My Friend is Here!

My good friend LaVonne is here from Montana! We had a fun day, as always when she comes to visit.
I just love having her with me. I was so pleased to find this quote as it expresses my feelings for and about my friend.
LaVonne makes me laugh and makes me happy. She understands me so well and just makes me smile.
It's always so happy with LaVonne around.
I thank you for your loyal friendship. Thanks for coming to visit again. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Another Interesting Dolly

I met my good friend Sha last week for lunch...finally! We have been trying to get together since before Christmas. We met at Edgefield and just had a nice time catching up. Sha is such an interesting person and very talented. She weaves and knits and is so talented in the fiber arts world. She always finds such fun gifts for me. This is an interesting little doll made by Cindy Stinson-Chennell who is a paper cutting artist here in Oregon. Her work is beautiful. I think she has fun making these little "Wine Country Spirit Dolls" using wine corks and recycled bits and pieces. Pretty fun!

Sha knows I love dolls and she said she had a hard time picking one out for me.  Thanks Sha...such a fun addition for my collection.

I've been working all week cleaning and getting things taken care of before LaVonne arrives for a visit. She comes in tomorrow, but will spend the first part of her visit with her daughter who lives here in OR now. We have all kinds of fun lined up for next week. I cannot wait!

Cloth Rag Dolls

My Tasha friend Kristen gave me this sweet Christmas card with my gift and said to look up the artist Telka Ackley. I didn't have time for awhile, but finally got around to looking doing a search on the internet. She illustrated the work of Edith Flack Ackley, who was actually her mother. Edith was the one who made the sweet rag dolls. The more I found out about both of these women, the more interested I became. The name seemed familiar and then I went to look at my doll books and found that I owned one of Edith's books....A DOLL SHOP OF YOUR OWN! It is a small world. My friend is the one I can blame for my dolly collections as she made the kits for our Tasha Tudor Annabelle dolls.

This is another book that Edith wrote and of course, I have this on my wish list now! Her dolls are rag dolls. I never thought I would be too interested in cloth rag dolls. Ha ha ha.

Looks like another one for the wish list! I love paper dolls too.

Here is a picture of Edith with her dolls. You can get an look at her work and an idea about her dollies.

This is a picture of Edith and Telka together. I wonder what they are discussing?

Telka's work is charming. Here's some more of her Christmas cards.

This was an article in a magazine in 1934 at Christmas time.

I found this little sweetie at the antique show this weekend. Her tag said 1955, but I'm not sure. She looks a bit older to me. She's in great condition. She loves living in the my sewing cottage!

This one is probably my favorite.I purchased her in October at the show. I love her face.

I found this one last summer at an Estate sale. She is smaller and just fits at the little ME table.

I've had this one for awhile. She is missing her original  dress, but she's still cute. I wish she was all original.

Here's the gang in their new home. They are not Edith Flack dolls, but they are considered cloth rag dolls. There are current digital patterns on Etsy so you can make Edith Flack Ackley dolls. There are also doll clubs that make only EFA dolls, as they call them. Snoop around on the internet if you're interested. Happy dolly days. Thanks Kristen, I think!

Clark County Antique and Collectible Show

It's time to start the 2014 antique show circuit for Jimmy. The first one of the year is always at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Washington and it's a fun show. It's smaller than the Expo shows and a nice easy set up. I helped him set up yesterday and the early bird buyers are really so nice and interesting. We really enjoyed our interesting customers.

Lots of goodies and lots to look at! We are used to a double booth now, but this single was easy to work with as it's on a corner.

The show runs today until 6:00 PM and tomorrow until 5:00 PM. Stop by and say hello to Jimmy!

My friend Nancy stopped by and we got to go through the show together...an added treat. I'll be there tomorrow to help finish up the show and take down the booth. His next show will be March 1st and 2nd at the Expo in Portland. 

Tea Time Thursday # 31

My good friend Peggy gave me this darling little teapot set for Christmas! It is just perfect for a cup of afternoon tea on a chilly winter day. I love it and will use it every winter and think of you! You do know me so well!

Last Monday night when I went to dinner, I put together some little winter treat bags. Each one had a magnetic snowman pad, snowman candies, snowman little light set and of course, a tea bag.

When I was putting out some of my Valentine things, I found this fun booklet...CUPID's BOOK.
It's actually a book for new brides filled with recipes and household tips and helps. It's dated 1927.
It also had a page about afternoon tea!

Jimmy is exhibiting at the Clark County Antique and Collectible show this weekend. I'll be helping him set up his booth tomorrow, so need to get good night's sleep. The wind came up tonight and the fog is gone so I actually got to see the full moon in the winter sky...lovely.

"When I'm 64"

Monday night my high school buddies and I finally were able to find a date that worked for us to meet for dinner! Six of us have stayed close since we graduated from Marycrest High School in 1968! Yes, we are getting older but we are still young at heart! I'm the oldest in the group and actually turned 64 in December. The rest of the gan will hit the magic number this year.

We were laughing and talking about the Beatles song, WHEN I'M 64 and how we couldn't imagine really becoming that age! Well, here we are and looking pretty good. Judi's gift to us that night was signing the song to us...what a riot and what a great idea! We still know how to have fun and lots of it.

MJ and Kathy......

Sue.....

Judi....

Linda and Sue....

Thanks for the memories guys. It was great to be together and talk about grandchildren! We missed Molly! She was sick and couldn't join us at the last minute. Life is good! I am thankful for long time friends.

It's Monday!

My blogger friend Shawn at Poetry In A Pot of Tea made this beautiful card for me and it just made my day! Of course, she included a nice tea bag for a cup of tea. You can't see the ribbon swirl with this flat image, but it is just lovely. Shawn makes the best cards. I like to play around with card making, but she is a pro! Her designs are so fun and the materials are first class.

As I start a new week, that's going to be a busy one, I'm going to try to be more cheerful and not let January pull me down again!

Thanks again Shawn for thinking of me! 

Family

This little group of four is certainly a FAMILY! It's a rainy Sunday morning and I'm just thinking about my daughter Angie and her family. It is such a blessing for me and for her father to see her become a family, after so many years of praying and just hoping.

She helped me on Friday take down all Papa's Christmas things. My sister is sick and the job fell on me. I have just had a time this January getting things done and getting back to normal. Ang was so sweet to offer to help me. Grandpa Jimmy kept Otto. Our family had retail stores for years and the girls and I always had fun working together. It felt like old times! Angie works quickly, much quicker than her old mama! Thank you Angie!

So my SIL kept calling and wanted us all to go to dinner after he picked up Miss Ava. So we ended up at Wong's King Seafood Restaurant. The food is superior and Chris just knows what to order...yum.

The VERY PROUD mommy and daddy. Otto is just easy to take and the little guy just goes along with it all. He's growing  and changing every week!

I just love the way Chris loves his children...it just shows on his face! Ava is so good with her little brother. She is a good big sister.

Grandpa Jimmy with his grandkids. I don't think this guy could be much happier either! Miss Ava was being funny with the bunny ears.

Ah yes, Grandma Linda was in heaven with the little ones. I just love them both! Sweet little blessings of the perfect kind. Being with the kids and grandkids sure makes the January blues disappear.

Annabelle Is Done With Christmas Too!

It's been a long week taking down all the Christmas decorations! Annabelle finally got all of here's down today too! She looks a bit tired here. She told me yesterday that she REALLY doesn't like January. I don't either. Lots of goodies under the tree.

One of the china heads was enjoying her stocking and some Christmas carols,

A gingerbread house complete with Santa mugs. Time to pack them away. 

One last look at the tree and the tea cart. 

This is the dresser/buffet as found in Seattle over Christmas. Anabelle had it shipped to Troutdale and today she set it up in her living room. It's perfect for Valentine cakes and cards. 

Looking good! Now she has to move here new stove into her kitchen- her special gift from Anbabelle of Montana.

She's looking pretty comfortable at the wood stove!

The kitchen is redone and functional now. Just in time for some Valentine baking! Annabelle loves to bake cakes and pies and cookies.