love and loss....

joy to the world



beginning to decorate 

 The xmas tree is up!!!  Well it was, until i got a little bit greedy and tried to put more decoration on it than the poor little tree could handle! Each year i try to decorate it differently than the previous year.  This year it's a little bit shabby, with lots of vintage jewellery and some quirky bits that i have had lying around the house... I gathered up roses, crystals, old crocheted gloves, braid from my sewing box even a pincushion. There are earings, bracelets and pearls... lots of vintage bling... It got so heavy that it began to lean. then the poor thing collapsed under the weight.... it looked gorgeous for a minute or two....


before a lot of bling was added



almost there

My daughters thought this quite hilarious as we are all playing with our trees, trying to get them just right. There is a little bit of competition happening and i'm now running last,with this mishap.. its all great fun and the end result being some very creative trees!
Xmas in our family has always been a time of great joy and excitement. its a wonderful time to gather together and celebrate our love for each other. There is the ritual of feasting and sharing of gifts,  much fun and hilarity, teasing and laughter, sometimes tears but always the knowledge, that we are very lucky, as a family, to have each other.

There is another generation emerging, now, having fun, living life and learning the traditions of  family... my greatest achievement will be realized if they can live their lives with love, respect and compassion..  i need to say that i am very proud to be the matriarch ( its a role that i cherish,) of this boisterous lot, and am enjoying watching as each special individual finds their place in our lives.. i love you all...

Aangel up above..dd caption

stunning vintage shellcraft doll..Add caption

gorgeous vintage jewellery, but the weight was too much to bear...Add caption

In the midst of all this love and emotion that i am feeling for my family, comes the intense feeling of pain and loss.. My very beautiful pekingese, Toddy, passed away recently.. He was the centre of my existence and the pain of his loss, devastating... i know from experience that time will heal the gaping hole in my heart, but for now, knowledge doesn't ease that pain..  Life is different now..  he isn't waiting for me when i come home, he isn't there when i turn around, but i can still smell him, still hear his breathing in the other room... He is resting, in the garden, with his toy piggy.  RIP my darling boy..xxx

I am still working on the Lines house that i bought a little while back..I will post piccy's soon, its starting to look as it should or as it would have... still haven't decided about the wallpaper!

I am going now to put some twinkling lights over the front door!!  hug your loved ones  Christine xxx

fate... and fancy...

dh/d minus its windows and door...

Hello to everyone.. I have had lots going on lately, so i haven't had much time to myself. But i did find time to buy another vintage dolls house! I have fancied this model for quite some time... it's a Lines DH/D. Funny name, nice house! A few have slipped by me on ebay. Being either out of reach pricewise or distance has thrown up obstacles. I had been watching this particular house, on ebay, it was in the UK, but the seller was reluctant to take overseas bids, so i thought that i was destined, once again to just watch and drool....
Fate is a funny thing.. it so happened that the buyer of this little gem was a member of a dolls house club that i belong to. Long story short... she offered the house to me and i naturally jumped at the opportunity to add it to my slowly growing collection!!!
I was amazed at how quickly the courier service got the house to Australia from the UK. just over 4 days, with a weekend slap bang in the middle and with Wendy's careful packing there wasn't a hair out of place...
It's a great little house with lots of charm, only 2 rooms to furnish, very sweet. A petition had been added to the top floor but this wasn't original to the house, so had to go. Wallpapers were very quickly removed, i was slightly disapointed not to find any remnants of the original wallpapers but i have friends with this model and research has not been difficult. Thanks to technology we can now get copies of a lot of the old wallpapers.

roof papers have been removed.

not sure yet if this had roof paper or was painted?

almost there...

still messy..

black gloss paint, very stubborn..



still some sanding needed..

 i'm happy that the house is complete, i'm not quite sure, but i think its about 90 years old.. I hope i will be in as good condition when i'm that age!!
It's been painted over and the black gloss will take some effort to remove. I have decided to take the windows out to remove the paint. The metal frames are quite fragile and i don't want to risk breaking them.
I have been told in no uncertain terms that the window panes should be replaced with glass, DEFINITELY not plastic..... I consider myself told!
Luckily there are some lovely people out there who have this house and i have been picking their brains and stalking their photo's, getting a feel for it!
It's not finished and probably will take a little while, but already, in my mind, i am sorting what will suit and what won't! Can't wait!!!
Some more news!!  My eldest granddaughter who is 22, and her partner, are going to be parents!!
That will make me a GREAT grandmother..  yay!! yes i know, i am already great!!!
 It doesn't get much better than this! 
Christine xxx

Sweet dreams are made of this.....

A few months ago i started a mini patchwork quilt.. its still not finished.  I used small floral prints and a plain background. Grandmothers flower garden is the design that i chose. Appropriate, i felt, as i am a grandmother and i love my garden... While browsing through blogs that i follow, i noticed that Christine from Hollyhock Cottage had stitched a beauty for her lovely iron bed! its really lovely and this set me to thinking of all the quilts that i have made, over the years.... many have gone, as they wear,  i usually cut them up for whichever dog or cat we have at the time. (my babies need cosy beds as well!)

this one is a favourite 'wedding bands'...

this one is called 'monkey wrench' 

the name of this one escapes me,  i love the way it turns...





this is the quilt that i stitched over 30 years ago...



i believe this one is called dresden plate...



this one on the bed is a commercially made throw..

sweet dreams are made of this...  who am i to disagree..
everybody's looking for something.....

I still have one that i made over 30 years ago. These are all full size and were made by traditional method of paper template piecing and most are hand quilted. A tried and true method that has been passed down for generations! These quilts are in constant use in our home and there is some fading, but this adds to the shabby feeling thats popular just now...  now that i have shown you these, i'm feeling a little guilty for not finishing the mini quilt that i started months ago  :(    there really is no excuse, except that i have so many things on the go and i will have to get stuck in and finish at least some of the projects that i have begun!! I have a few more lovely followers and i adore checking out all your blogs and seeing what you are up to... so many talented people in blog land!
I think i need a lay down with a good book!!  sweet dreams   Christine xxx

Afternoon Delight.....

here she is!! complete with windows

This little beauty is the Triang 60!  A joy to own! The size of this little house makes it easy to display. It can sit nicely on a small table or languish amongst other collectibles on a sideboard or dresser... A big difference to the Triang Stockbroker, which practically needs a room of its own!  I got an enormous amount of pleasure from restoring this house.... For some unknown reason, when a house finally finds its way to me, it really needs some work to bring it back to life. That is probably a good thing as i wouldn't feel right about damaging or ignoring any original features, that a house might have....  This particular house had been painted over with an off-white colour, the roof had strips added and was painted dark grey. Windows were missing, and inside had been painted with grey/green gloss..  So began the tedious, time consuming job of scraping back (this took a bit longer than an afternoon) to se what, if anything, remained of the original features.... Delight!!  a lovely butter yellow was the original colour! The flower splotches on the front were visible and joy of joys, the Triang label was intact, on the back, beneath the top layer of paint....  More scrounging around in the shed and i found some old ply to replace the timbering on the front and a small piece of pine to make the bench seat that is normally in the porch area.  Some more vintage windows were sourced from the UK and bought via ebay... I think a family of grecons have their eyes on this place, they will soon call it home!!!

click on image to see what a mess this was!

flower splotches revealed!!!

triang label, yaay!!!

trial run with some bits inside....

still looks a little plain, needs timbering and windows...

                Greetings to all new followers!!! I can't believe that i am actually getting followers..
                Please know that i am very happy about this and i keep checking all the time , just
                 in case i'm  dreaming !!!
                 I know, i'm an idiot !!!
                  Have a great week!!!    Christine  xxx

On a grey day...

Today its raining! Its cold and very wet.. i had planned to gather up all of the patchwork quilts, that i've made over the years, take them outside.. hang them on the clothesline, and photograph them in the sunshine!!! Not going to happen! The weather has had more of a say in this, than i have.
So i will show you my little grey house with the red roof. I bought it a little while back at a local antique shop. The proprietor of the shop had
no details as he'd bought it at auction and there are no markings or dates on it... I have seen another one, the same (different colour)that sold on australian ebay, since i bought mine. I am thinking that it is commercially made as opposed to home made or kit. I also think that it would be dated around 1930's. For no other reason than a gut feeling, so if anyone has any information on these little houses, please let me know! I was very lucky to find all the pastel furniture inside. I was quite tickled about this as its very sweet. I'm not sure whether to do much to it.. I'll probably just make bedding and add some vintage china and some old mats for the floor. It's important to me not play around too much as its condition is original and very good, except, for some spilt silver frost on the stairs and bottom floor.I'll pick it off with a scalpel, when time permits!

pastel furniture original to this house!

front entrance with steps...

opening doors and windows...

   My followers list is growing!!! yaay!!!  I read you all and i'm having so much fun!!
   There is so much to  tell you about and so much to show you, no wonder children love 'show and tell'
    at school! thats just what this feels like... see you soon   Christine xxx

windows of the soul

They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul and i'm sure that windows are the soul of the house! the stockbroker only had 2 complete windows and some battered frames, when it came to me..  i did toss around the idea of making some mock-up windows, after checking out the price and availability, on ebay. They cost around $30 australian. thats supposing you can find them! This model has 15 double windows and 2 single panes near the front door, so very expensive to replace... but i  wanted 'real' windows and so i began to collect them slowly... it took a little time to get there ,but  finally, i had enough!!! yaay!! They were a sorry lot!! Rust, yellowed cracked plastic, broken hinges!!! Never mind... rust was sanded back and frames painted,  the plastic replaced in the worst and  curtains attached to all... they now resemble something befitting my glorious house!! (have i mentioned that i love it !) oh, they also got a rub over with diluted umber paint to give that suitably aged look!!!  The tabs were broken off some of the windows, these ones i glued in, the other ones are removable....

wow....  take a look at her now....
While i'm here i want to thank all of you who are making this so easy for me...some of my photo's are not going, where i tell them to go!!! i don't get to say all that i mean to!!!  patience is a virtue!! so to all you
virtuous lovely people out there .. thank you for all your support and wonderful comments. christine xxx

a little elbow grease...

<>

I have been putting off adding a new post!! I really feel out of my depth, here, but here goes...I have been scrounging through photo's, looking for evidence of the enormous amount of work that i have invested in this house. I have found a few photo's, not nearly enough as i had no idea that i would be drawn into the world of blogging. And i was on a roll, every waking moment was spent, if not working on it, then on the internet looking for any information that i could find..... so it didn't feel like work, but sadly not enough photo's. There weren't any remnants of previous wallpapers, so after much thought and mulling it over, i decided against reproduction papers (many of which i really like), for this house and used vintage wallpapers in small patterns that i found on ebay. i am getting a nice little collection together now and i'll need more houses to use them.that will be my excuse, anyway!!! Some came all the way from america, some from england and some were swaps that i had with other members of DHPP.  Once the original paint colours were determined, it was really only a matter of giving it a good sand, then an all purpose undercoat was applied. New base was made from old ply and timber salvaged from a vintage wardrobe. the roof was reattached and i was ready to decorate!! Well worth the effort....  oops forgot to mention that all the hinges were broken!