#1400

     Back in November of 2014 I met Jennifer Buxton for the first time in person. After years of friendship online it was great to meet her in the real world. We clicked immediately and our friendship went from being sort of casual to much more of a real friendship. Jennifer has been one of my favorite people since the day we official met. And in true friend fashion, I would do a lot of things for Jennifer. Including giving her my special milestones.

     The first one was doll #800. The day we met I mentioned to her that soon I would be making my 800th doll. Jennifer asked if I would make an Arabian rider to match a costume she had had for years. That was such a great idea, since the first doll I ever made was an Arabian rider, and I was very into it. 

    

     Fast forward 5 and a half years (roughly) and I am up to doll #1400. Jennifer had recently asked me to make her one of the new cowboys. While this is not the first black cowboy I have made, it is still a special doll. This past week I had orders for 7 dolls. 4 of them were for riders of color. That is a very special thing for a hobby that for years seemed to be afraid of non-white dolls. This is more than a sign of acceptance of all sorts of rider, but also a wish to do better. And it makes me happy. 

     It also makes me happy that I can make another milestone doll for Jennifer. I know that this cowboy will get to do some really cool things in Jennifer's awesome performance set-ups. I need to work harder on making my performance setups more awesome. 

     I have a handful of dolls I still need to make for orders and then I can focus a bit more on the miniatures sale again. The baggies I ordered should be showing up today (hopefully) and I can get back to cataloging the stuff I already have here. I got shipping notifications for everything that I ordered, though I have no idea how long it might be stuck in customs. I may have to add some miniatures into a later sale. I have my list of miniature things I need to make, and now it's time to make a plan. I need to figure out how many things I need to make per week to reach my goal. And then I need to stick to my plan. The miniatures sale is coming up in less than a month and will be full of tiny fun!