Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Treasures from the Past...Well, Sort of.


I was reading a blog the other day;  the writer of the blog was anticipating her daughters upcoming 2 year birthday and asking advice of a doll for her.
Such deep-seated deliberation made me wander up to my daughter's room to examine her stash of dollies.

Most were gifts or hand-me-downs.

Can you tell which of these is an inherited treasure?







 
If you guessed this bedraggled creature,
you get the "most observant" award for the day.

Despite what you may think by it's appearance,
this was my most beloved bear as a child.
Green Teddy.
Funny the things kids fall in love with.

(Don't worry, my Farmer; my taste for better looking things improved over time.
Although I think you do have a heart like Green Teddy.
Okay, yes, I know Teddy Bears don't have hearts, but to a child they do
and my childhood is speaking here.)



This creature went on many vacations and has lived a life of grand "velveteen rabbit" love.
And now it receives a certain amount of love from my daughter,
although not as much as it deserves.

When it comes to dolls,
only one has traveled the scope of my 37 year life and made it into the love and playtime of my own daughter.



Meet Rosey Doll.
 Rosey Doll was made by my dearest Aunt Rosey,
which explains her name.

Aunt Rosey made a doll like this for both my older sister and I,
exact same look and dress,
except she didn't have time to embroider the shoes onto the feet of both dolls,
which was a good thing because it was the only way we could tell them apart.

Rosey Doll has seen much love...
 as this old band-aid tattoo expresses.


And funny enough, Rosey Doll is one of my daughter's favorites.

There was a time where Rosey went everywhere with us.



 Rosey is durable, with embroidered features that can't be pulled off...
 although I did have to replace her hair because it was breaking off in too many places.
She has the wild look now.



 This is another idea for those of you who like to sew.
This originally was a sweater that my Grandmother made for my mom when she was a child,
but it had been well-worn by her and her 2 sisters.
There were too many holes in it to be spared.
So I put iron-on interfacing to the back of it so it wouldn't unravel and then carefully cut the pattern pieces and sewed this bear from it.

This is a great idea to do with shirts from a family member who was dear to you
or old baby blankets that have seen better days,
a grandmother's wedding dress that is wasting away in the attic,
or an old quilt.

It saves the sentimental into something fun.


 Realizing that Green Teddy and Rosey are destined to fall apart one day
and because I like to make one memorable Christmas ornament every year
and because I wanted to practice painting on some gourds,
I decided to make this:










 Now we will have Green Teddy and Rosey hanging on our tree.

Next up is to decide how to memorialize my Farmer's childhood relic...








after Pinky Bear gets his arm surgery done.


So there's my idea of a good doll for you, Trina 
What about you?  Do you have a treasured toy from your past?





If you are interested,
here's a link to some doll patterns; not necessarily the one from my Rosey doll, but similar


and some links for teddy bear patterns:
  

 

6 comments:

  1. I absolutely loved how you memorialized your hcldhood friends in that beautiful ornament. What a great idea.

    I have made some rag dolls in the past, and something about a handmade doll seems to really appeal to children - both the ones I made for my sisters came alive, velveteen rabbit style, over the years. But my daughter is so - so messy! I think we need to start with something plastic and machine washable! LOL

    Thanks for the links. :)

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  2. You are so talented! I too, love how you memorialized these precious keepsakes! So sweet!

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  3. What about "Choo-choo dog"? I remember that one! My poor Rosey doll is still tucked safely away for one of my daughters! Guess it'll have to be grand daughters! :)

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  4. Love how those gourds turned out!

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  5. Yes, Trina, I saw that you got some great ideas and places to get plastic dolls from the people who commented on your blog. Those look like some great sources! I'll probably check into them myself in the future, although I do get most of my toys I purchase at the second hand store (well, any that will clean up well): real recycling! :)
    Thanks Stephanie and Michaele. I love the felting you did on that sheep, Michaele. My sister-in-law raises Icelandic sheep and her daughter does some amazing felting. It looks like fun, too!
    Tammy, I forgot about Choo-choo dog! I remember his leg falling off a couple of times and mom sewing it back on. Maybe she got tired of doctoring him.
    I wonder how your ever going to be able to pick out which grand-daughter will get your Rosey doll! With your boys, your bound to get a bunch of granddaughters! Our farming neighbor has 3 sons and then got 2 grandsons. She said she wasn't expecting to have any granddaughters b/c there had been no girls born in the family for 5 generations. She recently found out that her two daughter-in-laws who are both expecting again are both expecting girls. Somehow I think they are going to be SPOILED!!!

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  6. Thanks so much for commenting on my blog- how neat that your dad and g-parents are from Russia! Your art here reminds me of what we see over here in Eastern Europe- it must be in the blood! Blessings!!

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