This is a reclining primitive Halloween cat doll, dressed in a black witch hat and a black cheesecloth scarf.  Look for her in a Santa hat in my Etsy shop later this week.

And this is primitive Halloween moon wall decoration wearing a black witch hat. I envisioned him as a Halloween man in the moon, but some think he looks like an old crone, which I can see too. S/he will also be in my Etsy shop wearing a Santa hat later this week.

Each of these primitive dolls may be found in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop.

I am having a lot of fun with these cat dolls, so there will be more to come throughout the year – including Halloween cats and Christmas cats.

My daily run out to the mailbox to check to see if today will finally be the day that my issue of Prims arrives has finally ended – it’s here!  The Spring 2011 issue of Prims magazine is just packed full of artists whose work I have long admired – and collected.  I feel extremely privileged to have two of my primitive dolls, Laura and Rebecca, featured in such amazing company.

My Victorian Girl spun cotton ornament is in the center right of the front cover, and my spun cotton bunny ornament is in the center right of the back cover (the bunny has a brother available in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop now – along with many other new designs, pictured below).

Mr. Cattingham decides to enlist the help of Frederick Bunworth, who is known for his impeccable taste.  Mr. Bunworth helped pick out an outfit for Horatio Hopkins too, and Horatio has since hopped off to his new home.

Roderick will be all dressed and ready to present himself in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop tomorrow.  Two new spun cotton Easter bunny ornaments are looking forward to his arrival.

Frederick is my newest design, a primitive folk art rabbit doll. He has a cloth body and a paper + chipboard head and neck. Frederick is demurely awaiting spring.

Frederick has joined the gaggle of spun cotton and chenille ornaments in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.

More new designs are in the works this week!

I thought you might also enjoy a peek at what she looked like as a work in progress.

So now we have a new plan in mind… bear with me here, as this may sound crazy… to save up enough money to REALLY move into the country… or rather, a step closer to the wilderness. We are going to save up, purchase a motor home, sell our current home, and pursue the freedom of living full time on the road, camping at remote, wild and beautiful spots along the way. This is an idea I have been toying with for 6 years now, but I never thought I would be able to make it happen. I felt too entrenched in my current way of life despite how much I wanted to give this a try. But now, if we can save enough to make this plan feasible… there is a new goal in the horizon.

So. I’ve wasted a ton of time this summer house-hunting, packing… and then un-packing (ugh!), but I’ve still managed to get some new dolls and ornaments created, and to do a bunch of gardening and pickling too.

Do you think my tomato plants are happy??

And now I invite you to meet an extreme primitive doll named Nadine, and a primitive witch make-do named Hexe:

Plus my newest ornaments in spun cotton, spun glass, and chenille:

All of the new creations above can be found in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.

And this is Laura, my latest primitive cloth doll with a sculpted Paperclay face – she is traveling at the moment, preparing for her feature in a future issue of Prims magazine. 

I have been working ever so slowly on my Izannah Walker doll class, which thankfully has stayed open long enough for slow pokes like me.   This is where I am at with my doll now – her sculpting is done, and I am ready to apply her stockinette next.  I think that perhaps I have been hesitating with moving onto that step for so long now because I’m a bit nervous about messing her up!