Dolls!

Yup! I love 'em. I always have. Although I was a bit of a tom-boy as a child, I still loved my dolls and always played with them. I still do.
I found this lovely lady in a thrift shop today. She was priced at $6.50, a steal, if you ask me. But wait, everything in the shop was 1/2 off! I bought her for $3.25. Can you imagine? Just look at her clothes alone!
Her face is fabric over a mold of some sort and her facial features are lovingly hand-painted on. Her hair appears to be real human hair. One thumb is broke off, but that matters not to me. Even her shoes are lovely.
If you know anything about this type of doll, please comment. She's a new one to me! I love the fabric over the face though. I've seen this type in books, but she's the first one in my collection.

For My Nuthead Friends

You know who you are!

I went to the thrift store yesterday and guess what I found in the Christmas ornaments for a quarter?



Could it be? Away in a walnut Manger? Do you hear what I hear? I am going with it! This doesn't top the nut ornaments I found in OR with Linda! I will post more as the Holidays approach! I have found a new love for Christmas ornaments made out of nuts! I know, but face it.....it's why you love me!

Peace and Thanksgiving

I've been pondering about this subject for the past week or two. It all began with my hay prices. Due to out-of-state demand for good, Montana hay, my hay prices doubled from last year. I was paying $75/ton (a great bargain, I might add) and this year it jumped to $150. I typically go through 10-14 tons, depending on the amount of mouths I feed. You can do the math. I almost sat and cried and my first response was, "I'm going to have to sell my sheep!" I fretted and worried and didn't like the angst inside me. After a week of stewing about it, I let it go. I prayed. I asked some friends to keep me in their thoughts and prayers and if I was meant to keep doing this, everything would work out. The relief was immediate. I've experienced that before. Sometimes it just takes me a while to remember I am not in total control and when I surrender it all, peace comes and comes quickly. Why can't I keep that notion in my pea brain?
Since then I have had an amazing turn of events. I've gotten phone calls about lamb, sold one yarn CSA and have another order for one for a Christmas gift. I've posted my lamb for sale on the net and had several orders. I had an increase in wool sales in my etsy shop. I taught a needle felting class with my wool and had a "full house". What can I say? I feel very blessed and it only affirms that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. I am grateful. I love this farm life. I am thankful. It is the season of Thanksgiving. I am at Peace.
Thank you.

Autumn Exchange

One of the things we do on my "Tasha Tudor List" is a fall exchange. We try to keep it simple and have a theme of some sort. This fall we were talking a lot about bunnies and mice. I am not sure how that conversation got started, but that's where we ended up.
Kaye had my name and here are the lovely treasures she sent me.



The little bunnies look like snow bunnies, which is perfect for a Montana Fall.
The potholder has 2 little pockets and inside each is a tea bag. Fun! And she made the knitted hat. What a fun exchange this was.

I had Terrie's name. Both of these ladies are new to the group, so it was fun to exchange with someone totally new. While I was at Linda's in Oregon, we had a craft day and spent one day making mice out of my wool for our exchange. Hers flew off to France!

Felted Corgi Tutorial

I am happy to share a tutorial I worked long and hard on that was featured on the Living Crafts Magazine blog.
This project was something we did in Vermont when I was there to visit Tasha Tudor's garden. You can read more about that in my Tasha Tudor Day post.
Anyway, I wanted a place to preserve this tutorial in time, so I am posting it here.
I will also add that I have kits available in my etsy shop.
Enjoy the tutorial.
Make a needle felted Corgi!

More of Tasha Tudor

I wrote before about rarely finding anything Tasha-ish around here and baited you a bit with the books I found. Well, I went to an estate sale and had the time of my life. I found some wonderful treasures there. Some for resale, some to keep! I spent so much time and money there, I had to write a check. Luckily I know the daughter and she let me! I was so giddy, I almost couldn't write it.
So in this box of books I spotted this little treasure.



Copyright is 1958. It was written for children and inside is just the purest form of Biblical scripture. It is a delight to read and view the images Tasha so carefully thought of and drew to match the Bible verses. It's very reassuring.

So if that were not enough, I drive back by this house the following week and their signs are up again. (No, I wasn't stalking or dumpster diving.....this house is on the main street into town from home!) They had very little left and were actually showing the house to a few people at the sale. I just wandered around and found a few more treasures. Apparently I had not dug deep enough in the book box the previous week because there staring right up at me was this one!



I have to admit that I already have a version of this book, but it's newer and the dust jacket is not the same. Needless-to-say, I love this dust jacket with the little sheep! The book itself is a real treasure. It's got the old-fashioned fabric cover in red. A Tasha drawing is on it as well.

So two fun finds in one week and at very reasonable prices. Just a dollar each.
What fun!

Tasha Tudor, Continued or Gone to the Dogs!

Living in Montana, one does not come across another person all that often who knows who Tasha Tudor is. It's always a delight when I mention her name and someone else knows who I am talking about. The same goes for her books and such. Few and far between in this state.
This past Saturday at a garage sale I was greeted by 2 Corgis. Of course I thought of Tasha as well as my friend Cat. Take a peek at the newest litter of Corgi pups on her blog! She has been through a lot and lost some of her precious dogs last year, so this is a very special blessing for her. Corgis are happy, intelligent and just fun to look at with those short little legs.
Having just lost Kirby, our Airedale, I know what Cat has gone through with the sudden and unexpected loss of a pet. Kirby was the light of this house. It seems so odd to say that, but it makes me realize what a bunch of dead-beat sad sacks we are. He was always happy, always there to greet you. Always. There is a big hole now and I've been very blue about it. I realize I need to pull myself out of this slump, but it's not easy. We still have Scooter and he's always in my lap if I am sitting down. And Ruger. He's trying very hard to fill the hole, but I am sure they miss Kirby too.
I have been researching herding dogs for several years now and my research has led me to English Shepherds. These are the old-fashioned "Shep" kind of dogs you see in pictures with shepherds and their flocks. They are a working dog, but loyal to their masters and smart as well. I've put a deposit on a pup and he will join our family in early Oct. He comes from a ranch in Idaho, Orchard Hill Ranch. His current name is Hickory.
Somehow this post went from Tasha Tudor to dogs, which seems natural to me. She always had a dog, and sometimes many, from what I've read. I was going to post about a couple of books I found lately, but that will just have to wait for another day.