Heather’s Hutch

I have just the prescription for anyone who’s feeling cynical or flippant or world-weary: daughters! The playful high-spirits and sense of wonder that my little girls Merritt and Chandler bring to my world inspire and invigorate me. What imaginations they have – they’ll notice one tiny detail in a painting and weave a whole story from it.

I’ve paid tribute to the “everything nice” world of little girls before, but my new Sugar and Spice Cottage Series is the first collection solely devoted to “dollhouse” cottages that any little girl would love to live in – especially one of my own daughters!

Heather’s Hutch, which leads off the series, is no dollhouse – it’s inspired by a real stone cottage I discovered in the English Cotswolds. But the thatched roof and pink and white dogwoods make it especially attractive to young ladies and I just know there’s a little play garden behind the gate.

The hen with her chicks and pigeons are for my little Chandler, who gets so excited whenever she sees birds. And the rich plum color on the doors above my windows is for another favorite “girl” of mine – my lovely wife Nanette.