turkey feathers

Baby Love

Here's the latest creation to come from the beloved wool blanket--a baby bonnet; an old pattern with a simple design.

I've obviously got 'babies on the brain' and for good reason.  I'm going to be a grandma again for the second time; it's another baby girl for my son and daughter-in-law, due in the Spring!  Naturally, we're all thrilled, especially the girls, who will be aunts again too.  Ginger's still trying to wrap her mind around that concept.  Not easy to understand when you're only ten and have five aunts who are matronly figures.  None of that really matters though, we're just so pleased, and of course looking forward to planning another baby shower. 

Speaking of that, there was a surprise shower for Manda.  Her real-life friend, Kristy, set it up, and I was tickled to be part of it.  Nice to have a reason to pick up my sewing again after the holidays.  One of my favorite layette things to make are these soft flannel swaddling blankets.  This one says, Sugar Plum, an old Vogart design that I think is really cute.  I hope she likes it.  I thought of her the whole time I was working on it, so it went with lots of love. 

Marvelous Mail

The mailman was smiling when he came around to the back door carrying the big pink polka-dot box with butterfly stickers all over it.  I am sure he thought it was someone's birthday. 

It felt like mine, let me tell you.

I did a little swap with Calamity Kim;  a mini-quilt for an apron, and this is what she sent me. 

Oh my.

Every package held something special.  Packages within packages, all wrapped in delicious scraps of cloth and yummy trims.  This treasure box was for Mother's Day.  (How sweet is that?)

It was packed with many, many delightful things.

There were vintage hankies, seed beads, mica glitter, a flower pin, miniatures for the dollhouse, a tiny paper umbrella, alpha deck of letter cards. 

One package held a very cute heart-shaped pincushion on a stand. Everything seemed to be sprinkled with flowers and butterflies. 

And I hadn't even gotten to the package with the apron yet. 

Which was exquisite.  White chenille layered with flowers and butterflies, fairies, and birds, lace and yo-yo's.  Like a fabric collage. 

Grace walked into the room and immediately put it on. It matched her outfit perfectly.  I think I'm going have a heck of a time wranglin' this away from her.   Especially now that she's noticed it's reversible, with CUPCAKES on the other side. 

 

Well.  I just couldn't be more pleased with this swap.  Thank you so much, Kim! 

Also, Kim started a new flickr group called, Doll Quilt CrAzY.  A place to upload your doll quilt photos and to find inspiration for making some. 

Cheery Harvest Greetings

I know Halloween is over, but I wanted to share this very special something that arrived this week and took me completely by surprise, from the always delightful and sometimes hilarious "Mrs. Staggs" who keeps a wonderful little blog called A Happy Miscellaney which she calls her Household Gazette.  A visit to her site is like falling into the pages of a Victoria magazine.  Some of you may already know my fondness for that long ago published, but ne'er forgotten fantasy world of goodness and grace.  And that's just what you will find in "Merryville", a charming place to land when you need a respite from the harsh realities of life.  Like having tea with a dear friend and so much more. 

So, with great pleasure and abandon I tore open the box she sent me to find Miss Penelope Pumpkin (a truly amazing creation that she made!) along with assorted other lovelies to decorate my new buffet table.   Can you believe how sweet that is?  But I have to tell you; our very own Miss Gourdelia was absolutely greenish-gray with envy when she saw her.  Indeed, she cuts quite a striking figure, does she not?  Every detail is perfect and I simply LOVE HER!   I now feel like I have a little piece of Mrs. Staggs right here beside me, to remind me of all the good things, and especially the good kind people in this world that go out of their way to spread a little sunshine.  Thank you so much for that!  It truly warms my heart. 

It's been a busy week and I regret that I haven't been able to respond to all the kind comments left about Smokey and the Fuzzy Pink Monster.  But I hope you know, that I do read and enjoy each one so much, and am grateful for every word.  Thanks for visiting.  Have a great weekend!

Mailbox Friendship

My mailbox has been brimming with the sweetest treasures from afar.  This package arrived all the way from the UK.  A wonderful surprise from Simmy who's blog, Echos of a Dream I've come to know and love.  She's been experimenting with natural dyes and wool recently with pretty good success; the results of which (along with some tutorial) you can read about here.  The colors that she's been able to achieve from things like dahlias, carrot tops, logwood and comfrey just to name a few, are really wonderful.  Soft, natural, muted colors that are so pleasing to the eye.  I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of some of the spoils and can't wait to work with these.  Right now I'm still just staring at them in awe and feeling so happy, not to mention getting ideas about my own wool blanket project again.  Plus there was other fun stuff too that had the girls jumping for joy, like the sweet vintage book, pretty origami papers, foreign postage stamps, craft scrap, and even feathers from her Golden Laced Wyandotte hens, that I'm sure will inspire lots of crafting around here.  Grace and Simmy's daughter are about the same age and have been sending hand-written letters back and forth, kind of a casual cultural exchange of ideas and friendship across the pond.   The impact of which cannot be discounted.  After forty+ years I still correspond with my 4th grade penpal who lives in Canada.  She's my longest enduring friend even though we've only actually met in person twice.    I have a feeling that many of the bloggers I've "met" during this past year are going to become similar long-distance friends too.  Can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to read all the comments from those who keep popping in here.  I wish I could respond to each one, but time is pretty short these days and I'm often running to keep up.  Like um, now.  But before I bounce outta my chair, I have to show a couple more lovely things that arrived recently. This wonderful package was from Lauren, who makes the most incredible collage pieces. We did a swap for this garden apron.  She also included some fun candy, paper and stickers for the girls. They still can't believe that people they don't even know would send them such cool stuff.   And would you look at this collage. How sweet is that?  The colors are perfect too.  She also included a huge box of sewing things from an estate sale that I'm still going through.  So much neat stuff I can't tell you.  Look at that teensy embroidery hoop!  This was great because I haven't been out thrifting in ages.  Not much around here sometimes, but mainly I haven't had any time for it, so this was especially fun.  Thanks again everyone!

In Another World

I thought it was time to take another peek inside the dollhouse to see what kinds of things the dolls have been up to.  It looks like the Mistress of the Manor has returned from her shopping trip to Paris and has brought home a sweet little hat.  This is my Club Little House submission this time around and I'm really pleased with everything now that it's done.  However, I'm still waiting on two hat stands to arrive by post, but the rest is all packed and ready to go, so I shouldn't be holding up the show long, as I feared might happen.  The pink valise was made by Amy herself, it's so cute and has travel labels on it, and even a little button & loop closure.  Just right for those weekend get-aways.  The yo-yo quilt works on the bed and as a little rug.  It was made by Debra, along with the bed pillows, complete with crochet lace and a sweet lavender bouquet.  I hope I have that right.  Once I took the tags off  and started "playing" with all the things that came out of that wonderful box it was hard to remember, but I think that was from her too.  I love how it ties in with the theme I've got going in here.   That tiny embroidered pillow was a commissioned piece from Rosanna over in Italy.   I've never seen anything so small and charming as this, all done so perfectly.  The pink bear was also another piece she sent and just look how cute it is in the nursery.  The children are having a party today.  Jenny made the teensy flag banner and it couldn't be more festive.  I love it.  The dollhouse children got so excited when they saw it they ran around the room in wild abandon.  They were finally sent outside to play by Nanny Nellie, who has her hands quite full at the moment and didn't care for the noise.  She hasn't noticed that little Bettie has snuck back inside to play with her new teddy.  And where is the Mistress of the Manor anway?  I thought she was busy working in her studio, but apparently she stepped out to visit a sick friend.  It appears she's made something to cheer her back to health.  Wonder what it could be?  Her well-stocked craft cabinet is certainly full of interesting bits and bobs, compliments of Cerri.  Chest of sewing lovlies made by Glenn and Victoria, post-mod table from Emma.  More Club Little House swap pictures here.   I can't wait to see what comes next!

Thursday's Follies

Yesterday was the summer solstice  marking the longest day of the year, and summer seems to have arrived right on cue because it's been absolutely beautiful here.  There's a nice breeze coming in through the open windows this morning and the trees are full of birdsong.  All this makes it easier to face the mess I'm making in the sewing room.  But look!  I found Thursday in that pile with some other UFO's that I may get to finishing soon.  I'm also making much more progress on the Flower Pots quilt than I ever thought I would and am actually seeing light at the end of the tunnel.  I'll post a work in progress again tomorrow. 

(And for those who asked, you can find the transfer pattern for the Prissy Poodle towels is here.) 

But before I get back to the 'Unfinished Objects' pile, I want to share some of the delightful dollhouse doings around here.  As I've shown you, dollhouses can take many forms.  They can be as simple as a twig & moss structure from the garden (for fairies of coarse), fashioned from a wardrobe cabinet, or made from a kit like this Victorian dollhouse that I'd previously shared about here.   

This seemed like the perfect setting for a few more of our Club Little House swap goodies.  Here is the sweet china cupboard that Alicia made, which you can see fits just perfectly in our little kitchen here.   How nice is that?  We love it!  And all the plates and things are so cute too.  Plus we finally have a place to put this tiny toaster, which I love.  Grace made the scrumptious cake.  Upstairs the bedroom got a make-over and the yellow bed was replaced with the pink bed to match this adorable little night stand with drawers, that actually open, made by Alice.  I couldn't be more pleased with how these fit right in here.  It's all so wonderful.

Thanks everybody! 

Tiny Treasures

In an old house in Paris, all covered with vines,  Pepito and friends celebrate good times.

Another Birthday!  It seems the fun and games just never stop around here.   This time it's Pepito who is celebrating with his friends in the dollhouse kitchen.  The adorable party favors are compliments of Club Little House Member Janet.  Thank you for such a sweet surprise!   We love everything and so do the dolls!  And again, thank you Amy for getting all this together so beautifully and without a hitch.  Here's a bigger view of the "old house in Paris", our largest doll house.  This DYI media/clothes closet was the solution for keeping all the little bits up off the floor.  The dolls essentially live upstairs above the bakery/toy shop.  How very lucky and convenient for them, eh?  The two drawers are perfect for storing more accessories.  We've found that the 8-inch Madeline dolls are the perfect scale for this, and Barbie furniture works well for them.  More dollhouses and Club Little House swap goodies to come.

Dollhouse update HERE!

Flower Garland Apron

I'm pretty happy with this garden smock.  It's for a blog-pal swap; Lauren is making me a little art piece in exchange.  Lauren's blog (Alice Lands) is no more, boo-hoo...but hopefully she'll resume things once she's found more time for it.  These blog updates do take time. 

There's a big pocket on one side.  Which you can see is empty.  But not for long...I will be including a little surprise inside it now that I outted this!

Dollhouse Delights

 

"Oh how lovely, we have visitors!"

The attic with garden tools and various other sundries.

 

The nursery is quite full at the moment.

 

A lovely well-stocked larder with cakes, pies, cookies, and other fantasy foods fit only for dolls.  There's something so magical about a dollhouse to me.  It's a world that can seem quite real with its inhabitants taking on a life of their own. 

These diminutive surprise packages are being sent to Amy today for the Club Little House swap that we are participating in.  Grace put these together for it and neither one of us can wait to see what the other club members are doing.   The deadline is at the end of the month...but oh-me-oh-my I don't think I can wait that long!

Yellow Bird Bag

 Orange Friday!  And using what I have.

I just put the finishing touches on this dainty little bag that's going out to Didine who's been waiting a very long time (and very patiently I might add) to do a swap. Used this same bird motif again, but did the embroidery in different colors to blend with the warm golden yellows here. I'm really having fun making these little tissue pouches, which are making the rounds again on lots of craft blogs. The super talented and generous Cassie aka Bella Dia had this tutorial for one. And I thought I saw another one on craftster too. They're quick and fun, and make use of scraps left-over from bigger projects. I've made about a dozen so far. This one's going along with the bag, that will have a few more surprises tucked inside. Now, off it goes to the shipping post.

All The Trimmings

My mailbox has been brimming with goodies this week!  Good things come in small packages. Especially small 2 x 5-inch packages. Just look at all this.  I feel like I won the lottery, or gone to rick-rack heaven at least. The incredibly talented LK Ludwig was kind enough to pass this along *just because* she knows my fondness for the stuff.  And she also included a darling old simplicity pattern for cute stuffies! I haven't seen this one before.  It sure is cute, is it not? All I can say is, I am really touched. Thank you so much!  I don't know what it is I love about rick-rack, but it speaks to me in mysteriously happy ways. The packaging is always fun to examine too. Long-gone names like Boiltex (now Coats & Clark), Trimtex, and Cameo (my personal favorite from Lion Mills). Some sold for a mere 19c. Imagine that! I ask you just what wonderful thing can we buy today for 19c? Not even one button, I'm afraid.  These older colors always seem easier on the eyes too.  Most new rick-rack is made from polyester now, I think the cotton is nicer, just knowing that it was grown from the earth and not spun out of a recipe of chemicals, although I do succumb to poly when I have to. Gosh, I hate to open some of these and spoil their perfectly preserved packaging (some 50 years old). The red stripe and the navy dotty bias binding is especially sweet. I'm already imagining all sorts of things I can do with them.

Mini-Swap

Earlier this week there was a BIG surprise that was delivered by the postman.

Upon closer inspection, we noticed, it had lots of decorations. 

A clue to its origin. 

Can you say Mini-Swap!

 

 

Our swap partners were Silus (7) and his Mom Sara, and baby brother, Rowan. (No blog, so I'll show both swaps). 

 

I can tell they had fun putting this package together for us, and you can see this was a bright moment in our day when it arrived.

First there were cleverly folded stars that changed colors when held up to the light. Really pretty! Included was more of this kite paper and directions for making origami. 

Then we found these cute "walnut critters"; turtles and ladybugs that Silus made and that Ginger played with the rest of the day. They had quite an adventure when she took them outside too.  

Sara made each of us a yarrow stick from the herbs in her garden using essential oils and beeswax and I can't even tell you how wonderful they are. Truly. Our dry chapped lips are no more! 

And we especially liked the paint chip collage from Silus.  It's hanging up in the playroom now so we can all enjoy looking at it. 

 Here's some of the loot we sent, including a puppy dog we made for baby Rowan.   

Well, I have to say, that this was such a fun activity for us, and it was  especially nice to get to know Sara and her sweet family better.

Thank you Molly for the fun and games!

Click on the button to see more mini-swappers.

 

Happy Mail

On with the show with some swap news.  First, there was this wonderful surprise waiting in my mailbox last week; a thank-you present from Glenn for sharing some of my doll-making supplies with her.  She's making 'Little Blossom' for spring. (Doll pattern formerly from Magic Cabin--now out of print.) I am already using the fabric; pink and red--perfect.  Thank you!  I love everything.

 
Another surprise from my Gifty 3 swap partner Sarah (Hip To Piece Squares). A gorgeous felted bag filled to the brim with sweeties!  LOVE it.  Thank you again.

And thanks to Leslie (Paper Princess) for giving her time and organizing the fabulously fun Gifty 3 swap.  Photo pool of Gifty swappers here.