Olde stick in the Mudd.....

Have you ever heard of that expression???? Olde Stick in the mudd? I can remember being told that I was one, when I was younger.....cause I like to sit inside and sew, and do relatively mundane things~ exciting to me but not to others......thinking of it, I hear that quite often still!

This is o.k. with me~ I am happy being a stick in the mudd......but my dollys are anything but that! I love playing dollys....and want my dollys to be played with by their new owners too. Yes, they are fragile, and meant for adult collectors....but they are not too fragile, that they cant enjoy their lives!

I think dollys all lined up in a row are boring!!

Part of the appreciation of an artwork is in the use of it, after all, all the wondrous antique dollys we love so much, got their charm and appeal over years and years of play. I can just hear our Mothers as ancestors, telling their children "no touching~ no touching!". Just like I have taught my own....' do not touch unless you are first given permission....and then only carefully'....... unless we are at Walmart....when all 4 of them touch everything they can get their fingers on, and go running up and down the isles like a pack of wild dogs...

This is Abigail, Mifs Abigail Greene. She is one of my Grande Dame Queen Anne dolls, not quite finished yet, but she loves to play! She is content on her stand for a photograph or fitting, but as soon as she is finished, off she goes skipping and getting into everything. We have had to have a few lessons on the proper way for a ladye to sit....it is her favorite to plop herself down, right in the DIRT!, with both legs going the opposite direction.....she madly gathers her skirts up and stuffs them down beneath her crotch....cause she finds marbles very fascinating, and loves to play!

We are working hard at sitting with legs together, at the side.

'Gabby' as we call her, is growing up so fast. She has been promised in marriage already at just 14, and we are getting ready for her betrothal to a spunky young fellow that works as a shoemaker on Needle Street West.

Playing does have consequence~ shoot a marble to hard, and you may end up loosing a thumb! Play too long with your Mifstresses' baby, and she may chew off your pinky finger.....character~ all character building moments!

A fortnight ago we visited Msrs Piproy & Meegle.....shoemakers yes, but they have just employed a new Stay~Maker...trying to keep current with the times I suppose....anyways, her fitting went so very well, and her new stays were delivered to us Mondaye last. She has been wearing them ever since, trying to get used to them and break them in slowly, as not to rub blisters under her arms or on her hips...... they are in a beautiful pineapple shade of silke, with black trim.


Is it getting hot in here???? Gabby get your cap back on! Is is not proper for a young ladye, or any age of ladye for that matter, to be seen indoors without her head covered!!!
Are we getting undressed now? 'Ohh, yes,~ you'd like to take a bath?' Ok....we have a bit of spare time, why not. I will go boil some water........

Gabby is a Grande Dame, so of coarse, all her pretties come off so you can p*l*a*y!!!!

See her shift??? Its hand stitched from antique linen, and embroidered on the front "S S".

What??? What is that you say???? ........Oh no! Those are not her initials! Her Dear Mother has given Gabby her wedding shift, so that she may wear it on her wedding day, and then pass it down to her own daughter one day.

Shoosh! Look at that wild hair! Gabby's naturally black, undyed mohair locks perfectly match her antique pupiless black glass eyes....

I LOVE to make shoes~ yes I do! These are a new design for 09....(no rhyme intended)....wonderful little wee latchet tie shoes~ made of antique dark green kid leather, with green silk ties~ yes, they really tie, and come on and off. They have cloth footbeds, with my mark in the center, and leather soles.

Hmmmm........looks like Gabby may need a little trunk for her pretties

:::GASP:::: Bath must be ready! Where has that girl gone~ stark nekkid.....well with only her stockings on! Look at that~ she has taken off her hair and left it on the floor.....I better get that before the cat paws it into a rats nest!

No matter how many times I tell her~ I cannot get her in habit of hanging up her wig! I hope she is using SOAP in that bath~ Id better go check!