Peter Rabbit Swap

Not too long ago I joined a peg doll swap on We Bloom Here blog. This blog author is also a book author. She makes wooden peg dolls. Once in awhile she hosts swaps. I have seen them in the past and finally joined one.

I wanted to have a theme for the doll I was going to make, and decided to look into children's book illustrators. After Googling and listing my favorites and considering whose style would translate well to a peg doll, I decided on Beatrix Potter. My exchange was with a lady in Australia and one in Wales. I hoped they would both be familiar with Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit.

It didn't take long to make a little Peter Rabbit doll using a fine black sharpie and watercolor paint. I drilled a couple of small holes in the head and inserted some tiny ears cut from an old felted wool sweater. I didn't want to send just one tiny doll, so I tried to figure out an accessory to go with him. I wondered if I should make Mother Rabbit, or maybe the sibling rabbits? After paging through some children's books for ideas, I settled on making him a little garden.

I dug through my felted wool sweaters from my thrifting, and hand sewed a brown garden with green cabbage and orange carrots. I made the carrots so you can pick them and then put them back in and harvest them over and over again. I should have put some Velcro on the cabbages so they could be picked too, but I did not think of it until they were already sewn on.The version above also has a row of beets. I had to make two of everything to send and misjudged my rows on one. I added another row to even things out. Thus the beets. I kept this three row garden to go with my prototype Peter Rabbit.

I also sent along the first in an adult mystery book series based on the real life of Beatrix Potter, and a Peter Rabbit children's book. I ordered the books from paperbackswap.com. A great way to recycle and acquire books. This first peg doll swap was a fun exercise in creativity.