our house...

[fufaraw]

named after my dad, Arlis. Even my mom agreed he looked like Dad without his glasses. Arlo lives here, in the late-forties era crib with the rest of the gang of bears and dolls and the occasional rabbit. Ollie the occipus I made of yarn for my then two-year-old flops over the head of the crib, and Rodney the Reindeer flops over the quilt I made for the same child five years later.



The Raggedy Anns in the corner sit below their cover picture for an article I wrote for the doll magazine. Daniel, with the crinkly red banner and the mini tree lights, and Dougal, with the Santa hat, have escaped their muzzles, which hang on the back of the Victorian pressback chair. Thaddeus, a Lynn Gatto Limerick bear, and Newton, for Sir Isaac (because sitting he's always looking down, pondering gravity) and Edison (because he's dark), both Eva Baldwin bears, inhabit the rocker.

There are Steiffs, Hermanns, a couple of Nisbet reproductions, a couple of Sue Foskey bears, Virgil the Hermann chimpanzee, beside Hippocrates, the bear made by Mary S. Temple, and Dylan Bach, the discontinued Bocs Teganau bear that they found the pattern and made another one, just for me.



The quilt I made for the younger child pads the back rail. Both quilts have patches of fabrics from curtains, throw pillows, and other furnishings of the places we'd lived by the time I made the quilts. And Elder Statesman Truman, a Steiff Teddy Rose bear, wears a collar cut from a baby's white dress shirt, the World's Smallest clip-on red bowtie, a pair of child's spectacles, and the hat from the Santa outfit both kids wore on their first Christmas.



Boutique beaded ornaments made by OH and the candle clips and candles we've had since our very first married Christmas. A cornhusk angel with Spanish moss hair and a star-tinsel halo tops the tree, a framed quartet of Mary Engelbreit Christmas cards replaces the framed WWI postcards that hangs by the door the rest of the year.


I used to work with retirement homes, and cornhusk angels were popular crafts made by the residents. This one has cotton twine hair and cotton lace wings and underskirt.



And Taliesin Bach in his sleigh full of toys drawn by the second child's elephant pulltoy.

click on any picture to embiggen. And Merry Christmas, to all who celebrate!

Comments

[neatwilted.livejournal.com]

Thats astonishing...

[fufaraw]

In an "OMG, too much stuff!" way? I sometimes wonder.

[sylsdarkplace]

My mother had a big Raggedy Ann and Andy like that at one time. I was house sitting for her years ago and returned home one day to find that her German Shepherd and my Chow had played tug of war with Andy. He'd been torn limb from limb. It was pretty gruesome in a doll kind of way. Stuffing everywhere. Annie fared better but she still needed stitched up a bit. I think Mom is still a bit upset about that.

I don't have many toys like those left -- an Aloysius bear (that if you've read Brideshead Revisited you'll know), a purple bunny with a music box that plays This Old Man whose neck can't hold its head up from my first Easter on this earth, and a truly pathetic looking stuffed cat that I bought with birthday money from my grandma when I was small. This cat was so sad looking when new that my mother questioned my decision in the store. LOL I guess even then I had a soft spot for misfits and outcasts.

[fufaraw]

If you can believe, this is downsized to a third of the collection I had before we moved. I tend to obssess, just a bit.

Oh dear, speaking of misfits and outcasts, my son worked for a mover one summer, and found the big Raggedy in a trashpile by the curb. He brought her home to ask if I could "fix her up" as a gift for his then-girlfriend. I traded him a newly purchased large bear for the doll. The article in the magazine, and the one in the previous issue, were about restoring this doll. For many years I did textile repair and restoration: cloth dolls, stuffed toys, baby clothes, women's "whites", quilts, etc.

I wish I could have gotten hands on your mom's Raggedy Andy, I'd have had him looking good by the time I was done.

[fufaraw]

Ooh, I failed to respond to your having an Aloyisius! The little bear in the corner of the 3rd photo, to the right of the chimpanzee (you can see his profile in the 2nd pic), is Nisbet's miniature repro of Delicatessen, the bear Peter Bull loaned to Brideshead to play Aloyisius. I named him Roger, pronounced "Rajah" with a Brit accent, because he's a (ahem) "New Deli".

(Don't look at me like that. Occasions to use that line are all too few!)

[tabaqui]

Oh, lovely! :)

I think the elephant pull-toy is my favorite of all.
A very happy Yule and merry New Year!

Thanks for sharing.

[fufaraw]

Thank you! I hope the season is warm and joyous for you and yours, too. (My observation for Yule is at my arliss LJ)

The elder child had a spacemen pull toy. It makes an appearance every Christmas, too. (click)

[tabaqui]

Awww! Neat! That's so very cool. :)