Doll progress.

i'm really happy with my doll progress and hope to have a few available for sale soon. i admit, i really like to take my time and 'get to know' each doll before finding them forever homes. i tend to change the outfits/hairstyles several times before i'm completely happy with them. 

This is the batch i started back in February. The dolls themselves are done, except a couple still need hair sewn on, but most are just waiting on the details. Finding the perfect outfit, shoes and accessories...all the things that give them personality. i'm in no hurry to finish them though. They are a labor of love, and at this point the only benefit to selling them is that i'll have money to buy more supplies so i can make more. :)

i do have a few i'd like to introduce you to though.

This is River, she is a free spirit with unruly hair and a love of the out doors.

She's wearing gorgeous batik cotton fabrics, is wearing a hand beaded mandala pendant and has a felt bag and shoes.

This is Muriel.  She has a big imagination and loves to pretend play, dance and do anything creative.     Her batik dress is in bright rainbow colors, and she has rainbow streaks in her hair as well.  

This is Madeline, although she prefers to go by Maddie. She is a bit shy at first, but warms up once she gets to know you. She loves spending time in the garden or curled up with a good book. Her dragonfly dress has a corduroy heart appliqued on it, and she's wearing matching corduroy pants and felt garden boots.  She is carrying a handmade rope basket filled with needle felted carrots.

So as you a can see, a lot goes into these. Much more than just sewing together fabric. Each doll has a personality waiting to come out. Some are quite obvious, but others take a bit more time.

i know i've mentioned before that i am enjoying the 'process' of doll making, and i truly am. i look forward to finishing up the others and seeing their personalities come together. i hope soon i'll be seeing pictures of these dolls in their forever homes with the smiling children that have adopted them.  

Daily Gratitude- in pictures.

My hens are starting to lay again! 4 dozen eggs in 2 days!

Seed orders arriving in the mail. :)

Daily hikes in the woods alone to recharge. Bright green moss growing everywhere.

A sure sign that spring is near.

kids put down their electronics to play outside, together without being told.

Daily Gratitude in pictures is a new thing i am going to try doing. i'm not sure i'll post every day, but i hope to post a few times a week. If you'd like to join me in posting about gratitude i can turn this into a blog hop or link up.

Gratitude turns what we have into enough. ~Author Unknown

Cloudborn Fibers on Craftsy!

i was recently selected by Houseparty to to be a chatterbox for Cloudborn Fibers on Craftsy. If you are not familiar with Houseparty,  You can read about it here. 

Chatterbox is a new feature of Houseparty that allows you to try free products, share samples and coupons with friends and family, but you are not required to host a party. You just review the products and discuss your experience with the chatterbox community and other social media outlets.

i occasionally get invites through houseparty and chatterbox, but a lot of the products offered haven't really been anything that interested me, When i saw the invitation to review Cloudborn yarn i jumped at the chance! i signed up as soon as i received the email, and then sat around with fingers crossed hoping that i would be picked to participate. 

As a Cloudborn fibers chatterbox participant, i was able to pick to a free knitting kit from a selection available on the Craftsy site.   i picked the Baker moss stitch cowl, really just because of the yarn. i'm not a huge fan of cowls, but love the thick chunky roving yarn and wanted to check it out. i was not disappointed!! The Highland roving yarn is thick, soft and fabulous to work with.  The color i picked is the Plum Heather. It's displays a little too bright in this photo, but still an absolutely gorgeous color. The pattern is a PDF file that i was able to easily download onto my computer and print up. 

The chatpack provided me with some coupons to share with friends. Instead of a coupon code, they just have a web address that takes you to the Cloudborn fibers page where everything is 20% off. The link is http://Craftsy.com/CloudbornPromo .  

 If you don't already have a Craftsy account, you'll want to sign up! It's a fantastic online crafting community that has online classes, patterns and supplies right at your fingertips! The Cloudborn fibers are available exclusively through Crafty. It is sourced through the finest mills and has long lasting quality and exceptional colors. i am really pleased with the Highland Roving yarn, it is much thicker than some of the other roving yarns i've used and the color is really fabulous. i look forward to creating something wonderful with it.

So, obviously this is a #sponsored post. i did not receive compensation for this post, however i did receive a free product to review in exchange for my opinion. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way. 

Cow Shares, homemade butter and cheese making.

Several months ago we purchased a cow share from The Sweet Land Farms .
What is a cow share?  A cow share allows you all the benefits of owning your own dairy cow, but none of the work! Virginia Department of Agriculture wants all milk sold to be heavily processed. It is not legal to sell raw milk. So to receive fresh, unprocessed milk, you need to own your own cow so you can drink it how ever you like it.
When you purchase a cow share, you purchase a portion of a cow and then pay a monthly boarding fee for them to board/feed your cow for you. Since we own a share of the cow, we get a part of her milk production. 

 In 2013 after we lost our home in a fire we rented a house that was right next to The Sweet Land farm. These lovely Jersey cows hung out right behind the house munching on the fresh green grass.  We saw first hand how they were treated, met the folks that run the farm and watched the cows lazily hang out in the grassy fields and line up when it was time to milk.   It was definitely a local business we were happy to support. The cow share provides us with one gallon of fresh raw milk each week.

Jersey milk is high in natural butter fat content.  See all that lovely cream at the top of the jars? Each week we skim that off to make fresh butter. Sometimes, i'll make butter with the cream from one half gallon and use the cream from the other to make Red Pepper fettuccine.  It's so good!!   We really don't drink a lot of milk, so the one gallon per week is the perfect amount. Sometimes we only make it through 1 half gallon by the time we are picking up milk again, so i use the extra milk to make Mozzarella cheese.  This is something i have always wanted to do and i was quite surprised how easy it is. 

i followed the directions from The Cheese making website. First i separated some of the cream from the milk. Then i put the milk in a non-reactive pot and added 1 1/2 tsp citric acid. i heated the milk to about 90 degrees F. i do not have a digital thermometer, so i used a candy making thermometer.  Once the milk reached the correct temperature i added vegetable rennet and let it sit for about 5 min. Then you cut the curds, and heat them up again to about 105 F. remove from heat and stir for a few minutes. Then drain the curds, reserving the whey for ricotta. Press out any remaining whey and microwave about 30 sec.  knead and reheat another 30 sec or until the cheese reaches 135 F. It will be very hot.  

Knead the cheese as you would bread dough, and it should begin to stretch.  Continue stretching it, and stretching it and then form it into a smooth shiny ball. That's it!! Then i use the left over whey to make Ricotta. 

This is what you can get out of one gallon of  raw milk. i made about 12 ounces of fresh mozzarella . A ball of fresh butter, around 1 cup of buttermilk, around 1 1/2 cups of fresh cream and 1 cup ricotta cheese. i also had over a quart of whey, which can be added to soups and smoothies etc.

Although my goal has always been to milk my own dairy goats, it just hasn't work out for me yet and i admit i am really enjoying the cow share. If you are interested in learning more about raw milk and cow shares check out http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/  to find a farm near you.  i highly recommend that you visit the farm, meet the farmers, meet the cows and see their milking practice. 

Back to Dolls Again.

Making dolls is one of those things i seem to always come back to. i started making rag dolls several years before i had children. Then was my daughter was born i fell in love with Waldorf style dolls, but they weren't affordable and so i decided to learn to make them.

i made her a new doll every year for her birthday. In this photo all of the dolls are made by me except the one on the far right. The first two on the left i made for her before she was even born.  The second one from the right is the first waldorf style doll i ever made. 

This one was made in 2012 for her 6th birthday, but was lost a year later in our house fire along with all of her other dolls.

These are the dolls i made for her 2013, 2014 and 2015.  As ,much as i loved the Waldorf look i really struggled with them.  i had thought about making them to sell, but just never felt that confident with the pattern and really struggled with them.

This year i decided to try again, but instead of following the Waldorf patterns i had been using before i went back to my old rag doll pattern.  i used what i had learned from the Waldorf technique of sculpting heads and combined it with a pattern i was more comfortable with.   Just like that- it all seemed to come together.  The areas i struggled with before are no longer a problem and i'm very happy with how the dolls are turning out.

The last few weeks i've been working on them non-stop. i have 7 almost completed and 3 more started. i'm really enjoying the process of seeing them come together. i'm still just trying to find and perfect shoe and sweater patterns, details like bags and hats etc.  The dolls typically go through several outfit changes before i figured out their personality. Then i begin to add the extras.

These girls are waiting on shoes and bags. The doll on the left will probably have another outfit change, as i'm not really loving the pastels on her.  

This one was my least favorite of the bunch until i figured out her personality, and then she just came together perfectly. 

Every year i start off making dolls, then abandon them once gardening season starts. This year i'm really trying to stick with it.  i feel like this is the year, this is what i am meant to be doing right now. i truly do love the process of seeing them come together, now i just need to work on the finishing process and actually listing them for sale. :) Everything in it's own time.