Jeana’s Journal

Many, many years ago, before I decided to pursue a quilt career, I made Christmas tree ornaments for sale.

It was a sad time in our lives for me because my husband had been laid off work (during the recession in the early 1980’s) and I had to go back to work.

I was trained as a secretary. I easily found a job as a legal secretary, but it was not a good fit. I could do the work just fine but I was unhappy because I could no longer be at home full time. With our two children in elementary school, I wanted to be a full time, stay-at-home mom and that was not possible with my job.

So, I started looking around at what I could do and still be at home when the kids got home from school. At that time craft boutiques were just beginning and I decided to try making things to sell, hoping that my crafts would be wildly popular and I could quit my job.

In the evenings I stitched and stuffed and sold what I had made during the week on the weekend at craft fairs. I made napkin ring pincushions and fridge magnets from counted cross stitch designs. As well, I made Christmas tree ornaments. My most popular Christmas tree ornaments were a pair of miniature Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls with hand painted faces. They were six inches tall. I made and sold hundreds of these cute little guys.

 

After two years of working dual jobs I finally gave up, recognizing that I could never replace my salary with crafts. The following Christmas I realized that I did not own a single set of Raggedy dolls for my own Christmas tree.

Then five or six years ago I pulled out my patterns, fabric and stuffing to make a few more sets for my sister—who had complained every year that she did not have a set of Raggedys but her mother-in-law did. Together we made enough dolls for her and the gifts she wanted to make, but when we were finished I realized that, once again, I did not make myself a set.

This year I ran into a friend from my craft fair days. She, unlike me, was very successful with her dollmaking. Pauline Davenport has established a great reputation as a dollmaker and she is still successfully teaching classes, making dolls and patterns for dolls. In fact, the elf shown at the top of this post is a current Pauline creation.

She told me that every year at Christmastime she thinks of me when she puts up her Christmas tree because she has two sets of Raggedys that she puts on her tree. When I told her that I did not have any, she said, “That must change.”

When I saw Pauline this past weekend at the quilt shop where I teach she presented me with one of her sets of my original Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. So now, after more than twenty years, a pair of my dolls have come home.