In which I begin my blog...

“I love that song. What is it?” I was sitting on my person’s computer, watching as she searched through bags of beads and findings.  It was a chilly, cloudy February day, but at least it had almost stopped snowing. It wasn’t cold enough or heavy enough to stick, but it was still a little dreary. Of course, it was also the reason I was sitting here. My person hadn’t wanted to go out to run some errands until it cleared up, so she’d spent the morning making me.

            “It’s the Psychedelic Furs. It’s called “Pretty in Pink,” Maddy, my person, replied. “And what did I do with those coral beads? I want to get you all dressed before we go out.” I had only been completed for about an hour or so. Unlike my ancestor, I’m made of cloth. My person’s not a woodworker. Although I had two sisters – a Gail Wilson girl named Jade and a Raikes girl named Ramona – Maddy still wanted to make a version of our ancestor entirely her own – and thus, I was born. Having sisters meant that I didn’t have to wait for clothes. I’d picked out a buff-colored dress with little red flowers and a pink shawl. Hmmm. Pink…..

            “Call me Caroline, like in the song.” I found the remote for the CD player and started the song again. Being fabric, I can move however I want. No pegs.

            “You do realize the girl in the song is supposed to be kind of trashy?” Maddy said.

            “So? It’s an awesome song.”

            “It is that. And they’re an awesome band. I do wish they’d get back together with John Ashton and do another album,” she said.

            “Which one is he?” I was looking at the CD cover.

            “Right there. He’s their guitar player.”

            “He’s cute.” I wished they’d get back together with him, too. Heck, I wouldn’t have minded getting together with him.

            “I think so, too. That’s their lead singer, Richard Butler.” 

            He was pretty good-looking, too. “So, how does Caroline sound?”

            Maddy thought for a moment. “Well, considering how gleefully we misinterpreted the song when I was in high school…” She looked thoughtful. “If you like it, Caroline it is.” She held up a bag. “I suppose you’d like pink corals?”

            I nodded. I actually wanted pink everything, but the only pink dress in the box was Ramona’s original dress and I didn’t feel comfortable taking it.

            “You can, you know,” Ramona said. “I’m just happy to have more than one dress right now. Heck, I’m just happy to be out of that box.”

            “What box?” I looked at her.

            “My previous person only took me out of the box once to look at me, then put me right back in. I don’t know how long I was in there until I was taken out and photographed for eBay.” She sighed. “You know, being collectable isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

            “That’s the dress Maddy thought would fit me,” Jade said, meaning the sprigged calico I had on. “It was about a mile too big, though.” It was a little big on me, but it still looked good.

            “I thought that black dress would be too small, but it was perfect,” Maddy added, meaning the lovely black dress Jade had on. “You and Jade are about the same size, by the way. You should be able to wear any standard-size Hitty outfits without a problem. Here, let me see if this is long enough.” She held up the coral strand.

            And that was how it began....

 ~*~

Before I go too much further, let me introduce you to some of the dolls I share my house (and person) with:

This is my Raikes sister, Hitty Ramona, looking through our person's fabric stash for a potential new dress:

Here's Shel (his full name is Sheldon, but we call him Shel) and Hitty Jade, also checking out some fat quarters. Shel was adapted from a Patti Medaris Culea pattern. My person has been making dolls for about six years now. Jade is one of Gail Wilson's adorable girls. Like most GW girls, she's rather shy and very sweet. So is Shel, for that matter, but he's also kind of a dork sometimes. We love him for it, though.

This is me (top of my head, anyway,) Jade and John-John, Shel's significant other, catching up on some reading. Maddy told him not to lose her place in the Stephen Donaldson book. I think John-John was reading "Machinery of Joy" to us. (Yes, we can read, but he has the most adorable British accent, so we made him read it to us...)

Here's John-John and Shel sharing a moment waiting for the printer to finish printing. John-John's little Bilbo Baggins doll came from Etsy. He shares his birthday with Bilbo and Frodo - September 22nd.

This is my cousin Hitty Emmaline and our person's degu, Zaphod. Emmaline is made of basswood and pegged like the original Hitty. She came to us from her Grandma's farm in Missouri. I think she's still getting used to us. She lucked out and arrived the day before we got socked in by the backlash from Winter Storm Saturn.

This is me on the left and my sister Hitty Valentine on the right, modeling two dresses our person made for us. Valentine was named for a beautiful Ingeborg Tinius Hitty that she saw (and wanted) on eBay who got bid out of her reach. It wasn't all bad, though, because that's what inspired her to try to make me and my cloth sisters.

And last picture for today (but nor least!) is my newest sister, Hitty Poppy. Her lovely dress came from Babes in Wood (bluegriffithstudio) on eBay. Poppy was named after one of my person's favorite flowers and after Gene Tirney's character in The Shanghai Gesture. We all love film noir.


That's me and some of my friends and family. More to follow....