Every once in a while I get a custom doll order that gets me even more excited than usual.

When a mom contacted me about making Laura and Mary Ingalls dolls for her little sweetie's birthday, I couldn't wait to get started! As a little girl, I loved the show Little House on the Prairie, and even more close to my heart are the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I started with red calico and brown braids for Laura and blue calico and blonde braids for Mary.

Another essential piece was going to be the bonnets. I made these from some really pretty Liberty of London-esque vintage cloth napkins.

I modified the bonnet from a vintage Holly Hobbie doll pattern to fit these dolls. Isn't this sweet?

The dolls also needed some little white pinafore aprons over their prairie dresses, and then faces painted. Laura with violet eyes and Mary with soft blue.

Here they are completed and in their bonnets.

And here they are in their special winter cloaks, a sweet extra my brilliant customer added on.

I enjoyed this project so much and was so inspired by it that I've decided to reread the Little House books this summer, starting with this one:

If you are interested in a custom made doll of your favorite book character, click here for doll options, and here for costume and outfit extras.

I've been so busy filling orders that I feel like an elf! It's so fun having a hand in making Christmas wishes come true. Here are some recent custom orders.

Happy Holidays!

This summer is almost half over, but it has already been beautiful and rich with tiny joys. (Minus the lost of our sweet doggie Skully to old age and a horrible flu/cold/hacking cough I just can't shake.) But let me focus on the many positives.

How is your summer going? Are you enjoying heavenly weather where you are as we are here in Boise? Any fun summer projects you've accomplished? Let me know in the comments below!

One of my favorite places on earth is in my little studio. It's where I create all of my handmade cloth dolls, stuffed animals, and develop my PDF patterns. I work in a spare room of my house, and it is packed to the gills. It is seldom neat as a pin, but usually at least partly tidy.

I usually have company, and my company usually brings his toys.

Things get a little stacked up sometimes. It's hard to have room for all of my inventory, ongoing and current projects, fabric, stuffing, packing supplies and everything else in a ten by ten area! But I shoe-horn it all in somehow.

I am seldom without tunes of some kind (okay, I admit to an inordinate amount of Journey) and I often stare out the window at the trees in my yard when I take a tea break.

Thanks for stopping by the Hen and Chick Studio for a visit!

Come back soon!

This fox design is truly my pride and joy. I first designed him about two years ago. And though I've sold several, and have been featured in the Plush You! Art Show and the upcoming Stuffed Magazine with this fellow, he is very detailed and takes a fair amount of time to put together, making him a bit out of most stuffed animal shopper's price range. But he is so so fun and satisfying to make, so I decided to create a detailed, step by step tutorial/pattern and release him into the world for others to enjoy making!

I am so proud of the construction of his face, his elbows akimbo, his upturned tail, and his little tailored vest and collar, but I think I'm most proud of the way my son loves the fox I made for him. I had to make a new fox from start to finish for the pattern, because even though the pattern is tried and true, I needed to take photos of the creation at each point along the way. So I promised my son that the one I was making for the pattern was to be his very own, and I was so touched by how excited he was about that. Now that it's finished, he's been setting the fox on the couch beside him when he watches TV, on his headboard at bedtime. All of this with a kid who is used to him mom making him stuffed animals regularly! This is by far the most appreciative he's been of a mom-made toy.

I hope your kid feels the same when you make one for him or her!

Here's an example of a photo from the tutorial. Each step has at least one (and sometimes more) photo to guide you in the creation of your dapper fellow.

The pattern is available immediately via instant download! You simply print it out and you can begin your project right away.

I am currently finishing up a pattern for Fox's friend, Badger! And shortly after that I will begin to create the pattern for their friend Raccoon. And somewhere a little further down the road I plan to create a pattern of a Hare, as well as a sweet little Robin couple.

I can't wait to show you the Stuffed Magazine feature, because my son helped me make up such sweet stories for these little creatures; I'll share them with you when the August issue of the magazine comes out, any day now!

You can find the Dapper Fox Pattern in my Etsy shop now!