Heartfelt Dolls
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    • Heartfelt Dolls: Fool's Errand or Heroine's Journey
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    • Igniting creativity with Heartfelt dolls
    • Heartfelt doll-making: a healing experience
    • Heartfelt Dolls: the memory keepers
    • Heartfelt Dolls on life and death
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    • Heartfelt Dolls: seeking a definition
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  • Dolls
    • Heartfelt Dolls: companions for the journey
    • The Quotidian Doll: an introduction >
      • The Quotidian Doll Blog: introducing a Heartfelt-doll-a-day
    • Diaspora: the 101 dolls project
    • Heartfelt Dolls willing to leave home (for sale) >
      • Matariki
      • Through A Glass Darkly
      • Stitch Yourself a Boyfriend
      • Pink Walkers
      • Steampunk Dolls
      • Selfies
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • An English Country Garden
      • Hobo Chic
      • The Fisherman
      • I Shall Wear Purple
      • Enraged Woman Riding a Black and White Dog Writing Wrongs
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Old Woman in a Shoe
      • Soul Sisters
      • The Smiles Project
      • BFF
      • Blue Belles
      • Shades of Gray
      • Angels with attitude
      • Angels of gold
      • Angels
      • 'Ladies a plate'
      • Cosy up with a bit of skirt
      • Ice Palace
      • Troupe de verde
      • Animal Antics
      • Male dolls
      • Carnivale: stiltwalking dolls
      • Calendar Girls
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      • Oh Cliche
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      • Double Trouble
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    • Heartfelt Fundraisers >
      • Volunteer Fire Fighters
      • Memory keepers
      • Shades of Gray >
        • Shades of Gray Duets
        • Shades of Gray Men
      • Calendar Girls
      • Pink Walkers
      • Bandanna Chic
      • Selfies
    • Heartfelt Companions: sharing my journey with you >
      • One-of-a-kind heartfelt dolls >
        • Julie Has Flown North For The Summer
        • Hot Flash!
        • Whoops!
        • Medusa
        • The Bag Lady
        • Purple people eater
        • Social Climber
        • Place
        • Fertility Fairy
        • Smile
        • Blue Baths Belle
        • An Artist's Book
        • Pink Lady
        • Beloved
      • Heartfelt dolls in a series >
        • The Rainbow Connection
        • What's in a cup?
        • The Apple
        • Hi-Cut Internet Dolls
        • Godde Dolls
        • Shrines
        • The Rites of Autumn
        • Bibliophile
        • Seeing the world through different eyes
        • Akuba: encouraging change
        • It takes a village
        • Umbrella and Umbrage
        • A cautionary tale ...
    • Heartfelt Process, Heartfelt Transformation >
      • Matron Saints
      • Creative Guardians
      • The Nest
      • Freeing the caged heart: the poets and the dollmaker
      • The Unemployment Blues
      • The Bare Necessities
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • The Alchemy of Change
      • Sticks and stones
      • Stitch yourself a boyfriend
      • Inner Child
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Bindings
      • Euphrosyne: reclaiming joy >
        • Freeing the caged heart: poetry to lift your spirits
        • The Smiles Project
        • Dancing Feet
        • Irrepressible
        • Greening: a lenten journey
        • Wild Women Like to Dance
        • I Am Woman
        • Harakeke flowers
        • Circle of friends, vessel of hope
        • Dance
        • Spirit seekers, spirit guides
      • The Great Divide: one woman's experience of divorce >
        • Numb
        • Bound
        • Burlap and lace
        • Naked
        • Reclaim
        • Bitch
        • The Devil on my back
        • Burdened
        • God alone is enough
        • Simple heart
        • Broken dreams
        • Will the real me please stand up?
        • The Classifieds
        • Sing-a-song
        • Dark nights >
          • You are dying ...
          • Beast of burden
          • Wounded healer, broken heart
          • A moment of conversion
          • Unbuilding
          • Peace
          • Transform me
          • A clean heart
          • Unwrapped
          • Doormat
          • The weight of expectation
          • Promise
          • A new me
          • The fabric of my life
          • Struggle
          • Hanging
        • Dance me To The End of Love
      • Black Dog: one woman's experience with depression >
        • The Anti-depressants
        • Some days
        • What I wish you knew about depression
    • Heartfeltfelt Emotion >
      • Gold Angels: coping with tragedy
      • Emotions: a challenge
      • Lamentation
      • Heartfelt Anger >
        • Anger Management with Dammit Dolls
        • Dammit!
    • Heartfelt Celebration! >
      • I Shall Wear Purple!
      • Birthday dolls
      • Birthday cards
      • Julie's 21st
      • Celebrate my femininity!
      • Troupe de verde
    • Heartfelt Graffiti
    • Heartfelt Care >
      • Ageing >
        • I Shall Wear Purple
        • The Seven Ages Of Woman
      • For the children
      • Living with dementia
      • Say 'NO' to family violence >
        • You don't have to take it like I did
        • Are you the one?
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        • Seduced By The Wild
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        • Hello Dollies: an article
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      • Girl Reclining on a Sofa
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      • Mother's Little Helper
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      • Delight in a cup
      • Heartfelt Companion
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      • Colour Blind
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      • Wrapping as an art form
      • Wild Women Like To Dance
    • Heartfelt vestis >
      • What a wonderful world!
      • A thanksgiving vest
      • Dalmatics
      • In Praise
    • Labyrinth >
      • Shell labyrinth
      • Breast Labyrinth
      • Labyrinth scroll
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      • Hopi labyrinth
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      • Journey
    • ANZAC: a tribute >
      • ANZAC Quilt
      • Rawene Boys
      • ANZAC jacket
  • Heartfelt prayer
    • Heartfelt crocheted rosaries
    • Heartfelt Retreat >
      • An Advent Retreat in Daily Life
      • Our daily medicine: a 28 day reflection on living and dying
      • Hidden in Plain View: a retreat in daily life
      • 24 hours: a retreat reflecting on the passion of Jesus
      • Stations of the light
    • Heartfelt waiting: reflections on the season of Advent >
      • Matron Saints of Un-named Women
      • Advent is a vessel
      • Advent is a pilgrimage
      • Advent remembers we are all related.
      • Advent is creative
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      • Advent is a door
      • Advent: a sacred space
    • Stations of the Cross >
      • Christchurch Stations of the Cross
      • 24 Hours
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    • Heartfelt Season: reflecting on the season of Lent >
      • A Lenten Walk
      • Lenten Prayer Flags
    • Heartfelt Hallelujah: reflections on the season of Easter >
      • Voices on the Via Lucis
    • Prayers from the Ark >
      • The Mouse
      • The Spider
      • The Dog
      • The Elephant
      • The Lizard
      • The Lamb
      • The Peacock
      • The Giraffe
      • The Toad
      • The Parrot
      • The Mother Hen
      • The Goldfish
      • The Cat
      • The Lion
    • Heartfelt Belief
    • Heartfelt Reflection >
      • These Parables Blow Me Apart!
      • A Single Thread
      • Every moment is gift
      • Harvest Wheat
      • Stepping out in faith
      • Harvest Heart
      • Dream catcher
      • The Sewing Basket
    • Sacred Story >
      • The Road to Emmaus
      • The Loaves and the Fishes
    • Listening To Winter
    • Genesis
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      • Joy on a String
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      • Rites of Passage
      • Sowing and Reaping
      • Hidden In Plain View
      • An Emmaus Journey
      • God and Dog
      • Dear Julie
      • An Intentional Walk
      • The Widow's Might
      • Does God Exist?
      • The Sewing Basket
      • Advent: A Sacred Space
      • A Secular Liturgy
      • Your Call
      • Dance me To The End Of Love
  • "100 day" projects
  • Prayer flag project
    • Blessings on the wind: a year of blessings >
      • April blessings
      • March blessings
      • February blessings
      • January blessings
      • December blessings
      • November blessings
      • October blessings
      • September blessings
      • August blessings
      • July blessings
      • June blessings
      • May Blessings
      • April Blessings
      • March Blessings
    • Prayer flag blog
  • Gratitude Flowers

BIRTHDAY DOLLS

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I read a fascinating article about a woman who made a doll each year on her birthday.
With each doll, she included a booklet highlighting the events of the past year.
I LOVED this idea.
So on my 50th birthday, I, too, began making a doll to celebrate.
I set myself some parameters:
started and finished on the day,
and no use of a pre-made pattern.
(However, I do not chronicle my year ... maybe sometime!)


50

Five decades. A half century. Mid-life.

51

Some days ... Oh cliche!

Some days I feel like I have been run over by a truck ... oh cliche!
Some days I feel like the stuffing has been kicked out of me ... oh cliche!
Some days my head feels as if it is full of cotton wool ... oh cliche!
Some days my life feels as flat as a pancake ... oh cliche!
Some days I am all knotted up ... oh cliche!
Some days are such bad hair days ... oh cliche!

But today is like no other day ...
today is the first day of the rest of my life ... oh cliche!

52

Socker-punched!

53

Dancing with the two halves of life

54

I have the power...

55

I am woman. Hear me shout!

56

A comfortable fit

57

Freeing the caged heart!

58
Will I ever find the shoe that fits?

59
The Fairy Godmother - giver of blessings

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Why do I remember birthdays?
It is a time to celebrate the joy of life -
this one, precious life.
My birth is my beginning.

Someone once wrote that it is a 'window to the chance of a life-time";

the chance to fulfil my unique mission (or missions) in life.
So my birthday is an opportunity to re-think my life -
where have I been,
where do I want to go?


This day provides a holy pause -
a moment to contemplate my birth,
a time to recall new beginnings.

But mostly I feel my birthday is a day of gratitude,
deep, heartfelt gratitude.
I celebrate the day of my birth thankful for all those
who have enabled me, empowered me, encouraged me,
grieved with me, danced with me,

worked and created
alongside me,
and those who have loved me, still love me, and will continue to love me.
Knowing I am loved enables me to be the best person I can be.
Thank you.


60
Where the wild women are!

My adorable daughter gave me a book
"Where the Wild Mothers are",
a spoof on "Where the Wild Things Are".
I love it
and revisit it often.
​The doll reflects the triumphant 'coming-of-age' of the mother!

61
Letting go

62

62 was inspired by a visit to 'A Private View',
an exhibition by Fleur Wickes.
It was a profound, intimate experience.
Her bed was casually draped
with a damask linen bedspread.
So I used a scrap of very worn damask linen
to create 62.
She has realised that when we acknowledge
our inner beauty,
we develop an attentive and grateful heart.

Fleur had created several word-paintings,
one of which she put on her card.

It reads,
"it's beautiful here
in this small room,
in this small own,
in this small country
at the edge of the world."

Picture

63

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63

This year,
I broke all my own rules!
I followed a pattern (most of the time).
I created the doll a month late.
I made her over a couple of days.

But the end result reflects my struggles,
my need to affirm myself,
my desire to find where I belong,
an ache for simplicity.

She is created from a 1981 Simplicity pattern
I first used to create a Moon Baby for my daughter,
more than 30 years ago.
The materials are the scraps remaining
after making floral bouquets for my son's wedding.

"And the Moon
said to me -
My darling, you
do not have to
be whole in
order to shine."

64

Picture
64

A birthday celebrated
during a 49 day national lockdown
to eliminate Covid 19
from Aotearoa New Zealand.

I lived in a 'bubble'.
Groceries were delivered to me.
No gatherings.

I had watched with wry amusement
at the panic buying of toilet paper.
So I created a figure with her skirt
shaped over a roll of toilet paper.
Her bodice knitted with inflexible wire.
Her smile intact.
All inside a bell jar, a 'bubble'.

Around the base is a quote from the Cheshire Cat,
"You may have noticed,
I'm not all there myself."

65

A birthday milestone ...
65 ...
the year I am able to get superannuation!!!

I chose this black velvet with an embossed rose pattern
because it a beloved piece of fabric.
Black is not a negative colour for me.
Instead it speaks of moonlight,
quiet,
the haunting call of the ruru (morepork),
of night's invitation to renew, refresh, be reborn.
visit birthday cards
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