Exquisite Queen Anne Woodens by Kathy Patterson

Words alone cannot describe the craftsmanship of doll (and Santa) artist, Kathy Patterson. Kathy has captured impeccably the making of Queen Anne wooden dolls. Her ability to carve is unsurpassable. I am grateful that she has offered to instruct me in the how of creating such dolls, and in attempting it, I have put my carving knife away for a while. This is an art form that has wooed me for many years. I will have to stay happy with merely sculpting out of Paper Clay this style, a little longer.

The first doll is right now on eBay for all of two more days. The last doll just sold on eBay for $2, 350.00, and worth every penny and even more so. This style of doll, if old, can command from $16,000.00 up to $160,000.00 a piece. Lucky is the buyer of any of Kathy's incredible creations.

I've highlighted her name to direct you to her blog, and again, here it is in it's wonderful and perfectly appropriate other name, Babes From the Woods.

Some of her dolls are featured in the current issue of Early American Life, which is the annual and the 24th Directory of Traditional American Crafts. Click on Directory, then on 2009, and then on Toys or Dolls.

Enjoy the works of a dear, dear friend.

Fire Board Time!

I did this Fire Board when we lived in Ohio, for my older sister who still lives there in good old Cincinnati. It is in our 1833 home in Lynchburg, Ohio for the picture in this view.

Summer time is when fire boards were properly put in front of fireplaces so as to keep out birds and other pests now that there would no longer be a need to build a fire.