The Mary Engelbreit House

It's been so long since I have blogged. In April, my dad had some terrible falls that resulted in a 3 month ordeal for him. This included 3 hospital trips, time back and forth to rehab, moving him out of independent living to assisted living and lots of changes. A great deal of the coordination and planning fell on me. We did it and survived and it really drew our family together. As you can imagine, it was really exhausting and did not allow for anything! The end of April, I was able to sneak away for a day to the Portland Dollshow. We had only arrived when my Jimmy spotted this charming Mary Engelbreit dollhouse that someone had almost finished. She sold it to him for $35. I still can't believe it, but oh, how I love it. As I have shared many times, my sewing and crafting cottage is decorated with ME things, so this was so exciting to find. I have never had a dollhouse like this. All the work was done and it does have lights. I had to furnish part of the bedroom and most of the living room. I was so lucky to find a couch and chair for the living room done in ME fabric. I do think the kitchen is my favorite room in the whole house. I made a place for it in my large wall shelves. Thanks to my Jimmy for spotting it and buying it for me. I will treasure it always.
I keep saying that I am trying to get back to blogging..it's been almost 2 years since my health issues were discovered. I had a new scare this week and am waiting for test results. It just seems to go on and on. I was always so healthy with NO problems most of my life, so this has been difficult. I am thankful for good doctors and good care. I should get some test results back on Tuesday, so we shall see. Meanwhile, I get great happiness from my doll world. Enjoy.

A look into the furnished house!

The kitchen has to be my favorite room. The first owner put so much detail into this sweet kitchen.

Everyone needs a bathroom!.

The bedroom was fun to finish. I added the dresser , the little doll and doll bed plus some smalls and accessories. I like all the pink and green in this room...a nice little change up from the ME bright primary colors.

This was the room that needed the most additions. I added the couch, chair, lamps, table, little shelf, rug and basket. I had some of the minis and ordered a few items to complete the room.

I wanted to show the outside of the cute window in the kitchen. All so cute.
So hello to all my old blogger friends...not sure you even remember me! Sending lots of love out there to you all. I do miss you.

Another Little Dollhouse Finished! Remembering Vermont

I'm stepping back to July for show and tell today. This is a photo of the darling little town of Newfane, Vermont which is close to Brattleboro, Vermont. It is picturesque and has several churches like these in this photo. When we had dinner our first night in Brattleboro, the fun host told us about this little antique shoppe that was a must to visit.

This is the little shoppe, owned and operated by Jack Winner. Isn't it cute? There's just not many individual antique shoppes left anymore with all the malls. Jimmy and I were so happy to find this one! Jack is hoping to retire soon and I'm not sure how much longer this shoppe will be open.

This is their B&B right next door, but I'm not sure if it is being rented right now or not.

Here's Jack Winner! He was just delightful and gave us lots of time and lots of information. We told him we were there for the Tasha Tudor event and he said that Bethany Tudor used to come in often to buy her mother pink lusterware teacups. Unfortunately, he didn't have a one for sale.

However, he had many other goodies to tempt us. I found this doll that I featured a bit ago on my blog and this little black chair that now lives on a shelf in my living room.

The grounds were quite lovely. I just loved the little pansies in this basket by the door.

So, this is what I bought from Jack. It belonged to a friend of his and he said it was from Austria before WWII. I fell in love with it and it came with the furniture and the larger man doll. I added
some items when I got home, of course, but it is pretty much finished now. When I bought it, I could see it decorated for Christmas with a little tree....very German or Austrian.

The bed and the cradle needed bedding, so I got that done the other day. I found the little lamp at the doll show. I had to order this charming little old world children to live in the house.

The furniture you see with the white flowers and orangish trim is what came with the house.  When I started to do some research to find a table for the 2 chairs, I discovered vintage Dora Kuhn painted furniture from Germany. Her work is more refined but I did order the table, 2 more chairs and a little hutch to go into the house. It isn't quite the same, but blends well.

Another look at the furniture that came with the box house.

This little guy was in the box. His wooden foot was broken, but he manages quite well.

Can you see the little cuckoo clock I found at the doll show?  The front door folds up to close up the little one room house.

A detail look at the way the roof fits together when closed.

So here is the little house...nice and compact. I love it and wonder who made it years ago. I will be taking very good care of it now.

I funny little story. Jim and I were going up to our room the night everyone was arriving in Brattleboro for our Tasha Tudor Gathering. The elevator door opened and this lady with a luggage cart says...."you got my dollhouse!" It was Belinda from my tea group and my Tasha group. I was waiting to meet her in person, but didn't know it would be like this! She started to laugh and I figured out she was talking about THIS dollhouse. She had been to Jack's shoppe after we were there and had asked him if he had any dollhouses. He said yes, but a couple from Oregon had just bought it! What a small world! I think of Belinda every time I look at it.

I'm linking up with Stephanie's blog again today. Take a stroll over to THE ENCHANTING ROSE to see what some talented ladies across the USA have been working on this past week.

What do you do when you are stuck in your house?

Last Friday, the city of Troutdale repaved our street and so we were not allowed in or out from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. I had planned ahead so I didn't need to leave and settled in for the day. I decided to bake a batch of oatmeal cookies for my Jimmy (his favorite, but not mine). I made a big batch to share with the guys roofing the house too. I was also wanting to try out my new hand mixer. It is a nice heavy duty one and it really works great. A bargain for $8.00!

This is my recipe. It is not overly sweet. I do like to substitute golden raisins and I add about 1/4 c of dried cranberries and 1/2 c of chopped pecans.

The recipe does make the 4 1/2 dozen cookies as stated if you make them smaller as I did.

Golden raisins, dried cranberries and chopped pecans make the recipe a bit better! So that was a fun thing to do when you are stuck in your house!

My next project has been waiting since last spring. I bought a very fun little two room vintage dollhouse at a flea market. The lady who sold it to me has become a friend over the years. She had had this for years and thinks she found it in Seattle. It was probably made in the 30's or 40's and is very simple and handmade. It has two glass panes and a little door that opens between the two rooms. The original linoleum flooring is loud but period and I wanted to keep it in the little house.

There was only one original set of curtains left and they were pretty icky, so I replaced it.

I used some vintage lace and tried to copy the original set .

I found a little set  of curtains already made for $1.50 and I thought they would be just perfect for the kitchen area.

Last winter, I had found some little doll furniture that I thought was so cute. I didn't know anything about the pieces. I was going to put them on my Etsy site, but wasn't in a hurry to list them. When I got the house, I decided the furniture was perfect for it! I later found out that the furniture is from the same time period and is called Strombecker. I found a few more pieces online. I wish I had a couple more rooms to fill up, but this will have to do!

I had to make the little bedding for the bed too! I had so much fun just playing with my little dollhouse! It's a very different type of house and it will live in my cottage...just for fun.

It was just fun to stay home and work on something fun that I have been hoping to finish for  a long time.

I'm linking up to my friend 's Roses of Inspiration today. Pop on over to Stephanie's beautiful blog The Enchanting Rose. You will be amazed at all the creative bloggers.

A Project Completed!

You may remember that I posted last summer about this dollhouse shelf I found at the Goodwill thrift store. I found this treasure before I went back east for my Tasha Tudor Gathering and I had good intentions of selling it at the summer Expo show. It was 12.99 and I thought it was too good to leave at the store. I think it jumped into my cart. I put it down in my craft cottage and didn't think much about it.

When I was back east, I was able to visit some of my friend's homes and they shared their dollhouses and dolls. It was amazing. I thought maybe I had too many dolly things....well, not compared to them! I came home and realized I needed to KEEP the little shelf and use it to house the plastic dollhouse furniture I had been collecting from the 1950's. I no longer had mine or my metal dollhouse, but I had hopes of putting one together someday. I just don't have room for the metal house, but I had this brainstorm that this little gem would be perfect. I had a space on the wall above my cutting table that would be the perfect home for it too. It would all blend in with my Mary Engelbreit decor perfectly.

I gave the house to my handyman Duane before Christmas to paint. I didn't like the mauve trim. He just returned it and mounted it on the wall for me. He chose to sponge on the paint so it would look a bit more vintage.

Then it was time for the icing on the cake! There isn't too much room in the little abode, so I had to pick and choose what furniture to put on the shelves. I do think I may add a couple window frames to cover the screws and break the blank walls. I may add some curtains, but will live with it for awhile as is.

This little sewing machine is the only piece that was actually mine. I managed to keep it all these years. I always loved to sew, so it is fitting. LaVonne sent me another one at Christmas, so I have it in my cottage too. It is a favorite piece. The scale isn't perfect in the house, but it just brings back happy childhood memories!

My Visit to Tasha Tudor's Home~Corgi Cottage

The Tasha Tudor Family was very kind to give me a private tour of Tasha's home and garden after I missed the Corgi Cottage Garden Tour, due to the problems I had with my flight.Tasha's grandson Winslow was my gracious guide. The family does not allow you to take pictures on the property, so all the pictures you see here are from several books or pictures that family has posted and used in their newsletter or during other tours. None of these pictures were taken by me. There are lovely Pinterest boards too if you are so inclined.Her lovely home was built by her son Seth in the 1970's without power tools. I thought that the house had been emptied after Tasha's passing and I was a bit in awe when I went into the house and everything was still there! I felt like Tasha had just stepped outside for a bit and I expected her to walk through the door any minute. It was quite magical! Her home is a charming maze of rooms with tiny narrow hauls and funny doors recycled from other buildings.It would take pages and pages to really share all the details of each room with you. The family is working hard to restore the gardens that Tasha once had. This picture above is looking at the front of her home when it was once filled with wonderful gardens and flowers. I really like this photo.

You are looking at the barn in this photo and where my tour began. As in many New England homes, everything is connected so you don't have to go outside in the winter. A home in this part of
Vermont knows all the seasons and winter brings snow. There is a marionette stage at the end of the barn with red curtains, just as you see in her art work! A treat to see that.

The May day that I was there was overcast and misty, more like this photo. I love the stone walls in New England and stone foundations that you often see.

I love the hand stenciling on the walls in the one of the kitchens. It was done by Linda Allen who stayed with Tasha for 11 years. They published several books together. You will find a buttery, a hen pantry, a summer or electric kitchen and a winter kitchen in this house.

I was so happy to see all her sets of pink luster on the shelves by the sink! I have studied this photo for years, but to stand in front of the shelves and just look and look and look was totally amazing!

The fireplace is yet another place that has been photographed often, but it's pretty exciting when you find yourself right there in person!!!

This is Tasha's bedroom. It's a separate room that looks like it was added on, much like rooms would have been added in the past. There is a canopy bed and one of the three windows looks out at the dove cote. The dollhouse is in a glass case that Seth has just built and they are in the process of filling the three shelves with the dollhouse inventory that has been returned from Williamsburg. I didn't want to leave.Can you imagine looking at all the little miniatures and dolls that you have seen in books for years? I so wish I could have taken pictures. The picture below will show you some of those wonderful dollhouse items.

The parlor is off of the kitchen and it's a lovely large room. I had to chuckle at the mark on the ceiling where the Christmas tree stands. This is the magical room that was closed off to her children as they waited for the doors to open to view the decorated tree with real candles burning.
Off of the parlor is the little library, filled with many many books. We were taken up the small stairway upstairs to shelves fill with more books and several more bedrooms. We then went down another stairway and found ourselves in the kitchen!  Seth met us to finish the tour as Winslow needed to return home. Seth took us out the door, around the side of the house by the bay tree and into the greenhouse. I love the greenhouse! We finished walking and exited the property.
Yes, Tasha doodled on her walls and left messages as you can see in the photo below. So funny. You could spend all day just reading all the notes. She wrote on more than one wall too!

Seth walked us to the car and the tour was ended. I will never forget the day and my visit. I didn't go into great detail with this blog post out of respect for the family.They are a bit guarded about the home, and rightly so. It is a real treat to visit Corgi Cottage.