Threads of My Life: Hitty

Somehow, last year, I found my way into the world of Hittys. Who is Hitty, you may ask? (go ahead, ask..I'll wait...) Okay, well, Hitty is a wee wooden doll, about 6.5 inches tall. You can read about her in a children's book called "Hitty, Her First 100 Years" by Rachel Field. I remember reading that book as a child. It is the story of a wooden doll, as told by the doll herself. She has quite a few adventures, not the least of which is living among natives on a tropical island! To read about the real Hitty, go to this website: http://www.hitty.org

I found this regression to a bit of my childhood to be a good distraction from the stress going on in my life at the time, and something different from all the quilting I do. I joined an online group with other Hitty-obsessed women, and made an attempt to carve my own Hitty for a Halloween swap. Very appropriate, as she turned out to be more of a Franken-Hitty! Here is her photo.

Pretty scary, all right! I managed to lop off her nose at least three times, but fortunately, didn't lose any of my body parts. (I was a bit worried about my fingers as I attempted the carving)

The person who received my Hitty was very nice and gracious; not making fun of the poor thing. Today I finally finished my second attempt at Hitty-carving and while she is a slight improvement from the first, having kept her nose through the whole process, I don't think I'll try again. Here is her photo:

I just don't have the talent for carving that a lot of the ladies in the group do. They are amazing! What I like to make, though, are tiny quilts for the beds and dresses for the Hittys. I have a Hitty Elizabeth that travels with us, as that is the other part of all this. Hittys travel. They have adventures. Here is a photo of Hitty Elizabeth, named after Liz, of course--who has many adventures and travels a lot (not as much as she'd like, but she is always ready and looking for the next adventure) Hopefully Hitty Elizabeth will be as adventurous. So far, she's only been to the radar site in Redmond, Oregon. Not a lot of adventure there! Hitty Elizabeth came as a kit that I painted.