tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66353411621038089452026-10-15T20:32:33.856-04:00I have loved dolls, history, and the Victorian Era since I was little and can credit my grandmother for that. As a young girl she gave me a Godey’s Fashion print for August 1870 from my great, great Aunt Flossie. I was captivated by the dresses and became hooked. I just love to research everything and anything about the Victorian Era. I also love to design Victorian dolls. I hope you enjoy my Victorian Dolls, Victorian Traditions,The Victorian Era, and Me blog.Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.comBlogger242125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-20444193120150137962021-09-03T00:00:00.004-04:002021-09-03T09:04:59.445-04:00

For the last seven years there is an old stone mansion near us that has been in the local news and, currently, in the process of being renovated.  Why was it in the local news?  Well, it started with the old stone mansion being torn down and sold and replaced with several new houses.  It was such a shame as this old stone mansion was built in 1847 and had quite the

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-33343695181070487942021-08-04T00:00:00.005-04:002021-09-03T09:06:21.437-04:00

In May of this year Hally Levesque, who is an extraordinary artist and whom I've taken several doll classes from at Artful Gathering, asked me if I wanted to participate in a paper doll swap.  I had never done an online swap before, let alone a paper doll swap.  In fact, I had never made a paper art doll before.  As my bucket list contains trying every craft out there in

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-30718100855565212642021-06-02T00:00:00.002-04:002021-06-02T12:15:22.887-04:00

 For most of my life I have wanted to build a Victorian dollhouse.  As far as I was concerned the more Victorian and ornate the better.  I wanted to build everything in the dollhouse from the Queen Anne furniture to the traditional Victorian furnishings.I was not naïve as to how much work was involved, or so I thought.  I knew it would be a LOT of work starting from the wood

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-67349313223038735242020-07-21T00:30:00.001-04:002020-07-21T13:16:42.261-04:00

Searching for old book illustrations that are in the public domain and finding the Project Gutenberg free Little Women eBook and illustrations reminded me of one of my granddaughter's visits so many years ago.  You'll have to bear with me. Don't ever ask a senior citizen what year something was or remember specific details so many years later....lol but, I think, it was the summer of

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-29586639977150032932020-07-21T00:00:00.001-04:002020-07-21T13:30:28.386-04:00

Two of the first books I got from my grandmother back in 1966 when I was a young lady were Little Women and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott.  I loved the books and especially loved Jo because she was so fiercely independent.  I also admired Louisa May Alcott as she was an abolitionist, feminist and involved in the women's suffrage movement.  In so many ways she reminded

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-34735004324494354332020-02-23T01:00:00.002-05:002024-03-18T10:19:35.175-04:00

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books.So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their books

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-79903205591576017752020-02-03T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.353-05:00

I found when I was looking at all the illustrations from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book published in 1889 that I was really drawn to the illustrations that were engraved.  I found the engraving process intriguing and, of course, had to find out more. According to Wikipedia:  Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-38062042099694529022020-01-23T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.337-05:00

Nothing speaks Valentine's Day more than Cupid.  And, what Cupid is more charming than the one in the illustration above that appeared in the March 16, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 273.  The illustration above was entitled " Love's Valentine" and was drawn by Jessie Shepherd (Jessie Curtis Shepherd). As a child I can remember getting little

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-7066003357702095222020-01-14T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:48:43.232-05:00

I have been having a delightful time experimenting with glass vases and bottles for the past few months. Some of the bottles I decided to embellish were small 4" - 6" clear bottles from my crafts stash that I wanted to decorate with a Victorian theme. The four bottles shown in the collage picture above will either remain as mixed media embellished bottles or end up with embellished paper

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-38122864231166912972020-01-09T00:00:00.002-05:002021-07-29T12:50:46.918-04:00

As mentioned in a previous post back in 2010 I decided I wanted to try needle felting and penny rug felting with wool felt as it seemed like everyone was having so much fun with it that year. I don't mean wet needle felting where you are actually creating a needle felted object from the wet felt. I'm just not that adventuresome! Penny rug felting involves using pieces of wool felt hand-sewn

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-74958718824380267212020-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:002020-01-08T08:33:53.449-05:00

How can you not love a combination of everything and anything Victorian and crafting with wool felt. Not sure you can. At least I can't...lol After creating 9 handmade Victorian wool felt dress ornaments that I embroidered and embellished with beads, ribbons, and lace trim decorations I decided to create Victorian wool felt dress free e-patterns for so you could create some of your own.

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-50796445685813626622020-01-07T00:00:00.000-05:002020-01-07T08:39:09.140-05:00

I just LOVE creating with wool felt. Whether it's an ornament, a pillow, a wall-hanging, a doll or a penny rug - I just LOVE it. I was introduced to penny rugs during a shopping trip with my Mom to Sturbridge many, many years ago. There were several wonderful primitives shops out there that we liked to visit who carried primitive doll kits, wool felt kits, punch-needle kits, and penny rug

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-56203493786456259342020-01-05T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.350-05:00

As you all know from my previous posts I spent the last two months blissfully creating mixed media Christmas crafts.  I was in crafting heaven.  So, in thinking about some of the bottle crafts I wanted to make now I decided I would make some Victorian themed Christmas mixed media bottles that could function as vases with embellished paper flowers. However, after creating four

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-19732149806060135432020-01-02T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.313-05:00

For someone who doesn't like winter and snow I don't mind making snowmen or looking at Victorian winter illustrations like the illustration above which was in the December 8, 1888 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 61.  It was entitled "Such a Heavy Load." The illustration above was in the November 2, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-15410402919265563072020-01-01T08:20:00.002-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.306-05:00

I love dolls.  I love making dolls and I always loved playing with my dolls.  I also love the Victorian Era, history, and books.  So, it should come as no surprise that I would love illustrations from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889 that I found recently. As you might recall from a previous Linda's Blog post Some of the mixed media projects this summer I

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-81083752219431904822019-12-30T00:00:00.000-05:002020-02-03T09:53:14.756-05:00

What better way to send a "Happy New Year" greeting than with a beautiful illustration from the cover of the February 2, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 177.  It was entitled "New Year Greeting" and was drawn by F.S. Church, N.A. I, too wish you all a Happy New Year.

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-29830238377593279372019-12-06T00:00:00.002-05:002020-02-03T09:49:20.329-05:00

I decided that one of my all time favorite illustrations that I saw in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Books was the one that appeared on page 97 of the December 29, 1888 weekly. I love it for three reasons: 1) The most adorable Santa figure I've seen; 2) The looks of anticipation on all the children's faces; and 3)  The ominous faces in the icicles.  How

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-29644546628518757362019-10-22T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.325-05:00

This past weekend I finally put out my fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations.  Well, two of those decorations were two new Halloween mixed media and collage embellished bottles with Victorian graphic images. These two will remain as Halloween mixed media bottles and will not become Halloween bottle vases with paper flowers. I had decided that for these two mixed media bottles I

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-39208035363471942542019-10-10T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.344-05:00

Not all the illustrations in the Harper's Young People weekly's were of joy or celebration.  Some were of the grim reality of life and the event of the day. Such was the case with the illustration above appeared in the December 15, 1888 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 76.  It was entitled " The doctor drew the man's left hand to him and felt his

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-33101329518418360592019-10-04T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.333-05:00

There's nothing quite like looking at the different expressions of family members within gatherings - especially the expressions of mother's and children. You cannot help but feel the despair in the face of the mother from the illustration above that appeared in the July 27, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 580. It was entitled "Homeless" and was drawn

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-23792789844331993212019-09-19T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.317-05:00

One of the things that delighted me so much with the illustrations from the Harper's Young People weekly was the number of illustrations of Victorian children with animals, like the illustration above that appeared in the August 31, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 670. The illustration was entitled "Getting ready for a walk." When I was a young girl I can

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-38594953936865707732019-09-16T08:49:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.340-05:00

There's nothing more delightful than watching young children play.  As a young child I have such fond memories of playing with my older brother or friends.  We were usually outside running around, playing a sport, riding our bikes, playing on the beach and looking for crabs, or getting into trouble with our antics.....lol Seems times have drastically changed for children as I rarely

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-50520702495613420152019-09-13T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.347-05:00

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books. So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-24796994145007225452019-09-12T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.321-05:00

I don't really think it matters what the time frame is when it comes to school being difficult at times for students.  The look on the face of the little girl in the illustration above could just as well be from 2019 as 1889.  All you have to see is the expression on her face to feel her distress. The illustration above is from the December 1, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635341162103808945.post-9495140627903349672019-09-10T00:00:00.000-04:002020-02-03T09:49:20.357-05:00

Some of the mixed media projects I created this summer required quite a bit of old book papers for collage purposes.  So much so I ran out of the book pages.  Truth be told it wasn't the projects themselves that used up the paper it was the number of projects I was creating..... lol Well, in looking around the house I found an old Harper's Young People Illustrations Book

Linda Walshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00922974479561573750noreply@blogger.com0