'Man overboard! Save the blanket.'

We just watched a new movie last night --- well, "new" to us. It's a movie from 1940, but most of us had never seen it! It's called It's a Date starring Deanna Durbin and Walter Pidgeon. Wow!

If you've never seen it --- then see it! And if the title of this blog post doesn't make sense to you, then definitely see it! Walter Pidgeon is hilarious in this one as "The Pineapple King". The man who makes three cents every time anybody eats a pineapple. Deanna is the daughter of a famous actress, and she's even better than her mother. So she says. The supporting cast is great with Henry Stevenson, Eugene Pallette and Cecilia Loftus. Not to be missed.


Other than selling some stuff on eBay, we haven't been up to much lately. Buddy and Kay were over for a visit today, and we're hoping to make it down to their place in the next week or so! Elizabeth actually bought something on eBay. It's a sheet music book of the six songs from the 1940s film Rachel and the Stranger. Believe it or not, they are all sung (in the film) by Robert Mitchum, and he actually recorded them on record. They're gorgeous songs, and we're thrilled to get the music. Now, on to the practicing. :)

We were snowed in again this weekend and didn't even make it to church. That makes three in a row! It's supposed to stay in the cold temps for another few days. Summer . . . how much do I love you? Let me count the ways.

Pop's Fabulous Fly Tying

It all started because of Foyle's War. Well, that's where it started for the three of us girls. We saw the first episode where Foyle ties a "classic iron blue", and we were totally convinced that Pop should take this up as his full-time hobby. It took a long time to convince Pop, but he finally succumbed. He's even taken up fly-fishing. He says that it gives him a good reason to tie the flies.

As with anything that he decides to put his mind to . . . he's marvelous. Elizabeth seems to have inherited the same skill, which is quite lovely. They decide to do something, and poof! they are perfect at it! Wow. Pop's been working at his flies for the last week or so. I think that his Maytime fishing trip is seeming close. ;)

Well, he tied a beauty of a Jock Scott pattern the other night. It was from a pattern originally made in the 1800s and actually took him three hours to make, so he says it's only for display --- not fishing. His whole table looked so . . . professional. Just like a set in a movie or something, so I had to take a picture of it to post here! You should see his collection of colored feathers. He's always going through craft stores for bags of them, and our cousin even gave him some feathers from his little parakeet named "Pita".

Thoughts on Mohair and Wool Doll Hair for Felting

I ordered some doll hair online last week, and it arrived yesterday. Some of it is really nice, and with that all added to the other colors that I had . . . it's a pretty good collection! Mom picked up a bag full of several kinds and colors of natural doll hair at a thrift store several years ago. This was before I was even felting, but she figured it would come in handy. It sure did. We used it on the little felt dolls that we made (pipe cleaner bodies wound in embroidery floss with wool felt heads and clothes). These dolls were all about three inches tall, so they didn't use too much hair. We ordered two more colors online, but that was the end of it . . . we thought.

The majority of the hair was 100% wool from a company called All Cooped Up. It comes in "braids" around a piece of string. As soon as you pull on the end of the wool it comes off of the string and you have what looks like wavy hair. This stuff is really nice, and the colors really look like human hair (except for their "blond").

There was one long piece that was not wool, but we weren't sure what it was. Turns out that it is mohair. I used that for the first time on the Posey Hornbeam doll, and it really looked like real hair. Mom was sold, and it did look great. She and I were on the hunt for more at the fiber shows, but nobody seems to sell hair colored fiber at the shows. Although, we were able to get two packages of Mohair locks. Those are really nice, and I was able to use the darker color on the Mrs. Hood doll.

So, we thought that we would look up some places online that sold mohair doll hair. We found a place and ordered some straight black mohair and a 36" braid of honey blond hair. I can't wait to try it. I also ordered some new wool braids, and those look great. As beautiful as the mohair is . . . I still like the wool the best!

Mom and Elizabeth have talked me into making a set of dolls based on antique figurines of the Commedia Dell'Arte characters. This is actually pretty fun, as I love the novel Scaramouche, and have wanted to make some of the characters anyway. The first one is going to be Pierette. She's started right now, but she would be way too embarrassed if I posted any pictures of her as she appears in her present state!

Wednesday Night Auction Deals

Last night was the weekly auction at the local auction house. It was snowing a lot yesterday, but Mom and I decided to brave the weather in the truck. We just made it, but it was sure worth it! We came home with a bunch of stuff (Mom got about seven boxes of craft stuff for $2.00!), but there were two real "deals" for the night. First, a whole stack of nineteen pieces of feedsack fabric for only $15.00! We were pretty happy about that, as she's always wanted just one feedsack, but it was a bit out of our budget. Here's a picture of the stack:

The other deal was a complete setting for eight of dishes made in Occupied Japan! Mom collected Occupied Japan figurines for years (before we were born), but had never been able to afford a set of dishes. She was sure that she wouldn't get them, but in the end she actually got the whole set for only $10.00! They are still wrapped in newspaper at the moment, but I'll hope to get a picture of them soon. We've got to decide where to put them . . .

This will be a date to remember!

1-11-11

Now that's a date to remember! This only happens once every decade. Well, the date may be interesting, but we've had a nice nondescript day. I got a new computer game yesterday, and as lazy as it sounds . . . I spent a couple hours playing it! It's called Westward Kingdoms, so I'm a traveling prince out to save four kingdoms! Wow.

Last night we watched a FUN movie. We finally got Lights of Old Santa Fe (with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans) on DVD. That means that instead of the cut version (52 minutes), we have the full version (77 minutes)! Boy, is it amazing. There were three songs cut and most of the plot advancing things. That was quite enjoyable. More later.

Autographs from Amanda Root

Another reply from one of our fan letters came today! This time it was from Amanda Root (she played "Anne" in the 1995 film of Jane Austen's Persuasion). We are so thrilled. She was one of the people that we were really hoping would reply, but no one had replies posted anywhere online. It took Elizabeth a couple weeks to find the address alone!

Not only did she send each of us a gorgeous photo, but she also sent a long letter, too! We've had several personal replies, and that is so nice. It makes the actors so "real". Something makes me think that the two of us are going to be working on our scrapbooks over the next couple of days!

Hercule Poirot as a Needle Felted Doll

Mom has always been a nut about the Poirot TV shows. So, we decided that a little wool-felted Poirot doll would be a perfect Christmas present. This happened in March, as soon as I finished the first two gnomes. It took a couple of months for us to start working out the logistics. We sent for autographed pictures from David Suchet and Hugh Fraser (Poirot & Capt. Hastings in the TV shows), and with the help of a friend in the UK, managed to keep them a secret from Mom.

Added on Jan. 23, 2013:

We have now designed a miniature Poirot doll made of wool and wool felt.

These are available in our Etsy shop, and you can check them out by reading
THIS ENTRY here on my blog.

Added on May 12, 2013:
I have now made two more felted Poirot dolls (slightly larger than this one). To see pictures of them and to read their story, just see their entry by CLICKING HERE.

The next problem was the box. Elizabeth wanted a dark colored box (black or navy blue) with a velvet lining. Sounded good, but no amount of browsing at Hobby Lobby or any other store was supplying even one option. We were even open to covering over a box and making our own lining, but nothing was the right shape, size or feel. This one had to be perfect.

Then, in early June, we stopped in at a thrift store to drop off some stuff. While Elizabeth was looking through LPs, and Mom was looking through something unknown, I just kind of wandered around. All of a sudden . . . there it was! Sitting on a shelf with a bunch of picture frames was a thin, navy blue box. It was the perfect height for a doll. What was even cooler was the fact that it was velvet lined! God is amazing!

We decided to change things around now that we had this perfect box. It opened the wrong way, so Elizabeth sliced the velvet out and reversed the foam lining underneath. Once it was put back together she painted the logo on the top with a white gel pen. She's so talented. We spent a month working out the color and stance for the doll. We wanted the light gray suit, but I didn't have any light gray wool. That meant that we had to wait until the fiber show in September (not to mention telling a few fibs as to why we had to have light gray wool!). We looked high and low through the show, but no light gray was fine enough . . . until the last booth. Again, God is amazing!

Elizabeth decided that it would be really cool if we could put the autographed photo inside the box. The photo that we had was just not the right shape or size, no matter what we tried. So, we sent another photo to Mr. Suchet with a letter explaining what we were making and asking that he return it before Christmas. This was on the first of October, and his response time is usually about six weeks. No problem, except . . . he must have taken some time off, because he wasn't signing anything after September (that we could tell by the fan sites). We resigned ourselves to no autograph and figured that we'd print a plain picture to go in the box.

Work, work, work and the doll still wasn't quite finished on Christmas. Not to worry, though, since Elizabeth hadn't finished the Secondhand Lions toys either. We all voted to postpone out Christmas presents until the following Sunday (January 3). Some point in the middle of the week a #10 envelope arrived. Elizabeth didn't recognize it, so she threw it on Mom's desk with the other mail. I had an inkling of what was inside, so I snatched it up before Mom could see it and ran off to open it. It was! It was the picture with a gorgeous personalized autograph! It hadn't even been mailed through the agency, so Mr. Suchet actually had to do it personally. He had even mailed it before Christmas, and it just took a little while to arrive. We were on Cloud #9 for the rest of the day. God's timing really is perfect!



Elizabeth put the picture in the box with a black mat, and we were almost finished. Actually, we didn't put the finishing touch (the little purple flower in the lapel pin) on until we were actually wrapping up on the very day that we opened presents! Nothing like finishing in the nick of time.
Well, this entry is a lot longer than I had anticipated, so we'll get on to the statistics. Poirot is seven inches tall (including his hat), weighs two ounces and took about 28 hours to complete (felting time, that is). He was felted with a #40 and a #42 needle and is made of 100% Merino wool. His watch chain is actually sterling silver. Elizabeth made the chain and lapel pin with old jewelry parts that she had.

If you want to see more pictures of the Poirot Doll, CLICK HERE.

This is the BEST Present Ever!

What is more fitting for the first post of the year than pictures of the coolest present?! We just opened our Christmas presents yesterday (We didn't get the homemade presents done in time for Christmas day, so we waited a week!). This is a present from Elizabeth and Dad to me. Dad cut them out and put them together, and Elizabeth did all the painting. She is absolutely amazing!!

I'm just nuts about the movie Secondhand Lions --- particularly the cartoons that appear in Walter's workshop and the end credits. Elizabeth has painted two wall plaques and framed a pencil drawing of some of these cartoons. We've chosen another cartoon that, one day, she's going to paint as a mural on a wall in my baby's nursery. Pictures of that stuff to come.

This time she made a set of pull toys and a giraffe. They are all made of wood and she did all the painting! She's amazing. Walter is the leader of the pack and has a nice long rope with a big wooden bead for a handle. Then comes the cute little pig, followed by Jasmine the Lion! Of course, Walter can be pulled by himself or with either of his little friends, but who would want to leave any behind?! The giraffe is just too tall to be a pull toy, so Elizabeth says she'll make a table lamp out of him. All of the tails are made of painted cotton rope. This is definitely the best present ever!

'. . . with a fond goodbye!'

That's what Irving Berlin said about 'kissing the old year out'. God has certainly blessed us many ways this year --- too many to even list here. But I sure am looking forward to a new year. Hopefully 2011 will be more normal.

Today was the big year-end auction at the local auction house. Things started at 10:00am this morning and we didn't get home 'til about 4:30pm. It was really fun to see all the old stuff there, and there was certainly lots of stuff! Well, in just seven short hours this year will be over. And guess where I'll be??? In bed! :)
God bless you and Happy New Year!

'Just like the ones I used to know . . .'

It's finally happened! After more than ten years! We had a white Christmas! In fact, we actually had snow in the middle of the night, so when we woke up yesterday morning the roads were totally covered. They didn't clear off until the afternoon. We had a nice, quiet Christmas together putting up the tree and making cookies and lasagna. A couple of the homemade presents were not finished on time, so we're saving presents until next Sunday.



Today we've had some friends over. Elizabeth and I can't remember a Christmas in Ohio without them, so it's like having family. We always have a Cuban dinner together, and this year we even had a pineapple centerpiece! They stayed basically all day, then we washed up all the dishes etc., so it's getting late.

Merry Christmas!

Five Special Years with Beatrice

Wow! I can hardly believe it, but we've had Beatrice five years as of today. She's my special girl-cat, who actually picked me. We had gone to the local shelter to get another kitty for Elizabeth since her little cat, Deanna, had just died. We hadn't been there for more than five minutes when this tiny, little black cat came up to rub on my legs. She was a little peanut of a thing (she weighed six pounds at the time and was actually overweight!) and so cute, so I picked her up. She climbed right into the hood of my winter coat and went to sleep. Well, I had to keep her, so she came home that night. She was seven months old and had been at the shelter ever since she was a few weeks old. All of her siblings had found their special homes, but nobody wanted Beatrice because she was black. Poor girly.

After five years, she is very happy, and the queen of the house. She never gets over eight pounds, and she's certainly the smallest cat in the house, but she's the queen of the place and everybody knows it! She has frenetic "frenzies" when she wants love and just rubs all over and can't stop moving. The only thing that calms her down in music be Brenda Lee. :) Beatrice is certainly a special little blessing . . . God knew that I needed her!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

Well, it looks like we might actually have a white Christmas this year. That hasn't happened in, probably, over ten years! We've been white for about three weeks already, and it will hopefully stay another week. This is what the yard was looking like last week while it was snowing. It hasn't snowed for a few days, so the bushes and trees are pretty bare, but the ground is just as white.

With only days left before Christmas, we're trying to get everything finished up (presents and all) and get ready for the big weekend. Not a year, since we moved to Ohio, has gone by that certain friends haven't come over on Christmas weekend for a good old-fashioned Cuban dinner. The grand occasion is going to happen on Sunday, so we're going to get all the good dishes down and pull out the special table cloths. Gramma and Grampa just sent a huge box of plantains and that good stuff, so we're about ready! Got to go . . .

If I had $1,000,000 to invest . . .

Mom and I were talking yesterday, and we came up with a brilliant idea! It's just too bad that we haven't got a million or two to invest. Wouldn't it be really cool if somebody bought an old department store, say from the 1950s, and turned it into a consignment antique shop. Of course, not just any old antique shop with booths all over the place. Let people bring in only the nicest of stuff and set your store up exactly like an old department store. Have a clothing department, a shoe department, a toy department, a music department (including records, radios and sheet music) and so on and so on and so on.

Don't let individuals sell whole "booths" of stuff. Rather, let people consign as many (or as few) pieces as are in really nice condition. Tag everything with the consignment number, just to keep things straight, but make it look like a real department store. Don't sell anything past a certain date, and make your store look like that era. Cool thought, anyway . . .

The Timeless Pleasure of Zenda

The Prisoner of Zenda. That is, honestly, one of my favorite novels (including the sequel Rupert of Hentzau)! Not only was it a stage play in the 1890s, but it's been filmed over and over again in the attempt to bring an imaginary Ruritanian world to life. Opinions differ as to which version is best, but if you ever read the book, then you'll realize that, try as they might, Hollywood never captured the beauty and excitement of the book. Take a look at how Rudolf and Flavia have changed (or not) over the years.

In 1922, Rex Ingram made a spectacular silent film production of the novel. Lewis Stone starred as Rudolf Rassendyll/King Rudolf V with Alice Terry as Princess Flavia and Ramon Novarro as Rupert of Hentzau. I've never seen this version, but it sounds as if they held to the novel better than the later "talkie" versions. Lewis Stone appeared again, in the 1952 film, as the Cardinal.

In 1937, Selznick Pictures built Ruritania in a back lot and tried again. This is considered by most people to be the best of all the Zenda films. I would totally disagree, but it's all a matter of taste. Ronald Colman is Rudolf, and though Madeleine Carroll makes a pretty princess, she doesn't quite capture the beauty and regality of the written Flavia.

Then, in 1952 MGM came back to make an almost scene-for-scene remake of Selznick's version. This time Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr portrayed the royal pair with James Mason as "young" Hentzau. Well, the ages were a bit off, but it's my favorite of all the films. Rudolf's personality is perfectly portrayed, though I would Mel Ferrer looking more like the book's description. It is a true shame that Granger never brought the sequel to the screen. He would have been amazing!

Elizabeth and I have read quite a few books over the years that mention The Prisoner of Zenda. In fact, even Agatha Christie had a special place in her heart for the novel as seen in her mystery Postern of Fate (Tuppence fondly recalling her youth):
"She sighed with enormous pleasure at the remembrance. 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. One's first introduction , really, to the romantic novel. The romance of Princess Flavia. The King of Ruritania. Rudolf Rassendyll, some name like that, whom one dreamt of at night."

If you've read this, then I hope that you enjoyed the book as much as I did. If you haven't read it, well . . . read it.

Rodolfo
Qui in hac civitate nuper regnavit
In corde ipsius in aeternum regnat
Flavia Regina

Collecting Roy Rogers Books by Whitman Pub. Co.

Selling on eBay does have a few perks . . . like doing a little shopping on the side with some of the profits! I'm trying to get a collection of those cool Roy Rogers (and other Western stars/subjects) novels that were published in the 1940s and 1950s by Whitman Publishing Company. Generally, the books are in rough shape, having been printed on very acidic paper and having pretty cheap binding.

After plowing through a bunch of auction listings though, I've picked up five that are in pretty beautiful shape. Roy Rogers and the Rimrod Renegades even has the dust jacket! I'm still looking for about four more of them (RR and the Brasada Bandits, RR on the Trail of the Zeros, RR and the Outlaws of Sundown Valley & RR King of the Cowboys), so the search continues!


Winter has finally come, and it's beginning to feel like that white Christmas that I'm always dreaming about. We've had snow for a whole week now and temps are down in the 20Fs (on the good days). We're keeping the wood stove on high!

Selling on eBay has been pretty nice, but we're nearing the end as it's closer to Christmas. I've started working on a great present for Mom, but I still need a good chunk of time on it . . . and the days are ticking down. :) Oh boy!

Happy Winter, Rise and Shine . . .

. . . I love the early morning time. Those are the opening words to our favorite picture books while we were growing up. December already and today marks the first snow of the season, and it wasn't one of those little ice flurries either, but some real honest snow! I just love Winter with snow.




The down side to this means that Christmas is really creeping up here, but we won't think about that. We have to run up to town for some cat food, so we aren't up in the attic this morning. The poor cats have just been having a lot of trouble with food lately. All these fancy formulas are a bit crazy, so we're going back to a food that they ate for years to see if it's better than we thought it was. :) Well, Elizabeth is calling me and she's turned on an opera duet, so that means I better "git"!

Cleaning Out the Attic

Because of some concerns having to do with the structure of our house . . . namely, the weight of the book collection being upstairs and the added weight of Christmas decorations in the attic above . . . we're cleaning out the attic. These bins are just the decorations, but we still have the Christmas village, stuffed animals and "hope chest" items (more like "hope attic"!).

In case you don't hear anything else from this blog in the next few days, you'll know that we got stuck up there!

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

This year we joined the ranks of all the crazy nuts that wake up before sunrise to "hit the stores" on the day known as Black Friday. I know, you think that we really lost it. Well, actually, we've been crazy for years . . . but not quite this crazy!

The sale that caused all this was Flannel @ $1.29/yd. at JoAnn Fabrics. Ahhhhhh! You all know that wonderful saying, 'the early bird catches the worm', so we were up at 5:00am and at the store by 6:30am. By the time we left at 2:00pm (that did include a lunch break at Panera) we had bought pieces of 94 different flannels!

We're planning a bunch of baby quilts. They're great to have around in case of baby showers and/or unexpected gifts, and we only have one left in our stash from the quilt project. We also got quite a bit of flannel to make assorted nursery things for ourselves, as there were some prints we just couldn't pass up. In the end, all the day's purchases filled four medium-sized Rubbermaid Roughneck bins! Now it's on to Christmas secrets . . .

Samwise vs. Tricky Woo: Any Similarities?

"Tricky Woo". He's that fantastic dog character in the All Creatures Great and Small stories by James Herriot. He is an overweight, buff-colored Pekingese. His owner, Mrs. Pumphrey, is an elderly widow lady who spends much of her vast fortune on sweet, little Tricky. Tricky is never allowed to eat plain old dog food --- he eats dinners fit for royalty and always snacks on chocolate and bonbons. For his daily exercise Tricky mounts a large velvet pillow and is carried around by the gardener.



Elizabeth seems to see similarities between Tricky Woo and my cat, Samwise. Is that fair? Okay, so Sammy is 17lbs. and buff-colored, but he's not overweight, just a big-framed fellow. Okay, so he's sleepy for twenty hours a day and tired for the other four, but he gets up for his afternoon stretch and snack. He even walks himself to the food bowl! Okay, so he isn't the brightest tool in the shed and he eats anything on the floor that fits in his mouth --- but he never eats "people food". Okay, so I have spent a portion of our not-so-vast wealth on special toys that are only for Sammy, but he loves lying on my bed, on the five inches of memory foam and the down comforter, while you wiggle toys over his head for him to bat at with his paw.



Alright, so he's spoiled rotten, but he is the best cat in the world --- in my opinion. He waits to be the first cat allowed in our room every morning, and he's always the last one out at night. He stays in for some extra "lovin's", and is very vocal if he doesn't get enough! All in all, I don't see any resemblance between Samwise and Tricky, but . . .

Selling on eBay is . . . Fun??

It's that time of year when we're facing the idea that we're going to be closed up all Winter and Spring in the house with all the "stuff" that's around the place. So, the natural answer is to go through it and get rid of some of this excess stuff, right? That's exactly what we've been doing for the past two weeks. A lot of the stuff is just going out to the thrift store, but some of it has been going on eBay . . . you know, those old ship models that've been hanging around that nobody wants to put together, not to mention that we've decided to weed through the books and clean out the attic!

Yesterday was a big day. Mom and I spent a long time sorting through stuff, listing on eBay, packing up and taking pictures. Of course, the cats thought they would help too! They all voted this some very hard work, as shown by these pictures. Aren't they great helpers?!





At least Beatrice fell asleep on the job (right in the middle of calculating the shipping weight of a package on our very technologically-advanced baby scale), but the rest all had the nerve to get in their beds and baskets! They're cute company though, you gotta admit.
If you want to check out our eBay stuff just CLICK HERE.

Fall Pictures

Fall is here . . . and going quickly. Here are some pictures of what the yard looks like this week. It's not a very colorful year this time. The leaves are just kind of drying up and turning brown before they reach their full color.

You can see Dad's wood pile in the back yard there. He's got about half or a bit more put in the woodshed. He's having to build another extension to the shed, and that's almost finished. I'll post pictures of that once it's up!

Needle-Felted Project: Hawaiian Surfer Doll

This is the latest needle-felted wool doll. It is a Hawaiian Surfer gnome. He is 7" tall, weighs 2 oz. and took 20 hours to complete. He was made for Alex, so he has a home in Florida! His surfboard was made by Dad (out of wood) and painted by Elizabeth.

Click Here to See More Photos

It took a while to find a display case for him, but we finally found one that is made for model cars. It fit him like a glove! Dad got a little piece of driftwood and glued it onto the case. The surfboard is then glued to that and the doll's feet slide under the wood.

We're Back . . .

This post has been a while in coming, but we've barely been home since we got back. I am finally uploading a bunch of the pictures that we took, so here they are: Click Here for the Album

Here are a few pictures (just because I can't resist posting them)! First off, here is a picture of what we had for breakfast every day . . . pastelitos! That is the word for Cuban pastries, and the best are the ones that are long and thin (in the picture): they are filled with cheese. Coated in sugar, so they're not our dentist's idea of good food, but you've never lived if you haven't had one. ;) The square-shaped ones along the back, with the red filling, are guava-filled!

We got to meet Leilani, and that was so great! We had a really good time with Patty and Alex, and spent most of Sunday with them. We also had time to go over and see their new apartment (which includes Leilani's adorable nursery!). These are two pictures of Leilani while Mom and Elizabeth were holding her:



Okay, okay. She was awake some of the time, but I didn't really take pictures of her that way, so here are a couple that Patty and Alex took. Now you can really appreciate her cuteness!



Well, now that you've seen the really important stuff, you can go ahead and take a look at the album. We were able to visit with some of the extended family, and we even got to see Leilani baptized! I've had another gnome finished for a while, but, as it was a present for Alex, I didn't want to post pictures. Those will be coming soon, so check back!