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Monday 8 April 2013


A Dolls House...
...A feeling something like opening a brand new empty notebook or sketchbook or journal, faced with a blank empty page to fill...

...where a world of opportunities await your imagination...

... the page waiting for new opportunities, ideas or perhaps even old ones...

...a world of meant to be's or could've beens...

Gav purchased this old dolls house for me at a sale recently, i fell in love with it the minute i saw it, standing alone, unloved, all played out (that's the house not me!), sitting atop an old battered suitcase that probably came from the same attic.  My heart did somersaults when he picked it up for a mere six pounds!
It's been so lovingly hand made, a simple construction of wood and other things from a time when making do and re-using odds and ends really mattered - perhaps it's the work of an adoring father or a grandfather even.  

I want to know who the little girl was that played with this dolls house, see the look on her face when she was given it, how she played with it, what was her world like?  I'd like to know where are the pieces of furniture are and the dolls that went with it, were they hand made too? - i would so love to see them, this house has a story to tell.
...the peeling wallpaper, the fact that it has no internal doors or stairs, that the outside doors are falling off their hinges and that the front door is missing - what colour was it i wonder?  ...the little flowerpots on the front of the house and the remains of what were once hand painted flowers.  I love it, i love it just as it is in all it's glory of dereliction and decay ...it's natural beauty - it was a happy home, played with and loved and maybe still is in it's own way!

In the mean time....  
these french calling cards are adorable, the tiniest of envelopes containing tiny calling cards, the most exquisite handwriting on them - my problem is that i can't bring myself to untie the pink ribbon (i know i'll never get it to look the same again), so i've not actually looked at all the contents yet!!

I've not got many makes to show you as i've been cooped up in my studio practicing free motion sewing on my new sewing machine.   There have a been a few a lot of tantrums and throwing of things, especially cottons that kept snapping, and the odd desire to fling the machine through the window, but eventually i did achieve a "winged heart" ...
 ...sewn together with three layers of an old Edwardian bed cover....
...and...errrm... apart from putting the wings on upside down... i'm quite pleased with it

I painted it with watercolours and am looking forward to embellishing it at some point.

This is what i've been re-packaging this week for the shop.  I have a huge vintage Birds toffee tin brimming with buttons which i sell for 10p each.  However, as i seem to spend a lot of time helping customers find six of the same buttons, i decided it would be more helpful to pack them up into sets of six.  


With little hand made tags on them and threaded with string i chucked them all back in the tin.  Unfortunately, i think the attraction for customers is running their fingers through them and people aren't looking at them now!!!

Gav and i are off to Attingham Park Oswestry today for a walk around and some fresh air.

xoxo

2 comments:

Annie said...

Love that gorgeous dolls house...what a find. I have to say that I really love running my hands through buttons so they will have lost their attraction for me too now you have tied them up :-)
Hugs,
A x

Twiglet said...

What a quaint little house - if only it could talk and tell the tale! We must have a sewing session soon - after the wedding at the end of the month maybe? x Jo