Suzy and Baby Jo

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I finally am ready to let Suzy and Baby Jo go into the world. I listed them in my Etsy store today:

To the store

Blogged about here.

On other news, I am working on a series of five new Olive Sparrow Children. They will be in the following sizes: one at 54 cm, one at 44cm, two at 35 cm and one at 31 cm. I will post details as I move along. 

January has been a recuperating and re-grouping month for me. I worked on a painting commission at the studio, finished another painting that I had to re-do, (thanks to a product that was sold to me as a professional art product, but didn't behave as such), did a lot of work on Huxley's knitted bed spread, submitted a course outline to Loyalist College for a wet-felting course I'm scheduled to teach in the summer and mostly went to bed at a reasonable time every night. The downstairs studio is all cleaned up, the pantry and the fridge have been completely cleaned out and re-organized. Now I'm working on my desk and next up will be the chest freezer downstairs. I have crochet all the doll caps for the dolls I'm working on, so from here on their becoming will be swift. I always find it amazing how at a certain point the babes almost create themselves.  

I also picked up quite a selection of wonderful fabrics and clothes to be made into doll clothes.

Today Astrid was sent of to her new family in Rochester – she was one of my favourite babes that I created before the holidays and I had her sit with me for a while before I was ready to list her on Etsy. Now I am so happy that she has been adopted and can't wait to hear how her trip was.

Okay, before it is too late, I am going downstairs to get the new babes further along their journey.  

Cleanliness is a good thing…

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Today is the day that I am getting my sewing studio back into a semblance of order and workability! Wish me luck (for not stepping on any errant pins), and perseverance (for staying with the job instead of getting side-tracked with a spur of the moment project)…

When I stopped working on Olive Sparrow goodness just before the holidays the sewing room had entered a catastrophic state – this is not unusual for the busyness the ensues in the 3 months leading up to the holidays. After a few last minute gifts for friends and family (all undocumented do to their JIT production schedule), it was time to relax and enjoy the festivities. Then there was that week we pretend that didn't happen between the end of last year and January 9th, which I designated as the official start of the new year for me. (that week was plain evil and I have decided it never happened!). 

Last week I was busy getting a painting ready for a client in Kingston, saddly missed her leaving for an extended winter down-south by a day, but was still able to deliver it to her home (300km's away one way) on Monday thanks to the generosity of her cleaning lady that helped me hang it.

Going to Kingston was a good trip though, as I had a chance to pop into their Chez VV thrift store on a day where I got 50% off. This always means that I stock up on lovely clothes to turn into dolly-goodies, and goodies I got this time. On the long drive back home there were many a great idea and inspiration swirling through my head – of course, these ideas will not come to fruition overnight, but the seeds have been firmly sewn. Lets see how they grow.

In the weeks ahead I am planning to list a few other dolls into my Etsy store, as well as redesigning the pattern of my 35cm doll. I also have plans for a much smaller doll, as well as a life-sized baby doll – all my own patterns. There will also be listings of doll clothes coming up. I am currently working out the most efficient way to photograph and document them. One thing that adds to the price of goods sold on Etsy is that if they are one-of-a-kind items, they take a lot of time for photography, processing the images, writing the descriptions, calculating postage, managing them in the store, etc. So I need to spend some time up front on making the process more efficient – otherwise I would have to pass those costs on to my clients, which I'd rather not have to do. 

This year will be full of plans and new ventures – I'm sure the ride will be bumpy at times, but I hope you'll come along for it… It's sure to never get boring!

“Guetzle”

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Having left the country of my birth – Switzerland – at the young age of 19, most of the traditions that I crave are traditions of my childhood. Sadly though, many of these can't be replicated here in Canada. Mostly due to the fact that you need crowds of people celebrating together – the Swiss are not culturally inclined to congregate in groups outside of Switzerland though, so I am missing out on much.

Some of the festivals that I really loved where the National Day celebrations on August 1st – big bonfires, rockets, crackers, sausages over the open fire (veggie sausages i.e. Quorn sausages would do quite well for that too). I also love Advent celebrations. Ah.. the memory of the smell beeswax candle dipping that was open to the public during late November and early December still brings a smile to my face. Somehow though, Advent is just not activily celebrated here. I am also in my most busy Olive Sparrow time during the fall and Advent, so mostly I also lack the time to fully immerse myself into the quiet time of preparing for the bit day.

The one tradition that I insist on honing here is to "Guetzle" (this comes from the word "Guetzli" – which is swiss-german for cookie) – so "Guetzle" is specifically used in Advent when one is baking a myriad of different Christmas cookies. My hips don't need a lot of cookies to keep their svelete shape, our family is small, I work by myself – yet "Guetzli" baking I want to do. I usually make upwards of 15 + different types.

About 5 years ago, my husband and I started to give my home-made cookies to his clients as a small gesture of thank you. We also gift neighbours, friends, my galleries that are in town, a few of the people in the public housing complex in our neighbourhood and often a spontaneous selection of people dropping by our house over the holidays. 

This year I made 50 baggies of cookies, each weighin about 1/2 lb. So this years output was around 25 lbs. Plus about 2 lb for us to have at hand for guests staying here. 

Cookies-all

Many of the recipes I use are very old, traditional swiss cookies, combined with a few new ones I just like trying out. I also make some chocolate truffels every year, this time around I gave white chocolate ones a go – they are okay, but I don't think I will attempt them again for a while because the chocolate didn't firm up properly and I had to improvise with additions of cashews – they taste okay, but are not what I had in mind.

Another favourite is the Basler Läckerli – a ginger-bread-type with lots of dried fruit and candied peels – this year I added some of the sour cherries from our tree and I love the bit of tartness amongst all the honey sweetness. Nidelzältli are my sons favourite – cream, sugar and a bit of vanilla – essentially a soft granular fudge. There are also Brunsli – chocolate and almonds with eggwhites, rolled in sugar when rolling out – yummy… Chräbeli are my best friends grandmothers recipe – a traditional Anis cookie and the same dough that is used for Springerle (which I make with a lovely angel mold). Nusspraline – walnuts, coffee and icing sugar, not baked, but left to dry, then glaced with more coffee and icing sugar. 

The essential Swiss Christmas cookie is the "Mailänderli" (Milano cookie) – a shortbread cookie with an egg-wash

Mailanderli

Here is the recipe from my mothers home economics cookbook from 1948:

500 gram all-purpose flour (but you can also put part spelt or whole wheat in it)

250 gram sugar

250 gram butter

3 eggs (+ 1 egg yolk)

finely grated peel of 1 organic lemon

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Put flour, butter, sugar, eggs and the lemon peel into a large bowl and knead well, but not too long (so that not too much gluten develops).

Put dough into fridge for a few hours or overnight

roll out on a little bit of white flour

use your favourite cookie cutters to cut out shapes

transfer shapes to baking sheet (I always use parchement paper, not buttered)

brush egg-yolk onto each cookie

bake at 350 fahrenheit for about 12 – 15 minutes until the egg yolk has gone a beautiful colour.

Let cool and enjoy!

I love cutting out tiny cookies, so that each one is one bite. Takes a bit more time, but looks so pretty. As children, this was our standard cookie that we could help with. (the dough also tastes amazing – my son says so as well.)

On that note, I am now going to work on a few more dolls that have to be finished in time for Saturday. 

 

Olive Sparrow Children – Mandy, Wendolin, Sir Jamie

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The quality of the following pictures is such that I considered not showing them here – they were taken at 2:30 am the night before my first show. All of us-the dolls, the camera and I didn't have all our wits about. But it would be sad to not show Wendolin, Mandy and Sir Jamie – Dolls that have found a home to date. 

First up though, a picture of all the dolls in a group shot.

Mandy-full

From Left to Right, back row first:

Pauline 48cm, Mandy 48cm, Suzy 55cm, Eloise 50cm, Milena 45cm, Antoine 52cm, Wendolin 55cm,

Front Row: 

Pete 31cm, Astrid 35cm, Daisy 31cm, Sir Jamie 35cm, Katinka 31cm, Claire 35cm

 

First I'd like to introduce Mandy, about 48cm, wearing leggings, a tunic and embroidered shoes. She will be joining a family that already has Olive Sparrow Children.

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Mandy is made from my re-designed pattern for the 48cm doll. She can sit freely without leaning against anything, she has long legs, a more trim body and feet that look great in and out of shoes.
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Green-eyed little girl… She is a real sweetie.

 

Next in order of introduction we have Sir Jamie (yes, I have been listening to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon while creating Sir Jamie – giggle). 

Sir Jamie is a boy doll, a night or a squire. He Is wearing a silk shirt that shimmers like chain-mail (Huxley was my assistant in choosing the fabric and said that the other very shiny silk works, however, this one looks like Sir Jamie has seen a few sparring sessions). His tunic is made from leather, tied with a hand-twisted rope, his shoes are leather too. Like any good squire, he wears leggings. His height is 35cm.

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The cape is made from a silk kerchief and has appliqued gold emblems on it. The hat was knit in a beautiful heathered grey wool.
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Underneath his hat/helmet, Sir Jamie is suave with his short cropped curly hair.
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There are definitely more knight boys in my future. I'm also thinking of a knight and princess pair (possibly with crowns and kingly/queenly gowns to go along with it). 

Sir Jamie is also going to live with a wonderful family that has a selection of Olive Sparrow Children already.

 

Here we have Wendolin, or short Wendo (named after a very, very dear friend of mine)

Wendo was the first 55cm doll I made from my newly developed pattern and I had a very hard time letting her go out into the world, alas, she was sold at the first show I attended, to a new client. 

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Wendo has very nice feet, another improvement to the new pattern, and she can sit on her own. 

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Wendo's hair is extremely soft and a new hairstyle. I used two very closely related tones of wool to create natural highlights. 

 

This concludes the 3 dolls that have been adopted to so far. I will be listing the other dolls that are still available in my Etsy show in the next week. If there is one you see and like, feel free to send me an e-mail for more information. 

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Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible.