Russian Dolls

I have always loved Russian Nesting Dolls. For those of you who don’t know, Russian Nesting Dolls or Matroyska dolls are hand-painted sets of wooden dolls that decrease in size. Each smaller doll is placed inside of the bigger dolls so when they are all neatly stacked, there is only one doll. They are usually dressed in traditional Russian peasant woman dress but now you can find them in all sorts of themes and colours.
When my mother-in-law passed away recently, I was lucky enough to get her set of Russian dolls. They are a special set to own not only because of their history in the family but also because they were my first ones (or so I thought!)

A little while ago a Romanian friend of mine announced her trip to Romania and I asked her to see if she could find any there for me (you can’t seem to find them anywhere in South Africa). In the chaos and bustle of the last few months, I totally forgot that I asked for them. So when she arrived back with this gorgeous set, I couldn’t believe my luck.

                                                The details and painting on these ones is fantastic!

Now the funny part of this story is that my husband has always sworn blind that I already own a set of nesting dolls. I on the other hand, have always maintained that he is delusional. About a week ago we were sorting through our rather large collection of Christmas decorations and guess what we found? A set of nesting dolls....

                                                      

                                                                           

What luck! After not having any nesting dolls, I have now got three sets. This is how they all fit together....

Am I the only one who is fascinated by these little ladies? Would anyone be keen for a Russian Doll Nearly Nothing pattern?

Let me know!