We stopped in Santiago, Chile before flying south to Ushuaia, on the very southern tip of Argentina, to catch the boat to Antarctica. Here are some pictures of poet Pablo Neruda’s house, a fish market and a winery. Polly met some locals her size. She was hot in her wool coat, but kept in on for the sake of fashion. I’ll be posting a picture a day on Facebook as long as we have internet service.
More photos from our trip. One thing Ireland has, are beautiful landscapes.
I took a lot of pictures of street scenes in Ireland. Some of these were taken early in the morning, while children were going to school. I can’t remember the names of the individual towns, but they are all somewhere between Cork and Dublin. Enjoy!
Before we leave on our trip, I want to show more pictures of my Pocketful of Posies tree. The basic instructions for making dolls similar to these are in my how-to book Felt Wee Folk. To see these ornaments in person, visit the Family Trees event at the Concord Museum, which will continue until January 1st, 2013. Time is limited, so I’m just going to post pictures. Can you guess which nursery rhymes are depicted in the individual ornaments?
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I just wanted to point out that my Etsy shop will be closed while I’m away on vacation, from Dec. 5 to 20. So, if you’d like to order books, cards or posters before Christmas, please visit the shop in the next few days. I’ve recently added some new items: cards with a baby nestled in a walnut shell and autographed copies of my board book, Hey, Diddle, Diddle!
This has been a big week for bubble wrap! I drove mounds of bubble wrapped artwork in my Subaru to Plymouth for the Fairy Christmas on Thursday and then 25 more pieces to the Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) yesterday. Both locations are about 25 miles from where I live, but in opposite directions. The Sturgis Library was constructed in 1644 for the Reverend John Lothrop, founder of Barnstable. The house, which forms the original part of the Library is the oldest building housing a public library in the United States. If you’re interested in this kind of historical stuff, read about it here.
My framed original illustrations from Pocketful of Posies are hung between the book stacks and displayed in 3 glass cases throughout the library.
The artwork will be in the library until Dec. 29th, 2012. I hope that some of you will get a chance to visit the library during December!
from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010
Yesterday, I dropped off artwork at the Hedge House Museum in Plymouth, MA, for their Fairy Christmas celebration. Two originals from Pocketful of Posies and Birds of Beebe Woods will be on display during the 2 weekend event (Dec. 1,2,7,8,9, noon to 7pm). I kicked myself because I forgot my camera! First of all, the museum has a spectacular location, with a view of Plymouth Harbor and the 1809 house is full of antique charm. Plymouth Antiquarian Society Director Donna Curtin has gone all out for this affair, with fairy houses, precious woodland scenes and fairy decorations all over the historic mansion. There’s even a special Crystal Throne Room set up for the Fairy Queen to receive visitors. I heartily recommend this event to anyone who is open to enchantment, young or old. It’s all done in a genuine, beautiful way, so leave plenty of time to take in all of the detail.
detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010
Birds of Beebe Woods, fabric relief, 2012
Congratulations to quilt designer Erin Russek, who not only answered correctly that Polly is going on a cruise to Antarctica, but was the first person to write in an answer! She will be getting a personally autographed copy of Mary Had a Little Lamb. There were some great guesses for places all over, including several countries along the Andes. I hope that Polly’s new outfit keeps her warm in Antarctica–she insisted on wearing her skirt, though! We will be going through South America and stopping in warm Santiago, Chile for a night on the way to the tip of Argentina, where we will board a ship. We’ll try to send pictures from down under, depending on internet excess. If not, see you in a few weeks!
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Polly Doll is going on a trip next month and her regular outfit will not do! She loved Oregon (see here) and San Francisco (see here), but missed the flight to Ireland. For this next excursion, she is determined to go along. She will need to bring some warm clothes to wear. Can you guess where she’s going?
She’ll be leaving her straw hat at home and will wear her new red coat and hat, warm mittens and Ugg style boots (size 3/4″).
This is a clue: Polly will be heading south from her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The first person to answer correctly (on this blog) before she leaves in a week, gets a prize. International contestants are welcome!
The prize is…
an autographed paperback copy of my book, Mary Had a Little Lamb. Good Luck! Oh, and I will be tagging along, too. That means my Etsy shop will be on vacation from Dec. 6 to 20, so order early for Christmas!
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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…in a Christmas tree? This was one of the first ornaments I made for the 2012 Family Trees event at the Concord Museum. It’s also one of the few that I remembered to photograph during the process. The tree is covered with decorations based on my picture book Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. This sketch of Humpty Dumpty is originally about 1 inch tall.
While working on it, I figured out how to make a wooden shelf for the wall to sit on. Everything is covered in stitched felt, including the wood shelf, wall and the teardrop shaped wire frame. I bought an egg sized wooden egg at a craft store, painted it, and dressed the round body in embroidered striped felt “pants”. A white belt made of antique trim finished off the waste band.
I drilled holes for the arms and legs and wrapped the wire hands and pipe cleaner limbs with embroidery floss. A bow tie seemed appropriate for this dandy!
I sewed some wee felt shoes onto his feet, which have chain-stitched soles.
I’ve had the little brown metal bowler for ages and decided it would be a perfect hat for Humpty. White glue holds it aloft his pointy head. The stone wall is appliqued felt sewn around a block of wood.
Humpty Dumpty waves cheerfully from his stone perch, unaware of his impending fall! See all of the posts about the Pocketful of Posies tree here.
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SALLEY MAVOR 