Little Snail Lover - a handmade, natural doll by Puppenka

Little Neele - a waldorf inspired doll by Puppenka

I call this little rascal Neele, but I know it isn'ther name, this beautiful name belongs to her little mama. Still, I just can't help myself thinking about any other name for her. 

Neele - a handmade natural doll created by Puppenka

She is a mystery for me, fast as a wind, smart and cunning, and you never know what is on her mind. She smiles all the time, but it's impossible to decide is it a "everything is OK, I'm happy" smile or "I have a great idea, but it's better if you don't know about my plans" one. She never breaks the rules, or do anything dangerous, just loves to have her own ways. 

How careful she is, watching my little snail climbing the walls - a kind natural cloth doll from Puppenka

She is a friend of tiny ones, my little old snail-whistle found a confident in her. They learned some poems about snails, made up some undersong and sang out loud all around. 

My little snail whistle, bought some time ago at a so called "Valley of Arts" festival from a kind potter man

The snail is very odd and slow.

He has his mind made up to go

The longest way to anywhere

And will not let you steer him there.

Today I mat one in the grass

And hadn't time to watch him pass,

But coming back at sunset, I

Discovered him still traveling by. 
                                       (Unknown author)

Miss Little - a handmade fabric doll - playing hide and seek with a tiny snail

Their other little song is a proper tongue-twister:

Slippery slimy slugs and snails 

slide along on silvery trails.
                               (Unknown author)

A little girl and a tiny snail sunbathing in the golden rays of the afternoon Sun - a one of a kind natural doll by Puppenka

Some days ago, this little snail accompanied her to a late afternoon walk, and this Little Miss show him as much as she can. Traveling in her comfy pocket, my little snail can get much further, then sliding on his own. By the way, he has a name of course, he is called CsiGusztáv, which makes sans in Hungarian, but cannot be translated to English, what I'm really sorry for. It's a mix of the word for snail in Hungarian 'csiga' and a not so frequent male name 'Gutsztáv'.

The little snail got collard hiding among the leaves

So my little Neele showed him flowers, old baileys, parks with scented grass...so lots of perfect hide-and-seek places. She knows, this is the favorite game of my little snail.
 

Neele and her little friend in the park - a handmade natural doll by Puppenka

While she is my 13th doll, I still feel that I'm just at the beginning of a beautiful, miraculous journey. I have to learn so much about everything, from sewing to taking photos, about different fabrics and fibers, new ways of knitting or crocheting, designing patterns and so on. This Little Miss was a great help for me to develop my skills a bit further. She is an important step for my dollmaking,  I hope lots of other ones will follow. I'm so thankful for all the knowledge, shared by talented dollmakers, which help me to get better from doll to doll.

Neele - a natural handmade cloth doll - sitting on the top of a wall

 
Creating her, I have tried out a new stuffing method, which I learned from the selfless dollmaker behind Fig&Me, Fabiola, who introduced her technique in a wonderful tutorial. This time I got a clue, what 'firmly stuffed' means, and I'm really happy about the result I could reach!

Neele - a waldorf insiperd doll - and her little friend in her pocket

For the first time, I made panties for this little girl, based on a free patten by Juliane Strittmatter. It is a clear and detailed pattern, therefore super easy to create.

A little cloth doll girl, stuffed with wool by Puppenka

This is my first hand-knitted cardigan as well. To be honest, this is my biggest knitting project ever. This is a simple top-down piece, I didn't follow a pattern, just enjoyed, that I can knit anywhere, and anytime I have to minutes to pull out the needles from my bag.

This little girl enjoys the last warm summer afternoons - a waldorf inspired doll by Puppenka

She also has my first eyebrows, ans I have to say I really love them. I hope eyebrows will let me make my dolls face more expressive.

Neele lying on the grass - a natural handmade doll from Puppenka

My little dolly Neele is 40 cm high, her skin in made out of cotton jersey, stuffed with clean wool. She has embroidered eyes, and mouth, and she has my first ever eyebrows. Her hair is made of brown mohair yarn. She has ears, elbows, and knees, and a little bellybutton. Those rosy cheek are blushed with beeswax.

Neele - a little fabricdoll - and her little snail on the old brick wall

Her wardrobe consists of a purple, polka dot, linen dress, closing with a foliaged metal button, a matching purple, linen skirt with cotton lace hem, a beige, linen peasant blouse, a hand-knitted pale-pink cotton cardigan, white cotton-jersey underwear with a little bow and a pair of crocheted gray shoes.

The wardrobe of a little fabricdoll by Puppenka

An other first thing, I made her a little moths repellent pillow, from matching fabrics. From now on, I will make one for every doll, since I like moths, just far away from my wool-friends.

The little moths repellent pillow, made for Neele.

Have playful days!

Lulu

Lavender harvest with Lonka and Simon - two handmade natural dolls

It was a really hot summer day, from the kind lacking any little whiffs or clouds. Our little family was heading towards Lake Balaton, where Lonka and Simon accompanied us.

- Are we there? - Lonka was asking in every 5th minute during the two hours long roadtrip. Simon, being the calm and smart boy as always, was telling her stories all the way long about flower fairies and other magical nature carers. 

We wanted to pick some huge bouquets of lavender for making some tasteful syrup, which reminds us to the tastes of summer all around the whole year. We also want to make some moths sacks to prevent all our little wool-friends from the always hungry moths. Lonka and Simon are big nature lovers, but they aim at avoiding any kind of moths, its a kind of loving each other from a well defined distance relationship.

The lavender plantation belongs to the Balaton Upland National Park, the huge brushes are under the hill of Tihany, where the beautiful Benedictine Abbey can be found. Lonka and Simon had planned that trip for weeks, so they were kind of excited, when we could catch a glimpse of the Lake.

 

When we reached the plantation Little Miss Tittle-Tattle lost her power of speech. The endless lines of these beautiful lilac-greenish bushes enchanted her. Simon took care for a harvesting tool for everyone, he put a little knife, or scissors in each bag.

Their little pair where so helpful, they were picking lavender flowers for two hours, without taking any break. Both were really careful not to pull on the plants too much, or not to step on the little seedlings. We collected two full bags of the lilac flowers, before decided on having a well deserved rest, eating brilliant handcrafted ice-creams in the shadows of the Abbey.

The tastes of the pale lilac syrup we made will call out of our memory not just summer as it is, but this beautiful trip all around the year.

Here you can find the recipe, if you want to make some lavender syrup for yourself or your loved ones as well:

Cut off the freshly picked flowers from the stem. 

You don't have to remove the little flowers from the stem, just cut off the excess, where there are no flowers at all.

Fill a pot between to its 1/2 or 2/3 height with the flowers.  

Filling it half you get a more fruity flavor with not so harshly characteristic lavender in it, if you want stronger flavors, you should choose to fill up to 2/3 height. 

Pour as much water on it that fills the pot completely, and please count how many liters you used. 

Add a thoroughly washed and sliced organic lemon for every 2 liters.

Put a plate or a cover on it, and let it rest in the fridge for two days.

Take the pot out of the fridge, and add a teaspoon of citric acid for every 2 liters of water you added.

Adding citric acid makes the lavender to stain the syrup into beautiful pale lilac.

Filter it through a dense sieve or a clean kitchen towel. 

Heat it up to a point when it is easier to dissolve the sugar.

Add 3/4 kg sugar per every liter of water you added.

Steer it until all of the sugar is dissolved.

Put it back on the stove and boil it for 5 minutes.

The longer the heating is, the more of the lilac color fades away.

Pour it into sterilized jars with screw on lids, be careful to fasten the lids as much as you can. 

Let the jars cool down under blankets, or other warm-keeping material, to slow down the cooling process.

Our jars rested in an armchair covered with two warm blankets, and cooled down completely in three days.

We are already enjoying this little gift of nature, the other day we had some picnic, and as usual, Lonka and Simon were playing all hide-and-seek, running competition and who-finds-the-prettiest-flower-faster all day. When I could convince them, to have a rest, and sit down for some minutes, they drunk off a bottle of refreshing lavender syrup. Lonka and Simon likes our syrup so much, that they are trying to convince me, that 16 liters won't be enough for us for the entire year.

I hope I'm still in time with this recipe, so if you feel like, you can make some syrup as well. Please let me know, if you used this recipe, it would be nice to know. If you have any questions, feel free to comment as well!

Lulu

Majorane and Laurel - two little handmade natural dolls

These little babies had to wait so long to introduce themselves.

They are cousins, Majorane is the older one. She is a secret - fairy. Her ears are elfin-ears, but she prefers to hide them under her braids. Majorane keeps it a secret, that she is a fairy. She lives at a small village, a farmhouse with a large vegetable garden and goats, chickens, goose, pigs, rabbits, dogs and a cat. She loves to play outside and always hums when she catches a glimpse of a birdie.

Laurel lives in a small town, but he loves to visit Majorane at the countryside. He collects leaves and little flowers, and loves to press them down, and keeps them in a secret scrap book. He loves books, although he didn't learned to read jet, but he loves turning over pages of any books, especially picutre-books. When Majorane visits him they love to go to the playground, because they can play with the sew-saw!

Majorane and Laurel were gifts for my niece and my little son. The photos were taken at their last weekend together, when they were strolling at the nearby forest. It was such an exciting learning process to create them. They are my first little dolls, I planed this pattern to fit in the hand of the smallest ones.

They are just 23 cm tall, they have a simpler body, made of brown cotton-jersey, stuffed with clean wool and their facial features are embroidered with cotton threads. Majorane has a mohair wig, shining brown eyes, and a double sided apron dress. Laurel has an embroidered hairdo (my first one) from merino, dark brown eyes and double sided dungarees, matching Majorane's dress.

I'm planning to create these small dolls with colourful or patterned cotton jersey, with much more simple hairstyles, permanent hats or caps and just some symbolic clothes in the future.

Have playful days!

First snow - adventures of Lonka and Simon, two handmade natural dolls

Lonka and Simon were really happy about their new cloaks, they love to play outside, but I didn't let them to wander in winter without warm clothes. Since I couldn't accompany them, they were just playing in the petite garden of our house. After hours of play they arrived home, and went into raptures over this little garden.

 - It is completely different, when snowed under! - said Lonka.

And they started to share everything they have seen and done out there.

 - We found a snow-slide, that was so high and fast, we slided down for a million times - continued the little girl. 

 - It wasn't a million - said Simon - you couldn't even count to million! But I felt like a bird - he said - the slide was so fast, that it seemed we are flying.

 

- We laid down to gaze the dance of the snowflakes as they falling down from the sky, there were all different! Like lots of beautiful little laces! There were small ones, hardly visible, but there were also huge ones, that seemed like some cotton candies - chattered Lonka.

- We also made some snow-angles, and I found some orange flowers - said Simon. - Do you know their name? -he asked me. - How magical! Flowers under the snow! They are maybe some Zinnias or African Daisies - I answered.

- Then we took a rest under the running-everywhere ivies. They our so beautiful semi-covered with snow! - continued Simon.

Since Lonka is a freezing type, she was really happy about her hand-knitted wool scarf. 

- I love this scarf! It was warm and comfy, when playing outside, the wind couldn't blow through it! Can we make snow every day? - asked her.

- I'm sorry Lonka, but we can't make snow. You know, snow is made of water, falling from clouds, just like rain, just frozen, if the temperature is low enough - I answered.

- Snow isn't like rain! How can you make a rain slide? Or build a rainman?? - asked this little girl uncomprehendingly, and she run away to figure out their upcoming adventures with Simon. 

I hope we will have some snow in February, so these two can have some more fun playing outside with these so cold, but also soft and white frozen - water - flakes.

The First Noel

The First Noel, the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

 

The time has come to share some moments of our wonderful and cozy Christmas Eve. This was Lonka's and Simon's first Christmas with us, and for me it ment such a heart-warming gift, to be a witness of their awaiting. 24...23...22... they were counting the days from the beginning of December. 

When Christmas Eve arrived....

- Shh! Can you here it! Some bell was tinkling!- whispered Lonka

All lights, but the ones on the Christmas tree were blind, when she and Simon came into the room. The red-golden tree bewitched them. For minutes they were just pore upon it. 

Singing Christmas Carols before opening the gifts is a tradition in our little family, and  their duo were happy to join us! One of their favorites was The First Noel.

There were two similar small packages, wrapped in carmine paper, tied up with white strings, with little cards on the top. Of course, in a second, they found their presents. Lonka was the faster, the little itchy hearted girl, she opened her package, and found out, that whatever she got, it must be something just for her. Something very special, since her favorite flower peeped out of the carmine cover. Simon, the always calm little fellow, found a little red boat on his present. But he also realized, besides these little personal details their presents are matching! 

- Cloaks! - exulted Lonka.

With a great hush, she tried her brand new winter cloak on. Simon seemed to be more touched, and I was wondering why.

- The red boat - he said - I didn't want to wear anything warm, because my boat on my dungarees won't be visible, but this cloak has a replica! I love this cloak!

He also tried on his new favorite piece of clothes. This smart boy pointed out, that it is great to have so similar cloaks, since everyone will know, that they belong to each other, but it is also great to have their personal details, which makes it easier to find out which cloak belongs to whom. He turned to Lonka, and the two little dolly started to plan, what winter adventures they will make wearing these comfy, warm cloaks. I'm pretty sure, you will hear about some of these wanderings. 

Simon's and Lonka's cloaks are made of tweed, base on a self-prepared pattern. Their hoods in lined with fabrics matching their outfits, I used the fabric of Lonka's trousers and Simon's shirts. They closing with little black loops and large unfinished wooden buttons. The flower petals and the little boat are made of wool-felts.

Have playful days!

ps.: The lower branches of our Christmas tree are lacking decoration, to avoid any damage, that a far-too-curious little bunny can cause.

 

The little paper ship

I'm really sorry for the long quiet period, you must believe me, I was busy in all means during this time. A new pattern is forming in my little sewing corner for the smallest child, maybe some Christmas tree elfins will make us smiling, and definitely will I show you how Simon and Lonka liked their presents.

So this time you can read about our paper-ship project with Simon.

You know, Simon is really passionate about ships, boats, rafts ...He wanted to create a boat for himself, so I thought him, how he can fold a paper ship. When he was satisfied with the ships he could create, he waned to try them out. I suggested the bath tub, but he insisted on "real, big water", so we took a walk to the nearby river bank. On the way we found some fishing boats, and Simon became really excited he just told me again and again, that he wants me to take a photo on him and the fishing boot, until I agreed (of course I agreed soon, since I like to please him).

He decided to take two of his beautiful paper ships with us, just in case. It was a clever idea, since one of his little ships keeled over so early.... Fortunately Simon is an eternal optimist, - we have an other one! - he said. And this time, being more careful, we were lucky, and his little paper ship was floating nicely on the slow-running river.  

 And then some miracle happened, the river played with us. She took the little ship back and forth before us! It was amazing, the little paper ship was floating around for half an hour! It enchanted Simon so much!

 When the little ship floated away, some wild ducks came near us. It is a big fun to feed the ducks, but we were not enough deliberate, and didn't took any duck-food with us. I had to promise Simon, that next time we will pay attention to that!

 

Before we set out for home, Simon wanted to take one last glimpse on his little ship, so he climbed up on the highest tree, that he could find. He didn't tell me, whether he could see it, but from his big, big smile I think you can find it out!

Have playful days!

Especially at Christmas!