Reviewed by Amber Greene on the 9th December. Do check out Amber’s fantastic blog; there’s a link at the bottom.
A few years ago, I stumbled across a delightful blog called “We Bloom Here”, written by an American lady Margaret Bloom. Margaret had just started making some very cute wooden peg dolls, and I was lucky enough to win one in a giveaway. (This little thing with a crocheted hat still sits in my toy room to this day!) Margaret also ran a few Peg Doll ‘swaps’ and I joined in to make some peg doll angels one year. I simply love peg dolls and I was excited to see some of Margaret’s creations, and through this love, we became online friends!
A little while later, Margaret was invited to write a craft book and share her love of sweet peg dolls and her designs. So popular this book was, that Hawthorn Press invited her to make a sequel, and just recently, this book arrived on my door step.
I’ve been sharing it with our Rainbow Bridge Family Day Care educators, and we all agree- this book is simply superb. Chock full of grand designs and whimsical interpretations of birds, fireflies, rabbits, fairies and more. Margaret also takes a few step further than her last book and interprets the peg doll idea into cake toppers, holiday ornaments, toys, marionettes, a few sewing projects AND my favourite- zipper pulls. Oh my!
The photos are a helpful guide to those wanting to use Margaret’s idea as a template but the illustrations are even more beautiful if that is possible. Simple but truly delightful.
One of my favourite designs are these Christmas angels. I’ve used this as inspiration and I’ve made some too. I’ll be sharing the crafty-how to tomorrow!
This book needs to go on the wish list of all Waldorf-inspired parents and early childhood educators, as well as anyone who just loves to craft cute things. This book is FULL of cute things! It’s a winner and I’m so proud of my friend for what she has created here.
