mama cat (and her skirt-dwelling kittens)

Oh, Mama Cat.


You wear clothes, an apron because you're both very busy an very tidy. Your children are all very well dressed and you keep them close to you, snug and tight in your skirt. Look at your three wonderful children.

I've been working on her for the past couple weeks in the same way I'd play with a doll. "Oh, what should we do with Mama Cat today?" Slowly, and with a lot of thought and memory, she's become who she is and a little reminder of things I've loved and continue to love. I had a doll kind of like her when I was a small child. It was a mother bunny with tiny round bunny babies kept in her skirt. A friend of my mother made it. Toys like this are fun because the self storage is more like a secret compartment, and I think that sort of magic makes dolls seem more real.

She's Beebs' now. It was a surprise, even though she watched me make her. Beebs fell for the dollies as I was putting them together, and even though I feel like a bit of a tormenter by not letting her know the kitties were for her, I think she liked watching the doll take shape.

Mama Cat's outfit was greatly inspired by this book. Gosh, I was inspired by so much while I was making this--the sometimes creepy big skirt lady in the Nutcracker (you know, all the polichinelles come out from under her skirt and dance?), Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories with their cloth dolls with dresses, childhood memories of that bunny doll, the linen & the way the blue fabric looks against the pink gingham, and all the wonderful things all of you crafters do with a needle and a thread.

family photo style

She may end up over here. I haven't decided yet.

So, two things before I forget. First, thank you for all the bathroom love. I can't wait to actually bathe in the tub instead of just looking at it. Second, if you're wondering what honeyflake got from us in the miniswap, it's over here.