Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Fog, Christmas Decorating, and the Shop

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This morning. It rained yesterday and this morning was quite foggy. I love a foggy morning!

We still haven’t taken the a/c units out of the windows, but we’ll do that this week. And it’s time to clean up the porch, empty the pots, rearrange a bit of the shed and store everything for the winter. So that’s the agenda for this week, along with getting our Christmas tree and hanging lights on the porch.

We already have our gifts and have opened them, of course, but that will not make a whit of difference as to celebrating Christmas. Lights, ornaments, decorated dollhouses, girls in Christmas sweaters, and Christmas music playing on the radio – all of it is joyous and also, in the best way possible, an escape from the world. And we need that right now. For a month or so, we can do our best to let go of worries and just be. I am fully onboard.

Today, I’m going to dust the dollhouse interiors and do some decorating.

Blythe Headquarters is also undergoing a subtle transformation:

The trees and the little deer are from Target. You an’t beat that store for inexpensive but tasteful decorations. Each shelf has a its own Christmas tree.

I sent off another package yesterday to a buyer who purchased two of my McCoy pieces. Got back home, knowing there wouldn’t be any more sales for a bit, only to get a message from Etsy later in the day that I’d sold another McCoy vase. So I have to go out tomorrow to get more packing material. With pottery, you have to be very careful. Everything needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap and then the box needs to be filled with padding and paper. I need more tissue paper, brown paper, and a couple more boxes.

I’m grateful for the sales, of course. I added a few items yesterday that are non-McCoy; a rare Susie Cooper demitasse set, a large Roseville vase which is exquisite but a bit too big for my cabinet, two antique hatpin holders (they’re gorgeous but have been hidden away in my china cabinet) and – oh yes – one McCoy planter in aqua.

The Roseville is rather expensive because it’s large and in excellent condition; the Susie Cooper pattern used in the demitasse set is on display at the V & A museum in London. If they don’t sell, I’m okay with that.

Anyway, shopkeeper Claudia is taking the day off today to indulge in play.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Pottery and Parkas

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Happy December! Next week, we will pull out the decorations, find the perfect tree, and hang the lights on the porch railings. I’m getting excited. There’s nothing I love more than seeing the tree lights from my chair in the den. What a difference it makes in our living room and in my mood!

I’ve now sold 9 pieces of McCoy. I went to the post office yesterday to mail 2 more boxes and thought to myself: good! – now I hope there’s a little break ahead because I’m running out of packing supplies and I’ve been to the post office 4 days in a row. Later that afternoon, I got an alert from Etsy that someone had purchased 2 pieces. So I packed them up last night and it’s off to the post office again this morning.

Remember my quick trip to Target last week for boxes and tissue paper and packing supplies? Somehow my cart veered off into the Christmas decorations section of the store. There I found what I had been looking for, some more of those Christmas sweater ornaments that I transformed into wearable sweaters for the girls. But something else was there, as well; little winter parka ornaments.

They came with attached ‘skis.’ Since they were only $3, I figured what the heck? I’ll see if I can make this into something the girls can wear, if only for a photo op.

These ornaments are glued together, so I carefully pulled the skis off and was able to remove most of the glue from the parka. Then I separated the front closing. Again, pretty easy, but the glue was harder to remove. And then, the neckline and the bottom of the parka had to be dealt with. I was hesitant to mess with the glue on the ‘zipper’ area because it was so near the edge of the fabric. But they do fit and it’s easy to style them as closed.

Here’s Mabel modeling one. Some arm positioning helps keep it closed, though on the white parka, the glue isn’t really a problem. I also bought a gold parka and a dark gray parka. These little ornaments are such fun for Blythe dolls. I think Barbie doll lovers use them, too.

I have to modify the new batch of sweaters and, hopefully, I will have enough for a holiday photo of all the girls. Fingers crossed.

Katie got to model the first attempt at adapting the parka.

Time to warm up my mug of coffee in the microwave.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Light and Dark

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On Monday, I went out to get the mail late in the afternoon and what I saw made me run in the house for my camera.

Such an extraordinary sky! Dark combined with golden light. Gosh, I love it!

Someone asked me if we got snow or rain and no, we didn’t. A front moving through, I think.

I sent out three packages on Tuesday. Yesterday, three more pieces were purchased! So I guess I know what I’ll be doing today. I’m quite pleased that I’ve sold six pieces of McCoy. I listed a few additional pieces yesterday afternoon. I keep walking around the house looking for other things to sell and I’ve found a few. But there are pieces of McCoy I am not yet ready to sell because they’re my favorites. And I’m not going to sell any Roseville. No egg cups either, though I did sell my duplicate Snow White. I didn’t need the duplicate any longer, so I was able to release it into the world.

Some butter pats, maybe.

This is the remaining inventory (only so you get an idea of what I’m selling – all of you are quite familiar with my McCoy…) It isn’t always easy to choose what to let go of.

Mostly pastels but one midcentury McCoy piece in a dark green. One of the very first pieces I purchased.

I’m really enjoying Tom Lake  by Ann Patchett. Her prose flows so effortlessly and it’s a great story. The fact that the plot involves a summer theater and my home state of Michigan is an added bonus!

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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