Flipping through the pages makes me think back to all of that anticipation, all that waiting, to meet our new son…. pregnancy is such a magical and inspiring time.

Pretty sweet treat to have our turquoise matryoshka baby quilt included in this month’s October issue of Pregnancy&Newborn magazine.

All of the other pieces they featured are delightful. Originating in the late 1800s, matryoshkas were traditionaly given as gifts to newborns to bring about timelessness, eternal life and fertility. The word comes from the name “Mastryona”, an old Russian name used for the woman in a country village who is seen as a sort of “mother” for all the children.

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I’ve been wanting to figure out how to wet felt some nesting matryoshka dolls for a long time. I knew I needed to work on my wet felting skills, and then move on to the Russian-inspired dolls that I’ve loved since I was a little girl.

My first attempt involved a third doll, a much larger one in which the middle one could easily nest (which, in wool, meant quite a large doll)… and I ended up simplifying to the mama and baby set.

The mama opens up – she is needle and wet felted several times over, and her little baby is solid, and fits nicely inside her mother.

It felt just right to make these last week, in the midst of of Mother’s Day, and the frenzy of spring mated birds preparing their nests outside in our backyard, and this new baby thing too.

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Finally, after a year or so of these dolls falling off my to-do list (I’m sure you know just the feeling)… I made two new sets.

Here is the first, carefully sewn with vintage upcycled cotton, scraps of Liberty of London cotton, leftover pieces of vanilla ice cream organic cotton from our quilts and organic cotton flannel faces.  Embroidered features, wool felt hair, and wool stuffing. I make them “footed” so to speak, so they can stand up, with little felt bottoms. Available in our shop now, with another set coming this week.

After a quick weekend to rejuvenate and change up the pace in Montreal, I’m so excited about everyone who has signed up for the seasonal swap – still time to sign up this week! It’s going to be wonderful!!

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We can’t seem to get enough of these sweet nesting dolls – my shop partner (mother) and I. And now we’ve collaborated with the lovely Erin of Imaginationkids to have a handmade wooden baby teether the same shape as the matryoshkas in our bedding.

Our turquoise matryoshka fabric paired with bright pink and purple mod dots has been so popular that we searched for a similarly bold, pretty print to use with our cream nesting dolls print (which is actually my favorite – it reminds me the most of a soft rainbow).

And we did the same with peach pink.

This week, I’m going to make a few sets of the matryoshka dolls I made last year – embroidering “it’s what’s inside that counts” on the dolls’ sweet tummies.

And I’m thinking of buying a blank wooden set of dolls to hand paint for Hanukkah as a little gift for a girl I know.

They are so sweetly addictive, these dolls, aren’t they?

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