It all started with Abigail...

Abigail is a tiny porcelain doll my mom gave to me. She was "born" at the old Bess Kaiser Hospital on Greeley in Portland, where my mom worked in the cardiology department for years... (Hospital gift shops always have neat stuff!)

I immediately made her a bed out of a plastic mushroom basket--weaving pink and white yarn through the sides to create a checkerboard pattern and crudely crocheting a hood for it... I then knitted a striped pink and white blanket for her... Again, crudely... I was 11 and a self-taught knitter and crocheter...

Abigail slept in this bassinet for more than 20 years. Last year sometime, I pulled her out of a box and she sat on my crafts table while I hunted for the right size bed for her... Not finding one, I sketched out a plan for a wooden cradle... But my woodworking skills are rudimentary at best, and I lack the proper tools... I gave up my hunt and finally decided to cut all of my old handiwork off of the mushroom basket and reinvent it... And so my mini mania began...

Abigail in her new bassinet.