HI everyone,
It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep does for your body. I woke up feeling much better! It was just too long of a day yesterday and the stress of not knowing exactly what they were going to be doing was a bit much to take in. My hubby has felt pretty good today… just very sore and slow moving.
I received this email and pictures from Dorothy in PA and the World and wanted to share it… she’ll do the narrating…
On Saturday, October 4, 2025, our local doll club visited the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts in Bethlehem, PA. We were excited to see the doll houses.
Here is a description of the doll house tour taken directly from the Museum’s website:
“The Behind the Scenes Dollhouse Tour at the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts offers exclusive access to the Elizabeth Johnston Prime Dollhouse Collection featuring an impressive array of 44 antique structures, including dollhouses, stores, stables, mansions and verandas. These 19th and early 20th century works of art are complemented by an extensive collection of more than 6,000 meticulously crafted miniature items such as dolls, furniture, paintings, animals, rugs, dishes and chandeliers, all generously donated by Elizabeth Johnston Prime in 2007.”
We also got to listen to a presentation about the Polly Heckewelder dolls given by Ms. Mary Brown of the Ladies Sewing Society of the Central Moravian Church.
Here is information about the history of the dolls taken directly from the Church’s website:
“Be part of a long-standing tradition begun by Polly Heckewelder in 1861 when she established a group to help with the Civil War relief effort. Soon, the group began making their signature “Polly Dolls”, which are still sold today, to benefit many church causes and ministries. Enjoy sewing and sharing conversation with the members of the Ladies Sewing Society who will teach you at least one step in the intricate process of creating these beautiful handmade dolls.”
Here is what the dolls look like as they are being created.
Here is a doll’s face ready to be sewn on to her body.
Here are the pieces that are needed to create the whole doll.
Here is a completed Polly.
We were given a tour of the entire Museum. I loved the Alice in Wonderland nook with the tea table already set. You can also see the wall mural. I am not sure I would want to take tea with Alice, though (smile)
We had an amazing time touring the Museum. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
We gave a special personal “shout out” to Sofa Sister Barbara in SE Texas who hails from Bethlehem.
Thank you, Dorothy! It looks like you all had a wonderful time. I bet there was so much to look at and see! The bright colors in the Alice pictures is sure pretty!
Thanks so much!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
See you Monday!
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, thank you all so much for your comments, prayers and concern about my diagnosis of macular generation. Particularly, Joy, for your advice about seeing a retinologist. My friend Katy at church (who has MD in one eye) mentioned she goes to one, also. I will add that to my list of questions for the doctor.
I did add notes to some of your comments on yesterday’s post–not about the eyes, but other things, if you want to look.
Dorothy, thank you so much for the wonderful pictures!! What a treat to go to that museum. We used to have a fabulous museum in Bellevue (just east of Seattle), Rosalie Whyel’s Museum of Doll Art. I was a member and went several times, even taking out-of-town company there. Sadly, it closed a number of years ago, and I heard that Rosalie passed away a year or two ago. End of an era. I remember when she went around a doll show, handing out little pads of sticky notes with the logo and address on them, announcing its opening!
I love the Polly Heckwelder dolls! I love cloth dolls, and have enjoyed making different kinds in the past.
Tea with Alice would certainly be different, wouldn’t it?!! Haha.
Dear Charlotte, thank you for your kind words. I do know about the Rosalie Whyel Museum. She is revered in the doll world. How wonderful that you actually got to visit her museum. Yes, she did pass away and I believe her collection was sold at auction.
I don’t have any Polly dolls but a few people in my local doll club do.
When I got home, your namesake Miss Charlotte Noelle asked why couldn’t have gone along. I told her that the trip was for grown ups. She said that she would be a grown up one day so she should have been included. Sometimes it is difficult to argue with her convoluted reasoning (laugh).
Thank you so much, Dorothy, for showing us all this. I love the dolls and remember seeing more than one on Antiques Road Show. The doll houses are amazing. I looked up the info on the dolls and wonder how far that church is from where my younger son lives in Media, PA.
He used to live in Seattle and when I visited them I took my granddaughters to the Rosalie Whyel Museum. I am so glad we got to see it before it was gone.
Dear Sissy, thank you for your comments.
Media, PA is about 1 1/2 hours from Bethlehem. That’s not very far at all. There are tons of diners along the way.
The Polly dolls are lovely. I just checked ebay and there are some for sale. They are out of my price range, though.
Our children certainly do have minds of their own, don’t they?!!
I loved a quick peak at the photos but we are heading out to the Y. Will check with y’all when I get home! Glad to hear Jeanne had a good night and that George is getting up.
I’m so happy that you are rested and feeling better, Jeanne, and most of all, it was good news to hear that George is feeling chipper and progressing! Such a relief!
Dorothy, thank you so much sending the pictures of the doll museum to Jeanne so she could show us! I especially love the doll house and all the little tiny things in each room! What fun it must have been to recreate those rooms! We have a Miniature Museum here in St. Louis, with two stories full of all kinds of dollhouses, and it is a treat for the eyes!
How fun to see the steps to create the cloth dolls! And that tea party setting is fabulous! Is that table setting for people or dolls? I might have to try recreating an Alice in Wonderland tea party for my dolls sometime, although I could never recreate that wonderful, colorful background! Thank you so much for the ”tour”!
Dear Linda, thanks for liking my photos. I believe that the tea setting is just for show although I don’t know how one could keep children from touching it. I understand that there are activities for children at the table under the mural. There weren’t any children when we toured.
I just went to the website for your Miniature Museum. It looks amazing. I see that one can take a tour online, which I will do later. Thanks for sharing that information.
I would love to see an Alice creation with your dolls. Don’t sell yourself short on the background. You are so creative, I’m sure that you could come up with something. 🙂
Thank you for the encouragement, Joy! It will be awhile before I begin to tackle that with the holidays coming up, but I hope to do it sometime., and I think it would be fun!
So glad to hear that George is on the road to recovery. Hope both of you can take it easy today. Don’t want Jeanne getting sick.
Loved reading Dorothy in PA and the World’s post yesterday and the answers many gave of their own experiences with women’s rights. Take a look if you haven’t already. 🙂 I’ll add here: Years ago, I had a checking account in my name that I wanted to keep but add on my husband’s name so we both would have access. The bank said that they would change it but wanted to put my husband’s name first, I demanded that my name be first on the checks. They said, that wasn’t usually done. But, I said, just do it, and they did. My name is still first. 🙂
What a wonderful trip to the museum that Dorothy and Jeanne have shared with us today. Hard to believe that one person could make all of those tiny items so perfectly. What a treasure. The doll making by the Moravian ladies was interesting as well. My grandfather, born in PA, was also Moravian, so even more interesting for me. Thanks so much for sharing your great museum experience with us, Dorothy.
Barbara, one of my hobbies is family history. If you ask Jeanne, for my email, I would be happy to take a look for your father’s death date. No guarantees, but I’m usually able to find at least some information. Just need the details.
This morning, we are socked in with tule fog so no painting until it dries out a bit later. Other person did accomplish a lot though with one coat on a lot of railings yesterday. I didn’t touch that black skirt I’m making for the Ruby Reds, but switched back to the plaid skirt and managed to get the waistband and bias hem tape sewn on. Now, to do the hand stitching. 🙂
The RR twins Ruth and Esther, that arrived yesterday, are still boxed. Hoping that other person needs to go to Harbor Freight or somewhere so I can free them from their trappings today.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Dear Joy, thank you for your nice words about our trip. We really had a nice time. We stopped for lunch first. I always have to build in lunch when I plan these little trips (laugh).
So I see that you had another successful caper. Yeaaa!
And good for you for setting those bank people straight!
Thanks for your offer, Joy. I will take you up on it and get your email from Jeanne.
So glad to hear you are feeling better today Jeanne and that George is moving around. That’s a very good thing.
I just looked at my checks and darned if David’s name isn’t first and it’s my account. Well actually it’s a joint account but it’s personal and David has a business account too so we consider the personal one mine. Maybe next time I order checks I’ll switch it around LOL. Actually I probably won’t bother since these days I rarely use checks and we both have our own debit cards with our names on them.
Thanks so much Dorothy in PA and the World (got to get in the PA part) for sending Jeanne these wonderful pictures to share. The shout-out to me from your group was very special and I thank you for it. So much has changed in Bethlehem since I lived there (moved in August 1964). The museum you went to evidently didn’t exist before 2007. There is so much history in Bethlehem but most of it when I grew up concerned Bethlehem Steel and its place in the community. My boyfriend was Moravian (married a Catholic girl and is now a member of the Catholic church) and we visited each other’s churches (mine Episcopal) and alternated youth groups, his one week and mine the next, so I had a lot of experience with the religion but never heard of those wonderful cloth dolls. When Bethlehem Steel imploded (pretty much what happened) Bethlehem had to reinvent itself and it did an amazing job to the point where I wish I lived there now. Short of going to the movies and school things Paul and I didn’t have a lot available to do, but we sure would now. I had never heard of the Sayre Mansion, which is also worth a visit, which I have done online. They have wonderful seasonal events there definitely worth experiencing. Or the Sayre Child Center which evidently existed since 1899. It is dedicated to early childhood education and child care up to 5th grade. They rank among the 50 oldest continuously operating programs in the United States. I never heard of the place when I lived there. It’s amazing what we overlook when we live in a town versus see it as a visitor.
I could say that around here too, but I have been vindicated. I live in the area of Stephen F. Austin’s original colony. The one they set fire to when Santa Ana was on his way so his army would not benefit from the supplies or building materials. The museum there is amazing but it did not exist as it is today when my children were growing up. But my grandkids have been there and we took our out-of-town visitors there and they loved it. It cost a fortune to put together and it is totally interactive. The homes that were not destroyed by the fire are available to tour on the lot outside and you can walk a path that has signs along the way telling what building, etc., was on that site. Eventually you come to the area of buildings not destroyed and it’s actually like a living museum with people dressed in period clothing doing things like blacksmithing, etc. But that part may be only for special events. When I took the grandkids it was so hot we didn’t do the outside things so I hope to be able to do that with them sometime.
Thanks again to Dorothy and Jeanne for allowing us this wonderful opportunity.
Dear Barbara, I couldn’t wait for you to learn about our doll club adventure! I wanted to tell you so many times but I really wanted it to be a surprise.
I talked about you while we were touring the Museum. I knew you would love it and visit it often if you still lived in Bethlehem.
You are correct in stating that Bethlehem reinvented itself. It is a beautiful, quaint city. I want to go back and spend some time exploring.
I think we all take the neighborhoods of our youth for granted. It is only when we can look back that we see how lucky we were to have lived where we did.
I am happy that Bethlehem has a special place in your heart. I love my hometown as well.
Good afternoon dear friends, I am commenting after lunch today. I had a busy morning but did read this while eating breakfast!
Jeanne, I am very pleased that you and George are recovering from the busy day. I hope George continues to heal well. I know he will with your excellent attention. Rest and a good night’s sleep is so beneficial!
Thank you for sharing Dorothy’s Museum adventure. Dorothy, what a fun visit,
so much to look at in one place, I adore the old doll houses and all of the hand made details lovingly made long ago.
The doll houses are magnificent. The handmade dolls are beautiful! This is so wonderful these dolls are still being made. What treasures!
The Alice and Wonderland tea space is sweet and very attractive! That story is always one that has kind of given me the willies. All of that strangeness. Poor Alice. The tea set decorations are just perfect though, really special.
Thank you Dorothy for taking perfect photos and sharing!
Oh goodness, all of you have left some interesting chat here, I should look this over. I hope all of you have a delightful day today and this week-end. Nice weather outside. We better enjoy it. haha
Dear Rosemary B, thank you for your lovely words. The Alice story kind of throws me off also. I like children’s stories about friendships developing or learning new things or going on explorations of real places.
The tea table was nice. I don’t think that the tea items were actually china but I didn’t want to touch them and I couldn’t delay because we were on a guided tour. I didn’t even think about asking the tour guide. I wish I had because the items were very pretty.
Our whole group loved the doll houses.
What fabulous pictures, Dorothy. Thank you so much for sharing them. I love dollhouses and miniatures. We still have the dollhouse my grandfather made for my mom’s 4th birthday that I and my daughter played with as well.
The Alice in Wonderland tea party looks fantastic. The Polly dolls are darling. How wonderful that they are still being made.
Back again. Trying to juggle this between other jobs.
I’m very sorry to hear about the eye issues, Charlotte, Rosemary, and Joy. Need to go back and read all the comments as I just saw your names.
I have glaucoma in both eyes and the only risk factor I had was cluster headaches as a child and teen which apparently contributed to high eye pressure. I’m symptom free otherwise. I’ve been on drops twice a day for a couple of years and also had laser done in my right eye. Fortunately, my vision is 20/20 in that eye and 20/10 in my left at the last appointment. I have to go every three months for various things (visual field, pressure checks, and dilation).
I have to go back and read the Women’s Rights discussion.
Another eye club member! Glad that your glaucoma is under control. I also get the pressure check every visit as that can also develop with macular as well as detached retinas. Sounds like you are doing everything right. 🙂
Dear Laura, thank you for liking my photos. I still use a camera, if you can believe it. It’s not a fancy one either. It’s one of those point and shoot things but at least it’s not a Brownie (or whatever those old cameras were called -laugh).
The speaker had some vintage Polly dolls to show us but I totally forgot to take a photo of them. It is amazing to think that the dolls have been made continuously for over one hundred plus years.
Good morning all, Jeanne, I really know how good a decent night’s sleep makes you feel. I am so glad George is up and about, long may it continue.
Charlotte, my Dad had macular degeneration but since he wasn’t my biological father I thought I would escape it but no, I had an eye exam recently and was told I had the beginnings of it. He also said I had cataracts beginning too! Dad’s started before he was 50 so by the time he died at 96 he was almost blind.
Dorothy your pictures of the doll museum were wonderful to see. My nephew’s partner makes little miniature shops, I will try and get her to send some pictures to share, they really are magnificent.
I haven’t been feeling well the last few days so borrowed my friends BP machine. The first reading was 114 over 76 so no wonder I was feeling so low. I made an appt with the dr for next week so will take a few more readings.
Have a good day everyone
Oh Anne, do watch that BP. Glad you have an appointment. Here I am recommending things again, but I would ask whoever gave you the exam to refer you to a retina specialist. They will do a scan and other tests to see how bad it is and how it is progressing. I’m not sure when they can start the injections, which are painless, but they did help my worst eye a lot so I don’t have that central vision loss. Had I been referred sooner, my vision may be a lot better than it is now. 🙂
Dear Anne, first I hope you are feeling better now. I am glad you were able to make an appointment with your doctor.
I would love to see the miniature shops. I have seen photos of these little shops online and they are adorable. I know folks sell kits that can be put together but I am afraid that would exceed my crafting skills, which are non-existent (laugh).