Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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The Cubicle

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I call this “Out of Control Office.” Or “When Dollhouses Become a Cubicle.”

I’m getting ready to do some finishing work on the exterior of the English Cottage, as well as finishing off bits of the interior. There will be little bits and pieces to add over time –  that’s what happened with Hummingbird Cottage. In fact, I added a new table and chairs for the kitchen of that house last year, so I guess I’m never completely done. I also want to add some window boxes and paint the raised porch area.

The fourth wall of the cubicle.  Yes, that’s toilet paper on the shelf below. I’m not sure why it’s there, maybe I needed something to wipe up paint? Who knows?

Between the girls and the dollhouses, I have a lot of miniature endeavors going on.

I have a few books on ‘small things’ you might be interested in. I was straightening up my stacks of in progress reading material yesterday and I separated these books from the pile so I can read them over the next few days.

The Book of Mini – Inside the Big World of Very Small Things   is by Kate Esme Unger, who I’ve been following for many years through her @dailymini feed on Instagram. She has photographed miniatures for years and this book is a compilation of her photos, including interviews with some of the artisans. It really is a treasure trove. Available in bookstores and on Amazon.

Collectively Speaking – My Passionate Pursuit of Miniatures  (2 volumes) is by Kate Savage Browning. Her collection is vast, so much so that she established the KSB Miniatures Collection, which is in a 3,300 square foot gallery in Maysville, Kentucky. I met her several years ago at the IGMA show and I’ve seen an interview/tour of the gallery. It’s extraordinary. The photographs are excellent and Kay shares so much history and information. Well worth it and available on Amazon.

This is Blythe  by Gina Garan. Written in 2000 (I believe it might be out of print now) Garan photographed her Blythe dolls – and I’m talking about the original Kenner Blythe dolls pre-customization – out in nature and in and around the streets of NYC. It’s considered a classic for Blythe and doll lovers, especially those who collect the original dolls.

Don somehow found this book – I’d never mentioned it to him – and got it through a bookseller. He gave it to me for my birthday.

Yes, he’s cool.

Garan’s photography was groundbreaking. Nowadays, Blythe collectors photograph their dolls everywhere especially in this world of social media, but at the time it was rare. She had a book of those photographs published – unheard of. It reminds me of The Lonely Doll, a childhood favorite.

It’s cold here today and unfortunately, no sunshine. Hang in there, everyone.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

 

Puzzle and a Space for the Girls

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I’m running a bit late this morning! No specific reason – I’m just rather lazy this morning.

I’ve been working on this:

Another New Yorker puzzle, this time with a cat.

My anxiety has come roaring back, after relatively few problems when I was working in the city. I had a few minor bouts, but I was so busy and focused that it stayed away. But it’s back now, so these puzzles have become even more important to me. Working on one is meditative and that helps to drive the demons away. Thank goodness for jigsaw puzzles. My sister finds that elusive peace through knitting. I did too, when I was crocheting and knitting.

I don’t know if you remember this, but years ago, when I was working for several weeks in Hartford, I bought an inexpensive Loft dollhouse (basically made of heavy paper board) from Target. I never ended up doing anything with it and I almost donated it to the Salvation Army last year, but ended up keeping it. It’s been in our bedroom in a corner hidden by the door. I usually stash my handbag in top of it.

I got to thinking about it the other day. Since the big room is so tall compared to my other dollhouses – I think it’s 1:6 scale rather than the 1:12 scale of my miniatures – would it work as a sort of photo staging area for my Blythes? I grabbed Imogen, went upstairs and pulled it out of the corner.

While Imogen watched from her perch in the English Cottage – clearly not the right size for her – I dusted the interior and exterior of the Loft. Then, Miss Imogen consented to go inside so I could see if she fit.

She does!

I might remove the stairs because they take up valuable space. I can always put them back if I need to. I’m rather jazzed about this idea. I might add wallpaper. We’ll see.

And I’ll need a couple of pieces of 1:6 furniture, like a sofa and a bed.

It’s all in the service of pretty photos, my friends!

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

A New Year

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Well, Happy New Year! I was born in 1952 and this year ends in ’22, so you do the math. It won’t happen until the end of the year, but, believe me, I have taken note.

We had a very low-key New Year’s Eve. I think we went to bed around 11 pm. We dined on delicious Thai food, ate a few chocolates, watched one of our favorite movies – It Happened One Night – and toasted the new year with sparkling cider.

Now we’re at the point in the weekend where we keep thinking today is Monday. Just as we thought Saturday was Sunday. I’ll be happy to get back to normal, whatever that is. The tree is still up, though it’s very dry. (We never have the lights on when we’re not here, so it’s safe.) We were going to take it down today, but Don asked if we could keep it up one more day. Normally, we’d have it up until the 6th, at the very least, but this tree from Lowes is not lasting as long as the trees we usually buy from our favorite nursery. I’ll miss it. It’s quite beautiful.

Plus, it’s raining. Again. We’ve had endless fog and rain. It’s getting rather depressing.

This tray full of vegetables and a copper pan with the makings of soup was one of the miniatures that Ben gave me as a present on the last day of shooting. There are several others that I’ll share with you. Here’s the back story: When I was coaching Ben via Zoom, I used our office. I did my best to angle the camera so that the Beacon Hill wouldn’t appear in the shot. Not everyone understands dollhouses, for one thing, but more importantly, it seemed unprofessional. But eagle-eyed Ben caught sight of it once and became excited and wanted me to show it to him. So I showed him the Beacon Hill and the English cottage and he was quite taken with them. (His mom had a dollhouse.) I mentioned that I hoped to get to Tiny Dollhouse in NYC while I was staying in Brooklyn. If you didn’t read my post on IG, I went there on the one day I had off and they were unexpectedly closed. I was so disappointed. But Ben, who was always on set, sent his boyfriend David to the shop to pick out a few things for me! David, by the way, fell in love with miniatures while he was there. Ben presented me with the loveliest card with very moving thank you, along with a gift bag. Inside the bag were all the miniatures. So, so dear of him. One of them was for Don and me – a really neat guitar. I’ll show you more in the future.

And here’s Zoe and Bertie (on another dark and dreary day.) She’s wearing a new dress.

Okay my friends. I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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