The Garden Girls.
Four little girls who live outside, under hollyhocks and pine trees, gathering bits of dandelion seeds to stuff pillows and petals to serve food in.
My four little garden girls, natural cloth dolls by Fig and Me.
Yes, I know. Last post was named 'In the garden' and this one is called 'The Garden Girls', but as you can attest, there is no better place to be at the moment. This garden is really inspiring me and all I want to do is take the dolls outside to play in.
As I mentioned to you in the May newsletter, I was going to try and work out an idea I had last Fall about four little dolls. Revisiting the MiniFig pattern gave momentum to that idea as it seemed the perfect size for this idea to work. Little dolls with a lot of mischief and a great story.
I think I have also mentioned how I set out to create x and then Y comes and play. As I started working on them, they all changed one little thing first. They didn't want to be so "young" they mentioned.
No problem, I thought. They could be slightly older. We continued on working. Then the hair changed, I was going to use all mohair yarn, but they wanted long tresses that could be braided all the way down to their feet!.
Well, things started spiralling out of control and before I knew what was going on, they there were. Four little garden girls. The kind that lives under the hollyhock bush, spies on butterfly eggs for entertainment and dwells amongst the roses.
I have given you their names up there already: Antoinette and Vivie are the youngest. Polly and Annette the eldest. They were all kindly named by my eldest daughter, as she spent a few days home being sick and wanted to inquire about them.
Both my girls are always very impressed with my dolls, but they not always agree with the things I do for them. Sometimes they complain the doll too long underwear, or there are no pockets in their dresses.
Silly me, I should know by now that pockets are always a must!. Well, my daughter and I went about discussing their names, since these girls were very different from the ones I set out to make, they still didn't have a name. I think my daughter did true justice to the personality of each doll (and I can't help but giggle thinking she might either be a writer or a doll maker one day!).
I wasn't even remotely aware that there were little garden people living here. They are not fairies, don't go thinking that. Oh no! these are very human little people, they are just minute and slightly afraid of their much taller relatives.
They live in real houses, mostly borrowed designs from the ones that we big humans make, with real things in them. Of course, they do have to improvise as commerce is not their forte. But they make up for it with imagination, creativity and hands-on attitudes.
For example, they use dandelion fluff to stuff their pillows with, which makes them soft and very tickly too. Moss is used to scrub floors, paint walls, and any sort of scouring need you have.
For flour they ground the seeds of many trees: acorns, mezquites, even plantain. Imagine that! the patience of saints. They are adept entertainers and love to have big gatherings, so they are very accomplished bakers and cooks, musicians, dancers and storytellers.
I find their homes very intriguing. It is nice to recognize where they got their inspiration for certain plumbing conundrums, or to see how they create their everyday items. I must invite you some day to one of their homes, with their permission of course!.
You and I can take a peek through one of their tiny windows and admire all the work of their hands: the lovely polished dining room table, covered in minute cakes, pots of tea and sweets of all kind. Vegetables tucked into tidy baskets, embroidered tea towels and rugs, all made by the many hands that have lived there.
It really is a joy to see communal living at its best. My only real pain is not being able to shrink myself to sit by the little piano and listen to their stories. That could spark an entire collection of dolls, wouldn't it?
Alas, for now, we have to say good bye to our liliputian friends. We shall visit them again soon, and find out what they have been plotting in the tiny corners of the garden.
Now, they are all available for purchase over HERE. If you happen to take one home, we will bake a congratulatory cake and thank you deeply, deeply from the bottom of our hearts.
Many hours of love and attention have gone into these four little people, and our only wish is that they find themselves useful, wether they make you smile, they bring you memories of your childhood or they enable your little ones to dream of little garden people, just like I do.
Thank you for your visit here and for reading about their journey. If you want to take a gander, this is the place to visit:
