Being a doll-maker has its magical moments. Often it starts with an uncertain request for a type of Phoebe doll that does not exist—a toddler, a Fancy Nancy, a boy doll, —and with this request I am both excited and nervous. I think and plot and sew and design and redesign and in the end I am often so excited with having tried and completed a new challenge.

I love these new challenges. Part of doll-making, or being a maker of anything is pushing your boundaries.

A few weeks ago, I received adifferent new challenge….from a children’s book author. She envisioned Phoebe as the main character in her book and was hoping I could share that vision.

The book is The Adventures of Piratess Tilly.

The author, Elizabeth Lorayne sent me a copy of her book.

First, it is gorgeous, illustrated in beautiful watercolors (by Karen Watson) and written in haiku, it is an ode to Mother Nature as much as it is an adventure.

Tilly is a budding naturalist who sails to the Galapagos to document flora and fauna. While she is there she becomes ensnared in a crime against nature and in the end becomes a rescuer and hero.

I loved making Tilly and flipping through the pages of the book to make sure my details matched hers—the patch work jeans, her hair, the map, the slippers, her patch.

The real test will be if Tilly’s creator loves her.

Tilly is on her way to Elizabeth and her new home (by the sea), but I captured a few photos of Tilly before she left.

For me the adventure of Tilly has been magical.