My dollies.

These are my Czech dolls! I actually have quite a collection of little ones in storage but these are my favorite and biggest ones.


This next set are very simular ones available on-line, the one in the middle is very much like the first one I used to have.

I'm not a very avid doll collector, and I'm no where skilled an artist as my friend Mica, but as a gal I do have a certain fondness for some dolls. In particular my Moravian dolls, of which I was recently floored by their value, I didn't even know they were sold here in the states, but I guess everything now is sold online.


I'd love to buy this one!




Anyway, a few weeks back Mica had a dollie story contest and I shared some of my special stories on her post but thought I'd share them here as well.


Here is what I wrote:
"I still to this day have a few of my very special dolls that my Grandmother would bring me from Czech. They are each dressed up in traditional clothes and every little detail is hand sewn on. Each doll is slightly different to reflect the different towns and what ribbons and patterns they'd use.
As a child one in particular was my very favorite. She had a delicate garland atop her head with little white flowers and beads. I must have been very little because the value of the doll meant nothing to me, I now know these days that it cost grandma a pretty penny for each doll. However, I was very sick and felt so lousey nothing consoled me. I remember I slept in my parents bed during the day and had to have a walkman and my dolly and that was the only thing that made me feel OK. I remember just laying there so sick and staring at the little flowers and little beads and thinking it was so pretty, I wanted to be a Moravian doll too! Unfortunately the doll wasn't quite the same after that illness. Aparently at one point I had such a bad fever that I was tossing and turning all over the bed and most of her outfit got pulled out of place and the garland all messed up. It was such a sad loss to me that I've never let anything happen to my other two big dolls and I keep my little ones in storage (for now). I guess it really was my first lesson in keeping nice the things I value.
There is one other memory I wish to share, it's not of my dolls, but for my dolls. For Christmas when I was 5 my grandpa crafted by hand a doll craddle for me. Because I got it at Christmas and it was the biggest thing that year I used it to carry all my other little presents to my room. That has since become a personal tradition for me, for every Christmas I've had at home I've used my little doll craddle to carry my things back. Every Christmas Eve I pull the craddle out of the bedroom and put it under the tree. I guess you could say it's a gift my grandpa gives me every year. I really miss him, when he was alive he was one of the most meticulous and caring men I knew. He always had a way of keeping people happy and making things personal. I will forever treasure the simple doll craddle he lovingly made me years ago."
Here is my craddle I love so much!


I know in the picture it's a little hard to read the inscription, it says: "To Crystal from Grandpa and Grandma Juett, Dec. 1983"

And then I went on to post...
"I just saw something interesting...
The poem you posted is written by a person whose last name is Jewett. That is the same family name as my grandfather who built me my dolly craddle. Actually in my family tree it's spelled Juett, but records coming through Ellis Island and such show that those different spellings are often from the same family tree. This is all really interesting to me!"


I don't know why it's taken me so long to post this here. I invisioned this post as soon as I made those comments, well, anyway here it is now. A slight correction too. In 83 I wasn't 5, I'm not sure how I got my math wrong. I was 4. Anyway, I know that wasn't as important. Just goes to show that the tradition of the craddle has been even longer than I thought.