A Sweet Remembrance September 2024 Newsletter

September 17, 2024September 17, 2024 paulawaltonLeave a comment

Oh my goodness, half of September has already passed, and it is just slightly over one week until my annual Izannah Walker Birthday Celebration on September 25th! Has your summer felt as if it has simply flown by the same way mine has?

As always spring and summer have been incredibly busy here. There are more warm weather projects that cry out for attention in and around my 18th century home, barns, and surrounding land (that I affectionately refer to as Thyme Forgotten Farm) than I can ever fit into a single year. Currently there is wood repair taking place on the lower level of the tack barn, and much needed window work in my office, to replace the rotting 20th century windows there with antique window sashes and reconstruct appropriate window surrounds. Most of the repair work to multiple garden gates and garden structures has been completed, as have almost half of the new stands for my herd of antique carousel horses. My weekends have mostly been spent being a grandma, and fitting in all of the must do summer traditions. Childhood is so fleeting that it’s important to make time for special moments…

Studio News

A lot has been going on in both of my studios too! I’m very pleased to tell you that I have been named one of America’s top traditional craftsmen by Early American Life for 2024 in the category of Toys and Dolls. This is the 45th time in the course of 24 years that I have been in their directory. I’ve been listed in the categories of Clothing and Accessories, Textiles or Needlework, Miscellaneous, Toys and Dolls, Miniatures, Santas, Other Holidays and General Christmas. I’ve been juried into the Directory annually from 2004-2024 plus 1996-1998, many years in more than one category. Thank you Early American Life!

Out in the studios I’ve been doing much needed cleaning and sorting, plus working on exciting new things, some of which involved my carpenter. Obviously I have also been making dolls too, because I always try to have some for sale as part of my Izannah Birthday Celebration. Plus I have been designing a few new spun cotton ornaments! I dearly love making spun cotton figures, but haven’t been able to fit them in between everything else for a long time.

All in all it’s been a really wonderful summer. I hope yours has been too!

My Online Celebration of Izannah Walker’s Birthday 207th Birthday

On Wednesday September 25th I will be hosting an online celebration of Izannah Walker’s Birthday featuring my collection of antique Izannah Walker dolls. Come visit www.izannahwalker.com to see how my little cloth girls celebrate their maker’s birthday.

Now that you’ve read a bit about what is going on in my world you probably won’t be surprised that I don’t have the exact time decided yet for when the birthday celebration post will be live, and when the dolls that are going to be available for purchase will be posted. I will be prominently posting information about both times, closer to the 25th, on www.izannahwalker.com , on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ASweetRemembrance , and on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/asweetremembrance/ . I’ll also send out an email to everyone who has signed up for my “New Dolls” email mailing list with times and other details.

This year’s celebration is going to be a little bit less involved than past years, yet still a very enjoyable event, so I’m apologizing for that in advance. Between all the construction interruptions, and a highly possible case of Lyme disease, I’m not working quite as quickly as I usually do. The good news is that the dolls and I have some other fun celebrations and doll releases planned for October, November, & December! We hope you’ll join us as we fill the remainder of 2024 with Izannah parties.

Wishing you a lovely autumn!

Paula

www.izannahwalker.com

www.asweetremembrance.com

postscript ~ If you wish to be removed from this mailing list please reply to this email with the

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P.p.s. I hope you all got to see the wonderful original Izannah Walker doll that Withington Auction sold online through auctionninja.com on Friday 9/13. She sold for $43,500.00 plus an 18% Buyers Premium. In case you are wondering, that isn’t the record price paid for an Izannah Walker doll. If you haven’t seen her, go take a peak https://www.auctionninja.com/withington-auction-inc/product/18-izannah-walker-cloth-doll-1180990.html She is an amazingly sweet doll!

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A Sweet Remembrance Autumn Newsletter

September 16, 2020September 16, 2020 paulawalton2 Comments

Tilly J. Lamb and I are both spending our days making dolls in preparation for our annual Izannah Walker Birthday Celebration on September 25th & 26th, 2020

I haven’t sent out a newsletter in quite some time… the one overwhelming thing I most want to say is that I hope you, your families and loved ones are safe and healthy. This has been such a very sad and difficult year for our world.

I debated with myself about whether or not to write my annual Autumn Newsletter, but in the midst of such very unsettled and stressful times I find that I need a few happy, fanciful things to think about. Tiny bright spots that make life feel a bit more normal and remind me of better days. So I decided to go ahead and write, hoping that you might feel the same and be interested in a bit of studio news and upcoming events.

The dolls and I are busy making plans to celebrate Izannah Walker’s 203^rd birthday on September 25^th. I started writing my Izannah Walker Journal ~ Paula Walton’s Doll-Making Notes blog in January, 2009. The little Izzy’s and I have been celebrating the anniversary of Izannah Walker’s birth on my blog for ten years! Since my first birthday post on September 25^th, 2010!

I’m getting a rather late start on preparations this year. I have to admit that since March I have been feeling much too antsy to make dolls… I have needed to do more physical, less detailed work. To be up and moving all the time rather than sitting… I have been throwing myself into taking care of my little remnant of an 18^th century farm. My life is going through a lot of changes at the moment and one of the things I am exploring is the feasibility of farming on a very small scale, so I have been growing a few experimental crops and trying out new plants. I’m not at all sure that farming is in my future, but it has made for an interesting, busy, exhausting spring and summer. I have also been concentrating on taking care of my family and making things for them. I have made masks, masks, and more masks. Not nearly as many as some people I know, who have been donating them on a large scale, but I have still made a fair number ~ about 75 so far, with more requested and on my to do list. My concentration on family has included making toys with my granddaughter and sewing clothes for her first year of school.

Now, just finally, I am feeling as if I can return to making dolls, creating spun cotton fancies, and all the other art and handwork that I love. Apparently I am not alone in this, as I have recently been seeing comments and posts from other artists and craftspeople remarking that they too have not been able to work on their art and creations for months…

So please come join me at www.izannahwalker.com on September 25^th, 2020 as the dolls and I celebrate Izannah Walker’s 203^rd birthday! We will come up with something fun and festive to mark the occasion and I will be introducing my very first reproduction dolls of Sarah Alice, the latest antique Izannah Walker doll to join my Izannah family. There will be more details to come posted on www.izannahwalker.com , https://www.facebook.com/ASweetRemembrance , and https://www.instagram.com/asweetremembrance/?hl=en

In the meantime, if you would like a bit of extra Izannah Walker fun, you may want to watch a few of my videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/asweetremembrance/videos .

Other Studio Happenings

I am very, very honored to once again have been selected by Early American Life as one of their top traditional craftsmen in 2020. This marks the 41^st time I have been juried into their prestigious Directory of Traditional Craftpersons. One of my dolls was featured in their August 2020 issue.

Reminder

Both the Spun Cotton Ornament Class and Izannah Walker Doll Making Class member help sites have moved to private facebook groups. If you are a member of either class and would like an invitation to the group please email me. You must be a member of facebook to use the private facebook group.

In Closing Thank you all for your interest in my work for all these years. I have enjoyed getting to talk or correspond with so many of you! Knowing you has enriched my life. I hope that I have been able to add just a bit of fun, whimsy and knowledge to yours!

I’d like to leave you with this recipe for Birth-day Pudding. It is the recipe that the dolls and I baked for our first Izannah Walker Birthday Party in 2010, and what we will be making again to celebrate this year. It is very easy and quite delicious! You don’t even have to be a doll lover to enjoy it ~ lol!

Wishing you and safe and happy autumn!

Paula

www.asweetremembrance.com

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.

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September Newsletter

September 11, 2017 paulawaltonLeave a comment

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It’s That time again… my Autumn Newsletter is going out today ❤

A Sweet Remembrance September 2017 Newsletter

Greetings All!

I have lots of exciting news to share in this newsletter! So I’m just going to jump right in…

In just 2 weeks I’ll be having my annual online celebration of Izannah Walker’s birthday. This is an extra-special year because it marks the 200^th anniversary of the day she was born, September 25^th, 1817. I’ll be posting off and on all day on the 25^th at www.izannahwalker.com. There will be some new dolls available for sale that day, which will be posted at noon eastern time. Come visit the blog, join in the virtual party and celebrate with us!
Izannah Walker Birthday Greetings Project. As a fun way to celebrate Izannah Walker’s birthday I would like to invite you all to email me a short birthday message along with a photograph of your Izannah Walker doll, whether it is an antique original, a reproduction doll that I have made for you, or a doll that you have made yourself in tribute to Izannah’s dolls! Please send your photo and birthday greeting to paula@asweetremembrance.com no later than September 18th. I will post all of the photos and their accompanying messages on http://www.izannahwalker.com as part of my annual Izannah Walker birthday celebration. Everyone who sends in a birthday greeting will be entered in a drawing to win a special birthday surprise package!!!

https://izannahwalker.com/2017/09/06/remember-to-write-to-absent-friends-izannah-walker-birthday-greetings-project/

You may already know that I wrote a twelve page article about Izannah Walker for the September issue of Antique Doll Collector. The issue has sold out. The magazine has no more copies, and will not be printing any more. If you are looking for a copy, try Barnes & Nobel. Many of their stores still had some this past week, although in very limited quantities.
Another thing that you might be aware of is that I am the co-chairman for my doll club’s annual doll show, which is coming up on October 29^thin Southbury, CT. This is the 30^th year for the show, so in honor of both the club’s 30^th show and Izannah Walker’s 200^th birthday, I am curating a special educational exhibit of Izannah Walker dolls at the show. Admission to the exhibit is included with your paid entrance ($7) to the show. It is going to be a wonderful show and a fantastic exhibit, with a very large group of antique Izannah Walker dolls belonging to Jenny Lind Doll Club members and friends! To find out more about the show visit the show blog https://jennylinddollshow.wordpress.com/ and the show facebook page www.facebook.com/jennylinddollshow/ you can get discount admission coupons there too. If you are interested in selling at the show, I do still have a little space left!!! Email me ASAP at jennylinddollshow@gmail.com for a contract!!!
In case you missed them, my new Third Thursdays are going strong! Because of Izannah Walker’s birthday celebration there is no “3^rd Thursday” in September. There isn’t going to be one in October either, because any dolls I get finished in October will be going to the doll show with me. I want to have some there at the exhibit for people to hold and examine up close. Obviously all of the antique Izannah Walker dolls will be roped off, but I would like to make the exhibit a bit interactive, so I will have some of my reproduction dolls on hand for those who would like to give them a gentle hug and get a good sense of their size and weight. For more information on 3^rd Thursday’s click on this link: https://izannahwalker.com/2017/07/15/third-thursdays-start-this-month-mark-your-calendar-then-come-back-on-thursday-to-see-this-months-new-dolls-for-sale/ .
I have a new article in the upcoming Christmas issue of Early American Life magazine. It is a project article on how to make cotton batting candy containers. Also included in the Christmas issue is the Holiday Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen. I’m very honored to have been included in the Holiday Directory again this year. To see a bit more about my candy container article click here: https://spuncottonornaments.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/look-for-me-in-the-christmas-2017-issue-of-early-american-life/ .
The class support sites for both my Izannah Walker Reproduction Doll Making Class and my Spun Cotton Ornament Class have moved to private facebook pages. No one has been using the Ning sites, so I have switched over to facebook. Both Ning sites are still available at this time, so please go save whatever information you would like to keep from the Ning sites. I will NOT be moving all of the previously posted information over to facebook. We are starting out fresh! The spun cotton ornament how-to videos are posted on the facebook site. If you are already a member of either class and would like to come join us on facebook, please email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and tell me the email address that you use for your facebook account. I will then check to make sure you are a class member, and send you an invitation to the class page. At this time I have NOT moved the Alabama Baby Class over to facebook, it is still only on Ning.
Sometimes when I post new dolls for sale, they sell very quickly. I do realize that ideally people would like to take their time looking at my latest doll offerings, and then if any of my dolls tugged at their heart, decide if they would like to welcome that special reproduction Izannah Walker doll into their home. I’m sorry that you do not always have the opportunity to do that. Because I am a doll maker, selling my dolls is different than selling antique dolls. If you are selling antique dolls you already have the doll in your possession, so it is possible for you to announce exactly what you are selling ahead of time in the case of doll auctions, or before shows. Which gives people time to make up their minds about a doll in advance. As a doll maker, I spend around 100 hours creating each doll I sell. This is 100 working hours, not elapsed time. I have to spend quite a bit of time waiting for paint to dry and washing and drying antique fabric… Generally my dolls are not finished until right before I post them. Even when I do shows, I have a tendency to be working on dolls right up until the very last second. In my world there is never enough time! So please forgive me for not being able to give you advance photos and lists of the dolls that I will have for sale on Izannah Walker’s birthday, at shows, or on Third Thursdays. Surprises and spontaneity can be good things! I’m always overly optimistic about how many dolls I want to make, so there is the perpetual question of exactly which dolls I will be able to get finished in time. 🙂

Fondly,

Paula

post script: If you like to receive my newsletters in your inbox, email me at paula@asweetremembrance.com and let me know you’d like to be on my mailing list. You can be removed from the list whenever you choose, simply by asking…

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Busy Times! Studio News

July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 paulawaltonLeave a comment

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted much lately. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean that I have been enjoying a long lazy summer… ( just kidding – I love what I do!) As is usually the case, there is just so much going on that I simply haven’t had time to blog!

It’s funny, I was talking to Tess Rosch, publisher of Early American Life, last week and she made some comment about me being a “high energy” person. It’s not the first time someone has said similar things. I have some dear friends who firmly believe that I only manage to get so many things done because I’m on drugs. 🙂 They asked very nicely if I would please share, as they needed to finish quite a few projects of their own. LOL! I don’t actually think of myself as high energy. Instead I view myself as a very tired, stubborn woman with an extremely long to-do list… So we’ll consider this post as checking one of those items off my list.

Early America Life Craftsman Directory — The August 2017 issue of *EAL*, which Includes the Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen.

Lots of exciting things are going on! I’m so thrilled to say that I have been chosen for the Early American Life Directory of Traditional Craftsmen in four different categories this year! Not only will you find me listed in Toys & Dolls, but also in Miniatures, Clothing & Accessories, and Holidays (in the upcoming Christmas issue). This makes 38 times that I have been juried into the Directory!

Early American Life 2017 Craftsman Directory — Three photos of my work are shown on pages 64 and 65 in the August 2017 issue of *Early American Life.*

Izannah Walker dolls from the Paula Walton collection. — Look for these two dolls from my collection in my September article in *Antique Doll Collector* magazine.

Magazines have been a big part of my summer so far. I spent several months combing through 80 years worth of books and articles, doing research for the article on Izannah Walker and her dolls that I wrote for Antique Doll Collector magazine. Look for it in their September, 2017 issue. It is the cover article!

Currently I’m in the midst of working on an article and project for the Christmas issue of Early American Life. Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! I need to have it finished by the end of July!!!

OTHER HAPPENINGS

Third Thursdays are starting this month! If you didn’t read about them in my last news letter, stay tuned for more information in the next few days. This should be fun!!!

I also have quite a few really amazing things in the works to celebrate Izannah’s 200th birthday! More news will be also be forth coming about them soon. 🙂

SIGNING OFF FOR NOW

Clifford The Big Red Dog!

I made quite a few bloomer type shorts out of 1930’s prints to go with antique and vintage tops for Cloe’s summer wardrobe ❤

Reading our haul of newly checked out library books…

Strawberry juice, tiny pea and all. It was another successful visit to the gardens!

As I mentioned, this has not been a leisurely summer so far, but I have made time to garden, work in a few non-doll sewing projects, and be a grandma. Cloe and I have been enjoying our “library days”, when we go to story time at our local library, check out books, then spend the day together “gardening” which means checking on the peas she helped plant and eating berries as fast as she can pick them, playing and reading. ❤

I hope your summer has had some magical moments too!