Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Gift – All The Way From Australia

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Remember when I told you that something was coming in the mail for the dollhouse? Something a special someone had made? Just because?

It came in the mail yesterday. All the way from Australia.

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Yes, you’re right. You can’t miss it. It’s that incredible bed! (Pardon me while I take a moment to scream with happiness.)

Do you believe this?

Let me tell you the story. My friend Norma, who is a very talented miniaturist, lives in Australia and we have been blogging friends for quite a while now. (She once sent me a stuffed koala bear when I was working temporarily in San Diego. That post is here. ) I’ve said it before on this blog; dollhouse and mini bloggers are amazingly generous people. They are willing to share their advice and their tutorials and are always ready to answer a question. When I first got the dollhouse, a couple of bloggers sent me some pieces to help me get started. Just because.

Norma sent me an email after reading a post in which I mentioned that I still needed to find a bed and said that she would like to make me one. My jaw dropped. Could I pay her, I asked? No, was her answer. She simply wanted to design a bed that would suit the bedroom at Hummingbird Cottage.

We had a conference about style and fabric choice. I chose a toile and decided to go for pink. And Norma took it from there. She sent it out in the mail last week – on Monday. I’ve been watching the mail like a hawk ever since.

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Yesterday, as I was raking outside, Lori, who is our mail carrier, stopped and called me over to her vehicle in order to have me sign for a package. Was it from Australia, I wondered?

Yes!

I ran into the house, shouting “It’s here!!” I’m not kidding.

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Norma made all of the bedding. It’s exquisite.

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The lace is gorgeous. The fabrics are wonderful. The bed is perfect for this attic hideaway. (The owner loves pink.)

She also included a few other treasures. I don’t have photos of all of them yet, but I’ll share the ones I managed to get.

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That’s a box of macarons from Laduree.

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A tea towel for the kitchen.

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And another.

There’s even more but I have to get out my macro filter to take some sharp close-ups. Coming soon.

I’m thrilled with this new addition to the dollhouse. But even more thrilling and heartwarming is the fact that Norma took the time to do this for me. This is a treasure, pure and simple, made with love and heart. Another beautiful story for the dollhouse, which is full of things that many of you have sent to me. They are what makes the dollhouse a true and loving home.

Thank you, dear Norma. I can’t stop looking at it. Bless you.

By the way, I have wanted to do something with the potting shed and, with some trepidation, I finally did it yesterday. That’s a teaser, my friends. More tomorrow.

Happy Thursday.

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Dollhouse: More Work On The Potting Shed

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The Potting Shed at Hummingbird Cottage has a few new additions, with more on the way.

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We have some pots and a watering can and potting soil and…a potting bench that I made yesterday.

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It’s made from two shutters I had in my dollhouse stash and some spindles that I cut down to the size I wanted.

I could have made it taller, but I didn’t want everything to be the same height. Besides, if the owner is at all like me, half the time she’s potting things on the fly; here, there and everywhere.

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Oh. My. Goodness. Potting soil. Could those bags be any cuter?

There’s much I plan to do with the shed and the roof. I have lots of ideas! But the details will have remain a secret for now. I will tell you that it’s going to be a rooftop retreat for the owner, a place where she can grow plants and vegetables and sit in the sun.

I wonder if she appreciates all that I’m doing for her?

This dollhouse is a work in progress, of course, but I think I might do a series of posts in the near future that show its journey so far. Before and After. What do you think?

And of course, next week I will do my annual Easter/egg cup round-up. I do it a bit differently every year. I’ll do my best to tell you a little a bit about each egg cup – where I got it, what I know about it, that kind of thing.

The sun is shining, it’s going to be in the sixties and I’m going to do some work outside today! Hurrah!

Did I tell you how happy I am to have my husband home?

Happy Wednesday.

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Reunion

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Do you think Scout is happy her daddy is home?

Or that her daddy is happy to see her again?

Ah, what a reunion! Scout was so happy to see him that she never let him out of her sight. She was exhausted at the end of the day from all the excitement.

It was a dark and rainy day but the minute I saw Don at the train station, it was all sunshine for me. So, so happy to see him again – so happy to have our little pack together once more. This particular separation was the hardest yet for us. We’ve been through many of them over the years and we seem to handle them pretty well. But this one was another story. Of course, the dreadful winter we suffered out here had a lot to do with it. But also, the older we get, the less we seem to be able to tolerate being away from each other. There’s just been too much of it in our history.

But the work we do as artists requires that of us. Work often takes one of us to another city or another part of the country and it takes us there for six weeks or two months or six months. In an ideal world, we’d be able to visit each other for a big chunk of that time, but we haven’t been able to do that for a long while. Our commitment to our dogs required one of us to be at home with them. Riley needed constant care that only we could provide. Scout is older now and she also needs one of us with her. Don’s apartment in Boston was a third floor walk-up with too many stairs for her to navigate. We stayed here.

So we do our best.

If another offer of work came for either of us, we’d take it. We need the work. We need the money. But we are a wee bit jealous of all of you who live and work in the same general area. The thought of going off to work and being able to come home every night is a little glimpse of heaven for us.

Now, we’ll go through a little re-entry period where we adjust to life together in our little cottage. But it won’t take long.

And Don cooked dinner last night! Hallelujah!

By the way, I loved, loved the stories you shared on yesterday’s post. I laughed out loud when I was reading them. Thank you.

Happy Tuesday.

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