CATHY HENDRICKSON
BIO

I have been practicing and perfecting my creative skills with dolls and yo-yo quilting for over twenty years. For several years, my husband, Paul - also an artist, and I owned and operated a retail shop in Metamora, Indiana. While we no longer have our own shop, my work can be found at area arts and crafts festivals including the Delta Theta Christmas Gift and Hobby Show, Indiana Downs Arts Fest and at the Shelby County Historical Society Museum Gift Shop all in Shelbyville, Indiana; also, the Winter Arts and Crafts Fair and year round at the Brown County Craft Gallery both in Nashville, Indiana. I also show my work at the Fiber Arts Show in Bloomington, Indiana and at the Hanover College Christmas Fair in Hanover, Indiana

My folk dolls grace homes as well as provide joy to both children and adults. My dolls are created in a variety of themes and sizes from Americana motifs to calicos and faceless Amish dolls. My Raggy Annie and Andie type dolls are sought for collections and decorative purposes. In addition to my dolls, I create yo-yo mug mats, small quilts in several colors and Americana designs. The art of yo-yo quilting dates back many years as a way for women to use up scraps and worn-out clothing to make pillow tops, quilts, and even made into trivets using bottle caps inside each yo-yo. I never throw away any scrap if it is big enough for a yo-yo and before you know it you can become addicted to making yo-yos. I am sometimes given scraps from friends and family to use in my quilting projects. I am working on new items all the time.

A self taught artist, I use the skills gained making clothes for myself and my family to create. Once a medical underwriter for a large insurance company, I now devote much of my time to being an artist and creating new dolls and yo-yo items.

I currently sell both retail and wholesale and can be reached via e-mail at pcarts@lightbound.com Contact me for wholesale pricing information.

A native Hoosier, born in Anderson, Indiana my family moved from Sellersburg, Indiana to Shelbyville, Indiana where I graduated from high school. I met my husband at our church where we were later married. We were blessed with 3 wonderful children who all live within 10 miles of us and they presented us with 6 grandchildren (3 boys and 3 girls) .

I worked in the secretarial and underwriting fields for several years when I decided to change my life and do something completely different so I fell back on my knowledge of sewing and started making sunbonnets sized for infants to adult to sell in our small craft shop; moving on to making dolls of all types i.e. cows, pigs, giraffes, cats, teddy bears. We also sold a variety of dried herbs, homemade breads in our shop. After Metamora, we went on to attend a few local art and craft fairs and started selling. I still sell at 5-6 fairs a year. Deciding to be in retail again, I was juried into a cooperative craft gallery in Nashville, Indiana about 8 years ago where I only work 1 day a month plus being the Secretary at our monthly meetings.

In 2001, I was diagnosed with diabetes after suffering a silent heart attack on Mother's Day. I underwent open heart surgery in June of that year with 9 bypasses which slowed me down a few months but I am back full time once again sewing every day even with some eye problems caused by the diabetes. Some days I may only sew for a couple of hours and some days I have to force myself to stop just to get dinner on the table and sleep.

Nevertheless, I really enjoy the creativity involved in the doll making process and plan to continue for as long as I can, maybe even passing along the need to sew to one of my grand-daughters.