The other day I stumbled upon the most beautiful little shop filled from floor to ceiling with gorgeous treasures. Folded in a basket near the front was this quilt. The first thing that caught my eye were the thousands of minuscule perfect stitches that covered every inch of it. Then the shop keeper turned over a corner of the quilt to reveal the embroidered signatures dating back to 1870. This beautiful piece of handwork was passed from aunt to niece, maybe mother to daughter. I fell in love with it instantly. In a world that has lost appreciation for all of the love and labour that goes into something created by hand, these small masterpieces from times past hold a special kind of magic. When I run my fingers over these stitches I'm transported back to a time when women sat by the hearth bent over their work and stitched through long winter days and nights, watching as something slowly took shape beneath patient fingers, maybe dreaming of the daughters and granddaughters who would one day cherish it, but never rushing. I can only dream of the kind of patience it would take to create something like this. I'm going to hang it in my studio so I can look at it every time I sit down to work and be inspired by it's beauty and magic.
Motherhood Collection ~ Idun, Nuri and Pali
...she was a Gipsy,
And liv'd upon the Moors:
Her bed it was the brown heath turf,
And her house was out of doors.
Her apples were swart blackberries,
Herr currants pods o'broom;
Her wine was dew of the wild white rose,
Her book a churchyard tomb.Her Brothers were the craggy hills,
Her Sisters larchen trees...--Keats
~ * ~
Nuri is eight and extremely small for her age, even among the little folk, but she is a fearsome wee thing. Her wild black hair is seldom tamed into braids--only on those days her mother can catch her. Idun calls her 'my little wild one'. Pali is her constant companion, she loves her little brother more than anything in the world, and carries him everywhere.
Pali, whose name means 'little', is as gentle and sweet as a summer wind.
Motherhood
The snow is banked heavily around our house and the air is frigid outside. My days are spent curled up with my little ones in our many layers of woolens, reading our favourite stories and sipping warm coca and spiced tea. Winter is always an inward time, there is a womb-like quality about it protected and warm as we are from the world outside.
Perhaps it was that feeling that found my hands gently shaping the rounded belly of a faerie mother one night, or maybe it was thoughts of my own little one sleeping quietly at my side and about where our journey together started. Whatever it was, the inspiration has grabbed hold and my studio is slowly filling with nursing mothers, tiny faerie babes, and round bellies.
The winter nights are long and there are many hours after the children have gone to sleep for dreaming up new dolls. The motherhood collection has special meaning for me, it's motherhood that governs my days and sets our rhythm through the seasons. It marks the years in my life as the little ones grow and change. It's what sits at the source of all my inspiration.
These dolls are in celebration of it's gentleness, it's beauty, and it's many blessings.
The collection will be released one at a time through February, as each doll is completed. They will appear here with an introduction and I will give the date that they will be available in my shop.
