End of the year - a summary and looking forward

The year is always over a lot sooner than I think. Leaving me feeling like I didn't achieve all my goals or hopes, so I make myself look back. See what I have really achieved...

Last year I realized I made an average of two dolls a month. So I counted. And was shocked! Not even two a month? I thought I had at least managed that! 

Then I realized the year doesn't have 24 months ;) So i don't need to count to 48 to have made two per month. And I forgot the 4 tiny dolls in the collage (sorry Mellie, Liselotte, Macy and Lucinda!). So I guess I can be proud. To be honest I would have been just as proud had there been less. Seeing them all together, finding their pics has also made me remember each one again. Their very own character and story, how they came into being. How they were there already when I rolled the head or really revealed themselves only when i chose the hair right at the end. How I worried about picking the right clothes for one or fell even harder in love with the other after choosing the "right" clothes for her.

It has been a wonderful year full of support and me happily making dolls knowing they will find a home. It is very special to be able to trust on that. I remember the early days when I never knew when a doll would sell, if at all. I feel quite spoiled and know I am very lucky to be where I am right now. Thank you all for making it possible <3

It looks like Albie will be the first doll of 2015. Closely followed by two wish list dolls that I will start after the holidays...

So with that Albie and I wish you a happy holiday! See you again in 2015!

Thekla Amité - New Beginnings

So after we had run away we laid low for a while but then decided it was time to go and find our parents. So we went to the train station. We all had a little bit of pocked money that our parents had given us and that Lady Davenport had never found, so we thought we'd just take the train. 

At the train station Merry suddenly pulled on my arm and pointed to a newspaper stand with a horrified expression. There were pictures of us on the front page! Noortje went and bought one and brought it back to us. We were devastated when we read that there had been a horrible train accident with many injured and dead and that the authorities were asking for help finding those three girls who had run away before they had been able to get in touch with them and tell them that their parents had died and that they would be provided for by the state and a nice place in an orphanage was already reserved!

My world fell apart in that moment, but when I saw Merry I pulled myself together. She was the most sensitive of us and was crying horribly. So Noortje and I tried to comfort her while coming to grips what had happened and that our world would never be the same again...

I have no idea how long we were just hiding, forgetting to eat, losing sense of time. We finally decided that we would have to split up as people seemed to be looking for 3 girls together. We split the money we had and Noortje and Merry took off together because it was clear Merry needed assistance the most and Noortje was the best for the job. We decided to meet again later so noone would be alone for too long. The idea was for us to find a new future, a way we could imagine leading our lives. And that definitely didn't include an orphanage.

I decided a girl alone better hides in a big anonymous city and took off to London. I was scared by this big city but I loved how nobody wanted to be responsible so everyone pretended not to see me. I found the most perfect statue when I visited the St. Paul's Cathedral. A perfect angel that suggested to me that someone always does watch over us and one day we will find our way. I walked up the steps to the top of the Cathedral and was just awed by how big that city is. So many people, so many possibilities...

But most time I spent in the underground, where it's always warm, the air seems to be of another world, a hidden world that could just open up behind any bend of the lang gangways I walked down. Every station a different world, busy bustle during rush hour and on the touristy stop all the time...

When we met again and I left with Noortje to Amsterdam we did worry a bit about Merry, all by herself, she's just the kind of girl you really want to protect form the world but her sweetness and honesty always make other people want to help her as well. Her plan was to go back to the States for that time, closer to her home where she felt safer. Noortje and I in the meantime explored beautiful Amsterdam, had tea in the big park, just talked about our future and our past. One day we decided to take a boat tour and we met two women on the boat. They seemed really nice and we carefully started to tell a bit about our story. No idea who started. We told more and more when we realized the two were doll makers and good friends though they had just met for the first time (seems they had talked only over the computer before obviously). I could almost not believe it as they seemed to get along so well. And I realized how much I had missed a grown up to look after me, a safe place. 

Visiting a beautiful little space in the middle of Amsterdam. So quiet and safe in Wendy's arms

The two women said they would love to help us but they couldn't take both of us in. So we decided that Noortje could stay in beautiful Amsterdam with Wendy and I could go to Switzerland with Monika. They would then help us find a new family because really we still need looking after (even though we first pretended we didn't of course). We contacted Merry before we made a final decision and it was like fate or the angel I met in St. Paul's looking after us when Merry told us she had also found a nice woman who had offered to help her find a new home and that she too seemed trustworthy. Her name was Julie and she was a doll maker as well! Sometimes life has a funny way... Like throwing us three girls together, already bound by the name Amité that stands for friendship and then finding 3 doll makers to help us find a new home...

To two woman crazy about fabric this picture might look intriguing when it really is just weird

This friday if everything goes as planned will be when we find out where our new homes will be. I for one am very excited and I also know there is a band between Noortje, Merry and me that will always be there.


Read about Merry and Noortje here:

http://www.invitingplay.com/category/doll-making/
http://www.liefmonster.com/

Thekla Amité - Part 3

On the day of my parents' departure I wore my best dress. And I was very brave, didn't cry but behaved nicely. The two other girls looked nice, I thought we might really be great friends, we all seemed very different but somehow I knew we'd get along really well.

Mum and dad were quite sad. But we all knew it would not be for long. I could hear the sadness in my parents' voices and hugs. I turned away right after they left so they wouldn't see my tears. But I got a grip and waved and smiled after the train had departed. I hugged my bag closely. My bag that was almost like my collections of electric cable pieces. It just has some tiny bits and pieces in it that mean something. Not a proper collection but just little meaningful things. There's still room for much more though...

Back at Lady Davenport's we were led to a dark cold room where we were to stay. There were matresses on the floor. I decided it was only for a little while and I would easily get through some tough times as so far in life I had been so lucky. In a short time I'd see my parents again and all would be forgotten.

But I admit deep down I was very glad that two other girls were with me. The next day we realized that we were supposed to work for Lady Davenport, cleaning houses and she would get paid for our work. That wasn't what she had decided with our parents. During cleaning I did what I usually do. In my head I was a famous woman on T.V., showing people how to properly clean live on air. So I did every step especially well and commented in my head. Lady Davenport soon complained that I worked too slow though, so I commented in my head how to do it if it has to be cleaned as fast as possible. 

Soon we talked about how to escape before falling asleep. The great adventure. But even if we managed, how would our parents find us again? But in the end the others were right, we could worry about that after we got away...

Noortje seemed the most clear headed girl and I trusted her judgment right away. So we let her work out the plan, which was to take only the bare necessities (I took my bag and my nice dress that my parents had seen me last and my comfy clothes. And of course the scarf I knitted with the help of mum from some leftover yarns of hers), hid them under the cleaning things in our buckets and waited for Noortje's sign. She had figured out that Lady Davenport always naps at around the same time and had a good feeling for time. I never had any idea what time it was and had never owned a watch so I wasn't a lot of help. So in my head I was that girl waiting for a sign to escape while pretending to show others how to clean fast and nice...

The sign came, I played the role of the girl who runs away, escapes from the evil stepmother, not like in Grimm's tales where the poor heroine always waits to get rescued. I didn't want to be rescued by a prince anyway but find my parents again!

We ran forever, I felt so alive and so scared. But I would never admit to the scared part of course. Then we finally stopped and breathed...

To be continued...

Read about Merry Amité by Inviting Play here
And about Noortje Amité by LIEF monster here

Thekla - Part two

One day my dad came home, telling us exciting news about a big company that would start up and that he had been asked to be part of this project. He asked my mum and me what we thought. It would of course mean move, to quite a remote place of the world and that it was a big opportunity but that he would of course never go if we were not all in on it.

So we all slept on it, talked about it. My mum and I talked about it in private, asked for more details but in the end it came down to just deciding and embrace whatever we decided. We saw how exciting the prospect was for dad. I saw how much in love my parents still were and how that was probably the last chance to really go on a big adventure. The older i got, the more difficult it would be. Of course I wanted to stay, but I also wanted my parents to be happy. And really, a new place would maybe be the place where I would finally find real friends. Friends who would understand my collections, who also loved being outside, live in a different world all in our heads... So in the end we agreed.

One of the big disadvantages was that I'd have to stay behind when they left. At first. Because they wanted to go and first build something up so I'd have a nice place to come to and not chaos and uncertainty... I was to stay behind and live with Lady Davenport. She lived a bit further away and had agreed to take me on and look after me until my parents had settled in. My parents promised I would be looked after very well as they provided quite a lot of money to Lady Davenport so I wouldn't have to miss out on anything during that time and would maybe even be pampered quite a bit.

I went to the train station with my parents and said good-bye. I was very proud that I didn't cry because I knew my parents would worry about me enough as it was and I wanted them to be happy and proud of me! Lady Davenport was there at the train station and I would go back to her home right after. And I was surprised and also very excited to see two other girls who would also live with Lady Davenport at the same time. Their names to me gave me courage because they didn't sound too "normal" or average either, being called Merry and Noortje. But I didn't want to get my hopes up too much and was determined to behave extra normal so I wouldn't scare them off.

To be continued...

Thekla Amité - Memories

I actually don't remember too much. I mainly remember the scenes I saw in pictures that I have looked at again and again so a memory has now formed around them. I think I remember the appartment where I lived with my parents. How we didn't have much because they saved money to afford a house for us all one day. How my dad knew all about nature and history and science. Everything basically, how proud I was that he was my dad. And how everyone loved my mum, that she was truly beautiful. Not so that everyone would turn their heads but I remember a warmth radiating from within her, her eyes always smiling, her body just a bit soft in the right places, ideal for cuddling. Really we were almost too normal I guess looking back. Maybe that's why it all changed one day... 

And I remember going up to the building site every weekend, to see how our small house on the hill was built. To stand on the ground where my room would later be. To help choose the carpet even though I was too young to be trusted with a choice like that. But they went with my choice...

Seeing the bricks still, the skeleton of the house, running around it, later picking up all the little electric cord pieces. The cut offs, some yellow/green striped, some blue, some red. I was a great collector. I collected it all. But my collections are lost, only exist in my memory now and I'm not sure I can trust my memory always. I was sad moving up on the hill, leaving the busy apparment complex behind with all my friends and moving to a posh neighbourhood where we only just fit in. Our tiny house a bit further towards the woods, where the ground was cheaper.

After the move I heard people say I had changed, I kept to myself more. Well, I wasn't really welcomed. But i loved running around outside, rearranging my collections of electric cord cut offs, knowing they were the brothers and sisters of the cords now running through the walls in our house, bringing us light and comforts; or my stone collection, or the collection of tiny plastic animals my doctor had in this huge jar that he fetched every time I had been good at an appointment. He fetched it from high up, and it was so heavy, I always worried he'd drop it. then he took off the lid and I could choose one. Always one. And I always knew which one was still missing. But sometimes I took a second elefant or a third pink piggy, just because I could. It was all my choice. And my life was wonderful and perfect. I might sometimes have been lonely looking back after our move but I had the best parents...

Click here to read Noortje's story
Click here to read Merry's story

Luçie

Luçie claimed the suri alpaca weft that has been waiting for the right doll for quite a while. She's nowhere near ready but I just had to share her.
She will available through auction when she has her outfit ready...

Hope you love her as much as I do with her wild hair, big heart and unstoppable curiosity

AMSTERDAM!!!!

I had a wonderful time in Amsterdam with Wendy of LIEF monster.

Things I learned:

- some people are just as wonderful IRL as they are online

- Amsterdam is one of the greatest places I've ever been to

- every doll maker has their own way of doing things and just because you use the other person's pattern doesn't mean the doll will then get those wonderful elegant feet (in my case clumsy duck feet is what i got - but i love them), but you can learn a lot but also know that there is a reason the other maker does it different to you (in my case, I don't like fiddly ;))...

Amsterdam became one of my favourite city in no time at all

Lots of window shopping

Visiting a doll maker at her work place

In some way it's mostly about dolls. And fun. And friendship

Some art. And fabric.

And always working on dolls. In our heads or with our hands. Noortje in the making

Amsterdam cafés are perfect for doll making. Also Wendy's mobile doll making kit in a box.

And trying to make a doll according to Wendy's instructions.

Crow was one of my travel companions. Also on the boat. The best place
to make a doll is definitely a boat.

And lots of boat rides.

Yes, doll makers are a bit mad and are not afraid to show it.
The couple in the back are definitely not doll makers, because doll makers have fun ;)

I seem to not have followed Wendy's instructions very well :
Left is one of her elegant legs. Right is the same pattern but stuffed by me ;)

Hoping to be back soon.

Stina - the first star sign doll

Stina is really called Christina but hardly anyone knows ;)

She is the first of my wish list dolls and turned out a star sign no one asked for specifically. So first in line is the person who asked for a similar sign - if she passes Stina will become available.

Stina is quite stubborn (she started out one star sign but it turned out that was her ascending sign and pretty soon it was obvious that someone else was shining through), active and powerful. She is more a girl of action than words so here she is (top by wildmarigold):

Theodora

Theodora finally has all her clothes. They might be a bit mismatched but that is what happens when you let a girl choose her own clothes. She just chose all her favourite pieces, her almost too small top, her favourite dungarees and yes, she also likes girly things (at least when it comes to boots).

Theo will soon travel to her new mum and be reunited with her beloved sister...

Smilla - a wish list doll

Smilla is almost ready. She has been in the works for quite a while and her way was not always straight forward but always with a clear goal, a clear idea of who she was, complaining I sometimes didn't listen enough.

Thankfully my customer bore with me and gave me a lot of freedom in creating her. Now she will need boots and then will finally go to live with her new family where I hope she will fit in wonderfully...

She is not a girl of many words but of determined actions <3

So here she is!

The starsign dolls

UPDATE: IT SEEMS THE FORM BELOW WENT OVER QUOTA (I HAD NO IDEA THIS COULD HAPPEN AND IT LOOKS LIKE I CAN'T FIX IT EASILY AS I ALREADY HAVE DONE WHAT "THEY" SUGGEST AS SOLUTION). SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE PLEASE SEND ME AN E-MAIL TO vergissmeinnichtKuss@gmx.ch WITH THE SAME CONTENT AS IS ASKED IN THE FORM.
I'M VERY SORRY ABOUT THAT :(

I always was fascinated by star signs. Not that I believe in them necessarily but I always thought it was funny how often you can tell a person's star sign, no matter how much I tried to tell myself it had to be humbug ;)

Anyway, I've been pondering this question ever since I started reading up on them a bit again (I go through phases when I can just lose myself in a subject only to move on to the next a month later and completely deny everything - and coming back to it a few years later...). I realized that some dolls I make have a clear star sign to me that is a big part of their personality.

So I decided to from time to time make a "star sign" doll. Maybe planned, maybe just because the doll suddenly reveals their sign to me. I cannot promise to make one for each sign as I don't think I can force that matter. But when I do I will first offer that doll to a person on a special "star sign list". They can then of course pass, as always, or buy the doll if they feel the connection ;)

So to get on the list I will need your name, e-mail, your own star sign and the star sign you would wish for in a doll and, very important: the reason why you like that sign. What aspect you like about it. So maybe you will first have to read up on star signs again or just think of people you like, check their birthday and then read on that sign and see which aspect of it makes you love that person...

There is no hurry, this list will be ongoing, of the people interested in the same sign I will offer to the person who has first submitted a "good" reason though to avoid offering to several at once and getting more than person wanting the doll.

I hope I got across what I mean ;)

P.S.: Yes, I might be working on a doll right now who will not be anything else than one special star sign.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY FILL OUT THE FORM ONCE WITH ONE STAR SIGN WISH! I KNOW EVERYONE LIKES MORE THAN ONE SIGN (AT LEAST I LIKE TO THINK THAT ;))

The little papery things...

Everyone who knows me knows how I love paper, little things, "rubbish" as others call it. I can't resist ordering stickers, cards, postcards, etc. 

Because I want them, so I think others must as well. What to do with them is another thing. I still have stationnary that i purchased as a teenager that I vowed I would not just use on ANYTHING. So I still have it - and now will never use it because let's face it, now it's probably the most embarrassing thing. But I used to dream about what I could do with it, who I would write to. How my family would move away and all my friends would miss me so much and I would then write them on extra special stationnary with matching envelopes. I would choose one set for each friend and it would mean so much...

Well, when I did leave my village for the first time I was 18 and went away as an au pair for a year. I dyed my hair black, only wore black, so no, I did not take the stationnary with the handpainted kittens with me to write to my friends...

But anyway. Now I have the first good reason after being an unreasonable dreamer of a teenager to order things like that again, personalized even and what can I say ;)

I just got fridge magnets. I spent half a day searching where I could get them, finally found a strange place with a weird little editing software to order them from. And then had to rush a bit before my kids became too cranky. So they are not perfect but I love them so. I have one of each on my fridge now and they do make me happy.

So if you are a bit like me and would like one for your fridge please write me an e-mail to vergissmeinnichtKuss@gmx.ch, put either "bum" or "Akasha" in the subject line (meaning which one you'd prefer) and your postal address in the e-mail. I will send some off next week (Friday is the Swiss national day so no open post office and I don't want to put the wrong postage on them)...

Oh, and sorry about the bad pics, it's evening here on a rainy day but I still couldn't wait until tomorrow ;)