The Deep River Chapter of Colonial Dames XVII Century held their winter meeting Feb. 2 at the Country Club of North Carolina.

Chaplain Nathalie Scott opened the meeting with a prayer, and President Barbara Reining introduced the guest speaker, Martha Weaver. Weaver and her husband, Charles, moved to Pinewild from Paulding, Ohio, in 1996. Still back in Ohio are three daughters and their families, which include 11 grandchildren.

Weaver is a graduate of Bowling Green State University and earned a master's degree from Indiana State University. She taught in the Ohio public school system for 20 years, prior to retiring and moving to Pinehurst. Weaver is active in the College Club, Linden Garden Club of Pinewild and sings in the Chancel Choir of Community Presbyterian Church. Her hobbies include embroidery, cross stitching, knitting, doll making, reading, music, and golf.

Weaver spoke to the group on making porcelain dolls. This is a hobby that developed after she had begun to collect heirloom dolls years ago. After seeing an ad for dolls of the 13 colonies and buying the first one, she decided to collect the full set. The dolls intrigued her because each doll came with names and family histories and was dressed in costumes of the period and location it represented.

After retiring to Pinehurst she happened upon a store -- Doll Expressions -- and signed up to take classes in creating her own heirloom dolls. Her first doll was a large golfer doll that she named Charles, after her husband. She brought this doll as a sample to show the members of the Deep River chapter. After this first doll she began making smaller dolls for herself and each of her grandchildren. She named the dolls and dressed them in themes requested by her grandchildren.

Weaver described the steps involved in making these dolls, which begin with the greenware for the doll's head and upper body. After firing, it is ready to be painted, which involves a number of steps and then requires kiln firing again. The body of the doll can be either cloth or porcelain. Weaver chose cloth for her dolls. She showed the group how the materials she selected and assembledallowed movement of the arms and head. The final steps of the process are placing the eyes in the head, a tedious process to ensure they are straight, and then adding the wig. She created and sewed unique costumes for each of the dolls. Weaver said it took her about eight weeks to make a doll.

Following Weaver's talk, Reining opened up the business meeting. Agnes Buckley announced that there are 13 new potential members in addition to the two that are well into their research and paperwork required for membership. Librarian Cynthia Buttner announced a project for the group of developing an index of genealogical books owned by the members of Deep River Chapter. This virtual library could be shared with other chapter members to assist them with their research. Anne Ratcliffe thanked the members for the Christmas gifts they donated to Veterans' Services. These gifts were distributed at the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville prior to Christmas. She also thanked members for bringing Valentines that wereput on the veterans' lunch and dinner trays on Valentine's Day.

The nominating committee announced the slate of officers for the 2007-2009 term. These officers will be installed at a tea in May. Details of the state and national conferences were shared, and Scott closed the meeting with the benediction.