Now I Want a Tea Set ...

I'm going to start this post by saying that I love old dolls, even the ones that could be considered creepy. After hearing too many scary stories at childhood slumber parties I had a couple of dolls that I didn't want in my bedroom at night. (Anyone else remember the murderous china doll who got off of the shelf by walking on her long fingernails?)   But I have't been really spooked by a doll in years.

This little lady was always creepy. She has a walking mechanism and teeth. Thirty-some years after the teeth and moving legs scared me, she's gotten even spookier. When you lift her up, her head creaks and swivels on the neck joint just enough to be unsettling.

Taking the pictures for this post started to feel like I was taking post-mortoms.  Teenage Son played the role of hidden mother, holding the blanket up behind Dolly and keeping her upright.

I don't know if her teeth or her tongue are more unsettling. Maybe it's the fact that her mouth has realistic depth to it. Someone told me once that the teeth are ivory, but the body of the doll seems to be hard plastic. (It's definitely not bisque or composition.)  I can't find any markings on her, so if anyone does know what she is, please leave a comment. I'm not having much luck with my own research.

She's been in the family for years and as far as we know was part of an adult's collection. It makes me kind of sad to think that maybe she never got to be played with. She was made for tea parties and riding in a doll stroller.

This post is linked to Bella Rosa Antiques, Ivy & Elephants, 

More Toys for Mommy

I've had this striped sheet in my stash for a while now. The original plan when it was given to me was to applique some dish towels for our own travel trailer. That thin blue and white stripe reminds me of the corrugated sides of some trailers.  But camping wasn't in our forseeable future, so I lost enthusiasm for that project.

Then I saw this little car and trailer pattern in Sewing Tales to Stitch and Love. I can just picture a striped trailer with a little red station wagon. The instructions are confusing me a bit, especially when it comes to the optional contrast fabric and things aren't spelled out, but I should be clever enough to figure them out, right?

More Childhood Toys

Teenage Daughter needed leather for a project this week and wanted to dig through the Goodwill bins. My original plan was to stay in the car with the boys, but I went in on the one-in-a-million chance that they had that one specific thing I'm searching for. They didn't. The bins were emptier, and dirtier, than I've ever seen them.

Alex found her piece of leather....and a wool blazer.... and an army uniform in the style she needs for a project. Except it's got American buttons. She needs buttons from an English uniform...anyone have some unwanted ones gathering dust?

While I was urging her to shop quickly, because we had someplace else to be in ten minutes, I took this picture.

This was going to be a post about how I was good and didn't buy the two pieces of a toy that's been seared into my mind since childhood --

Then  I walked another two steps and saw the gangplank and started to actually sort through the junk in the bin a bit. The whole thing was there, minus Noah and his animals..... 0.46 pounds at $1.89 a pound... I've never seen one of these arks in my adult life, except the one that they had on display at the post  office at Christmas time, the one that made me remember having one in the first place.

I don't know what I'll do with it, or even if I'll keep it. But for eighty-seven cents, it needed to come home with me. If I ever make those little bitty felt animals I was drooling over a couple of months ago, they could live in it. Or maybe I could take out the deck and plant some hens and chicks. I'm sure there's a wonderful idea waiting for me on Pinterest!

I'm still just as in love with that wood grain and the little molded nails as my two-year-old self was. (And yes, I realize that I can't remember playing with this when I was that little. It must have been around for a while.)

I've still got the Fisher Price houseboat from the picture, and if I ever stumble across one of those little pianos, I might not be able to resist. That thing was so much more fun than the clunky yellow plastic one my own kids had.

Do you buy back bits of your childhood? I've got a lemon yellow Tupperware colander that I paid a dime for because it was just like one my mom had.  I use it a couple of times a week and it always makes me smile.

This post is linked to Vintage Thingie Thursday, Thriftasaurus, Share Your Cup, Ivy and Elephants, We Call it Olde, Savvy Southern Style, Thrifter Maker Fixer.

wfmw - It has a wrecking ball!

Last Christmas (not the one a month ago -- the one before that), my youngest son got a Disney Handy Manny Manny's Workshop and Construction Playset. I took one look at the box -- Over 70 Pieces! -- and decided to tuck it away for a while so those 70 pieces didn't get mixed in with the pieces of every other Christmas present the boys had received. And I might have sort of accidentally-on-purpose forgotten about it for the next twelve months.

Did I mention that it has over 70 pieces? And that my boys have lost just about all of the pieces of everything they have ever owned -- usually within the first hour of owning it? Unless it's a coconut.

I might have been wrong with this one. Or maybe they needed a year to grow into it. I think that's the story I'll stick to. But for the past couple of weeks, they have been putting most of those pieces carefully back into the box they came in. They've been working together, using the pictures on the front of the box as a guide for assembling a clock tower with cinder blocks and a garbage chute. And using the wrecking ball to knock it down so they could build it again.



As far as I know, they haven't even watched Handy Manny once. It's definitely not the television show that's the appeal here. And it's not the first building toy they've had. I think that smiling wrecking ball might be the secret to the success of this toy.

This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT family.