Playing Lotto....Colorado Country Style....

  OK, so not the typical Lottery you are thinking of probably.....but around here, with such weird weather all the time,  we Kinnison's oft play the Colorado Lottery.....and usually are LOOSERS!  Getting anything to grow here is terrifically time consuming and just plain hard!  It seems to never fail, plant new flowers, new trees, they just start to bloom and the hail comes and wipes them out. Or my chickens devour and rip out my prized peony.... rabbits eat my only hyacinths about a day before they open.....there is always something...and every time I say~ NO MORE!  I have had enough, I'm not planting another blasted thing outside.  Of coarse I always do.   We have tried several times over the years to plant raspberries and blackberries, and they never survive.  This year I found two blackberry plants that looked so precious and so full of promise, that I bought them....in yes, January.  We usually get snow until April here, so I kept them indoors,  babying them and playing them peaceful music to grow by~ and they loved it!  I'd say they grew to nearly 3 feet tall here in my window, so tall that it pained me to have to take them outside for their sun each day.  Its been so strange and cold this year, we had killing frost to the end of May, and it wasn't until just this past week I felt it was safe enough for them to go in the ground. My babies!  

 What a chore. We have so much adobe clay in the soil here, it took soaking the ground and many attempts over 2 days to get two peasly holes dug for these things!  Josh wouldn't even dig the holes for me....he said "Mom, its like digging thru DIAMONDS"  ....HA!   But it was.  It was horrible.  I finally got them in the ground and a little wire strung to hold them up, and then......the wind came.

  One literally got snapped in two poor thing, I tied it back up but am not expecting  it to  last. The other one is doing OK, tho its leaves are horribly sun & wind burnt. Every morning, I trek out to see how they are doing and give them a half bucket of water each.  The other morning how surprised I was to find....:::::::GASP::::::  a bloom!  

A little bloom coming on my precious little plant!

So I have been watching it every day,  thinking, today???? Will it open today?????   For the longest time it seemed to no be doing any growing at all.....above picture was yesterday....

  And this one this morning! Slightly unfolding~ I thought, cant be long now! I cant believe its going to open!!!!!  I had an appointment this morning, and when I got back a bit after noon....I looked over from the driveway and could actually SEE it! It opened!!!!

Such a little victory, but not for me!  I suppose actually getting a berry to set would be more like winning the Lottery....but nope, I am happy as a pig in mud just to have the little bloom actually stay on long enough to open!
    I love how its so fresh~ the little petals are still all wrinkly from being folded up~ Isnt it beautiful!!!


                                       ~Don't forget to take time to savor the little things~

An early 19th c Flip Toy Reproduction

The simplicity and quint nature of early 19th C children's toys and amusements have always captured my attention~ I adore them. It wasn't until I made my first reproduction of a little pop up cone doll a few years ago, that I realized how involved and utterly confusing they can be to make.  I especially like the early optical toys, made from paper with simple hand colored engravings, that by a twist of the wrist or flip of a finger, they move and in turn make something 'magical' happen.   Many of these toys began their lives in the early 19th Century~ before that time, it was a rare occurrence in the 18th c to have toys specifically made for children, as a 'childhood' of play and learning was still yet unknown to the majority.     A while ago I ran across an original Victorian era flip toy, still in its original paper sleeve~ it was a highly coveted thing for sure, hardly ever played with, with a different hand colored engraving to each side. Once the handle is rotated, the images changed from one to the other. Simple enough I thought.....

 I couldn't have been more wrong.   It is always amazing to me how things so simple and plain, are so difficult to reproduce!  I think if I had a Master's degree in engineering I still would have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out this little toy. Its taken me weeks literally to get this one made, but I think you will agree, the final product is quaint and cunning and well worth the effort.  Do enjoy this little video of it, as I am quite proud of how it came out.   Ill add the link to the eBay auction later on today if you would be interested in purchasing it~

To Each & All~

   Rachael & I hope you have a wonderful & safe Holiday weekend.  May you find always your cup half full and never half empty

 We hope you take time to enjoy your life and family, and what is most important to you, and be so very thankful. So many have lost so much Dear to them as of late, do keep them in your hearts and thoughts, and find time to do something nice for someone you have never met. Open your heart and give~ give a dollar, a smile, a bag of clothes or toys you no longer use~ and have a Blessed Summer!

A New One of a Kind Queen Anne on eBay

 
 Prim & Precious & faire as a May Flow'r, Katy is just scrumptious and listed on eBay this week!
  You can find her here~  my eBay Specials

Pretty Jane...

   Jane is one of my early girls here~ she is a c1820 Mache by Andreas Voit.  She has the most wonderful serene expression, and is all original in her presentation. She has pupiless dark brown glass eyes, and painted on pate that would have once been covered by an elaborate wig

   She has a fully articulated kid body, entirely hand stitched and stuffed with horsehair. Here you can see her knee joints

  As with most dollys this olde, Jane has been well loved by her darlings~ at one point in time, her kid body was covered with an early knit stocking, still with the owners initials stitched on, and she was given a nicely wadded bumm, most surely to help her sit better

   Her wonderful all original shoulder plate is still attached and has never, nor ever will it be removed from her kid body.  The early sculpts were really quite detailed~ look closely and you will see that not only does she have molded breasts, but also her neck, so much so her clavicle, or collar bones, are visible

  Her upper arms are cloth, with skye blue kid forearms and individually stitched fingers.  One seam is beginning to pop in the back, and her horsehair stuffing can be seen

 To die for! Just look at her wonderful shoes! c1818-24 by construction, in a soft buttery yellow. Masterpieces in themselves

   Over her knit stockings, Jane's original wardrobe consists pantaloons, a flannel chemise for cold winter months...

 pretty sleeveless chemise with microscopic hand stitches so darn small, I couldn't get my new Nikon camera to focus on them even with the macro lens~ I stopped counting at 40, and wasn't to an entire inch yet in stitches

 They fit her like an absolute glove, and I have no doubt they were made for her, but most likely are not her original original clothes as they date c1830

 Her pretty dress, a wonderful print cotton, is also later dating to the 1850s.

To me she has always been precious, but her expression sometimes just one of contentment, not true happiness....perhaps she misses her very first dress she once had, no doubt it was amazing....or perhaps she is melancholy for loosing her pendant she once had attached to her pretty neck ribbon.  Sad for friends long gone....or....perhaps, being a proper early 19th c Ladye, she is longing for something to cover her poor nekkid head!

   I think so!  I let her look thru some of my early fashion plates, and she choose this one, a pretty bonnet from 1814

 A few whips of the needle, and voi~la. Jane's new spring bonnet of silk covered board, trimmed in a pretty blue ribbon to match her blue kid 'gloved' hands

 And  of coarse, to be most fashionable, a curled feather tuft to adorn the crown

  Antique Regency era whitework trims the inner brim, I think Jane Austen herself would approve of~

 Now, to me, this is a happy face!

A Dolly Maker's Prayer.....

 
   As I stumble through this life,
help me to create more laughter than tears,
dispense more cheer than gloom,
spread more cheer than despair.

Never let me become so indifferent,
that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.

Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,
make them happy, and forget momentarily,

all the unpleasantness in their lives.   ~ Anon

  My Pierrot Clown Ladye was supposed to be my first months offering on the PFATT Marketplace tomorrow~  I worked hard this past entire month to get her just right and missed the deadline, so she may perhaps make her debut on eBay soon.  Check back tomorrow for a link to my new page there, with the last three of my little festive Queen Anne candy containers in special Celebration mode!

 Here is the link to my PFATT Marketplace page~ be sure to come see every 10th of the month!
 http://www.pfattmarketplace.com/diamondkfolkart.html

Easter Blessings

 Heaven's Sake, can you believe Easter Sunday is here?  I hope you all have a wonderful Day with your loved ones and family.  Easter in our family is a time of reflection and celebration~ a time we share the true religious meaning of Easter, but also a time to celebrate not only Jesus rising from the tomb, but all of the rising life of spring too. The weather is getting nicer, the children have spent the day today out planting new flowers and bulbs in the flower beds, the winter has been so long and cold its nice to be out and about.

 Theyre not the only busy bees...Ladye Bunny has come along, taking her little ones for a special Easter outing in the egg cart. Theyre dressed in their best little silke gowns~ Mamma has a little picnic surprise waiting for them on the knoll just past Tuckman's Marsh~ its going to be SO much fun~ I wish you all could come!

  I adore wee little things~ they make me happy~ little Blackie is not even a whole INCH tall! Whatever your pleasure, I wish you the most Blessed & Happiest of  Easter Dayes