Proof That I Can Knit Sweaters!

When I posted about the accidentally ugly sweaters back in December, my plan was to quickly follow up that post with another one that proved I actually do know what I'm doing. These are my favorites of the sweaters I've knit for my kids.

I was never, ever, not in a million years going to knit a giant Intarsia animal on anything...until I saw this pattern for Farm Freshin a book. I learned Intarsia just so I could make this sweater.

 

Chaos is probably one of the crazier things I've ever knit. The pattern has you roll a die and, based on what number you get, you twist your cables to the left or to the right.

Sunshine Pullover isn't anything amazing, but it fit! (Yes, those are chickens on the porch. No, I have no idea what my son is holding in his hand.) 

Alex's Briar Rose Raglan started out as a pattern from Knitty, then I made the decision to knit it in the round and add the picot bind-off, which Alex still refers to as "those macaroni things." She never did like this sweater, but this post is about projects that I'm happy with. 

We both liked that Aqua Acrylic cardigan I made for her. The yarn was originally supposed to be something for the boys, but I reserve the right to change my mind at any point after purchasing it. 

It's an H! is the one really good sweater I've made for Heath. Intaria H's are far easier than Intarsia chickens. And both of those are easier than charting the "S" I needed for my daughter's Weasley Sweater. 

It's been a long time since I finished a sweater, good or ugly. I don't know why I was so skittish about working on the new one for Alex, since it's a clone of the one I made for Heath (except for that "S" -- and I'm done with that part.)

Do you lose your nerve when it comes to something you haven't done in a while?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {5/23/14}

Jo of Jo's Country Junction has a new baby quilt tutorial, the Scrappy Stars Baby Quilt.  I absolutely love her crumb quilts and hope to make one someday if things ever setttle down enough. 

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Baby Pictures!

I love old baby pictures, don't you? These two have been riding around in an envelope my purse for a few months now. I've been meaning to take them out and move them to a safer place, and telling myself that if I wasn't going to do that, maybe I didn't need them as much as I thought I did one the day I bought them.

I pulled them out this morning and now I remember why I absolutely had to have them. At the time I bought them I didn't have a plan, but one is starting to form.

I love the look on this baby's face and the not-hidden-mother.

And the way this mother seems to be trying so hard to hold the perfect expression and the baby is just perfect. It just amazes me that they pulled off this wonderful shot. 

On the back of this picture is even more fun stuff: 

INSTANTANEOUS PORTRAITS OF CHILDREN
A SUCCESSFUL SPECIALTY 

Geo. J Klein
Successor to Joshua Smith
Studio
206 North Clark St
Chicago

The negative of this photograph is preserved for future orders and can be reduced for the smallest locket or enlarged up to life size and finished in crayon or water color

Sounds kinda like all of those displays at the one hour photo counter, doesn't it? Only much more romantic and appealing.

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.

Fifty Shades of Greyhound

Fifty Shades of Greyhound, the fifth book in the Pampered Pets series by Sparkle Abbey, is out and I'm happy to be taking part in the author's promotional blog hop, which is organized by Great Escapes Promotional Book Tours. The series alternates books between two feuding cousins, upscale pet boutique owner Melinda Langston and pet therapist Caro Lamont. This book, it's Caro's turn.

Here's the book's official description:

It was a killer party.

Caro Lamont, Laguna Beach’s favorite pet therapist is thrilled to support the elite fundraising gala for Greys Matter, a SoCal greyhound rescue group. All the guests in the couture-attired crowd are clad in varying shades of grey, the champagne and donations are flowing, and there are fifty gorgeous greyhounds in attendance. But before the evening ends a stranger in their midst is dead.

Caro sets out to help the rescue group find out the identity of the mystery guest, but soon finds herself in the doghouse with homicide detective, Judd Malone. And federal agent, John Milner. When there’s a second death, Caro is convinced she’s on the track of someone who wants a secret to stay buried, but it’s a race to see whether Caro can uncover the truth before the killer decides she’s next up.

Honestly, my least favorite thing about the book is the title. (It's cute, it's quirky, I just don't want anything to do with that other series of books.) But that's the only thing about the book that I didn't like. The mystery kept me guessing and the cast of characters kept me entertained. Mel's quirky assistant Betty returns from the last book and the feud over the brooch takes on a fun twist.

As part of the blog hop, I get to give away a copy of the ebook to one of my readers. To enter, just leave a comment on this post before June 4, 2014 and I'll pick a winner with the Random Number Generator.

Wibbly Wobbley Timey Wimey...

This seems like as good a time as any to tackle some of those "that would be cute and fun and I've got the yarn" projects from my Ravelry queue. 

Like the Tardis Mouse:

He was easier to knit than I expected, but in hindsight I should have read through the entire pattern first. It starts with the tail, increases in the round -- then suggests knitting the center portion first and picking up stitches to add the tail later. I was already up to the first white window when I saw that, so I knit the center portion with the white and black sections flat, rejoined in the round for the head decreases and seamed the open part up at the end.

I also didn't like the shaping for the nose. My decreases just didn't look neat no matter how much I fussed with them, so I wound up tinking back and using the same mirrored decreases I would have for a toe.

Those ears, on the other hand, were surprisingly quick and easy. 

I'm linking up to Yarn Along, Tamis Amis, and check out my post later today where I'm giving away a copy of Fifty Shades of Greyhound, the newest book in the Pampered Pets series of cozy mysteries.

For more finishes, check out I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

I had numbers to show you!

I was so excited about my stash report for this week. Look at those yarn numbers -- I'm in the black! And with no plans for yarn shopping and the end in sight on two more pairs of socks, I might stay that way for a while...

But our internet has been out for the past few days so I didn't get to post it, or any of the other posts I've been planning to write just as soon as I get a chance.

It's actually been ages since our DSL worked like it should, but I haven't had time or energy to schedule a service call and deal with it. I've had them out so many times over the years, and the fixes never last. Every spring, the phone gets wonky again. Today we got a new box installed on the side of the house and a new phone jack and things seem to be working the way they should.

I've got my fingers crossed that it keeps working!

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 4 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 40 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2014: 35 3/4  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 1000 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 2175 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1500 yards
Net Used for 2014: 675 yards

Suffer the Children

I read a lot of horror, but I don't usually blog about those books. (I've gotten it into my head that quilters might not be the most avid horror readers.) But when I find a really good one, I've got to share it.

Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie is seriously unsettling. Imagine what would happen if every child on Earth simply dropped dead. Now imagine what would happen if they all came shuffling back from the mass graves. Creeped out enough yet? It gets creepier. In order to return to the living, breathing, happy children their parents remember, the children need to drink blood. Its effects are wonderful, but they last for only a short time. And their parents can only give so much blood, no matter how desperately they want to keep their children with them.

Based on the publisher's description, I was expecting ravenous little vampires with sharp teeth. This book is a lot more subtle than that, and a lot more chilling. It focuses on a number of inter-connected families and the question of what parents would be willing to do for their children. The parents and their desperation were completely believable, which is what makes the book hit so hard.  If you read horror, I definitely recommend this one!

Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an ARC.

Free Mysteries for Kindle

It's a good day for free mysteries on the Kindle!  Check out what I found and downloaded...

All of the descriptions are from Amazon. Prices change quickly, so check before you click that purchase button.




Dying to Get Published by Judy Fitzwater

Jennifer Marsh is a mystery writer with a stack of eight unpublished manuscripts and rejection letters to match filling her closet. She's sure that if she can just get famous for something, someone will have to publish her books. Why not murder?

She'll find a target so mean that she'd actually be doing the world a favor by bumping him or her off. And she knows just the person:
Penney Richmond, a high-powered literary agent who's made it her job to ruin people's lives. All Jennifer has to do is frame herself, do the deed, and come out with an iron-clad alibi, and she'll be well on her way to getting a three book deal. So what if she chickens out at the last minute? A vegetarian good girl who rescued a greyhound could never actually kill someone. But when Penney is found murdered and the police think Jennifer did it, she’d better find the real murderer before she goes away... for life.

Along with her eccentric writer's group, spunky old ladies with a nose for sleuthing, her neurotic greyhound, and a sexy, sarcastic reporter named Sam, Jennifer embarks on a journey filled with danger, deception, and disguises that could leave her Dying to Get Published...



New Math Is Murder by Jo-Ann Lamon Reccoppa

Reporter Colleen Caruso was never good at math.

A stingy ex-husband, a teenage daughter, and a rusted-out Ford Escort have multiplied her troubles. Tripping over a dead body while on her morning jog seems like another incident for the minus column.

But then her new editor at the newspaper gives her a regular column detailing the investigation. He's handsome, single, and just a bit mysterious. Suddenly, Colleen's life is on the plus side.

Unfortunately, 1 dead algebra teacher + 2 secret affairs + 4 suspicious suspects quickly adds up to 3 perilous "accidents" for Colleen




Dolled Up For Murder by Deb Baker

"Caroline Birch. Put her away." The message was clutched in the fist of a destitute former doll collector found dead at the bottom of a cliff with a valuable French doll’s parasol in her pocket. And the person seen fleeing the crime scene fits Caroline’s description. But Gretchen Birch knows her mother is innocent. The problem is, Caroline has disappeared – and she’s left an urgent warning that Gretchen is in danger, too. 






Death Comes to Town by K. J. Emrick

Darcy Sweet would like to think that she is just an ordinary woman, happy in her life running the Sweet Read bookstore. But she isn't ordinary. She has a connection to the other side that seems to draw her into mysterious situations more often than not. Add to the mix the antics of a rather naughty, slightly psychic cat and the eccentric ghost of her great-aunt Millie, and you have a recipe for anything but the ordinary.

When Darcy's neighbor is murdered she is drawn into the mystery against her will when she finds the body. She tries to leave the investigation to the police, one of which is her sister, but an overheard conversation and a small nudge from the other side has her investigating the murder. The stakes are raised when the murderer strikes again. Who was killing the people in her life?

Things are complicated even more by her building attraction to her sister's new cop partner, who makes it clear he does not appreciate Darcy's interference in the investigation. Sparks fly between the two of them as they get further into the mystery surrounding the deaths.

With a town full of suspects how will Darcy work out who the murderer is? None of the pieces to the puzzle fit. Things become more complicated and dangerous as Darcy's own life is threatened. Will she survive to see justice served?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {5/16/14}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Yarn Along} Garden Plot

Just a sleeve and two seams to go, and I'll be able to cross another one of the big green projects off my WIP list.  It's going quickly, so maybe Teenage Daughter will have her Slytherin sweater to wear before it gets too hot for it to be useful.

The Garden Plot is the first Potting Shed Mystery by Marty Wingate. Here's the book's description from Amazon:

Pru Parke always dreamed of living in England. And after the Dallas native follows an impulse and moves to London, she can’t imagine ever leaving—though she has yet to find a plum position as a head gardener. Now, as the sublet on her flat nears its end, the threat of forced departure looms. Determined to stay in her beloved adopted country, Pru takes small, private gardening jobs throughout the city. 

On one such gig in Chelsea, she makes an extraordinary find. Digging in the soil of a potting shed, Pru uncovers an ancient Roman mosaic. But enthusiasm over her discovery is soon dampened when, two days later, she finds in the same spot a man’s bludgeoned corpse. As the London police swarm her worksite, ever inquisitive Pru can’t quite manage to distance herself from the investigation—much to the dismay of stern Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse. It seems that, much as he tries, even handsome DCI Pearse can’t keep Pru safe from a brutal killer who thinks she’s already dug up too much.

I really enjoyed this book. I was really rooting for Pru to find her dream job. Horticulture isn't something I give a lot of thought to, but author Marty Wingate got me interested in digging and pruning. Not quite interested enough to tackle the blackberries running riot over the far edges of our own property...but I will be eagerly waiting for the next book in the series.

For more fun projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 



Disclosure - The publisher provided me with an ARC.

Judy's Prepping Challenge

Are you participating in Judy's Prepping Challenge?  I'm thinking about jumping in later in the year, if my life gets a lot less exciting. In the meantime, I'm reading the posts and soaking up information.

The May challenge is to go a week eating all meals (and snacks and drinks) at home.  We could do that here. We've done that, plenty of times, because my goal is to make as few grocery runs as reasonably possible. If I'm at the store more than once a week, it's because I'm combining trips with errands and activities. Or it should be. Sometimes I'm just not as organized as I'd like to be and there's a last minute dash so we'll have what we want for dinner.

Over the past few months, it would have been such a huge help to have a well stocked and organized pantry to draw from. The key phrase there is "well stocked." I started with plenty in the pantry, and I've been drawing from it steadily, but reading about all of Judy's canned soups and different meals makes me wish I had food storage like hers to draw from. (The only reason I don't -- because I didn't make the time to do it.)

Assuming that the zombie apocalypse probably isn't going to happen, and that none of the volcanoes erupts, there are still plenty of things that can happen to get in the way of the regular grocery run.  Winter storms come with some warning, but feverish kids, bad migraines, car trouble....lots of things can happen that would be so much easier if you didn't have to fit in a trip to the store.

One thing that's been nagging at me lately -- the idea of keeping the food storage easy to get at. It wouldn't take much of an injury to make things difficult. (Thinking of my own knee surgery here and how it put the garage and sewing room completely off limits to me and how many of my kitchen cabinets are so high that I need a step stool.) At the very least, some of it should be easily accessible and the rest should be well enough organized and labeled that the rest of the family can find it.

Right now, I've got eight cases of unlabeled vegetables from the cannery's "Country Store." I know what order I stacked them in and what those cryptic scribbles on the ends of the boxes mean, but if anyone else rummages through them before I take a Sharpie and label the cans, we might be having corn, or beans, or carrots for dinner and not know which until I open a can.

Vintage Embroidery

I am totally head over heels for this Garden Party quilt from  The Gentle Art of Stitching. I stumbled across it on the author's blog and immediately went looking for a copy of the book. The original used vintage embroidery pieces. I could absolutely see putting together a family member's bits of work into one heirloom quilt...if I had a stash of family pieces to use.  I could also see hunting estate sales and the Goodwill bins for damaged and stained pieces, if there were going to be estate sales in my immediate future.   

That bit of embroidery on the left was up in the sewing room. It must have come from a scrap bag of fabric, which makes it the perfect candidate for this quilt except for one problem. I can't stand it. It's too bright, and the stitching is too clunky. (Apologies to whoever made it and then donated it to the thrift store, but we've all got different taste, right?)

I've been playing with different possibilities, trying to remember what bits of embroidery might be up in the sewing room and decide whether or not I'm willing to use them for this project.  Then I came up with what seems like the perfect plan. 

I love vintage embroidery patterns. I keep coming up with cute ones that I want to stitch, but how many dish towels does one family of six need? And do I really want to expose a lot of handwork to the danger zone that is my kitchen?

But what if I started embroidering squares with the intention of someday putting them together into a quilt like this one?  I've got floss from my cross-stitching, and muslin, and some white pieces feed sacks that I've been saving just because they were feed sacks. 

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday.

Weekly Stash Report

I went to the fabric store this week and bought half a yard of yellow fleece, five squares of felt, and a package of buttons. All of that was immediately used up in the project I bought it for. And since it's not quilting cotton or yarn, it doesn't show up in my numbers for the year.

It's amazing how easy it can be to walk past those bolts of cotton once you get into the habit. And how impossibly hard it can feel at other times!

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 4 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 40 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 35 3/4  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 1175 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1500 yards
Net Added for 2013: 325 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Girly Crafting!

I have three little boys. That means I get to make things like dinosaur quilts and backpacks for hunting bigfoot and jet packs from spray-painted diet Coke bottles.

When I get invited to a birthday party for a four year old girl who's into all things sparkly and princess related, you know I'm going to make something.

Lier over at Ikat Bag has the most amazing tutorials. Like the Rapunzel wig, which is the perfect last minute gift for an aspiring princess. Seriously, she made them for all of the little girls at her daughter's birthday party. I wish I'd had that kind of creativity and enthusiasm and energy when my daughter was that age!

This tutorial is brilliant. It's a super simple fleece cap with long panels that braid together. It uses one color of fleece, takes no time at all to cut and sew, and it's adorable! Even better, it's washable if disaster strikes. (Am I the only mom who sees washability as a huge plus when it comes to dress-up clothes?)

I guess the most complicated part was the flowers, but I cut those with two passes through my Sizzix Big Shot. The ones that Lier designed were cuter, but I don't have a lot of extra time right now and I don't think the little girl in question will mind.

We're going to wrap it up with a copy of Pocketdoodles for Princesses and some sparkly Crayolas. 

For more finishes, check out I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {5/9/14}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Yarn Along} Fleur de Lies

Another pair of new socks, since I seem to be working my way through my stash of self-striping yarns. I have absolutely no memory of buying these two skeins, but they've got a Woodland Woolworks price tag on them and must have come from the discount room.

That's three evenings of knitting. I can't get over how uniform these stripes are, and how much different from the Green Envy and Rustica socks.  

Teenage Daughter has asked if I might be able to finish the big green sweater before it gets too hot to wear it, so I set aside the socks and dug out the pieces. I was so distracted by that intarsia "S" that I forgot the front neck shaping, but it seems to be going together wearably. A sleeve and a half to knit and we'll know for sure!



In Fleur de Lies by Maddy Hunter, Emily Andrew-Miceli is escorting a group of senior citizens to France and has her hands absolutely full with her clients, a squabbling father and son pair of funeral directors, and the top sales representatives of the Mona Michelle line of beauty projects (which includes Jackie, who used to be Emily's husband Jack.) With lots of historical and local detail and an intriguing mystery that twisted and turned, this one kept me entertained. It's the ninth book in the Passport to Peril series, but it's the first one I've read. There's not a lot of back story included, but I never felt too lost. And I'm definitely going to start reading the series from the beginning to get the history of these characters!

For more fun projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 

Repairing a Snake in a Can

I don't get the appeals of snakes in a can, but my boys do. And, much to their delight, the Dollar Tree has them for sale. Not to my delight, this version not only crinkles, it squeaks. (You might remember how I feel about squeaking snakes, although the last one I had to deal with was alive.)

I had nothing to do with the destruction of the squeaking snake spring, even though I was happy to see it go. I did get out some green fabric and, using the broken one as a pattern, sewed a new sleeve for it. This one doesn't crinkle or squeak. 

I like this one much better. I'd be tempted to sew new sleeves for all of the snake springs in the house if I didn't know the boys liked crinkling them in and out of the cans so much. 

Little Bits of Red & White

Yesterday I plugged in my sewing machine and iron, set the kitchen timer for an hour, and pulled out some red and white fabric I'd cut before life got quite so interesting.

It took closer to an hour and a half to get this little top together, but I'm not complaining. I only expected to get some of the blocks pieced.

And just to make sure you realize how little these blocks are --

They're the same snowball and nine-patch blocks I used for the other itty-bitty quilts, this time in a straight setting, with half snowball blocks for the border.

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report & Dollhouse Update

When I posted about my first dollhouse on Thursday, I mentioned that I was hoping to find the original pattern for the furniture so I could recreate it.

Look what showed up in my inbox --

Guess what those furniture patterns are in your grandmothers head.  If you want to duplicate them we may be able to do that.  You can do a lot with 1x2`s and 2x4`s .  That little girl on the floor in red is so cute.  Wonder who she is??????????????

Love You

Grandma

Between the two of us, I'm hoping we can remember most of the little details. There are just a few glimpses of the furniture to be had in that old photograph.

Hubby overheard me talking to Grandma.  Apparently, he never knew that I had two doll houses. Over the past eight years that we've lived here, I've talked about the one in the attic and the one in the sewing room, but he assumed they were one and the same.  I'm not apologizing for either of them. If he hasn't noticed that they were there, they're not creating a problem!

I managed to completely forget to announce the winner of A Roux of Revenge. It's TerryH, who wrote:

Turkey(or chicken)corn chowder recipe I got from my PT lady. It is wonderful. A good mystery is
always welcome. Thanks for the chance.

Weekly Stash Report 

Nothing in and more than a little bit out. I'd call that a good week, but these days I wouldn't have time to buy fabric and yarn if I wanted to.  Luckily I'm at the point where you've gone so long without buying any new fabric that it's become a habit.

Fabric Used this Week: 2 1/4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 4 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 40 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 35 3/4  yards

Yarn Used this Week: 500 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 1175 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 1500 yards
Net Added for 2014: 325 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

Rustica!

Start to finish in less than two weeks. Absolutely no dragging my feet when it was time to turn the heels -- as soon as I finished the last round of each foot I started the first short row.

I don't know what makes these socks different than the Green Envy pair. They're the same brand of yarn, same needles, same stitch count and measurements. But these were easier.

For more finishes, check out I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {5/2/14}

Look -- I've got a quilt of my own to show off this week! Meet Tina. This is the fifth time I've made this same quilt (twice as Marilyn, twice as scaled-down mug rugs, and this one), but I'm not bored with it yet. I've still got a couple more variations planned.

And it's not a bad way to use a yard of tone-on-tone fabric.   

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

My First Dollhouse

I blamed the library for starting my fascination with dollhouses, but I had my dates wrong.  This is what must've started it --

You can just barely make out the little battery operated lamps and the fireplace. I had completely forgotten that fireplace. (A quick Google search and I found one just like it on etsy. Someone please tell me that it would be silly to order it, even if I am swooning over the little clock and hurricane lamps and little red and orange plastic flames.)

My grandparents made the house and most of the furniture. The kitchen cabinets were made from lengths of 2x4 with washers glued on for the stove burners and nails for handles. I think there was a staple for the oven door handle. And the refrigerator was orange. Because it was 1974. What other color could it have been?

That furniture gave way to "real" dollhouse furniture when I got a few years older. I really wish I had it now. I have a feeling that they must've followed plans... if I could find the pattern, I'd recreate it.

All of the original furniture is long gone, but the dollhouse currently lives in my sewing room. Which hasn't been this empty since we first moved it up there and I took the picture eight years ago.

I'm linking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday, Ivy & Elephants, Time Travel Thursday, History and Home, & Share Your Cup