1ST SEPTEMBER

and Sunday! and it's cooler! which is lovely, the sun is still out but there are clouds around to take away some of the heat we have been having, so you are able to actually do things, instead of sit about thinking about doing things then deciding not to because it was just too hot!

So what's been happening here in the village? Well a couple of the Sylvia Natterer dolls I've had on sale have found new homes, which is nice. They will get some attention, there is now a little more space in the doll cabinet and a few pounds in the paypal account.

Although I have to confess there are a couple of dolls also arriving! One who is on his/her way was a pure impulse buy! I'd watched the doll on and off over most of this year, it had slowly dropped in price and then I looked again, decided despite it's poor condition I'd give it a home and bring it back to life. No not a Sasha but another doll.

I also received a Schoenhut doll this week , whose been on layaway for ages, because I kept going off and buying other things, so finally got my act together and paid her off and she arrived this week to join her twin sister! I do like to have a set of twins! I've always been fascinated by twins ever since I was a child, don't know if it comes from my mum being a twin, although she was non identical, or what , but I always wanted twin dolls and a twin dolls pram when I was very small.

There is another doll on layaway who'll turn up in the not to distant future and one who may make it by the end of the year and then that is it !!!!!!!!!  No more !! Nil ! None! Nothing!  Although there is one doll left on my hit list who is way too expensive and if I'd stopped buying these waifs and strays I'd maybe i'd have been able to buy one but I've not totally given up on the idea....

On a totally different track I've been very into my love of arts and crafts furniture etc, which does also slip into parts of the art neuveau. I've had to be very good not to go off buying some of the gorgeous things I've seen lately! The only thing that's stopped me is I've nowhere to put all those things I've fallen in love with! All I can say is thank goodness I don't own a barn or it would resemble an arts and crafts home from home !
Mind you this is also where the internet can be both a delight and a curse! A delight in that you can see all these wonderful things that you might otherwise not see but a Curse in that it puts temptation in your way! lol

I wonder where this love of Arts and Crafts comes from? My great aunt Matilda used to sit in a chair almost identical to the one shown above, when she was very elderly and I was very young, around eight or nine years old and whenever my dad, took us children to visit his cousin Lily, her eldest daughter, she'd always be sitting in this chair in their breakfast room, she was probably in her late seventies or older at the time but I loved that chair even though I cannot remember ever sitting in it as it was always occupied but I'm sure I must of at some stage.

I recently bought this arts n crafts / neuveanu  tallboy , Paul will convert the hanging side into shelves so we can store our sweaters etc and it will go up in our bedroom , once that's been decorated later this year. In the meantime, I'm going to replace the ugly fake handles that someone's put on the three drawers. It's so annoying when people replace handles on old piece of furniture because maybe one is broken or missing ! I wish they'd leave well alone or at least try and find a suitable replacement.
I've just bought some original copper handles which I hope will be suitable  but truly anything will be better than whats on there now.

 The detail on the bottom of the cupboard door is very similar to a wardrobe we bought for our daughter's bedroom a few years back.

My daughter's wardrobe detail.

The kitchen is coming along slowly.... very slowly... the corner cover's been put in at the top where the cupboards cross from one wall to the next and the big old piece of concrete and brick stopped us from making use of that corner. It needs to be undercoated and painted out to vanish into the space.
Today we when and bought the long white tiles for the back splash and what we needed to fix them to the wall and the grout.
Paul's quite busy this coming week as am I, so not much will happen if anything this week but never say never !

Friday I went to visit Clara and had a lovely time with her and two of my daughters. Clara is growing up so fast and knows quite a few words now. She loves to read and also loves being outside in the garden, picking up acorns and placing them into a pot, pouring them into another pot, then tipping them out , to gather up again or wandering the garden looking at nature.

I've started collecting some toys for when she's older and I'm buying wooden toys and trying to avoid plastic as I have more than enough plastic things myself , which she'll be able to use when she's old enough.

My first purchase was this little wooden kettle, in red one of her favourite colours. I do have to say that the box it came in had a couple of small moths in, one of which was still alive  ! It was a carpet moth, the ones that eat anything wool, luckily I knew this so was able to destroy it and the packaging straight away but no good that the suppliers is possibly sending out carpet moths around the country which are a nightmare to anything wool people may own.

Well on that note I'll end , wishing you all a happy healthy September and a reminder that it's only four days until doll shelf day and all photos will be more than welcome.

Dee