The Angels of December

I'm not particularly into angels, but I have a few that stay out year-round. Since it's an angel-y time of year, I thought I'd show them off.

 The one on the left was made by me, but inspired by my doll making friend Moneka. She made a pile of them to sell one year and I made one for myself along the way. My house has no ocher yellow and no red in it, but I can't get myself to put this angel away after Christmas.

                                                             I love the homespun of her dress, her little felt heart, her crackley wings, the tiny buttons on her shoes, her hair of clove stems.

She usually hangs in the hall out to the garage, with an odd assortment of other things - my old riding spurs, a string of dried cranberries and a Christmas ornament my friend Julie made for me one year.



 This one was made by me also, from a piece of a vintage crazy quilt that I bought someplace or other, no idea any more. I think it was made either with Moneka during one of the countless afternoons we spent in her craft room, or after an angel-making session with her one year. The fabric in the bottom purple piece is shattered and fraying. I have no purple in my house either, but she stays out all year, hanging from various spots as I get the urge to move her.

 I have several of these and ought to make some more. They're not difficult to make and they're lovely to look at.

 This one was actually made by Moneka and given to me. She's a Raggedy Ann angel, all hand stitched, with kinky red hair. Not sure if it's yarn or what. Every time I look at her, I wish I'd done my entire house in those soft old greens and vintage reds.

She has hung in my craft room since she was given to me, sometimes from an old peg, sometimes from a hat pin stuck in the side of a lampshade. Lately she's been hanging from a drawer knob of a old pink chest of drawers that Moneka pitched when she moved one time. All the small drawers are great for storing the endless small supplies I seem to accumulate.



Last is another one I made, while passing thru my fairly brief scroll saw phase. I got the pattern from an old quilt pattern, I think, and painted her barn red. She goes well with the shabby bench I slammed together from old falling down fence boards that I hauled home one day years ago.

For a while there, the area behind the garage - thankfully out of sight from the street - was piled with old boards, rusty bits of metal, and artistically shaped tree branches. I turned out several rustic trellises and a couple benches before I ran out of interest. I'm still lugging this one around and love it far out of proportion to the value of its cracked boards and flaking paint.