St Blaize's Brigit Doll

St Blaize is an inspired craftswoman and photographer with a lovely Flickr series featuring her Brigit Doll. Her comments under each photo are worth reading, as well. Here is a sample, but do go have a look at the whole set:
St. Brigid in her Spring Cloak

The greens represent the dark evergreen colors at the top, contrasted with the new bright growth of spring.

Materials include: Willow branch, manzanita branches, pearly everlasting flowers, and dry chaparral grasses and flowers. Her head is stuffed with the lichen usnea.

Techniques include: stuffing, tying, machine applique, and machine piecing.

This is an interpretation of a traditional "corn dolly", using materials from the local chapparal ecosystem of the Central Coast of California. The willow branch is from a riverbed, part of the watershed of the Monterey Bay.

St. Brigid's Day is celebrated on the first or second of February in Ireland, and coincides with Imbolc, one of the four seasonal celebrations of the Gaelic calendar.