Meet Virginia. Finally.

I've found my Red Queen, and she comes in the form of this lovely mohair customized by Tamilla in Perth, Western Australia. I found her on Plastic Paradise in late January, and thanks to a couple blizzards and other things that are not supposed to deter mail carriers, she sat at the post office for nine whole days! Eek. I didn't even know she was here.

But she is, and for her photo shoot I kept trying all sorts of things but nothing looked right. Her hair is an interesting shade of red, between orange and strawberry blond. Her eye chips are light brown, dark brown, yellow and orange. I think she's perfect!

I've been saving a Barbie Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland for almost a year, planning to de-box her at some point for an All-Alice All-the-Time photoshoot, which I've yet to do. But knowing I was finally picking up Virginia today, I decided to "de-box the queen" (off with her head!) last night. That became even more true than I'd planned as the dress was sewn right on to Barbie! No snaps, buttons, velcro, nothing. And this Barbie had a permantly bent arm, so getting the dress off was a real challenge.

But it was well worth it, I think. She looks pretty perfect in the dress. We'll try it again when I do the Alice shoot, but for now Virginia is relaxing in jeans and a sweater. Perfect when there's still four feet of unwelcome and unexpected snow on the ground.

When I was searching on line late one night, the song "Meet Virginia" was playing. And my late mother's name is Virginia. So I didn't really have a choice. This one named herself. And my mom was always collecting something, up for a run to a flea market or gararge sale and always interested in various collectibles, so it's all good.