A Walk Down Memory Lane

“The doll making journey begins decades before you even know it, by 
gathering a lifetime of seemingly unrelated skills, which one day collide, causing complete and total harmony!” 
― Gayle Wray

Good night blog friends. I received an email a few days ago from a fellow doll club member (thank you Kathy M.). She forwarded pictures of dolls that were made by some of the past/present members of our doll club, L.I. Cloth Doll Links. It brought happy memories and also some sadness as so many of our members have either passed away, relocated, picked up other hobbies or due to age and or illness are no longer able to make dolls. As a young and inexperienced doll member I was so honored to have known these ladies before they retired or took a hiatus from doll making. I recalled my first doll.  In truth, my very first doll looked like an over sized stuffed potato with arms, legs and a head, but you wouldn't know it the way the doll club members made such a big, encouraging, "to do" of it.  They always offered kind critiques while also encouraging me to continue along my doll making journey. lol.  The ballerina doll was probably the third doll that I made.  I was pleased that it actually looked more like a doll.  I took a 2-3 year hiatus from doll making but started again in 2012 as a way to resolve the grief I was feeling when my mother passed in 2012. That year I made only one doll, The Mad Hatter.  In 2013 I only completed three dolls. By 2014 I had gotten my "Doljo"  back and began doll making more regularly. I can see how much I have improved along the way and hope to grow in this craft even more. It is true, in order to get better at something one must continue to keep working at it. 

These are dolls that I made for the doll club's annual charity for children in a Eastern Long Island Shelter.

This is a jar fairy that I made some years ago.

Fast forward to 2012 to my first published doll, The Mad Hatter. He was published in the Autumn 2012 issue of PRIMs magazine.

A doll I made from a Sherry Goshon pattern. I named the doll "Molly." She was gifted to a special young lady friend of my one of my son's.

Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures of  my first dolls. Happy doll making to you all!