Goals Post – Forward to 2010!

Perhaps this post should be titled “Living in Dreamland.” It’s unquestionably the most ambitious list of goals I’ve ever set out at the beginning of the year, and I’ve not ever completed my shorter lists, but my philosophy of goals remains that having a higher target means I hit more, even if I don’t complete them all. The most important factor for me is to remain realistic in that I remember it IS an overly ambitious list, and that anything I do accomplish is a victory; it’s not a defeat to not do all of it. These are goals to help me stay on track, not requirements that identify whether I’m a worthwhile person!

That said, here are my goals for 2010:

My online miniatures group is doing a goals based project, and we were asked to spell out five mini goals, so I will start with those:

1. Finish the interior and/or exterior of Friendship Cabin, a Real Good Toys Adirondack Cabin that we started several years ago, but which has languished untouched since sometime before the beginning of 2009. Here’s the album where I chronicled our first days working on the project.
2. Finish my Gail Wilson Hitty, which was started with enthusiasm during the online class, worked on for three nights, and now has the rest of the girls giving me “the look” for not getting their sister done. I have a little glitch in the painting, and since this is a challenging project for me anyway, the moment I encountered a problem, I put her away for a time when I could really feel relaxed. ‘Nuff said? :S
3. Finish my Teresa Layman Cottage By the Sea project – actually barely started, and a massive project for someone who really doesn’t like embroidery or French knots. This will be a rug for Friendship Cabin.
4. Finish my Boat Sampler – stitched on silk gauze – lots to go on it, but most of the hardest part is completed. Like the Layman project, I started this on our last cruise. Unlike the Layman project, I loved working on this one, so I did quite a bit more of it. Also belongs in Friendship Cabin, and perhaps will be finished on another cruise…
5. Knit something tiny – size 4/0 needles or smaller – probably something for my future miniature yarn shop

Fiber Goals:

1. See #5 in the miniatures
2. Publish at least 4 knitting patterns – should actually be more than this, as I have 3 projects that just need the paperwork part of this goal in order to be ready. The paperwork is the hard part of course… I’m knitting my next shawl design right now, and I’ve promised another KAL for the spring, so I’m going to be busy with this!
3. Finish my spinning wheel – I can’t believe this sat untouched for an entire year. Where on earth did the time go??? The staining is about half done, but it’s an involved project. Once that’s done, I need to finish and assemble it.
4. Learn to use said wheel
5. Knit a project from wool I’ve cleaned and spun, using a pattern I’ve designed – I have a bit of a jumpstart on this, as I’ve cleaned a goodly pile and picked some of it already.
6. Stash all my yarn on Ravelry – yes, maybe I’ll get it completed this year… – Starting with 550
7. Get competent purling continental. I think I need to have a dedicated project for this… maybe a washcloth.
8. Make another 2 pairs of socks for myself (maybe I’ll get the next done before I wear holes in what I have?) This was one pair until a friend twisted my arm and said I should try for two – and one pair has to be top down, to boot! Bad thing here is that I also promised a pair to my daughter, so this means three pair this year, when I’ve never done more than one. Gulp!
9. Finish at least 3 of the projects currently languishing in my WIP/UFO tubs – items started before July 1, 2009. This one will also be a challenge. I love the stuff in my UFO tub, even though it’s all pretty good at inducing guilt. I’ve found that designing really slows down the knitting, though, especially on other people’s patterns!

Other Creative Goals:

1. Finish at least one of the remodeling projects… sigh… Acceptable candidates are the kitchen (which is in the impossible dream category), painting the door to my future studio (easy), or finishing the nook, laundry room, or my sewing room. Nook and laundry room both depend on hubby – most especially the nook – though I have a load of work to do in those two areas, too.
2. Organize my computer photos, then print and label as I think necessary. I’m rereading this and laughing at the thought of actually getting it done, but…
3. Spend at least a few minutes every week making music – LOVE doing this, but I’ve really ignored this part of my life for the last few years. Looking for a flute – like I need more instruments around here?
4. Learn my new camera – for starters, needing to know why I can’t take a decent close up with a camera that cost this much!
5. Make up a Gail Wilson kit – see mini goal #2
6. Finish Reba – poor thing! Her sisters were finished in 2006 (pix in this album) but my teacher suddenly stopped classes with Reba just one firing away from being done. Every attempt I’ve made to get her fired since then has ended in failure. Need to get a kiln up and going here so I don’t have to depend on anyone else.
7. Make a pair of socks on my CSM – This could be anything from amazingly easy to a terrible headache, based on things I’ve heard. First task is getting the new needles and such that I need.
8. Probably crazy, but I joined a Navajo style weaving Yahoo group, and now I have the bug to weave something, even if it’s small. I’m torn between tri-loom and Navajo style, but would adore trying both. One item is enough to qualify.
9. Move one of my dolls from hospital patient status to display status – maybe Aaron, so he can show off his adorable knitted romper? He is on this page.

Personal Goals – and these tend to have a very familiar ring to them:

1. End the year 25 pounds lighter than I started it. Why is this so hard?!
2. Read 100 books
3. End the year debt free – both money and promises made
4. Go somewhere new – state or country. I have a life goal of visiting all 50 states and all 7 continents, and I need to keep at it if I’m going to succeed!
5. Clean out one of my email accounts – frighteningly big project, but I’ve made a lot of progress already in the first two days of the year. It’s amazing how quickly this can fall behind again, though.
6. I have a challenge with a friend to blog at least once each week
7. Solidly memorize the scripture verses on my calendar
8. Get the treadmill inside – Sounds like no big deal, but it’s going to need cleaned up, and the area where it belongs is packed solid with things that don’t belong where they are – which aren’t where they belong because their spots are filled with stuff that doesn’t belong where it is, which… well… you get the idea!

It’s About Time!

I think I’m back in business here… There I was happily floating on a little cloud, enjoying my perfectly fantastic month, and all the sudden I got kicked hard in the backs of my knees… but more on that later. Today I want to share my fun and somewhat naughty excursion to a new-to-me antique shop last week while I was having my car serviced. (Whereas it’s fine for people to have hiccups, it’s not such a good thing in a car…) I drive 90 minutes to get to a mechanic I trust, then borrow a car for the day and try to find something interesting to do. This time my sister suggested an antique store in a town I’d never visited. I had TOO much fun, but after the past couple of weeks, I sort of felt like I deserved it.

Like most antique stores with a collection of vendors, some things were priced far too high, many just right, and with a little bit of time, there were some lovely deals to be found. My “bestest” stuff came from a booth offering an additional 10% off of everything – a quick way for me to get into trouble, but at least it’s fun trouble! In that booth, I adopted a clock that is unlike anything else I had to this point. I don’t NEED another clock, but with this one being so different and priced nicely, it sort of had to come home with me. It has some lightly dinged corners, and the pendulum needs to see a jeweler to have the hook repaired, but it has a lovely cathedral gong and runs fine, so it’s mine. A little bit of quick sleuthing tells me it’s a Junghan’s clock, and that, too, is new to me, so I’m very happy with it.

The other thing I found in that booth was something else I desperately don’t need, but he was just irresistible. From working on my family tree, I suspect I have more than a few ancestors who looked very much like this guy, and truth be told, because of where I bought it, he could actually be one of them! Isn’t this great?

In another booth, I found this little sweetheart. She is simply wonderful, but she’s not the sort of doll I collect, so I told her I’d bring her home and play adoption agent. I have her listed in my doll store (link in sidebar). She’s a Nancy Ann Storybook Doll #184 Friday’s Child. She’s exquisitely perfect, and her box is nearly perfect (slight stain on the bottom). The neat thing is that I borrowed a Nancy Ann book from the library, and the brochure in her box isn’t pictured in the book. It falls between the single one listed 1946 and the “early 1947″ version, so I guess she has the late 1946 brochure. Wonder if it’s rare, perhaps? Just a bit surprising to see such a thick and well researched book not have the one Nancy Ann brochure I’ve ever seen in my life!

Isn’t she a sweetheart?

I got a few other odds and ends – a few bells, a couple photos, and a sewing box stocked with crochet stuff and some odd lace pieces I’ll have to share one of these days. I was just especially excited to share these three things. They really perked up my day quite nicely – and I needed some perking!

Running Away From Home

(As always, please excuse these stupid out of focus pictures. I’ve still not managed to get my camera problems resolved – too much going on! Also, at least as of this moment, I’m finding the photos to be showing up somewhat sporadically. If you see a big blank spot with the word “Atlanta” and a number, it means a picture is supposed to be there. Try clicking on the title of this post. For some reason, I’m seeing different photos when I do that.)

So, last week, on rather short notice, I ran away from home. A friend wrote in the middle of June, asking if I’d like to go to Atlanta for the UFDC Convention. I had next to no money, but I couldn’t resist the draw of some time away from home, so as crazy as the idea was, I said yes. I knew I could scratch together enough for my flight and my share of the room (which wasn’t inexpensive!), but past that, I would have to depend on peanut butter crackers, potential birthday money, and whatever sales I could stimulate in the few weeks before the trip. Happily, I came up with enough that I could eat one cheap meal out each day and have something to spend in the sales rooms, and a last minute addition of another roommate made it even a bit better. Still, I have to say that it was really tough being in such a fantastic sea of awesome dolls and accessories with so very little money, and there were a couple of wonderful dolls I lost out on because they were just a little beyond what I had in my pocket. But I didn’t come home empty handed -  and now that it’s a week after the event, I don’t even mind having eaten so much peanut butter.

Hotels that look like this inside don’t come with cheap rooms…

View out our window – see the capitol building?

Martine and Hitty Darlene went along with me, so they did a bit of looking around for treasures. Hitty D. found little in her price range that she liked, but she was quite pleased with the pretzel, which reminded her very much of the huge German pretzels one can purchase at Englischer Gartens in Munich.

She really wished she had money to purchase the great bobbin lace pillow, but it was definitely out of her price range,

and the horse was fun to ride, but she couldn’t imagine paying $200 for it!

Martine, with some judicious bargaining and her sweet smile, brought home all sorts of goodies for her brothers and sisters, and a pair of Joyce Nicholsen’s espadrilles for herself. The little doll in the trunk is one of Alison Harwood’s fantastic creations. Jean-Paul apparently already ran off with his little wooden floor puzzle. Martine has promised to teach Gayelle to knit with the dress kit she bought for her. The purse is “so Malloree” that I chipped in a little bit of my money when Martine found herself a bit short at the end of the day.

We also picked out a few pieces of fabric.

And I bought a little something for my sewing room…

I really had a strong desire to bring home a new doll this year, but on my budget, the only things I was finding I could afford were the mundane – which I really don’t need. I’m definitely sufficiently stocked with those. If money were no object (That will be the day!), this is the one doll I’d have had to have owned. She wasn’t the most expensive doll there by a long shot, but she’s the one who stole my heart most completely.

This beautiful Kestner pink tint, covered wagon, china I thought was going to be mine. She wasn’t priced too badly, but still out of my range, but since it was the end of the last day of the show when I found her, I took the info and intended to contact the seller in a few weeks. However, I went back a half hour later and she was gone – sold. I embarrassed myself by crying. I’d so wanted her! However, she was $25 more than every penny I’d brought along, so…

I did find someone to come home with me, though, and she’s a pretty little gal who is unlike anyone else I have, so a nice addition to the family. And I could actually afford to adopt her, which was a big plus. She’s an ABG Dolly Madison china doll, from the early 1870’s, about 25″ tall. Clothes are not original, nor do they come remotely close to fitting her. In fact, they are so small that it’s going to be a trick getting the dress off of her. Her seller was a bit of a sourpuss, too, so she was more than happy to come home with me. I’m looking forward to having some time to dress her more appropriately, and I’m hoping I happen to have at least some underthings to fit her – though I’m not holding my breath on that count.

On Friday, we went to the Atlanta History Center. We saw some wonderful stuff there, but sadly weren’t allowed to bring any of it home in pictures, making it hard to retain what we saw and learned during our visit. These are two of the period homes which we toured – the Swan House and the Tulley Smith Plantation, two totally different types of homes, and each utterly charming in its own way.

And our trip through town netted me one of my favorite styles of city pix.

And in addition to the touring and shopping, there was all sorts of great fun, meeting a number of people I’d only known online until now, room parties, aching feet, and the pride of conquering the public transit system in Atlanta… All in all a very nice week!

There Wasn’t A Parade…

So, it rained where I was on Independence Day, but at least there wasn’t a parade scheduled. I guess it could have been worse, right? The traditional picnic moved indoors and bore a distinctly different flavor, but the silver lining was that there weren’t any flies or mosquitos to swat, and the food was as good as ever, if not better. However, one tradition that was upheld would make me just as  happy to not continue. Even though my order was taken for a hamburger on the grill, by the time I got through the foodline, there wasn’t a single burger left, and only two hotdogs. I seriously dislike hotdogs, and there were two people behind me of a different opinion, so after I made a few bitter complaints, I resignedly grabbed a burger bun (there were LOTS of those left…) and heaped it with sauteed onions and pickle relish. I’d never had an onion sandwich before, but it actually wasn’t half bad so long as I didn’t think a lot about the burger I’d been eagerly anticipating. Besides, not wanting to risk a further shut out, I went through the dessert line without waiting to politely eat first, so I was looking at a double helping of Aunt Joyce’s Black Raspberry Cobbler. That little delicacy made it tough to keep pouting.

My sister and I both have June birthdays, and we live far enough apart now that we’ve begun waiting to exchange gifts on the Fourth. I’ve been bothered in recent years by the fact that no matter what I get her, it seems as if I end up with the better present. This year I was sure I’d done well – until I saw what she’d found for me!

Is this special or what?! I was nearly speechless! I don’t know how she finds things like this – or lets me have them instead of keeping them for herself – but she’s good at it! I was so overwhelmed, though, that I was suddenly very much afraid that she wouldn’t like her own gift. All that assurance blew right out the door!

So what did I get for her?

I’ve gone from avid ebayer investing hours searching for special deals to checking in once a week or so for literally a couple of minutes. They’ve so managed to ruin everything that was good about that site… but that’s beside the point. A couple months ago, I DID check in for a minute, and someone had listed this little doll for sale on a BIN just minutes earlier. Now my sister collects Victorian and Edwardian wedding memorabilia and has a definite soft spot for dolls. This is the first time I’d ever seen one of the older German all-bisques dressed as a bride, and I didn’t even hesitate. That doll was bought and paid for in moments. Never mind the fact she came bald… or rather, never mind that fact until I was faced with the fact that she still needed hair the day before she was to go to her new home. I’d just not been sure how I was going to managed such a delicate operation. She’s only about 3.5″ tall (forgot to measure!), and her veil and crepe paper gown are most definitely fragile – not to mention her headpiece was still firmly glued in place. Finally, my spinning experience proved the solution. After I cleaned her (which was also not so easy to do without damaging her finery),  I took a tiny tuft of merino that  matched her eyebrows to perfection… and stopped dead. I couldn’t just glue a hunk of merino on her head. She needed some sort of a part or something to create a tiny bit of style, but I had no matching thread. Hmmm… go knit for a while… VOILA! Thread! It’s a spun substance! I fingerspun enough of the merino to tie around the tuft, and I was back in business! I found my sewing up needle to be far better than a toothpick for placing the hair, as it didn’t stick and pull, so all in all, it was my spinning and knitting that were the basis for restoring this little sweetie. I loved the irony of that!

And – if you are actually holding your breath in suspense, my sister absolutely loved her doll, and like me, despite the many hours she’s perused the antique wedding stuff, she’d also never seen a doll of her type, so as the saying goes, I done good! We were both very happy people. I’m trying hard not to worry about what I’m going to find for next year, though…

One other happening of note on the Fourth… My little niece had eyed my knitting on several occasions, but she also lives at a distance from me, so I’d not had the opportunity to sneak knitting needles into her hands yet. Having seen the weather forecast, though, I’d slyly slipped my beginner kits into my basket when I was packing Saturday morning. Sure enough, the weather cooperated with me, and shortly after supper, I had a six-year-old on my lap, intently wrangling knitting needles and lavender wool, cheerfully announcing and displaying every single completed stitch. Now THAT is what I call fun – and a super end to the evening!

Oh… and she dropped some very  strong hints that perhaps someday I might make her something… GRIN!

On Being Eclectic

For many years now, “eclectic” has been the first adjective to come out of my mouth when I’m describing myself. Never more than yesterday have I seen such a compact proof of it being the single most perfect word there is for my personality, though. It was one of those frustrating days when the majority of things I’ve been waiting to receive in the mail all arrive at once. I had a huge stack of packages to open – a real Christmas type moment. Personally, I like it better when things dribble in an item at a time, but the postal service never asked me…

Anyway, when I took an accounting of what had arrived, I laughed out loud. It was me to a “T” – and if properly employed, enough stuff to keep me busy for an entire year! No wonder I always have more to do that time to do it – but I digress…

I like being me, and I love being eclectic. I’d never be able to function in a world where everything was always the same – where I didn’t have oodles of options dancing about me at every moment teasing me to go this way or that. I’ve fantasized at times about only having one thing with which to deal at a given moment, but it takes me about 10 seconds in that line of thought to know I’d go nuts by the end of day one. Besides, I’d never be able to choose the one single interest that I’d want to keep as an only child.

Now, if you are curious, here’s my ever so eclectic packages from the day’s mail.

First off, this is a fantastic new cloth doll book by Antonette Cely. Actually, I’m not sure just how new it is for the rest of the world, but I just discovered it recently. Titled Cloth Dollmaking, it’s jammed with enough information, details, and tips to keep me busy for months – and I’d still not have mastered everything she has to offer in this book, which clearly demonstrates her expertise. Even just to study, it would keep me engrossed for hours, but beyond that, I know I will have dozens of dolls flitting around in my mind, begging for life long before I’ll come to the last page

Next I opened a package containing two back issues of the ever so incredible Gildebrief. If I could only keep one doll magazine in my house, this would undoubtedly be the one. Eye-candy, porcelain doll painting, and incredible, detailed costuming… this is the Cadillac of magazines for the doll artists – particularly those with a strong leaning toward bisque dolls and historic costuming. I’ve seldom seen anything in Gildebrief that I didn’t want to make – now!

Already feeling rich, I opened package three – another flat package, though in appearances only. Due to the cost and timing of the Circular Sock Machine convention this year, even with it being just a short drive away, I had to skip it. Since I don’t have my machine working yet, I had truly longed for the opportunity to go – the perfect chance to put this little beauty to work. As a consolation prize for those of us who had to stay home, extra copies of the convention book were printed and sold, and I’m thrilled! It’s got more info between the covers than I’d have ever dreamed, and even if my CSM were my only toy, I don’t think I’d be lacking for things to try for a very long time. I’m so glad I bought this!

By this point, I was almost of a mind to leave the rest of the packages for another day! However, they were blocking access to the kitchen, so I opened the fourth one – and smiled as my love of reading was blessed with a new treasure, a volume of new old children’s book series for me. One of the many reasons my handle is “Face From the Past” is because of books – and especially these old ones with pictorial covers. I have but few, but I’m terribly partial to them. I just recently discovered Honey Bunch, and I’m quite enamored with her at the moment, and eager to see how much of the series I can find in this edition – without breaking the bank.

Now I had but three packages remaining – though really just two items – or a hundred or so, depending upon how one counts these things. The fifth was two boxes holding enough of my beloved Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool to keep me knitting for months! I got a total of 53 skeins in five different colors and at bargain prices. I also refuse to confess to anyone who isn’t snooping around on Ravelry just how many skeins of Silky Wool I now own. I do so love this stuff…

Having fed my knitting, dollmaking, costuming, reading, and CSM inner people, it was time to come back to reality – though not as painful as some versions of same. I last opened a box jammed full of work – pretty work, I’ll admit, but definitely work. I now have somewhere over 100 antique fireplace tiles, which will eventually be doing duty in my Chocolate and Roses sewing room with something else that arrived recently… I’m going to save that for another post, though. For now, I will just say that I’m going to have something wonderful, but I’m going to have a lot of hours cleaning up and setting tiles before I can enjoy the end result. Stay tuned!

It’s a Frame-up… or not…

I’ve had two frustrating framing projects for about 10 years now – made more frustrating by not having the time to spend hours on end searching ebay daily for possible fits. While excavating the top of my possum belly baking cupboard today, I came across the items again and thought I’d share my frustrations. Who knows? Maybe someone out there reading this has the perfect solution!

The first item is a darling paper cut I bought on ebay. Seller said it was “vintage” for whatever that is worth. Personally, it looks laser cut to me… but I adore it whatever it is and would love to have it framed. Problem is, I can’t see beyond the first thing I ever imagined for it – one of those flat, black frames from maybe the 1920’s or so – like this one.

The actual dimensions on the paper cutting are 6.75″ wide and 7.875″ tall. I really think it would look nicest if it wasn’t “floating” in the frame, but rather sitting on the bottom with extra space at the top. I don’t want much, do I?

This is the second item – or rather items. I couldn’t take my eyes off these pictures when I first saw them, and I still think they are some of the dearest prints I’ve ever seen. There is no mark anywhere of a title or artist, and I’d love to know who did them and approximately when – and how they would have originally been framed. Since they were obviously  mass produced items, surely a number of them have survived. My set arrived having been removed from their original frames. I dumbed into one frame that fits fairly well – for all the good that does me. That one is metal and shown in the photo. The pictures are oval and the glass is bubble glass – domed outward – and the pictures are fitted up against the glass, so I need something that will accommodate that shape. The glass measures slightly narrower than the backing piece and is difficult to measure accurately because of the bow, but it appears to be 5″ x 7″.

Any and all information and ideas welcome!

Spoiling Me: Part the Second

Well, I didn’t quite plan it this way, but my birthday stashing took on a life of its own! I got two boxes in the mail, and they were both stash – both extremely good i’net finds during the last couple of weeks, and both had the decency to exhibit perfect timing… well… at least perfect timing to make me feel just a wee bit guilty. However, I think I’ll get over that soon enough. ;o)

First there was this spectacular buy on some more Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I already had four skeins of this color, but how could I resist 16 skeins of the same dye lot for just $4 a skein and free shipping? I have no idea what this is going to become, but I’ll work on it. I’m sure it will let me know in good time. This isn’t the same as the Petrol I bought at the yarn sale; it’s color 28, and Petrol is 35. This is a little more turquoise, I think.

The other box held something that, if I didn’t already have enough to do so, would keep me out of trouble for the next few years pretty easily. This is not a little bag; it’s grocery bag sized, and its jammed full of 42 ( ! ) balls of cotton crochet/tatting thread in various shades of white and ecru, very old to fairly new, and marked sizes are every number from 10 through 70. It’s a marvelous selection of thread, and since much of it has a very notable age patina, it’s the sort of thing I love to use for my antique dolls. Anything made from thread like that looks instantly and very naturally old – and honestly, it is old, just recently made. It just looks so much nicer on the dolls that I have problems using anything else for them. It also allows me to custom make doilies and lace pieces that look as if they have history – a nice touch in a Victorian home, and one to employ when the perfect size or shape of antique frillery can’t be found. Besides, often it’s more fun making it than just buying it. )

As for the rest of my birthday, it was perfectly lovely – though I’m sure there are more than a few people who would think I’m a little strange for saying so. I was awakened by an unexpected and totally delightful birthday call from a friend in France, and with a start like that, I just had to have a good rest of the day. I was offered dinner out, but turned it down because of all that still needs to happen here. DH surprised me by baking a birthday cake before I was out of bed – coconut with lemon icing – yum! He worked extremely diligently and uncharacteristically cheerfully on the remodeling to do list. And he ran out to Subway for supper sandwiches for us – a favorite and a real treat! Biggest accomplishment of the day is that the wallpaper liner is entirely up in the bay – YIPPEE!!!! (And was that ever a project! I most certainly do not like hanging wallpaper horizontally.) I was going to take a picture, but from anything more than 3 feet away, it looks just like it did before – white! But just you wait until Wednesday! If all this wasn’t enough, I also sold a book on Amazon and got an order for 97 (no, not a misprint!) books from my website! I have so much empty sale shelf space now it’s unbelievable, and other than the problem of time over the next week or so, I no longer have any excuse not to pull more books off my shelves and list them. I will get this library culled to a point that the books fit on my shelves… I will, I will, I WILL! Anyway, I’ve never had a birthday that made me this terribly exhausted, but it was absolutely wonderful, and I’ll definitely remember it for years to come. )

The one thing I can’t believe, though, is that since Thanksgiving, I’ve missed only one day knitting, with the exception of the time I was in Honduras. I’m a little chagrined that as of today, I’ve now missed two, especially since I woke up intending to glut on knitting. I will need to be atoning for this at my earliest possible convenience, but for now, I believe sleep is very much in order…

Treasure Hunting

Sigh… I feel as if I’ve been on the far side of the moon or something. Never dreamed it would be this long between posts. Not for lack of wanting – just too much life getting in the way. Some of it has been good (like I’ve had a sale from one or another of my stores nearly every day), some of it not quite so fun (dentist…), but that’s about normal for everyone, I suppose. Maybe I’ll be able to do some catching up and share some of the bits and pieces over the next few days, so long as I keep it short and sweet. (Uh-huh… ;o))

So… since I had to be out anyway last week, thanks to a small hole in my head – well… my tooth… which is close enough – I decided I would sweeten the day by doing a little treasure hunting at the thrift store in that town. As a bonus, I noticed an antique store that I’ve never seen open was doing business that day. I’ve not been in an antique store since last spring in Denver, so thought I was well overdue.

It turned to be my day for great finds! At the thrift store, I found quite a few little treasures for my Bleuettes, including a pet cage, bucket of berries, and an old-fashioned radio. I discovered 3 Creative Memories album cover sets, none of which I already owned, several excellent books which I was eager to add to my library, and some super garments to recycle into doll clothes fabric. The things that excited me most, though were this poster, mounted on foamcore board, that I bought for Daughter #2, who loves skiing and all things Paris, and who has a Paris honoring home decor…

and an umbrella swift – which is something I’d been dreaming of owning for years! I have a larger, straight-armed swift, but it has to be assembled each time I use it. This is very compact, and it will be really nice for smaller skeins, especially when I’m just doing one up quickly. Considering what I paid for it, I’m beyond thrilled. Hope I can get the price markings off of it… Never did figure out why they do it like this. *

Then, there is this skirt, which is most definitely not going to be recycled for the dolls, even though I paid only 75 cents for it. It’s in perfect condition, a lovely swishy rayon, and just look how perfectly it matches one of my recent stash acquisitions! Even DH says it looks as if the yarn was dyed to match the fabric of the skirt. I’m playing around with pattern ideas, and have lots of latitude, as I have 10 skeins of this gorgeous Silky Wool from Elsebeth Lavold. (Silky Wool being a current addiction on my part…). I’m really leaning toward something along the lines of the Ljod Cardigan, which I think would work beautifully over a skirt.

Needless to say, I was already on a bit of a high by the time I left the thrift store, and the antique shop turned out to be just as much fun – though not quite the bargain price utopia I’d just left. Still, I found a great little working electric clock that will be perfect in my kitchen, a new book for my Horatio Alger collection, and this antique niddy noddy, which was my big splurge of the day.

I just love the way it feels from the patina of use over the years, and I wish I knew something of its history. I don’t know whether I will use it or not, since I have the one I stained and assembled, which came along with my spinning wheel. I’d just hate to risk damaging it and am not sure how much use it could handle. The ends are pegged on, and they jiggle a little now that the wood has dried out, so it would bear the stress of wrapping a little differently than when it was first made. Still, it is a really cool piece, and I’m thrilled to have it!

Grandma Framed!

An ongoing battle at my house is dealing with clutter. My greatest fantasy in life is to not only win the battle, but the entire war. I have a zillion reasons to want this, but perhaps the biggest of all is that it’s hanging around my neck like a ball and chain, and is very much in the way of my creativity.

I’ve been working on this fairly seriously since my younger daughter got married and moved out, though it’s been mostly isolated skirmishes – isolated because I’ve traveled so much over the past two years. Right now, the battle is back on. I’ve been home long enough to have my focus brought back to reality, and the longing has become strong enough to propel me back into serious action. Having come to the conclusion that there is no one place that I can conquer at this point, I’m practicing some guerrilla type tactics, mostly ambushes and sniping. After a week or so of this, I’m seeing some happy progress, especially in my sewing room, which is currently drawing me for longer stints than most of the other spaces. I’ve taken “before” pix, but don’t have the nerve to post them. It’s obviously a sewing room in name only, and until some other areas give up ground, the best I can do there is to drive back the enemy a bit, but not secure the territory.

Anyway, the point of this is that there are lots of interesting little side trips along the road, and I needed to take one of them this week. It comes with a bit of a story I’d like to share. Some time ago, my mother offered me a portrait of my grandmother, done when she was in her teens. With my love of old pictures and family history, there was no way I was turning down that gift, but it came with a bit of a challenge. The piece was large, unframed, and cathedral shaped – and I’m me, through and through. I ignored all suggestions to get it trimmed to fit into a reproduction frame, and fantasized about finding the perfect antique version. Problem is, I just didn’t have time to search for the illusive perfect fit. I suggested to my sister that if she ever happened to see something that looked promising, please let me know. This led to a sporadic parade of possibilities that showed up on ebay, but none were even close to the right dimensions. But shortly before Christmas, she became my hero when she sent me an auction for what was indisputably the prettiest cathedral frame I’d seen. There were no measurements in the listing, but I had this odd little sense of excitement course through my body, telling me this was the one. I dutifully wrote to the seller, then waited impatiently for measurements. They were dead on – and my heart did a flipflop. Even better, they lived only 90 minutes from here and were willing for an in person pick up, thus avoiding shipping and the fear of breakage. Was it even remotely possible I could win this beauty? It was an exceedingly long week to wait for it to close, and I checked that auction multiple times each day. I held the only bid for the entire time, but I know ebay well enough not to trust that, so I paced mentally the entire time, the amount of my planned snipe increasing almost hourly during the last day. When I finally typed in the number, I was praying desperately that it wouldn’t come anywhere near the ghastly figure I was putting in that box. I wasn’t going to be home to see the end, so I was on pins and needles. Long story short, I amazingly had only one competitor – who obviously didn’t want that frame nearly so much as I did, and I got it for less than $80. My daughter and son-in-law picked it up on their way home from PA for the family Christmas party – then it sat. I was in a whirlwind getting ready for my trip to Honduras, and there wasn’t time for something so trivial. To protect the frame, it was placed behind one of the few doors in the house – in my sewing room.

Back full circle to de-cluttering. ) This past week, the first thing I found in the sewing room (because it was one of the last to go in?) was that frame – and now I had the time and excuse to do something about it. I took it apart and cleaned everything, wiped Grandma’s face clean from the accumulation of dust and who knows what else, and put her safely behind glass. As I was mounting the picture, I saw something I’ve never seen before. Along the bottom edge of the glass, hidden by the edge of the frame, there is a patent date of 1924. My grandmother would have been in her teens that year, and I have to think would have wanted the newest, most fashionable frame available. Even better, when I hung the finished project on the wall of my entryway, I realized that the colors of the frame complimented those added to her dress. In short, I could pretty easily be convinced that this frame had only temporarily been separated from the picture. I’m content – and I’m sure Grandma would be smiling.

(Please pardon the odd angle and the appearance of Grandma having a brilliant thought. Bubble glass is the pits to photograph!)