These large Raggedys on the antique love seat in my living room were made by my mother in the early 70's. (Nowadays they sit atop the toy box in one of our guest rooms.)

She made dolls for all her grandchildren (born at that time). My daughter and son were old enough when she made theirs that they didn't tear them up playing wth them as the younger children did. I am so glad, because as far as I know these dolls are the only ones left of all those she made.

Their clothes have been washed several times and the dolls themselves have been air-tumbled in the dryer a time or two. The elastic needs replacing in the sleeves on the Ann, but otherwise they are still in perfect shape, except for the grime on their bodies one would expect after thirty years.

You know how you sometimes wind up with collections without even realizing you have one? Well, recently in one of my perennial cleaning and organizing phases I discovered I had several little Raggedys, too, although probably not enough to call a collection. How many is a collection anyway? More than three, maybe? lol.

Now they are in one of those Instant Shadowboxes that you can get at Michaels, nestled in the arms of the big Raggedys. I bought a Raggedy shelf at a show in Lubbock to fit in that bare spot in the center where you see my hand,

... and it's been added here, where one of the Andys has decided he wanted to sit on it.

Here you see the doll Swapke when she visited El Paso. She said it felt like she was with family when she met the Raggedys. lol (You can read about Swapke's visit from The Netherlands here.)

I picked up this big sister Raggedy at a show in my early days because she reminded me of the full-size Raggedy Ann that Mother made. She is about three inches tall.

I made these Raggedys. Their bodies are porcelain, their clothes fabric, their hair and the stripes on their stockings Bunka. Funny little things, aren't they?

Now these little clay Raggedys have cute smiles. They and their table and chairs were gifts.

One of these days I plan to do a roombox, maybe make more Raggedys, perhaps do some quarter scale ones ....

 

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