The New Baby

I was going through my photographs and thought these were too cute not to share.

Julie arriving home in "THE BASKET"

Alex taking a closer look!!!  Then he simply walked away...

He knew trouble when he saw it!

This baby sitting lark is a job all on it's own!!

This was "MY" basket after all!

 

Look how small I was!

Now I am all grown up and can jump onto Moms Work Station when she goes out shopping and eat her miniature flowers that she took a whole morning to make!!!

Julie says "I'm the boss in this house for sure....."

This gave me a whole new meaning to the saying

THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK!

Enjoy

Days of Our Lives

I have decided that from now on I will buy myself

A Birthday present....

Sooooo.....I have ordered another Helen Kish doll from 

The Denver Doll Company

 http://www.denverdoll.com/helen_kish.php

Cosette is a BJD and only a mere 5 1/2" high!

Don't you just love her Mary Janes!!!

She will only be shipped in the middle of May so I have to be very, very, very patient.

I love her colouring and am already dressing her and thinking of toys for her.

She will have her very own 1:144 Scale French Townhouse

which I have ordered in 

"Kit Form" from Keith Bougourd"

keith@small-time.com

I have to get ready for the project as it should soon be in the post.

I have it on good advice to use Aleene's Aliphatic glue.
Now that is a big word like Jam

This glue is water resistant so if you make a mistake you will need to "un glue" it with a coat of vinegar, which will soften it again after a few minutes.

I am sure she is going to love the Little Mice

 that I have waiting for her ....the mice also have to have toys so Ana is busy with THAT

In Ana's cupboard is a Teddy who wears a pink bow...

for that Little Bear to come and live with me

I will have to make her something very special

NOW NO MORE PRESENTS FOR SHARON

Days of Our Lives

Our daughter Lara heads up store development for the firm 

Jimmy Choo

She has been working on a store in Antwerp.

  How beautiful is this old world facade.

Then you walk inside to this ultra modern, very chic display.

Oh I remeber when one's feet could wear beautiful shoes. 

One time in Canada I found this wonderful pair of Italian shoes, half the price I would have had to pay back home.

I was walking up and down admiring them when the sales assistant said in a very American/Canadian accent.....

"An they ganna walk right out the door!"

THEY DID!

Every time I put those shoes on, I heard his voice.

  Emelda Marcos had nothing on me when it came to shoes.

 

Love them.

One part of one's body that stayed the same size....until now!

 

What I found so appealing was the unexpected greenery of the back garden.

Incorporating the garden into the store was clever, I imediately felt more relaxed when I saw it, I can only imagine what it does to customers when in the shop.

My Miniature Baby Boutique will have to be equally elegant...

What say you!

Days of Our Lives

Doing the unpacking I have unearthed all sorts of things.

A little book A Woman's Work is Never Done which has a selection of quotations put together by Helen Exley...she has been doing these books since 1976 

The year I married for the second time....

so it seemed a good idea at the time!

 Apparently

 

I have a new company car, or so my son Shane tells me. 

 It does not have a chauffeur as it is insured for one driver only....

ME

Another perk is a Lear Jet.....bought for me by my son. Now this is a wonderful toy.  It sits perfectly, hits all the right spots of an old ladies cranky bits and pieces.....

The stockist in in South Africa are Cecil Nurse,

the operative word being "Nurse." 

How I lived in my other chair for so long considering the amount of time I had to sit in it 

God alone knows, I promises you

 The arm rests swivel inwards, so for knitting what a pleasure the height of the arm rests are also adjustable...

Even an Orangutan would be comfortable knitting

I wonder if the designer of this marvelous affair ever thought this chair would be used by a knitting granny ...I think not.

For the moment I have decided not to have staff.....

 I want to settle in then make decisions on 

people who share our lives

I still need to do this, the tiles are clean

but the grouting leaves a lot to be desired.

Needles to say I am looking for a machine to hire for doing the job.

So for these moments in time, I am just getting on with it!!!!

 BUT TODAY IS SUNDAY

I remember discussing housework with my Mom one evening just after getting my Dream Kitchen installed.

One with all drawers so no standing on your head to get to something.

This is what caught my eye in the book shop at the time...

THERE IS NO PLEASURE IN HAVING NOTHING TO DO 

THE PLEASURE IS IN HAVING LOTS TO DO AND NOT DOING IT

Mary Wilson Little

AAAHH I thought 

Imagine having an illustrator draw this on the wall 

behind my stove.

Now Mom was a very reserved woman,but it sure had her 

laughing out loud.

Never ever did get the sketch done but it was fun thinking about it.

Rein always said the best restaurant in Durban was our kitchen ......ya ya     NO NIGHTS OFF.....

All the illustrations above come from Helen Exley's book, the illustrations are buy Rowan Barnes-Murphy

A wonderful buy I kid you not, worth every penny

I have laughed and smiled all over again.

Unpacking is time consuming but also a lot of fun.

Days of Our Lives

Well the first Rule of moving into a new house, 

is make up the beds first.....

Did I do that for Julie ....NO
It took me two weeks to find the key to the Chinese Chest, that is where I had put her bed for the Great Trek to Cape Town

I found it last night and made up her bed just a few minutes ago

She is as now "Happy as the day is long"

In her 5 ***** bed

Days of Our Lives

 I GIVE UP 

Madam has taken over the new home

she is now on the dining room table

SHE KNOWS WHOSE THE BOSS

    

Julie has decided she needs to clear the dining room table and become a miniaturist I think!

She looks surprised that I am not a Happy Chappy with her dining room table lark!

Maybe she is telling me to sew those darn curtains.....

But she is such fun you know.....

Days of Our Lives

Well am I glad it is not this time two weeks ago...

Moving is certainly a very stressful and tiring time 

I don't care how old one is.

My new home is nestled under this mountain called

"Chapman's Peak"

as one drives to the local store you find yourself surrounded by the mountains, I love it and the sea is just 5 minutes away.

One of my passions is arranging furniture which I know I do well as people always ask me to help with that.

This home has been particularly difficult as I wanted to create a studio area without having the feeling I am locked in the basement.

Fortunately I don't have to share the space on a permanent basis.

Only when friends and family come to stay. 

The guest bookings book has already been created...which is great

I could not find the special key for the Chinese Chest and that is where Julies bed had been packed.

So I made up a cozy place for her on a chair in the studio.

It appears she has lost all her manners.....

I turned around to find this situation.

"The Table Climber"

I could not believe my eyes, I wonder what she thought she was doing, playing "King of the Castle" I suppose.

One word from me and she was back in the chair but admittedly with a rather playful pose. 

I turned around and she was back on the table, I just worked it out she wanted to have her chair closer to me, a bit like when the kids were little and they would fight as to who would sit behind the driver in the car....Now Missy is all settled.

I am on the last leg of the move now and am busy playing with the display cabinet.

I am using the ironing board as a temporary table.

"MY BACK" has said How is your mother..my reply 

Oh! not too good today.... can't take the bending anymore!

I think I am going to put all the knitting work in a different cabinet I have one of those old fashioned bookcases. It is only a two shelf unit, I am sure it will be enough, now to figure out where to put it.

Excuse the ironing board in the middle of nowhere, I rather like the little sitting room area I have created.

It is the place to put the feet up and put the brain in neutral and watch TV.

Do you know the TV was the last thing that we connected, just shows how TV does not play a major role in this household.

I have created a table area in the studio for when friends come to work and play. This table used to be in my kitchen and my friends and I always sat in the kitchen to chat.

Gee-sh the vacuum is still out.

 

 At least the computer is up and running, not that I have much time to spend here at the moment. In a mad moment I agreed to do a tutorial for AIM magazine luckily it did not take too long.

 

Then as an extension of the studio is the dining room table where I hope to give my knitting lessons.

I have a feeling the surface is never to be seen again......

As you can see there are still some really diabolical areas...how long it is going to take I simply don't know.

Every surface has some "STUFF to be sorted on it.

When I want to feel all clean and tidy I go to my bedroom. 

There is one part of the bedroom that

DOES NOT PLEASE ME 

so I have made a PLAN  of sorts.

I have put up a board to hide a really ugly window behind the bed the architect sure shot himself in the foot putting that window in his design. Now that still has to be painted out....never to be seen again while Sharon lives in the house. As I told the landlord I want to LIVE here not CAMP.

This painting job is a project for July I think...I want to knit.

Well at least you can see the progress.

Days of Our Lives

This is a GOOD DAY as I received such wonderful news yesterday!

Hi Sharon

Congratulations and well done! This is a brief email to confirm that on Sunday, May 1, 2011, you were elected a Fellow member of The Guild by the IGMA Board of Trustees. 

Best regards

Pat Hartman

The box was made for me by Brian Coetzee a South African wood artist, he made it for me in a week which was extraordinary to say the least. I love the masculinity of the box..... then upon opening it one see's all these feminine little things

I have this stupid grin on my face that is so very difficult to remove......I thought I would share some pictures of my submission.

A friend Ana Esteves made the little teddy, bunny and lamb. The teddy and bunny have moving arms, legs and head. They have been flocked and are perfect replicas of a large teddy, they are only 1 inch BIG/SMALL. Ana also did the flowers for me, at that point after my Mom had died I simply was not up to it any more.

            

   

I used Madeira Catona 80 thread for all the outfits.
They were made to fit the 

Belly Button Baby

I hope you enjoy!

      

Days of Our Lives

One of the most important eras in South African History

was the "Great Trek" from the Cape to the interior of South Africa. 

I am now doing the whole process in reverse.

 As much as I am looking forward to it all I know I will miss this little cottage and my two "landladies" with their 12 poodles. 

Julie my Yorkie has become an honorary poodle.

She looks so cute amongst the river of poodles when I go and fetch her. 

She always had a play date if I went out shopping for more than a few hours.

I can see me buying another little girl to keep Julie company, that will be so much fun and help celebrate new beginnings.

The boxes from the removal firm arrived today and packing starts tomorrow...three weeks today the huge truck will be in the road and packed to the rafters, and I will have my last sleep as an official resident of Durban.

I opted on packing myself as each and everything is going to be studied carefully and much stuff is going to be gone over with a very fine tooth comb, before it finds a home in Cape Town.

I have given notice to all my friends who were kind enough to look after things for me, that I will be collecting shortly, friends have been so kind. 

Am I happy now that I did not sell anything.

Can't wait to get my dishwasher back....silly but I can't say I enjoy washing dishes.

I'll also have a studio again yeah! yeah! yeah! 

All I want to do is play with fimo, I'm all knitted out at the moment. 

I know my box of goodies for my fellow application has arrived in US of A 

DHL tracking has told me so. This is a great relief. 

Never in my wildest dreams did I think knitting for fellow could take so many hours and so many decisions. 

A bottle of Boschendal Le Bouquet 

which is a delicious white South African wine, which has a delightful fruitiness, 

was shared with my friend in celebration of a job completed at last.

I look forward to sharing the photographs  of the box, but need to wait until after judgment day. 

Even if it turns out to be a no go, it is a wonderful feeling of satisfaction that you have tried and done a project to the best of your ability, one cannot expect more than that from oneself. 

I had promised my husband Rein that I would do it and now I have, so I am off the hook. It would have been my 35th wedding anniversary tomorrow so that is a good day to start packing for a new future.

Days of Our Lives

I have returned from Cape Town having found a home which I will rent for myself for the next 6 months, or until I come across the home I wish to live in until age issues take there toll.

The saddest of news is that while away my mother died, she passed in the early hours of Saturday morning the 2nd April ...One of the strongest and most capable woman I have ever known.

Mom was an inspiration in so many ways, she always seemed to have an answer for so many things.
Simple hone truths, she was a wise woman indeed, if I could only be half the mother she was, I reckon I would be doing just fine in the mothering department.

It was wonderful for me that we shared our passion for knitting and baby dolls. Mom appreciated what went into a design and always looked forward to what I would come up with next.

Showing Mom my work was so much part of what I do. Seeing her delight in the tiny garments always gave so much pleasure.

The hardest thing in life is to let go the people we love. Having had one stroke after the other.... had changed Mom in so many ways which are so difficult to explain. It is a blessing that Mom no longer has to live as she has for the last 18 months.

I'm calm but so very sad in my heart, loosing a parent, who one admired and respected as well as loved dearly does not settle easily....

In my minds ear I hear her voice...."Sha a still tongue makes a wise head....and I smile.
I know I will be smiling about a lot of memories in the months and years to come.

Days of Our Lives

I'm off to Cape Town today to look for a new home in which to settle.

As it is my 60th today ......it seemed a good date to start the search.

I will be away for 2 weeks so won't be able to answer emails.....

The break is sorely needed as I have knitted myself almost to a standstill.
I am thrilled how the pieces for my fellow have turned out.

Still need to knit the booties and diapers ...I wish I had done those first...
Diane Smith always does and is so disciplined

I am sure I will be inspired to new heights after my holiday!

Thanks to all for your good wishes

Welcome Beatrice    http://lesminiaturesdebeatrice.blogspot.com/ 

Thanks so much for joining

Days of Our Lives

I must have been three or four when I heard the poem

Someone came knocking at my wee small door 

Someone came knocking I'm sure, sure, sure. 

I listened, I opened, I looked from left to right .....

It was this childhood poem that excited and scared me. 

My sister used to recite the poem to me when we were going off to sleep, in a really scary voice..

She was nearly three years older than I was...and that's a lot older when you are only three.

Then I heard the stories of Tom Thumb and Thumberlina, wee small doors were no longer scary at all, I was in another world and what a wonderful wee world it has turned out to be.....