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