The Irish believe that the fairies are the fallen angels who were cast down by the Lord God out of heaven for their sinful pride. And some fell into the sea, and some on the dry land, and some fell deep down into hell. But the fairies of the earth and the sea are mostly gentle and beautiful creatures, who will do no harm if they are let alone, and allowed to dance on the fairy raths in the moonlight to their own sweet music, undisturbed by the presence of mortals. (Story origin)

This little fairy dress was made from dried grasses, dried hydrangea and adorned with tufts of field flowers. Each dress is one of a kind and some, like this one, are so fragile, they need to be mounted into a custom shadowbox and protected behind glass.

The Fallen Angel is encased in a vintage wooden cigar box as its shadowbox. It comes with mounting hardware on the back to hang upon a wall or to sit upon a shelf.

Now that it's autumn, the Wee Folk split up their chores. The Huntresses go out each day for small birds and vole and The Gatherers work in tandem, stealing the pine nuts away from the red squirrels, and collecting honey from combs. Here are four Wee Folk Dresses photographed in Maine.

This fairy dress is made from oak and red maple leaf with an off-the-shoulder style adorned by a miniature beach rose. It has been "backstitched" with dried bunchgrass.

This fairy dress was made from dessicated oak leaf I found in Fernald's Neck and adorned with a skirt of pale blond hydrangea. Its wings are yellow and spotted. Each comes with its own custom made miniature hanger.

This fairy is made from red maple and the skirt is dried bramble interspersed with dried purple flower sprays. The back has been laced up with red thread and adorned with red berries.

This lemon-yellow fairy is made from Elm leaf and adorned with a fern skirt and applique. The fragile dress is stitched up with pale yellow thread in the back.

I had learned in August that I'd won a full scholarship to the Salty Quill Women's Writing Retreat on McGee Island (about a half hour off Port Clyde) for a half week in early October, 2017. Along with 12 other female writers who were also there to work on projects, it allowed me several full days to fully focus on my latest novel, which is a luxury many people don't get to have.

Besides freelance writing for a living, one of the literary projects I do is create these miniature "A Room of One's Own" shadowboxes to honor female writers (as a nod to Virginia Woolf). Here is an example.

Maybe not ironically, I chose to camp out in the tiny library next to our room, which gave me the solitude to really dig deep into the novel. This became my real life  "Room of One's Own."

It also spurred a renewed commitment to finish this book (and because of the time at Salty Quill) I now have a timeline to complete the last few chapters. I'm grateful to all of the women who made it possible.