My New Ad in Country Sampler

I submitted a doll to Country Sampler for their holiday showcase last October that did really well for me so when they asked me if I want to do it again this year I said sure. 

I can't really show a picture yet of the doll that I submitted to them, but I can show you a picture of the one that I submitted last year. 

   

I think that my Let It Snow Annie turned out looking really special, and I was fortunate enough to find another eight yards of this fabric on Ebay so that I will be able to offer this little doll again along with the new one that will be coming out in the Country Sampler in October. 

I took my dolls to the Art in Seargeant Park in Lafollette today with my sister Mildred. 

There was not a lot of people there in the park today, and I did not sell but two of my dolls because it rained off and on about all day, but still I did not think that the show was a total loss after I ran into John LaMaire who I had known back in my high school years.

John has always been a talented artist, and he was now a member of the Campbell County Artists Association.  He was setup with his paintings and his daughter at the park there today, and I did not recognize him and would have walked on by without even saying hello if Mildred had not pointed him out to me.

John and I had dated for a little while during my junior year of high school until I fell head over heels for Mike Gross, and then we dated again during my senior year of high school after Mike and I split up until I went into the teenage revolt thing and cut off the relationship without even giving him an explanation.   

I have always felt really guilty about the way that I ended the relationship with John because he was such a nice guy that he just did not deserve to be treated that way, and I have always wanted to tell him that I was sorry that I had been such a brat to him.  I finally got the chance to apologize to him today.

I enjoyed meeting John and his teenage daughter today, and I hope that his daughter did not think anything strange by the hug that John and I exchanged when we parted.  There was no danger there since I have a thing for bad boys, and I searched until I found the baddest whom I have been married to for almost 37 years.  My hubby was so bad that I gave him the much deserved name of King Butthole early in our marriage, and he probably gave me the name of wicked witch or something to that sort.  Of course hubby and I have mellowed out considerably now so that the only thing we usually argue about is what's for dinner!  Unfortunately this argument usually happens once a day! LOL! 

While I was at the park today I also got my Buzzard Nodder finished.  This buzzard was made to look like a cartoon buzzard that I found on the internet.  He turned out just as goofy looking, but I am still not quite satisfied with my pattern yet.  I want to give him sewn on eyelids instead of having them painted on like they are now, and maybe give him an orange beak before I call him finished... but .....here he is......Big Drum Roll Please!  Taa Daa!



Where has this year gone?

I was cleaning my room the other day and ran across some pictures that I taken of some garden stake decorations at the Dollywood Harvest Festival in October of 2009. They were really cute, and I had wanted to use the pictures to create some new nodder patterns, but somehow a whole year came and went without me even getting started on them. Oh well: I just don't have the time to work on them since I am trying to get all my tests passed so that I can work for Jackson Hewitt as a tax preparer starting on January 6th so maybe I can find the time to design them when tax season ends next year.

Right now I am working on purchasing a Pfaff 2170 Embroidery Machine which will embroider a much bigger picture then my old Pfaff 7570.  I am a little short on having enough cash so I am clearing some items out on Ebay while folks are buying. I have a lot of primitive dolls and other items that I am wanting to clear out.

Got to go now! I think I will tell everyone what I tell my grandkids when I drop them off at school! Try to be good today! Okay?

Working on 6" Mini Doll Legs Today

I ran a fever this whole weekend along with being congested and having a sore throat, an ear ache, and a tooth ache so I have not felt like doing much of anything, but today I am tired of just laying around the house feeling sorry for myself so I decided to get back into stuffing these little doll arms and legs. There is plenty enough in the box to keep me occupied for a while don't you think?

Staining and Blushing the Bag Holder Dolls

I don't know how everyone else blushes their doll's cheeks, but I do my doll's cheeks while the tea stain is still wet.

I add 5 tea bags to a small pot of boiling water, and take it off the heat to cool. While it was cooling I lay my dolls on top of plastic shopping bags to protect my table.

Make sure to get both sides of the doll well covered with the tea.

To blush the doll' cheeks open your cheek paint and barely dip a damp foam paint brush into the paint.

Then rub the foam brush back and forth onto a corner of the plastic shopping bag.

Then rub the brush on the doll's cheeks. Try to keep the two painted cheeks the same size, but do not be concerned that there seems to be to much paint on the cheeks at this point.

Next take a paper towel and lightly rub from the front to the back of the doll's head or around in circles on the painted edge of both cheeks to smooth out the paint.

Maybe you can do better then me, but I don't think that my doll's cheeks turned out to bad!

Then lay the doll in front of the fan to dry.

Well my break is over so back to work.

Welcome to Ragged Britches Primitive Doll Store!

The dolls that I make are not washable nor meant to be played with by children. They were made for adult doll collectors to decorate their homes with.

I love dolls and I have been making them since I was 13 years old and needed a present for my little sister Audrey. I did not have any money to buy her a presenst with so I made her a set of little dolls from my Mom's quilt scraps and a pattern that I found in a McCalls magazine. Audrey loved getting the little dolls as much as I loved making them. That was over 40 years ago, and I am still making dolls today.

I am located just off Western Avenue in Knoxville TN which is about a 45 minute drive from The Great Smokey Mountains.

I do not have a storefront here in Knoxville where you can come and visit me, but I will be at Dollywood's Harvest Festival during the whole month of October so stop by and see me.