Looking Glass Flowers: mAd TeA 2015

'O Tiger-lily,' said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind, 'I WISH you could talk!'

'We CAN talk,' said the Tiger-lily: 'when there's anybody worth talking to.'

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute: 

it quite seemed to take her breath away. 

At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice--almost in a whisper. 

'And can ALL the flowers talk?'

'As well as YOU can,' said the Tiger-lily. 'And a great deal louder.'

'How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. 'I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.'

Put your hand down, and feel the ground,' said the Tiger-lily. 'Then you'll know why.'

Alice did so. 'It's very hard,' she said, 'but I don't see what that has to do with 'it.'

'In most gardens,' the Tiger-lily said, 'they make the beds too soft--so that the flowers are always asleep.'

This sounded a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it. 'I never thought of that before!' she said.

The Menu:

"It's my own  invention."

Mushroom Tarts- chickpea shortbread with mushroom and wild arugula topping

5 Layer Cake- orange cake with cranberry cream and blueberries

Flower Sandwiches- pickled beet butter on whole wheat with chopped egg centers

and of course lots and lots of TEA

The Alice Dolls: Little Pullip Alice & 1966 Madame Alexander Alice

My Mad Tea Party 2013 

click here

Queen ALICE Doll

The nice person who purchased my MAd Alice doll commissioned me to make her a companion doll. I have been itching to make another Alice, all I needed was this fresh kick in the pants to actually do it. She suggested I make Queen Alice from 'Through the Looking Glass'. I picked fabric and trims that evoke a playing card, chess game feel but that didn't scream it. I wanted her crown to be too big for her, for her eyes to be piercing like a cat, but not obvious cat eyes.

This doll went through a couple of major changes before she finished up looking like this. First she had platinum blonde hair in a very uptight up-do twist.  She also has a full length gown. She looked very royal, very much a queen. But she wasn't playful or childlike in any way. So, I took off the fancy hair and went with a crazy bright curly head instead. That did the trick. Immediately she became younger and much more fun. After the adventure Alice goes through to reach the other side of the chess board she should be at least a little messy.

Next to go was the gown. I cut it to tea length to show off stripy leg warmers and a flash of ruffled bloomer. I was pretty happy with her at this point. I thought she was finished.

Then my daughter mentioned how Alice shook The Red Queen into the black kitten at the end of the story. I added the kitten. It adds to the story, but doesn't interfere with the look of the doll.

`And as for you,' she went on, turning fiercly upon the Red Queen, who she considered as the cause of all the mischief -- but the Queen was no longer at her side -- she had suddenly dwindled down to the size of a little doll, and was now on the table, merrily running round and round after her own shawl, which was trailing behind her.

At any other time, Alice would have felt surprised at this, but she was far too much excited to be surprised at anything now. `As for you,' she repeated, catching hold of the little creature in the very act of jumping over a bottle which had just lighted upon the table, `I'll shake you into a kitten, that I will!'

She took her off the table as she spoke, and shook her backwards and forwards with all her might.

The Red Queen made no resistance whatever; only her face grew very small, and her eyes got large and green: and still, as Alice went on shaking her, she kept on growing shorter -- and fatter -- and softer -- and rounder -- and --

-- and it really was a kitten, after all.

Who Are You?

When I made the switch from commuting designer to homeschooling housewife I jumped right into ladies groups, kid groups, floral aprons and regular dusting. None of those things have ever appealed to me, so why did I do them? Why do we put ourselves into molds that don’t fit?

I am not a floral apron. I am a stained lab coat with burn marks and a few rodent hairs. But I can still make you a mean scone if you want it.

My point? If you’re feeling trapped maybe you need to figure out who you are.

Mad Tea Party!

 Today I join Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist blog for a

Mad Tea Party! 

 All text is from from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I was inspired by the court scene from the"Who Stole The Tarts"chapter. With it's tea, tarts, guinea pigs, little sisters and general madness it was a perfect fit for us!

 I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!"

"Call the first witness, "said the King; and The White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out," First witness!"

The first witness was The Hatter. He came in with a teacup in one hand and a piece of bread and butter in the other. "I beg pardon, your Majesty," he began, "for bringing these in: but I hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for."

"Give your evidence," said the King; "and don't be nervous, or I'll have you executed on the spot."

This did not seem to encourage the witness at all: he kept shifting from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the Queen, and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his teacup instead of the bread and butter.

(You may observe a bread and butterfly. It's wings are thin slices of bread and butter, it's body is a crust, and it's head is a sugar cube)

"I wish you wouldn't squeeze so." said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her. "I can hardly breath."

"I can't help it", said Alice very meekly: "I'm growing."

"You've no right to grow here," said the Dormouse.

"Don't talk nonsense," said Alice more boldly: "you know you're growing too."

"Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace," said the Dormouse: "not in that ridiculous fashion."

"Collar that Dormouse," the Queen shrieked out. "Behead that Dormouse! Turn that Dormouse out of the court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his whiskers!"

Here one of the guinea pigs cheered, and was immediately suppressed by the officers of the court.

Here the other guinea pig cheered, and was suppressed.

"Come, that finished off the guinea pigs! thought Alice. "Now we shall get on better."

All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter. "You may go," said the King, and he hurriedly left the court, without even waiting to put on his shoes.

"--and just take his head off outside," the Queen added to one of the officers: but the Hatter was out of sight before the officer could get to the door.

"Why, here they are!" said the King triumphantly, pointing to the tarts on the table. "Nothing can be clearer than that.

'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long sleep you've had!'

'Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, all these strange Adventures of hers; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said,

 'It was a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' 

But her sister sat still just as she left her, leaning her head on her hand, watching the setting sun, and thinking of little Alice and all her wonderful Adventures, till she too began dreaming...

She pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

Mad Alice & White Rabbit Alice

Yes, more Alice in Wonderland dolls! I can’t resist a chance to get involved where Alice is concerned. Here are two new Alice dolls I made for the

Art Dolls Only Wonderland Blog Event.

I call this doll ‘Mad Alice’ because while I was sewing up the dress my six year old said “That doesn’t look like Alice, it looks more like The Mad Hatter”.  So I said, “all right, I’ll make Mad Alice”. I painted her eyes up to look mad (as in angry). My original inspiration was Alice Liddell, the “real” Alice, the girl that Lewis Carroll wrote his Wonderland stories for. She wore ruffled Victorian dresses and always had a somber face in the photographs that Carroll took of her. Blue hair just seemed to fit the mood.

There she goes showing off her stripy bloomers, very inappropriate!

This one I call “Alice the White Rabbit”.

 If Alice can shrink and grow, playing cards and cats can turn into queens, isn’t it also possible that Alice can become the white rabbit? Remember, it’s a dream after all. 
Here she is just starting to change, still mostly girl but her hair and face are on their way to becoming bunny.

I also made a White Rabbit toy for Alice.

Fabric covered with white rabbits was the obvious choice for her dress. She has lace trimmed bloomers and painted on black mary janes.


Last year I made a "Growing Alice" doll and a Queen of Hearts doll for the Go Ask Alice Doll and Plush Show. If you would like to see them they are HERE on my Flickr.

Soup Of The Evening

On these chilly winter evenings I like to have a pot of soup bubbling away on the stove. Eating it warms us up, the long duration of cooking time warms up the kitchen and the smell when you walk into the house is fantastic. It gets pretty cold in my house and sitting over a big bowl of delicious hot soup is a rewarding experience. Here are three soups that I will definitely repeat throughout the winter months. I try to cook what is seasonally available and what my body seems to be asking for.



I call this one ‘Golden Chicken Soup’. Pumpkin, carrots and a smidge of tomato paste give it a wonderful rich golden color. It’s pretty thick, almost a stew and it’s got a big pinch of thyme in it.



This is an Asian inspired soup. Make any broth, I use chicken or miso but veg would certainly work. Add some wide noodles, I used egg noodles here. Then have an assortment of cooked veggies, meat, hard boiled eggs, whatever you happen to have on hand. Also offer some condiments, a chutney, grated ginger, or a squeeze of citrus. I especially like a dab of garlic chili paste with mine. When I am feeling run down or someone in the house is under the weather this is good medicine.



The recipe for this one was called ‘Winter Vegetable Soup’. Of course I tweaked it a bit to use up whatever vegetables I had on hand. I think it originally called for parsnips and rutabaga, but I didn’t have those. What I did have was pumpkin, zucchini, carrots and potatoes. There is milk in it and lots of garlic. I served this soup with two kinds of bread, one topped with cheddar cheese and one with cinnamon apples.


In Alice in Wonderland The Mock Turtle sings the song ‘Beautiful Soup’. It is a funny parody based upon a popular song of the time. The original song is called ‘Star of the Evening’.

Soup Of The Evening
by Lewis Carroll

Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
Soo - oop of the e - e - evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!
Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
Soo - oop of the e - e - evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Hold on to your head!

I finally finished up my Queen of Hearts for the Go Ask Alice show and she is just about ready to start chopping off some heads! My goal was that she would have a stiffness to her, very unemotional since she is after all a playing card. I wanted her to be royal and no nonsense, that’s why I opted for no hair. Hair to me adds too much softness. She had to be very hard and unmerciful. She has a tightly laced black suede corset and long pointed golden boots. Despite her attitude she’s still pretty. Even if I wanted to, I have a hard time making ugly.

If you’d like to see more of her, check out my Flickr.

Go Ask Alice poster

I am furiously working to finish up my 2nd doll for the Go Ask Alice Doll and Plush Art Show with opens on Dec. 5th. Here is the very cool promotional poster which is sure to drum up interest with all those lovely images. There's my long necked gal peeking in at the side there. If you are in the Santa Barbara area join them for a Mad Tea Party reception, I'm sure it will be a grand time.