and old houses with Peggy and Edyth O’Neil!
Today marks the 196th anniversary of Izannah Walker’s birth. She was born in Bristol, Rhode Island on the 25th day of September in 1817. You may read more details about Izannah’s life in this post. I wish I could invite you all over to my house for cake and silly party games, but since I can’t, I’m doing the next best thing and having a SALE to celebrate the occasion and to say thank you for being such wonderful customers, students and friends. It is such a great pleasure to know other people who love Izannah’s dolls as much as I do!
From 9/25/13 – 9/29/13 all of my reproduction Izannah Walker dolls, additional custom made dresses and accessories for your Izzy, Izannah Walker doll clothes patterns and Izannah Walker Doll Making Classes are 10% off. This sale applies only to items ordered from September 25th through September 29th, 2013, the discount is not available on prior orders. As always, all items may be placed on lay-away with terms to fit your budget and shipping is free to any United States address. I generally just have two sales per year, my Izannah Walker Birthday Sale and my Christmas Sale 🙂 So don’t let this one pass you by.
Three Finished Dolls Available
I have three very special dolls available for this years Birthday Sale. One of them is created from a brand new mold that I made from my friend Mary’s Izannah Walker doll, Anna. Thank you Mary!!! Anna is 17 inches tall, so she is a smaller size than my other dolls and has the look of a younger, chubbier child. All three of these dolls have very aged appearances, befitting young ladies that were made early in Izannah’s doll making career. They each come with two elaborate dresses, full of wonderful little details to delight the heart of any dress maker, a chemise, pantalettes, petticoat and necklace.
Isabeau #1 SOLD – Thank you so much for stopping by to look at her! Please contact me if you would like to order a custom made doll similar to this one.
SOLD Isabeau #1 comes with a necklace made from hand strung pale pink bone beads.SOLD Her dress, made from antique pink and black print fabric is adorned with rows and rows of black velvet ribbon.SOLD Isabeau #1 wearing her winter white antique wool dress. I made this dress from an antique unfinished, so never worn, wool baby’s petticoat.A surprise sentiment hides inside the waist band of her dress, which fastens with hand carved bone buttons.Details showing the antique trims used on the sleeves of Isabeau’s embroidered wool dress.three ringletsSOLD Isabeau #1 Wardrobe
Isabeau #2 – SOLD Thank you!
SOLD Isabeau #2 shows off her hand strung real coral beads.SOLD Isabeau #2 is wearing a dress that I made for her from a mid-1800’s brown “coral” pattern print fabric. The dress has full gathered sleeves, two growth tucks in the skirt and a deep 3 inch hem.SOLD Isabeau #2 in her black party frock. The dress fabric dates to the late 1800’s. Rows of antique black velvet ribbon encircle the sleeves, waist and hem of the dress.
SOLD Isabeau #2 wardrobe
Anna #2 – NOW SOLD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LOOKING. Even though this one is sold you may order a custom made Anna style doll, and if you love these dresses I have enough fabric to make another set just like them.
SOLD Anna#2 wears a tiny golden thimble on a chain around her neck.SOLD Anna #2 is shown here wearing her dress made from a very early c. 1830-1840 cotton gauze paisley print. The green, red, brown and ivory fabric is perfect for late fall and the upcoming Christmas season. The sleeves and skirt of the dress have graduated growth tucks.SOLD Anna’s black dress is made from another very early cotton print fabric. The neckline of the dress is trimmed with antique ivory cotton ribbon, plus a row of antique silk velvet ribbon. Her chemise is trimmed in tiny waved braid (aka rick rack in modern terms).
SOLD Anna #2 WardrobeIsabeau #2 & SOLD Anna #2 show off a little Black Magic for All Hallows Eve. Black dresses are one of my favorites year around because they are a neutral accent in any room and the dark color will draw your eye to the doll and make her painted features “pop” and glow.
Are you wondering where Anna #1 is? In the very near future she is going to be living with Mary, her older sister Anna and all of her Walker cousins in Vermont. Members of my Izannah Walker Doll Making Class may read about my adventures in making Anna #1 in a continuing series of posts on the class member site.
To see photos of the original Miss Anna, follow these links:
I am a much better doll maker than I am a photographer. All of the girls look so much nicer in person. If you would like to see more photos of any of the dolls before placing an order, just ask. To purchase any of these dolls please visit my website ASweetRemembrance.com or alternately you may email paula@asweetremembrance.com or call 860-355-5709.
Time worn, well loved dolls are the ones that kindle the fiercest love in my heart, but I know that some of you dearly love newer, more pristine dolls. Don’t despair, I would be happy to make you the Izannah Walker doll that inhabits your dreams and has captured a place in your heart. Call or email me to place a custom order, 860-355-5709 ( 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time) or paula@asweetremembrance.com. I do have a bit of a waiting list for custom work, so the sooner you order the better.
Email (paula@asweetremembrance.com) or call me (860-355-5709) about prices and available fabrics for custom made doll clothing and accessories. Simple dresses made from antique fabric start at $200 apiece. More elaborate dresses with a greater number of tucks, fuller skirts, rows of ribbon or lace trim, embroidery or more costly antique fabrics run from $250 -$275 and may go upwards. Handmade leather shoes are $75. Any custom order is 10% off during the sale. Scroll up to see the new style of dress that I made for Anna #2. The fully lined dress has a slim cut bodice and sleeves, with a cartridge pleated skirt and velvet ribbon trim. The cost of an identical dress is $295, if the dress must be fully lined, or $275 for one with a lined bodice.
I don’t have a pattern available yet for smaller size clothing to fit Anna.
To read more about my Izannah Walker Doll Making Class by Mail follow this link to my website, where you may also order the class. The class comes with unlimited support, plus a class member only discussion site that features extra bonus material and patterns, including five different flat faced heads that work with the rest of your Izannah class patterns so that you can create a variety of different cloth dolls as friends for your Izzys! Sophie and Mae, two of my dolls that I made using the flat faced patterns will be featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Prims magazine.
Time For A Party
After trying on all their new clothes and posing for their photo shoot, the girls and I spent some time in the kitchen baking Izannah a birthday cake. We all agreed that it was the perfect treat to celebrate the birthday of our very favorite doll maker!
The recipe for the cake came from The Best of Shaker Cooking by Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller. I chose this recipe because it is one that would have been in use during Izannah’s lifetime and is filled with apples, the perfect seasonal fruit for an autumn birthday. I picked apples to use from our oldest apple tree. It is a very firm, late season cooking apple that I have never been able to positively identify. We grow our apples organically, so they are not picture perfect, but I’m sure apples just like these would have been a familiar site to Izannah.
Apple Cake
from Shirley Shaker Village
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 apples, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup currants or raisins
powdered sugar
ground cinnamon
Cream butter and gradually add 1/2 of the sugar, beating well. Beat egg with remaining sugar, add to first mixture. Sift in flour, salt and baking powder alternately with the m ilk. Flavor with vanilla. Add apples and currants or raisins. Beat well to mix and turn into a well-buttered 9 inch cake tin, square or round.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes. Makes 1 cake.
Two Isabeaus in the center and on the left, with an Anna on the right. Notice that the Isabeaus are a bit different in height. This is a natural variation that occurs with hand made dolls and is one of the things that I feel gives Izannah Walker’s dolls part of their charm.
I am now making reproduction Izannah Walker dolls using molds taken directly from three different original antique dolls made by Izannah Walker.
Zanna
This is the first Izannah that I bought, named Zanna. She is 18-1/2 inches tall. You may order a reproduction Zanna with an authentically worn surface like the original, or you may order one that looks newer and has only a few signs of age.
Isabeau
My second Izannah is Isabeau. The real Isabeau is currently 17-3/4 inches tall, but she has had some damage to her ankles, so I believe that she was once 18 to 18-1/2 inches tall like Zanna. Isabeau has a very classic Izannah face and is the doll most people order from me. You may order Isabeau with a worn original surface, or a new, slightly aged head.
Anna
Anna is my newest mold. The real Anna belongs to a my friend Mary, who also happens to be a member of my Izannah doll making class. Anna is smaller than Zanna and Isabeau and has more child like proportions. Her face is fuller and her body has a chubbier waist. Currently I am only offering Anna with a worn original surface. If you would like to order her with a newer, less aged head and don’t mind waiting until I have time to make new more “perfect” molds, which will not be until sometime in 2014, you may go ahead and place an order. Obviously if I have several people that order a “new” Anna, making the molds will move up my priority list.
I’d like to say thank you to all of the wonderful members of the Jenny Lind Doll Club who made me feel so very welcome yesterday at their meeting! I have been thinking for some time of joining the UFDC and I was finally pushed into action by all the glowing accounts of doll club meetings and conventions that I have been hearing from some of the members of my Izannah Walker class 🙂
I went to the UFDC website and contacted Margaret Vitale, who is the Regional Director in my area, and among other things helps interested people find a local club. Margaret was great. She put me in touch with the Jenny Lind club, one of the oldest clubs in the UFDC. Shelly, the Jenny Lind member in charge of membership has been wonderful and I can’t thank her enough. She has been very attentive, welcoming and even arranged for me to car pool to my first meeting!
I greatly enjoyed the afternoon spent in the home of Jenny Lind president Pixie, and her interesting program on Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, plus the delicious lunch she served. I could not have asked for a better beginning in the UFDC!
🙂 As a footnote somehow I wound up agreeing to host the May meeting at my house!!! It should be fun, as Pixie is planning to speak about Izannahs!
For a week that started out so well, this week has certainly turned into one with many highs and lows… and the worst part is that it’s only Thursday.
Sunday was a good day! I spent it with my family in Omaha, NE. This is a photo of me and my dad, who is 88-1/2!Unfortunately our cat became very ill while I was gone. He died yesterday. Those of you who came to last year’s Izannah retreat will remember him walking around in his t-shirt (to keep him from chewing on his surgical stitches).Just as we were about to board our return flight on Monday afternoon, I received a call from my son telling me that one of the huge maple trees in front of our house had cracked, split and 1/3 of the tree had fallen down. thankfully it did not fall towards the houseThis photo shows part of the tree lying in our field. You can get a feel for how large this tree is in comparison to our house, which has two stories and a full attic.
I am really going to miss this cat. We had him for 15 and a half years and had to hand feed him when he was a 5 week old kitten. It’s days like today that make me so thankful that I can retreat to my studio and loose myself in my doll making…
I thought I’d give you a peek at how I am spending my vacation.
What does a doll maker do for fun? If the doll maker is me, the answer is quilt!My friend Jan very generously asked me and my sister if we’d like to come quilt on her fantastic and amazing long arm quilting machine. Naturally we jumped at the chance!I quilted a vintage c.1960’s log cabin quilt top that I have had waiting in my attic for several years. Jan suggested a free form daisy quilting pattern, which was just perfect for the 60’s 🙂This is my sister Marisa quilting a 1930’s themed block exchange quilt. A group of us made and exchanged 1930’s blocks a few years ago.
Here is what our quilts looked like at the end of the day. Mine is all done and my sister’s just needs to be bound!Ahhh! Just perfect for nap time!
Thank you so much for stopping by to visit. This doll is now SOLD.
Early this evening I put the finishing touches on my latest reproduction Izannah Walker doll. I’ve been working pretty much non-stop on her and a few of her sisters for the past several weeks. I love this doll! I made her specifically for someone who is as enamored with the construction of Izannah Walker dolls as I am. If you have studied Izannah’s dolls closely, you will know that some of her dolls have very visible stockinette and head seams that show every stitch where they were joined together. I wanted that same look for this doll and I think that I have managed to capture all those details that show this doll’s two piece pressed cloth head construction to great advantage. She has a very sweet, serene expression and shows a moderate amount of “age” and wear. She has a bit of flaking and crackled paint, along with some worn and rubbed areas, just where little hands would have held and cuddled her.
At the moment she is dressed in pantalettes, a long chemise, a petticoat and a red and white cotton print dress. All of her clothing fabrics and second skin are antique. I do have a very good stock of antique fabrics at the moment, due to my summer shopping adventures; so if you would like to order additional clothing to go along with her I have some fantastic colors and prints for you to choose from. Dressed as is she’s priced at $1250.00. Please contact me to discuss additional wardrobe items, or if you have any questions or would like to see more photos. I may be reached at 860-355-5709 during reasonable East Coast hours or by email at paula@asweetremembrance.com. The antique child’s chair in original red paint is also available for sale. I happen to have a pair of them, they are $40 each or $75 for the pair. Both the doll and the chairs have free shipping to U.S. addresses and any item may be placed on lay-away with terms to fit your budget.
On Friday I spent a wonderful day at the home of Peggy Flavin, who is a very talented doll maker and good friend. I got to know Peggy last year when she attended my Izannah retreat and from the very first moment we met I felt like I had known her forever!
Visiting Peggy was such a treat and definitely one of the highlights of my year. This was the perfect season to drive up to Cape Ann, as the leaves are just starting to show their true glory. Autumn deepened the further north I went. However even a fall drive through New England can not compare to the joys of visiting a true kindred spirit. Not only does Peggy make and collect dolls, but she lives in a beautiful 18th century home. Every bit of her house is filled with wonderful treasures, remarkable details, and love.
Izannah Walker Journal 