"When we watch children immersed in imaginative play, and one child presents us with a bit of wood saying, 'This is my baby,' these imaginings of children at play cross the expanses of history and culture to connect us in a universal way," writes author Margaret Bloom in her introduction to this book of peg doll inspirations.
Originally created from wooden laundry pegs, the dolls in this book are designed in the Waldorf education tradition that encourages imaginative play and emotional development through neutral faces and minimal features.
The 60 designs and patterns for peg dolls included in this book are arranged by season, Spring through Winter, with three fairy tale sets in the back of the book for making dolls for The Three Bears, Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel. Introductory chapters review materials and techniques and offer a glossary of stitches.
Easter
On Easter morn at early dawn
before the roosters were crowing
I met a bob-tail bunnykin
and asked where he was going.
'Tis in the house and out the house
a-lightly I am going.'
'But what is that of every hue
you carry in your basket?'
'Tis eggs of gold and eggs of blue,
I wonder that you ask it.'
'Tis chocolate eggs and bonbon eggs
and eggs of red and gray,
For every child in every house
on bonny Easter day.'
He perked his ears and winked his eye
and twitched his little nose;
He shook his tail - what tail he had
- and stood up on his toes
'I must be gone before the sun;
the east is growing gray;
'Tis almost time for bells to chime.'
So he hippety-hopped away.
~ Rowena Bennett
Meeting the Easter Bunny