Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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A Neat Blog and Dollhouse Priming

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Do you know Vintage Sue? You should. She is the Queen of Junker/Flea Marketers. I love her blog where she shares her passion for junking as well as her adventures as the mother of two feisty and wonderful children. She is also hilarious! Sue has another blog called Vintage Sue Box Treasures where she offers different size boxes full of her finds as well as Friday Flea Treasures. On one such Friday, Sue offered some vintage curtains in a fabric I loved. They arrived the other day in a box decorated by Sue.

One side of the box was decorated with this vintage pattern envelope. So cute!


These are the curtains – there are two panels. I may make a valance for the windows in the den or I may use the fabric for something else entirely. I just love vintage fabric. Can’t help it. Sue also included a quilt cutter or two and these:


Thanks so much, Sue!


Priming continues on the dollhouse – a little bit at a time. And in the keeping it real category, here is the mess on the kitchen table:


Luckily, Don loves a creative mess – I am the one who yearns to clean this up. It is a good lesson in letting my ‘everything must be in its place’ tendencies go for a while. Because the cottage is so small, there really is no place to hide this away. So be it!

I am off tomorrow for 2 days on a coaching job. This time it involves a new touring company of Beauty and the Beast. They are rehearsing way out on Long Island, which might as well be another state. Even though we are all under the umbrella of the Greater New York City area, it is over 3 hours away. So, armed with mapquest, I will be driving on out there Thursday morning and will be back Friday evening. Have a great day or two.

McCoy Monday (and our $5 Chair)

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I’ve decided to start of series of McCoy Monday posts. As many of you know, I collect McCoy Pottery, and I thought it would be fun to share some favorite pieces over the course of several weeks. I’m a little bit late getting this post up today, but I promise I’ll do better next Monday. This flower pot is in my favorite of the McCoy colors. As with a true aqua, sometimes it looks a little greener, sometimes it looks a little bluer. This particular color of McCoy is entirely responsible for my growing love of aqua, robin’s egg blue, and turquoise. As I began to buy more pieces in this color, I found myself using aqua in my decorating. And so it began. This pattern is called Sand Dollar and I have two of them.


The $5 chair? Are you interested? Husband and I were out and about yesterday. I was looking for little presents for a swap I am taking part in. Don was along for the ride. We went into one shop and before I knew it, Don was calling out for me to ‘come look at this chair!’ It was marked, $5 today only. It wasn’t something I would normally be drawn to, but darned if I didn’t start to like it. Don was thinking he could use it when he sings and performs in public, which he can, of course, but I thought it might look good with the spinet desk, too. The chair we had there was too big, if you remember, and I thought this one might be better in that regard. It is made by Thonet (the original label is on the underside of the chair.) Thonet was famous for making wonderful bentwood chairs. Don paid the $5 and while he was standing there waiting for me, someone offered him $25 for it. Hmmm. We could have made a profit. But instead, we brought it home with us.


It is battered and scuffed, especially on the lower legs, but you know I like my furniture a bit loved and distressed. I also love mixing styles because I like an eclectic look. Oh, and look at the nailhead trim:


I’m liking this little bargain. So far, Don is winning the battle of the bargains. He found the dollhouse table which is a beautiful cream-colored coffee table for $10.50 and now this chair for $5.00.

I intend to give him a run for his money.

Nella and the Blog

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My parents, who are in Florida, make a point of reading through all my blog posts for the previous week every Sunday afternoon. They get on the computer and read the posts together. I love that. My Dad, who has a new camera, recently sent me this photo:


There’s the blog – and there is Nella. Nella is my favorite kitty. She is just a darling with so much personality. However, call me crazy, but she looks a tad resentful of the time my parents spend reading my blog. It looks as if she has tried to stop the whole thing, doesn’t it? Or at least position herself between them and the computer. Oh Nella, you have them all the time, I live far away…can you just give me a few minutes every Sunday? Please?

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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