In which....Angels and Demons and Time Ladies....

"Mom! What do you think? Not with these boots, obviously, but Uncle Crowley helped me pick it out!"

"I like it." Maddy nodded approvingly.

Maddy's been here just over four years, but this is the first time we've met Celine, her daughter, who's been attending St. Luke's University in London. Why not the Academy on Gallifrey, you ask? Well, there is the slight problem of Celine's parentage. Apparently if you're not fully Gallifreyian, you can't attend. And the thing is.....










"Dear, I really don't think that's appropriate for a proper young cherub.  It's quite revealing."

"Dad!" Celine looked around. "For one thing, it's not revealing. For another thing, I'm twenty-two. I'm hardly a cherub anymore."

"You're practically a baby. And I really don't think you should go out dressed like that. It's almost as scandalous as the outfits your mother wears. Why, not so long ago she would have been traipsing about in her undergarments..."

"Angel, knock it off. It's the twenty-first century."

Aziraphale looked around. "I can't believe you picked that sort of getup out for her. She's a cherub!"



















"She's twenty-two. She's an angel. And there's nothing wrong with it!"

"Crowley, dear, I know you were just trying to be nice..."

"Shut it, angel! I'm a demon. I'm not NICE!" I should point out that this time, Crowley was just trying to get Aziraphale in a position where he could kiss him to shut him up.

You rarely see an angelic facepalm in the wild, but there you go. "Dad, Uncle Crowley, you're both embarrassing. And I'm also wearing it." She was actually trying not to laugh. My person was, too, even though Crowley slamming Aziraphale up against her sewing machine had caused her to unthread her needle.

















"You're being rather bold for someone within kissing distance, dear..."

"You'll see how bold I can be, angel...."

























"Am I interrupting something?"



















~*~

I need to explain.

First off, Aziraphale (it's pronounced a-ZEER-a-fell) is an angel. Well, technically, a Principality, but let's go with angel for now. You might know him as the Angel of the Eastern Gate (which implies that there were other gates, although he says this wasn't the case) from the Garden of Eden. Or the one with the bookshop who helped stop the Apocalypse awhile back. Either way, he and his demon boyfriend Crowley sort of got "discorporated," as they put it, and ended up here with the rest of my person's crew, probably because of Maddy. You see, Maddy, as it turns out, had her own little secret. She was, for reasons she won't go into, forced to live on Earth as a human for quite some time. Along the way, she got married, which was a disaster, and ended up pregnant with a daughter about the time her husband left her. When she ended up incapacitated following an emergency C-Section, Aziraphale signed Celine's birth certificate - as Azira Fell. He and Crowley also named her - Celine Elizabeth Ashteroth Madrigal Jantonia Azira Baker-Fell. I think "Celine" was the only bit Maddy intended to use. I also have a feeling she wasn't too happy when she found out the true enormity of it. All of this was well and good until Maddy's ex showed up four years later and tried to take Celine away. The court ordered a DNA test since this rare book dealer from Soho was also claiming to be the baby's father. Aziraphale said he was trying to miracle the results of the DNA test, which I guess he kind of did, more or less. Except what he miracled was actually Celine's DNA. Remember how she was half-human and half- Gallfreyian? Well, now she's half-angel/Principality/whatever Aziraphale is and half-Gallfreyian. Yeah, he should have gotten in trouble for it, but somehow didn't.

And of course, there's also Crowley. So - apparently he's the Serpent who started all the trouble in the Garden. Except he really was as surprised as everyone else when all that happened. And he actually is really nice for a demon. He smuggled a whole bunch of kids aboard Noah's Ark on the theory that he was being evil and disobeying God by saving them, but he didn't have time to go back and get the unicorn that ran off. According to Aziraphale, he also didn't know why they needed two of them, which left Aziraphale having to explain the proverbial birds and bees to him afterwards. He still says he wishes he'd gotten the unicorn back. Maddy's gone back several times to try to find a few pairs, but hasn't had any luck so far.

He's also convinced that he can run my person's sewing machine, since the Scottish guy who played him on TV once said that driving the (gorgeous!) 1926 Bentley was like driving a sewing machine. Since that remark was in response to a mishap that broke the passenger door on-set, my person is understandably reluctant to let him near her Singer.

Aziraphale can be fussy and a little bitchy from time to time, but he's also really sweet. He had to raid the Pukifee clothing stash for sort of kind of anything that fit, although my person has promised to try to make him something like he usually wears. Although the turtleneck is really cute on him.

 Celine really is quite young for either an angel or a Time Lady. Neither she, Maddy or Aziraphale are entirely sure of what abilities she's inherited yet.
















Notes: Aziraphale is a Pukifee Jude and Crowley is a Pukifee Luna, And if you haven't checked out "Good Omens" (it's on DVD and Amazon Prime) yet, you're missing something really fun.

In which we share yet more random photos....

                                                                      Maddy: No. Absolutely not....

Me: You're no fun. What if I put it on autopilot?

Maddy: Cars don't have autopilot.

Me: Then what does the switch behind me do?

Maddy: That's cruise control. It's not the same thing as autopilot....

This is the actual first picture of me that Maddy ever took on the day she made me - February 5. 2013. You can still see the purple air marker on my nose. My hair was totally different, too - and a lot shorter.

Is it just me, or does that dress make me look fat?
(And yes, that plant in the terrarium behind me is like, totally dead. Maddy just didn't want to admit it. I'm not sure what they are, but she's killed three of them. Even green thumbs have off days.)




Me and Valentine, proving that even dolls have really bad hair days. The only pink dress around the house at the time was Ramona's, and I didn't want to take it.

Me, Jade, Ramona and Val showing off some early dresses Maddy made. She's gotten a lot better at it since she made these, although the one Val has on came out lovely. (I don't think the others are bad, but Maddy does. And that darn leather-look lame jacket I have on in the picture faded all over everything....)

 Hitty Catherine, me, Emmaline and Ramona. This was Emmaline's first full day as a Hudson Hitty. At this point we were totally socked in by the backlash from Winter Storm Saturn. Emmie arrived just in time. Otherwise, she would probably have been stuck at the post office over the weekend. (Maddy has a box, so she has to fetch the mail herself.)












Me in the butterfly dress that I can't find right now. I'd talked John-John into putting a pink streak in my hair. I should point out that Maddy needle-felted the penguins herself. She loves penguins. Especially emperors. And especially the little baby emperors. She says they're the cutest baby animals on the planet. I think she may be right. (And no, the big penguin is an Adele, not an emperor....)

Me and Val wearing dresses Maddy made. This is after the first redo of my hair. These dresses came out really well.













My sundress with the circle skirt....

One of the pictures Maddy took for the first post of my blog. My hair kept blending into the background, so she put her CD of Midnight To Midnight behind me, because it was white.

I know I get a little obsessive about music, but I'm like Maddy - I live for it. She told me she made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to start a band back in the 80s, but finally settled for writing stories about bands instead - first fanfiction and later, her own stories.

One of Maddy's "Christmas" cacti, blooming in April.

John-John and Shel, getting cozy amid the daffodils. They're two of the sweetest dolls any Hitty could ever hope to share a home with.












Okay, this has nothing to do with me, but it's a really awesome shot. I think Maddy took it where she used to work.

I really wish Maddy wouldn't get an iced coffee drink-thingy when we're out. It sort of takes up all the Hitty space...

"If you think I'm magical
cause roses bloom with my touch
Well, magic's just not practical
I think you think too much...."

In which we find a old familiar book....

Maddy found a 1931 edition of Hitty, Her First Hundred Years on eBay. She said it was the same price as the new hardcover edition she bought awhile back.

It had been a birthday present for some little girl whose birthday was only a month after our ancestor Hitty's. Maddy thinks her name was Francis, but isn't sure.

"I used to ask for books when I was little," Maddy said. "That's why I have so many Nancy Drew books still." She still has a bunch of Nancy Drew and Three Investigators books from the seventies. I keep meaning to read some of them.

"Hey, this one has the color plates!" I hadn't seen those before. "Make me a skirt like that?"

"Maybe something like that." Maddy was looking longingly at the jasmine flowers. Her last Orleans Jasmine succumbed to an infestation of spider mites over the winter despite her best efforts.

I think Maddy's going to make me a dress kind of like this one.

I may not be mountain ash, but I like being one of the Hitty girls. It's a pretty awesome tradition to be part of....

Wait. Did I just call myself "traditional?" Eek....

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....