Dear Rose Ellen, Thank you for a beautiful picture of Panther pond woods
dusted lightly with snow this morning. I can see it in my mind's eye. We
had our first real frost last night, Jack covered the tomatoes lightly with
a blanket, will have to see if they made it. There are still a lot of green
tomatoes not large enough to pick.

Fall is bright and pretty for us this year. Part of our family will have
Thanksgiving lunch with Granddaughter Sarah and her family. My Jack will
cook the Turkey here and carry it with us. We will take 4 pies and my
brother in Austin will come with Hyde Park fudge cake, a famous treat from
an Austin bakery. We will also have friends and family in and out here at
home with plenty of pies and tea. Jack's Pecan pie is much celebrated!

A Connecticut friend sent a box of bittersweet branches last month, they are
decorating our breakfast room. I have faux berries in wreaths and
candle wreaths for the dining room and more on the front porch with a
pumpkin. We have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Christmas decorating will replace it all this next Friday! Already I am
enjoying the CD's of Christmas music. And the dolls have put their
Christmas tree up this week, a precious old feather tree with ornaments
carefully collected back since we moved. Happy Thanksgiving to you and
yours. Warmly, Edyth
Please click on the photos to make them larger

I hear Christmas is coming

Doll making friends Elaine and Martha came to Fredericksburg Sunday for a visit. While we had pumpkin nut bread and tea in the kitchen, the dolls had a party of their own in the dining room. Look how many dolls Elaine has made and finished since the last visit a few months back! The red bed is one I got at the Withington Auction in October, Martha made a precious quilt for it that just fits!

The Belsnickle in a blue coat is one I made in 1986, he lives with my daughter Beth. I enjoy him because he is a doll not just a figure. When it is not Christmas season, he can take off his coat and show off neat little every day clothes. His beard is quilted as are his applied ears. He is a cloth doll with oil painted face and hair.

At our house, I always get a feather tree up for the dolls before our main tree. I started that today, Monday. Old dolls look their best at Christmas around a tree, or at least nearby.

Maybe you know what Flash mobs are, here is a video of something wonderful created by a flash mob technique. My friend Virginia sent it to me, she is a bit my senior and is always on the cutting edge of technology, with what her husband described as the fastest double click in the West!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU&feature=player_embedded

A doll auction in New Hampshire

Jack did not want to stay in New England for the doll auction, so I attended with my friend Dixie Redmond. It was a great time for renewed friendships with dealers Jack and I used to buy from, and also to meet new people. It was a wild full hard 4 days, to fly up and back and ship the dolls home and attend the three auctions! I had a smashingly good time!

Two of the dolls were bought from individuals selling in that hotel, part of a "Doll Show" sactioned by Withington's. The best doll, the pressed cloth head one was won at the auction, as were 2 lots of nice clothing for my largest dolls and a dear little red rope bed in doll size. I sat between 2 friends and we all 3 were bidding on the Izannah Walker dolls! I did not win one, but I did get to sit beside two of them and loved them! Those are molded cloth heads, cousins to the molded cloth head doll I did bring home, as well as to several others in the large offering.
The wax head child with the interesting body is a Motschmann type, from about 1865. The pressed cloth head may date about the same or a little earlier. The large glass eyed paper mache doll made by Andreas Voit is 36 inches tall and wears childrens clothing. She is much older than the other two. I bought the red print dress for her. She loves it! I have promised to restore her worn out leather arms as best I can.
Click all photos to see them larger.

Lake cottage where we stayed in Maine

A friend provided a lovely spot for our second honeymoon! And there were even loons on the lake. Thank you!

my brother signs his emails with this...

We have art in order that we may not perish from the truth. —Nietzsche [via Godfrey Reggio]

Where we love to be

The coast of Maine was the center point of it all. Isn't my sweet guy good looking??!!

patching it together

Hi Martha and Elaine, How are the two of you? Happy and Sewing away I hope! We were in New England for the last two weeks, so good to see so much we love there and visit friends as well.
I found several pieces of interesting patchwork on our trip and bought three. I hope they will make the start of some nice doll quilts. The log cabin fragment has paisley strips in it. A frame and a backing will make it a small quilt!
I also bought a little tightly braided rug that may interest Martha later, it is still in the mail home to us.
I visited several rug hookers on the trip too, including a nice yarn and rug hooking shop in Paris Maine. And the trip to The Rufus Porter museum with his painted walls and little portraits and also much school girl art like samplers and theorems was a thrill. So handwork was a big part of what we saw. I snapped a nice shot of a woman in colonial garb, I would like to have such an outfit. Friend Penny has several! At this point I just hope to get my dolls dressed someday, let alone me! Warmly, Edyth