New Rag Dolls in their new dresses

 These are the last two in a group of 8 rag dolls I have been working on for about 2 months, they are all finished now and ready to go to the store. There is a store in Kewanee, Miss. I think it is called the Simmons-Wright Store. It is on the historical register being over 100 years old. The original store was wood, but burned down and was rebuilt back in brick. It is being run now by the heirs of the Simmons and Wright families. It's a neat place. They have the real old cotton baskets and cotton with seeds in it from way long ago. Old tools and antiques, plus they serve food now. The balcony has shelves of shoes that were stocked there in the 20's and thirty's, still in the boxes, ofcourse, they are dry rotted now. In it's heyday, it was a bustling place, as right behind the store is the old Cotton Gin which is not open, but houses the old machines. If you have never seen a cotton Gin, it's facinating how these machines could take the seeds out of the cotton. It supplied folks in the closer surrounding areas of Mississippi and Alabama, and the railroad tracks are just across the street. We have several Gins down here. The one in Jackson, Miss. can still operate, but it is a museum now. Another big Cotton Gin, which I have painted several times, and thankfully have taken pictures of, has been taken down now. I went over to this store lots of times, but on my last visit, while  trying to buy up the last of the old, old, fabrics, which have been up in the balcony for years and years, the lady ask me what I was going to do with the material, I told her make dolls, both Izannah reproductions and Rag dolls too. She ask me to bring some over to the store to sell, and I said I would.

This store is located on  Hwy 11,  and  is the highway that the famous Highway 11 fleamarket is on every  year in May. It travels through several states. I always go atleast 20 or 30 miles of it, so much fun. I really don't know if there will be any interest in these dolls, but the lady in the store will enjoy them. You never know if what you make will be something other people will want, but i made things i liked, so hopefully others will to.