A quiet afternoon at Green Shutters

Nanny and little Flossie are in the nursery trying to quiet baby Alice. Cook was supposed to bring up some hot milk, but she has not arrived.

Nanny can't leave baby Alice and little Flossie alone while she goes to the kitchen to get the milk.

The baby is becoming inconsolable and now little Flossie is starting to whine.

Nanny is realizing that very soon she will have to bundle the baby up and take little Flossie's hand and negotiate the steep back stairs to the kitchen.

Oh, where is Cook?

It is tea time in the parlour. Bridie has brought the tea tray for Mrs. Green, the twins, Gertie and Gadys, and Mabel, but she doesn't have fresh milk. Cook said she would bring it right up once she had poured some from the pail into a suitable pitcher.

The tea is getting cold and the children are starting to fuss and tease each other.

Where is Cook with the milk?

Oh no! The puppy has knocked over the milk pail. He was chasing the kittens around the kitchen.

The kittens have given up the game in favour of nice fresh milk.

Doesn't Cook see what is happening. Why hasn't she shooed away the animals and cleaned up the milk?

There's Cook. She is in the kitchen after all. But she has forgotten about the milk and she hasn't noticed the naughty puppy or the kittens. She is busy trying to capture the family's fish course for tonight's dinner. It insists on crawling out of the bowl and pinches Cook when she trys to grab it.

Oh dear, what can happen next?

We hope you have enjoyed your visit to the quiet and orderly Green Shutters.

Hugs,

Susan

Mindolton Nursery

Ruby has been working on baby Clara's nursery for some time and has finally decided to show it off.

Ruby is not really satisfied with it. The wallpaper was there when they moved in and Ruby finds it a little boyish. She will change it as soon as she has the rest of Mindolton Manor in order. That's why she hasn't hung the vintage prints, or put up curtains yet.

Little Clara is very spoiled, being the baby of the family, and the room is bursting with dolls and toys. Fortunately, little Clara is too young to know she is spoiled. She just knows she is loved.

Little Clara is the one in the crib. All the other little ones are her dolls. A doll post will be coming soon.

Hugs.

Susan

Who is this?

Can anyone identify this little lady?

I picked her up at the antique market last week. She has such character, I couldn't resist her.

She has a few scrapes and a badly repaired top, but she is still a little charmer.

She is standing in front of my Marx tin house, and is about 4 inches tall. I don't recognizes her from my childhood, but she definitely has a 1960's look.

Let me know if you know her name.

Thanks,

Susan

Kreativ Blogger Award

Linda at Linda's Minis has given me the Kreativ Blogger Award. I am pleased she thought to include me and to hear the kind things she has to say about my blog. I have to list seven things I love and then pass the award on to seven Kreativ Bloggers. I have decided to combine the two and list the blogs I love. You lovely bloggers can respond to the criteria of the award if you haven't already been tagged. Here you are in no particular order:

1. Casey's Minis: A favourite blog of this community and of mine, Casey's daily posts are anticipated by all of us. I am never bored in any waiting room now. I just pull up Casey's blog on my blackberry and enjoy Tessie's latest adventures.

2. Dale's Dreams: Dale makes beautiful mini treasures that we can easily acquire through her etsy shop. She also has a twin to one of my vintage dollhouses.

3. Room for Room: or raum fuer raum in German. Oese finds the most wonderful modern furniture and accessories for her little rooms. It is like visiting a mini version of another time and place.

4. Tiny Treasures: Debbie has been through a lot in the last little while. We all waited anxiously for news of her operation from her wonderful son Ben. Now that she is on the road to recovery we are eagerly waiting to hear about her minis, both in doll's houses and horses

5. Marlies en minies: Marlies always has something interesting to share from the Netherlands. I really enjoy her blog and her comments on my blog.

6. Rebecca's Collections: Rebecca is in Australia and collects vintage Erna Meyer dolls and vintage minis. She is happy to share her extensive knowledge and helped me date my Erna Meyers finds,

7. My Vintage Dollhouses and other treasures: This is a newer blog with soooo many wonderful vintage minis. I love the pictures. I can't wait for then next blog entry.

I love all the bloggers I follow but can't list you all here. I enjoy this blogger community so much. Thanks for including me.

Hugs

Susan

Why I love thrift shops

I am in love with my new dining room table, (or games table, or desk - depends where you put it). It is inlaid by hand in lovely colors and has a rich patina to the old wood.

It looks wonderful with the Reac Macintosh chairs, and would suit any house furnished in the last 100 or so years.

I haven't decided yet which dollhouse it will look best in, but plan to try it in several.

I found this lovely inlaid box and these fancy chopsticks at a thrift shop last weekend, and the light bulb went on over my head.

Using a dollhouse dining table as a guide for height, I cut the grooved ends off the chopsticks and sanded them smooth on top. At least I tried to sand them smooth - they are almost smooth. I kept the top of the chopsticks and the bottom of the box for future projects.

I removed the tiny screws from the hinges of the box and glued a leg to each corner of the inlaid top.

I had been itching to use these lovely Reac Macintosh chairs in a dining room and was delighted to see that the colors of the chairs matched the inlaid box top perfectly.

I waited impatiently for the glue to dry - I have a bad habit of picking things up too soon and knocking off the pieces I have glued to them - and set up the new table and chairs in my cardboard Ikea house for a photoshoot.

The carpet is cut from a page in Architectural Digest. I don't know how it would look in on a wood floor, but it looks just fine in the cardboard house.

I am so pleased with myself for finding the box and chopsticks and seeing the potential. Let's all pat Susan on the back ; )

Hugs to all

Susan

Just for fun

I was cleaning up the storage space on my phone this week and downloaded these pictures to my desktop so I could delete them from the phone. Since I haven't had time to take new pictures I thought I would share these, just for fun.

The images are a little off - color and sharpness-wise - but that's what you get when you use your phone. The house is actually all white inside, but the pictures make it look like pastel colors.

Since I took these I have wallpapered the entire dollhouse and put in floors and baseboards, etc. It's a Tennyson I bought from Craigslist. It was beautifully built and finished, and all painted inside.

The picture above is a sitting room on the second floor. I built the fireplace table and chest from House of Miniatures kits. The china cabinet and living room suite are eBay finds. I don't know if you can see the lovely bowls in the china cabinet. They are salt sellers decorated in gold and white. Poke the picture and it will enlarge. All rugs in the house from eBay.

The kitchen below has an eBay find cupboard and the stove that came with the house. The table chairs and dry sink are House of Miniatures kits. The table cloth is a vintage doily and the vegetable basket is a fridge magnet.

The bedroom features a House of Miniatures canopy bed, highboy and bedside table that I made. The bassinet, complete with lovely porcelain baby, and the toy shelf came with the house.

I dragged that bed kit around with me for 30 years before I got around to making it. I moved it from house to house as I moved over the years and never gave myself permission to make it, but that's all changed now.

The bed kit was missing one of the posts, so when I finally got around to making it I used a chopstick cut to the right length. You will be able to see that the bed has one unturned post if you poke the picture. I don't think anyone would notice if I don't point it out.

In the picture below you can see the settee, chair and fireplace that came with the house. The fireplace fan and tools and the sampler on the mantel came with the house too. I built the clock, hanging shelf and table from House of Miniature kits. I dragged that clock kit around for 30 years too.

Here is an overview of the whole house. the furniture in the attic is also from some HofM kits I ordered from eBay. I really enjoy making them. You can see some of my other treasures in the background. I am not sure what is hanging in the hall. I probably should have cropped that out. Oh well.

I will try to post some picture of the house as it looks now with the wall paper, etc. I just never seem to have time to do photo-shoots - even amateur ones.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Hugs

Susan

Mindolton moments

I haven't had time to blog lately, but thought I would share some recent pictures.

Jake and Ruby are welcoming new neighbors to Mindolton. The dogs are excited too, but I am a bit worried that they will start a game of tag and make a shambles of the front hall.

The children are upstairs in the third floor hall. they are tired and cranky, and could do with a nap. They don't seem to be aware of the gathering happening just one floor down.