Please Meet...

... Krupenichka. A traditional russian rag doll filled with grains such as buckwheat, wheat or barley. The great thing about Krupenichka is that you don't need to sew anything apart from the first step - making a small sack for the body. The rest is just cutting, folding and dressing the doll up.

Isn't she cute? She is very small, only 8.5 cm tall and her body is filled with barley. I was going to use buckwheat but then changed my mind because I was making the doll in the evening and did not have any buckwheat at hand. You can find a step by step tutorial here. It's in Russian but there are plenty of photos for you to work out what to do. On this website you can find some historical information about traditional russian dolls. Unfortunately, the text is in Russian and the translation function does not do a good job. But there are many interesting and colourful photos there.