Vicki Matheny's "Paper Moon Primitives" have gained quite a reputation in the folk art category. Known for their detail, her work has been purchased by the National Museum of American Folk Art in New York City and has been featured in Country Living Magazine, too.

Vicki's folk art soft sculpture dolls feature a lot of antique quilts and she describes her work as "soft primitive folk art."

"Fortunately, living in Amish country there are quilts everywhere. I use authentic quilts and homespun in fabrics and I use all natural materials, nothing synthetic." Some of her dolls are painted and then aged with sanding and all of the clothing she creates is aged through a process of tea staining.

She signs all of her dolls, too, for collectors to verify authenticity.

"Not everyone likes really primitive dolls when they are too funky," she said. "My dolls are primitive, but are very detailed."

At 54, Vicki has been making dolls for more than 17 years. "I have always been interested in art. My grandmother spent hours with me teaching me to paint," Matheny said.

In 1993, she worked with a friend, Vicki Voltz of Smithville, Ohio, who was making dolls, and then went out on her own. "I was looking for a way to be self-employed and I wanted to work out of my home," Vicki said.

When she was a child though (even a young adult), no one imagined she would be creating dolls. In fact, she hated dolls.

"When I was young, I was a tomboy and I hated dolls," she said. "My mom made me a beautiful rag doll. My friend Scottty and I tied this doll to a tree and we pretended she was our prisoner of war... I think that broke my mom's heart that she was raising a tomboy."

Years later, she made it up to her mom by creating a doll for her mom in a christening gown. She placed the doll in an antique cradle and gave it to her for Christmas.

Vicki has an art degree from the College of Wooster in Ohio.