Introducing...Old Donkey

Old Donkey lives alone but has much to enjoy in life. In fact, I predict he might be making some new friends has winter comes. You can meet him here.

I am having a wonderful time making sets, learning about lighting the sets, delving into the magical [and addictive] land of miniatures. In the next weeks many things will be arriving to help create the world of Old Donkey and his friends.

Also, this coming month, Patreon members will be getting discounts and free. shipping on certain items in the shop.That will be announced soon.

Someone else deserves her love now

{PS She found a new home}

I made this doll in honor of our beautiful old Matilda, who died this past month. It was a hard goodbye and making the doll was a way to grieve–and I got to hold her as I sewed her dress and stitched her polk-a-dots.

Matilda came to us a young elder and for over 10 years we cared for her after she had been taken out of a neglect situation. She was in rough shape after being used as a brood jenny for years but without proper care or feed. Her feet were horrible and her back swayed, and she was weak and worn out. In time, we put weight on and helped her. She died at 30. That is a good long life for a donkey and especially after her start.

But I miss her.

Dolls and art are a wonderful way to grieve and say good bye, again. People wonder why I don't keep a grief doll, and there are some I keep. But it is the process that is important to me.

I had over ten years with the real Matilda, so I want someone else to enjoy her as a doll. I made a linen dress for her with polk-a-dots of silk and wool. The dress linen is from my family collection of old Swedish linen napkins. Her face includes natural mohair and hand stitching [raggedy style]. On Matilda's last day I spent a lot of time brushing her, and found her hair in the brush-I'd forgotten about it-but it was bittersweet to find it. So I put it in on the doll's head.

I will also enclose a copy of 'Misfits of Love" because there is a dialogue and story of Matilda in it. 

Visit the online shop now >

Baby Donkey is up for adoption

 

Baby Donkey wears the same raggedy baby sweater her mother, and grandmother wore. It has been darned many times. Baby Donkey would like a calm, but sometimes festive home with friends of any species as she has a huge heart-her heart is so full of love it is popping out of her sweater.

Baby Donkey is made of a wooden base, and is very sturdy. She is 16" long from nose to tail and 13" tall. Her hand stitching is of Apifera's own fiber, and silk and cotton thread. She is a one of a kind.

 

Visit Baby Donkey on the shop and see more photos of her and adopt her >

 

Nuffy leaves for her forever home

I just put Nuffy in her traveling case with her baby blanket and she is off to her new home in Ohio, a very good home so we are happy.

Nuffy is learning to walk. But with that nose it can be a bit of a bumpy road. She is unafraid though.

Nuffy knew her mother briefly. She wishes she was still here, but her mother taught her well and that anytime she sees a tulip, that will be her, or when she smells cinnamon, that will be her. Nuffy also thinks that white clouds with grey spots are her mother so she really sees her often.

She had hoped to be adopted by a home with elephants, but now she just wants to be her ownself and be all elephanty and not told to be quiet or not play with her trunk.

Have a good life, Nuffy, I will miss you.

{See more art creatures at the shop}

A new raggedy creature is born

 

Nana Teapot is now available for adoption into your home. She is a very easy keeper.

I birthed a goose

It was a pleasant birth experience. I'm going to live with her for a bit before offering her to the masses on the shop-but feel free to contact me if you are interested in her. I want to make her alma, it is only proper I think. Sebastapol geese are amazing, their feathers are torn and curl, it is very cool. Some of her fallen feathers are in the doll. I had some old scrap that was so perfect, it ripped and seemed almost better than the feathers.

Festive aromatic lovelies

I put up some new lavender stuffed items in the store. I'm smitten by the Sweet Dreams with wings-so simple and perfect for bride, baby or any one walking this life who needs a respite. I won't say the "C" word...okay, Christmas is coming! There are plenty of art cards for all occasions too, including Santa times or peaceful wishes you need to send in the coming months.

The story of Fiorella

Fiorella is 105 years old. She spent her life, from birth, in a small travelling circus in Romania. She is quick to point out she had a good life there, and liked the long walks between towns with her mother and other family.

Her mother was a prized performer for the small circus, but not like you might imagine. Her gift was her ability to calm the restless. Each town that they came on, her mother could soothe a crying baby, help an elder feel less stiff, and keep young children from stealing candy. And she did it all by standing still. Fiorella learned early on that patience and calm could bring about good things.

But all mothers age and Fiorella's was no different. She lived to be 125 years old so mother and daughter had a long life together. After her mother died, Fiorella began spending more time with one of the costume designers of the circus. His name was Paulo and he loved to sew. He told her stories of her mother's youth to keep her spirits up. He would sew all sorts of things for the circus, like velvet drapes for the stage and outfits for the clowns. One day he was measuring drapes for a set and he asked Fiorella if she'd mind if he draped them on her large body, so he could hem them without bending over–after all, he was sixty and had worked his entire life bending and reaching to sew hems and such.

From that day on, Paola and Fiorella were a team, they did everything together and people teased Paolo that he finally found a wife, since he had been a bachelor forever. They didn't mind, it was all in good faith, everyone loved them.

About the time her mother died, there was an earthquake and many new rivers formed in the small towns where the circus travelled. It made it difficult, because bridges had not been built yet. As they were moving camp one day, Paolo fell into a deep crevice. They spent hours trying to get him out and he feared this might be the end of it all. But Fiorella remembered the drapes from the stage. She retrieved them, and back at the crevice everyone helped tie drape after drape together, and Paolo was able to pull himself out.

They went on together like this for many years. As Paolo turned 95, he had more and more trouble sewing, and his vision grew blurrier making it difficult to finish outfits and drapes. He knew in time he would not be there for his friend, Fiorella, and this worried him greatly. So he began to make her an outfit that could help her go anywhere she needed after he was gone.

He didn't tell her what he was making, she thought it was just another costume.

On the day he died, they found a costume on the bedside, with a note for Fiorella. They read it to her, as she paced and paced by her friend's body.

Dear Fiorella, my friend, please take this outfit and remember that when you wear it you can let your wings take you where ever you need to go, without danger. I know we will meet again. Yours forever, your friend, Paolo.

The circus took the week off so that Fiorella could come to terms with her loss. They had an elaborate parade for Paolo, and Fiorella was the leader, walking in front of a carriage in her winged outfit, his coffin covered in velvet drapes.

Several days later, the circus realized that Fiorella was gone. She left a note,

I have my wings now. Do not worry. I will travel, until I find Paolo. Fondly, Fiorella

Meet Juanita...the tenth

This is Juanita the XX, she is over 50, which is 250 in human years. She descends from the Juanita and Pedro line. She still gets up each day and dresses properly for breakfast. She has survived many cat attacks as well as raccoons.

She was born to Pedro VIII and Jaunita IX. This was before we had moved to Apifera, obviously. I found attic insulation on her, which makes me think she lived under the kitchen-above the root cellar where the insulation is visible. There are many secret passages-secret to me, that is-to and from the root cellars into the kitchen cabinets.

To survive this long is rather a miracle. Who knows why one does, and another succumbs to the death trap, or a cat, or natural illness. I guess it is not unlike our human world, you go when you go.

Juanita is proud. Even though she is very arthritic and getting around is difficult, she believes in keeping herself up to date, as much as possible. It reminds me of my mother-who until her death at 87 always took pride in her clothes. I know towards the end it became harder and harder but she always looked sharp, in a down to earth way. Juanita has trouble bending with her humped back, but still manages to keep her silks pressed, and washed.

She has been widowed over twenty times. Mouse marriages are often short, due to, well, death. But she can remember each husband, the first being Pedro Carlo Luiz and the last being a fellow named Frank Simmons. Frank came from a local clan down the road and he adored Juanita, perhaps more than any of her other husbands. He was 20 years younger, but found Juanita's knowledge of the local history entertaining. Frank was an accordion player but switched to harmonic in his later years. To this day, the sound of a distant harmonica always makes Juanita's ears twitch, and she has to remind herself that Frank is gone.

Little Shrew and Donkey

One day in the woods, Little Shrew came upon the most magnificent thing. A donkey with stripes, just like him. The two became instant friends and never parted. They moved in together and were very happy. One day Little Shrew was out seeking acorns for a stew he was making of ground leaves and fennel when he slipped into a hole. He screamed his little shrew lungs out but no one could hear him. But Donkey knew something was wrong because Little Shrew was very punctual and when he said he would return by three, Donkey knew it would be precisely three, not three-o-one.

It was already getting dark, being late autumn but fortunately Donkey was striped so he lit up the path. He heard muffled sounds from below his feet and when he looked downward into a hole where the sounds were echoing from, he could see stripes. Thankfully, a kind rat who lived in the hole was returning for the night and helped Shrew out by carrying him on his back.

"You must not go out on your own, Little Shrew, ever again."

"I will get a whistle, " said Little Shrew.

The pair came home to their favorite, upholstered by Donkey. They love polk-a-dots against their striped bodies.

You can bring Little Shrew and Donkey to live with you-provided you have a wooded area with acorns or nut trees. The two must never be separated, or they will die.

Put a donkey under your pillow

Just a garish self promotion that there are lots Raggedy Sewn items on the store, they are selling briskly as the holidays approach. Yes, I said the "H" word. I might do a bit of sewing today so keep your little eyes peeled on the store if you are interested.

They do come to life

Her mother had taught her to sit still in a 
forest if she wanted to talk to her. Even though she was gone in body, she could hear her in the branches creaking and see her in the birds landing near by.

Sometimes she sat 

alone looking at stars, wondering, 

is that her too?

My work has grown to be story in all forms. I realize I really love making books, so right now, all the media I work with seems to want to be a book-even if it is a one page book.

I mentioned some time ago my internal muses pushing me to do more sculpture forms. The small kiln arrived this week and hopefully I'll be making clay forms by next month. I envision combining cloth, clay and wood to let animals come to life. I want to make settings for them, diorama like things-I shall see how it evolves. Right now, I need focus and time [a huge uproar is heard from the barnyard!].

Old donkey comes to life

I've been working on some creatures with fabrics, wood and embellishments-in this case Old Mama Sugee donated some of her mane hair that I brushed out of her the other day. I had felted the head but then found covering it in antiqued, fading linen was pretty cool. I might add carved wood legs. We'll see. This is all moving towards doing more 3D work of creatures, including in clay and more wood-fabric ideas.

And of course it is sewn raggedy.

I see Old Matilda immediately in this creature. I think if you had met her, you would feel the same. have you met Matilda while on a visit to Apifera? If so, do you sense her here in these images?

Raggedy sewing just for you

I have been spending time getting some Raggedy Sewing done. So stop on over to the shop and pick up some whim-these are all stuffed with Apifera lavender and are nice accents to the bedside or closet drawers.

What is "Raggedy Sewing"? I close my eyes and feel the wind and listen to the birds, turn and spin a few times, and then sew. There are no straight lines on these items, and they are all just a bit...raggedy-but isn't anything made with a pure heart and child like touch?

When striped shrews meet striped donkeys

They met by chance. The donkey had been living alone a two mile walk up the hill, in the forest, alone. Donkeys do not thrive being alone and perhaps the stress of this turned the grey fellow into stripes-anxiety can turn us gray, so it makes sense to me.

Little shrew was born striped, he told me. He lived away from the other shrews-due to this abnormality. At least it was considered odd by his clan and he had been hoping to find others of his kind, to no avail.

He saw the donkey and watched him for a long time-being shy, and also scared, since he had little experience talking to donkeys-or anyone for that matter. But he was yearning for companionship after all these years and he decided that risking death was better than living another day alone. He rushed out from under his leaf and yelled to the donkey,

"Striped donkey! I am striped too!"

Startled, the donkey was stopped in his sad, slow foot steps.

"I am on my way to the farm house down the hill. I hear there are misfitted creatures there of all sorts and it is friendly. Hop on my back and we'll go there together."

And so it was some hours later, they knocked on my door. I had no qualms to take them in and they slept on an old sweater in the studio.

So I am busy making them a bed and proper pajamas. I will update you as things progress.

The living quilt

I put the faux quilt I made last week on the porch and Big Tony graciously modeled with it. I decided this is a living quilt-even though the linen and fabrics are all from old family memories, I found myself showing my guests the quilt this past week, explaining about each piece of fabric. We the living still touch it and wrap it around us-it is living with us. It is not just squares of fabric with memory, it is a living quilt–perhaps that is why the cat was immediately attracted to lying near it, he sensed its breath or heartbeat.

Family in a a quilt

I've been wanting to do this for months. As you know, I am not really a sewer. I just make sewing messes-there is a difference. Never the less, I enjoy sewing, and still use the old '70s Bernina my mother used her whole adult life, and then gave to me.

After my mother died in spring, 2013, I gathered as much as I could from her linens and brought them home. I am not an ironing person, so I knew that using these beautiful linen napkins was a mistake, as I'd have to...god forbid, iron. Nope, no ironing here at Apifera.

The linen napkin squares are so full of memories for me. My parents had wonderful taste in fabrics and home items and I grew up with these very napkins-so many dinners, celebrations and family and friends gathered around the teak table, and used these napkins to wipe away remnants of my mother's meals and my father's too. Can you believe these napkins are from the '60's? I know exactly which china pattern were used with each color.

The center quilt square is even more special. When my mother was around 8, her mother died tragically. But before her death, she and my mother made some quilt squares together. For years those squares sat tucked in a closet until a family friend insisted my mother make them into quilt. She was somewhat reluctant to do it-I wonder if it was just too hard a memory to face even after all those years. Or it might have been that the person coaxing was a bit bossy and she just wanted the idea to go away so her little quilt squares could remain in peace!

But the squares were made into a quilt, and I now have it on my couch and am with it every night. And there were several squares left that I found in my mom's belongings.

I've been wanting to make some faux quilts [these are not 'quilted, as I don't know how] to hang about the farm for Pie Day. I love that this piece will be part of our special day- my mother, her mother and my father too–for I'm sure he was instrumental in picking out the napkins–will all be here in spirit. The plaid pieces are from my favorite pair of Oililly overhauls I wore for years until they literally wore off my body.

We are all combined on this quilt. It is a mother quilt, a family quilt, a quilt that holds family and friends in its essence. I hope to do more of these, maybe I'll aim to make one for every Pie Day. I don't know. I have many of my father's little white hankies. Perhaps I will make a beautiful white piece in his honor too.

Soothing for the weary

I've been sewing all day, the aroma is overwhelming after working with lavender bud for hours. I can only take so much. Now, I guess that's not the best endorsement of my product-but the farm's lavender is very potent when you have gallons of it sitting around. Each little bud that lands on the studio floor and gets stepped emits enough aroma to cover up the stinky wet dog smell...oh, there I go ahead, not being a good spokesperson.

Anyway, I've added some new Raggedy Messes as I call them. Why? It means the seamstress closed her eyes while sewing, or hummed really loud and was watching the birds outside while she finessed them. My art, lavender and writing is how I keep the Misfits afloat, so check out the store.

If these items have sold already-I sold two right off the mar- don't worry, I'll be doing more in the days ahead.

Quiet little sack of sadness

I am beginning a project blog - a project about the journey of grief which started suddenly on April 4th when my mother died. Of course I am not unaware of what grief is, but this loss is like no other I've experienced.

I am creating a blog "Quiet Little Sack of Sadness" to house and honor the art, dolls and other sewn/fabric projects stemming from this grief, along with a journal, healing quotes and other things I'm grabbing onto to help me swim to the next shore. I should have that up and running next week and will alert you here to all the details.

I am finding a need to really go inward and create - but also share. I find that Facebook feels like a cold and shallow place to post daily about my feelings. I want people to have a place to come and ponder and maybe find comfort in their own journey of loss. It will be an ad-free environment, quiet, beautiful and warm - and safe for all, including me.

And of course I'll still be posting here - always - about the creatures and land that wrap around me, the place called Apifera that I love so much.

Gifts for the old goat

Yesterday a package arrived for

"Rudy, c/o Apifera Farm"

The first and former old goat of Apifera, Old Man Guinnias, often received packages from afar, as he acquired a real following of girl friends from all over the country. It's been some time since we lost him, so to see the 'new' old goat getting mail brings me happiness. And Old Rudy is so sweet, so gentle that he deserves this gift.

A woman saw me mention on Facebook that I planned to make a top coat for Old Rudy later this year and that I wanted to use olive colored felt as the base. Voila, she just happened to have a couple yards that was not the right color for her project and she wanted me to have it. She'd had it sitting in a box just waiting for the right opportunity - and then my old goat came along!

So thank you, Sharon G. from Alabama, for thinking to give this to me, and I know I will put it to good use. There is enough fabric to make outfits for the rest of the barnyard or the puppets - perhaps traveling clothes just like the Von Trapp family singers [I was enthralled as a child that they had traveling outfits!]

Stay tuned for my sewing endeavors later in early autumn. I took the picture below near Miss Peach, to show how lovely a red animal will look in a dapper olive coat.