Queen and Duchess.

Bowls of oats, drizzled with honey and lots of crunched almonds. A bit of milk and a spoon of sugar. That's what these two had for breakfast today.

Amanda and Aoki, playing. By Fig and Me.

Setting aside all the other toys I had atop a vintage desk in my studio, Amanda dressed herself with what she considers her fancy dress. "Oh, but it's real lovely. It even has a diamond on it (a button!). I'm gonna' wear this with my favourite pink socks, the ones with tiny dots."

The fate was cast. Amanda, on the war path. To make Aoki behave as the Duchess, Countess, or any other royal position other than the princess. I wonder why she never lets her be the princess?.

Amanda wearing her jersey and tulle dress. By Fig and Me.

Aoki and her pretty wool crochet shoes with wool felt beads as buttons. By Fig and Me.

Now, of course Aoki perseveres. Tries desperately to convince her she wouldn't be so bad as the princess. She would, after all, behave as one and obey every wish and command of the Queen. To no avail obviously.

She has been stuck playing Duchess Bubblegum all week. The poor thing.

Aoki, a custom natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Little Amanda, a custom natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me.

Dolls at play, by Fig and Me.

Amanda recruited the services of our pink linen fox. A bygone Christmas present made by me for my little girls. Apparently, said fox was the housekeeper and she had to stay close by to serve them tea and cakes and all sorts of treats. No treacle.

I asked Amanda what was on the agenda for later that day, she answered they were going to make paper lanterns and go on a procession through town. Probably singing. And perhaps building a cave to hibernate under the sewing room table. Good times.

Aoki, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me. 

Amanda, a natural fiber art doll by Fig and Me. 

Crowns and trinkets aside, I am making a lot of progress on these two little girls. Yesterday we put the last finishing touches on their pyjamas (so cute!) made them both shoes, although Amanda did not want to wear hers today. Aoki has one extra summer outfit, while Amanda has a lovely Fall outfit. The one that actually inspired the whole thing. 

I left this specific outfit for last. It isn't so much a reproduction of what little human Amanda wore at that age, but it has the same vibe and some of the same colours. As usual, even though the dolls are inspired by their human counterparts, they do have their very own personality and one has to acquiesce to that and let them speak their own language.

Amanda and Aoki's mother must truly be livid with me by now. But she also knows me well, I can't help myself when it comes to dressing and playing with the dolls. She also knows this is a process I truly enjoy and it can't be rushed. I made Amanda a sweater and she didn't even like it, so I had to make her a winter cape. Which she adores by the way. 

More photos on them soon. I have to go and see that Amanda doesn't want to play hair-dresser and attempts to cut Aoki's hair one more time. The nerve of that child.

Woodland doll ears for everybody…and some new wands.

A quick announcement to let you know I have been up to no good, and so has the resident woodworker. Read on.

Aoki wearing a cute set of cat ears! by Fig and Me. (doll ears available for purchase on my BigCartel store).

A week or so ago, when Pia arrived in her new home, all resident dolls started requesting to borrow her bear ears. Since Pia is such a well-mannered child she obviously agreed and let everybody used her most favourite set of ears. 

However, I know how little dolls get cross when they have to share their stuff all the time, and since her Mom asked me to make a few more ears for the other dolls, I got busy cutting, pinning, sewing and giggling in the studio. 

The result is a few sets of ears for your dolls. You can find them in my SHOP. 

Fox ears for your lovely doll. via Fig and Me. 

A sweet set of alpaca/mohair bear ears for your handmade doll, via Fig and Me. 

And of course, deer ears with antlers too. Via Fig and Me. 

Now all these sweet ears are hand-sewn to barrettes so you can place them on your doll's head in whichever way you like. They all measure roughly 1,5" to 2,5" in length so I recommend them for smaller dolls. They are modelled by Aoki (a 15" Little Fig) and Rayne (an 18" Petite Fig). They might look just too small on your figlettes because they have larger heads. 

If you have visited the shop by now, you will see that there are also a few Wool Wands available for purchase. My talented husband decided to make just one more batch in this size before diving deep into creating a smaller wand for stuffing tiny dolls. So if you are looking for one, now is your chance to get one. 

This time he chose ash, cherry, curly maple and walnut and accented them with yellow and purple heart. As usual, these are just not helpful tools but they are truly so beautiful and created with so much care. I do hope you get one (and I won't lie, I am salivating at the thought of smaller wands for my tiny dolls too!). 

So that's it my dear friends (or should I have said 'deer'?)..hehe. We will be traveling north to mail Blair and Mackenzie, as well as any wands purchased and woodland ears. I shall be back early next week with the first instalment (so much to show!) of Aoki and Amanda's magical wardrobe, and show her mother and all of you, the shenanigans these two get up to.

Til then, I wish you a lovely weekend. Stitchy Notes goes out this Sunday and it's a good one!.