Merry Christmas Eve Eve

I'm sorry to be so late in doing the drawing for a purple prize, I've been having some computer problems.  Thank you for being so patient and for participating.

There are 9 participants - total of 19 chances

1 - 2 - 3      Jennifer 
4 - 5           Francesca
6 - 7           Faby 
8 - 9 - 10   Drora 
11-12-13   Maria
14              Ana
15 - 16      Carmen 
17 - 18      Narina 
19             Paris Baby

I printed all the names,
cut them into strips,
folded them,
put them all in a bowl

and pulled out 2 names


The First -  5)  Francesca, please email me your address

Second  -  7)   Faby, I have your address

I will try to get your packages mailed out Friday.


I hope that you all have a wonderful Holiday.

Please visit me on Pinterest ,  I've added some new boards. 
I've collected 58 picture in ?? Real Life or Miniature ??
See if you can tell which are which.


Thank you for visiting, Mary

Bye to MJ - Purple Give-Away

 MJ said Good Bye to us last week.

She dressed in a new purple outfit for the trip to her next host.

Jaynie and I are happy to see that she made it safely

and is now with  Gwen  in South Carolina


We will be looking in to see her next adventures.


Do you like Purple?




While MJ was here, she and Jaynie went through many boxes and found lots of purple items.

So many that I think that it's a good time for a give-away to share some.

I've put together 2 packages of little purple things - If you would like to participate:

1)  Be or become a follower of this blog
2)  Leave a comment on this posting.

1 chance will be given to any new followers
2 chances to any one who is already a follower 12/11/13
and everyone who posted a comment on one of the postings on MJ's visit with us 10/23 - 11/28 will be given an extra chance. 

2 names will be drawn next Thursday 12/19/13     -   Good Luck


Thank you for visiting, Mary

Happy Thanks Giving

 

 

MJ and Jaynie are spending a quiet evening reading

After a nice turkey dinner

No one felt like doing much




 Not even Daisy

MJ snuggled up under a warm blanket




We hope MJ enjoyed staying in the Lekman box, it is purple


And we added a few more touches of purple

We added a bathroom behind a screen/shower

The coffee table is a bangle bracelet from Fire Mountain Gems topped with a mirror

I painted the edge of the mirror with black nail polish









I hope every one had a wonderful day


Thank you for visiting, Mary

Better Late Than Never

At least that's what I think, I hope that you agree.  Here's MJ and Jaynie's Halloween Costumes

GRR!

Eek!

You scared me and made me drop my basket Grandma.

You're not my Grandma

What did you do with my Grandma?

The Big Bad Wolf turned tail and ran away.

And another new outfit for MJ.

It's two pieces - top and skirt

The top is reversible, black on the other side



We've enjoyed having MJ here with us very much, we're a little sad to say good bye to her but it's about time to send her to her next host.







The weather is nasty here today, wet and windy, high wind warnings and flood watch.  We have no plans to venture outside, we're staying inside warm and dry.

Now that I've found my way around Pinterest some, I'm quite hooked, there are so many people sharing so many things about so many different interests.  If your interested in seeing some of the things that I like, you can find my  Pinterest boards - here .   I  have several mini boards including; Where to find mini tutorials and where to find mini printies.

I hope that you are all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you are traveling I wish you good weather and a safe trip.


Thank you for visiting, Mary

MJ visits Historic Quincy, MA

We spent a few hours Tuesday afternoon sight seeing and enjoying a history lesson.

This is where our trip began, this is the view from the 4th level of the parking garage.

We had another good weather day, sunny and in the mid 50's.

The girls got a good look at the view then wanted their picture taken.

Then we made our way to the National Historical Parks visitors center where we bought our tickets for the tour

and got on the trolley.

Picture from National Historical Parks - Photo Gallery

Our first stop was the birth place of the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams .

And just 75 feet away, the birth place of
John Quincy Adams  , the sixth President of the United States.

We went room by room on the lower levels with the volunteer tour guide telling the story of the family, history of the houses and pointing out  items in the houses and how they would have been used.

Sorry, cameras are not allowed to be used inside, and there are no interior photos on the web site, so I can't show you inside.  It was all very interesting.

The street that you see on the left side of the picture above was one of the first major roads in the US, connecting Boston and Plymouth.

Then we got back into the trolley for another short ride to  The Old House at Peacefield  

The first part of our tour was a lecture,  that took place on the front porch, about the house and the family history.

Then we went inside, stepped into a beautiful hallway ,  to the left we could look into the  wood paneled room ,    northeast view ,  northwest view   to the right we were able to enter the dining room ,     east view .


We went through the dining room to the  long room .   The picture shows only a small section of this room, there are many more pieces of furniture that match the settee and chairs.

Then we headed back through the dining room and went upstairs to the second level, first we saw   the study,  we walked down the hall to another doorway  to another view of  the study .  I wish that there were more pictures, there is a chair that I really liked in the corner inside the second doorway, it would be to the right of the first picture. 

Next we entered a bookshelf lined hallway from which we viewed the guest bedroom ,   west view .  We saw the room from the doorway in the west view picture.

At the end of the hall we saw the President's bedroom ,   south view , I think this room would be very nice in miniature.  Then the  bathroom , notice the desk and table at the back of room, every morning Abigail Adams would dictate notes about the day ahead, schedules and plans to two of her maids, while taking her bath.  Then  Brooks Adam's Bedroom .

The next hallway we found the head maid's room, the maid's bathroom (sorry, no pictures) and the travelers/visitors head maid's room ,  head maid's had very nice quarters, I wouldn't mind staying there for a visit.

We then went down the back stairs and entered the  Kitchen , the door on the left side was open so that we could see into a pantry that contains a wonderful collection of glassware, plates, platters and stands  Picture 1 ,   Picture 2 from Travel Photo Base .   We went through a butler's pantry with beautiful glass cases filled with sets of blue and white china  Picture of one set from Travel Photo Base.  Then passed through another beautifully decorated hallway and exited to the front porch.

I'm not sure that I have the order of  the thing that we saw totally correct but it's close.
Most of the photos that I linked to above can be found at the  National Historical Parks - Gallery   if you would like to look at all of them on your own.

Next we followed a path around the side of the house, past the gardens   (there's not much left now but it still looks pretty)

to the stone library  Pictures 1 ,   2 ,   3  and   4 from Travel Photo Base .

Close up 1  and  2 of the weathervane from Flickr

You can find more pictures of The Old House at Peacefield and the Stone Library at
Travel Photo Base

We got back on the trolley and went back to the visitors center

where I took a picture of MJ and Jaynie in front of a large photo of the stone library.

Before we headed home we drove back to the birthplace houses to take a few pictures.

The 2 pictures of these houses above where taken at this time.

The back of the house.

One more photo of MJ and Jaynie, (oops, I forgot to put MJ's shoes back on for the picture).

it's starting to get dark, time to go home.








I hope that you enjoyed taking this trip with us, we had a great afternoon and learned a lot thanks to showing MJ some of our area.  We enjoyed it so much that we are planning to return next spring to get a good look at the grounds when they are in bloom.

Thank you for visiting, Mary

MJ the Model

I made MJ a few pieces of clothing, 

we have had a lot of fitting sessions.

MJ is really patient, she is used to working
as a model and does the job very well.

Jaynie and MJ found this piece of embroidered lace in my stash,

when I wrapped it around MJ it looked like it was made for her.

The lace is quite sheer
so I made a little red skirt to go under it,
for modesty sake.

The second dress is made from a head band,
a tube of very stretchy fabric, which makes it easy to put on.

The tube was a bit too wide so I had to add a seam up the back.

The length of the dress can be changed
easily by turning the tube at different places.

And it can also be worn as a skirt, very versatile.

I used the piece that cut from the back to make a
little wrap with sleeves.

This little skirt is my favorite,  I used iron-on tape
for the bottom and side hems, then I machine stitched
the darts, top and a small piece of Velcro in back to make an
easy-to-dress closure.


I'm trying to make a few tops
but it is not quite as easy as the skirt.

MJ's clothes are very small, the fabric for the skirt
is only 4 1/4 x 2 5/8"

Jaynie and I are having so much fun with MJ.





I'm sorry that it has taken so long to do another posting with MJ,
 real life again interferes at the worst mini-ing times. 

I'm hoping that we will be able to fit in a bit more sight seeing this week. 

I'm also hoping that I can put together a late Halloween party,   MJ has a
costume ready and Jaynie's is almost done.

I almost forgot to tell you,  I started a board on Pinterest    MJ's World Trip , I think that I got every where that she has been so far but if I missed you or have anything wrong please let me know.


Thank you for visiting, Mary

Cape Cod - Part 2

We drove down the road to another viewing area and took a few more pictures.

A little closer to the Sagamore bridge.

A closer view  of the bridge as a boat goes by.

We even got a picture of some wild life

it was hard to see what these birds were from a distance.

My husband first thought that one of them was a hawk.

Through the camera we could see that they are ducks, the higher one has it's head tucked down, making it hard to see it well but it is a duck.

I've never seen ducks perched on a telephone pole like this,  have you?








We drove a little further into the cape, then turned around at Orleans and took a slow leisurely route home.  It was a very nice drive, we saw lots of pretty house, interesting landscape, quaint shops and lots of beautiful scenery.  One of the fun parts of a drive through the cape is that you are never far from the ocean, as you drive along looking at the houses all of a sudden there is another beautiful view of the water.

When we spotted this pretty little beach, in Harwich right before the Chatham line, we had to stop and take a few more pictures.

Can you find the girls?

Oops, our shadows are showing, the sun was behind us.

The sand was very fine, we were very careful not to drop anything or anyone.

"MJ keep your boots on"

MJ and Jaynie enjoyed seeing the boats anchored out in the water.

I thought this was an interesting building

Then saw the sign and found it even more interesting, so we turned around to take pictures.

We were planning on stopping at our local Joann Fabrics on our way home but when I spotted this one we decided to stop in.

This doesn't look like any other  Joann Fabrics that I've ever seen,

Isn't it pretty.


It's part of the Christmas Tree (Shop) Promenade.


I bought some purple fabric and a few supplies that I needed.



We also drove by 3 or 4 mini golf courses that we found very interesting, there was a nautical/beachy one, a pirate themed one, a safari one and I think one more but I can't remember what it was.  Jaynie has added mini golf to her long list of projects that she wants me to build for her.  We need to think of a good theme.  Any suggestions?

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures, we had a wonderful day. I wish you all could have come along with us. 


Thank you for visiting, Mary

MJ visits Cape Cod

MJ is visiting with us in Massachusetts.  Yesterday we spent the afternoon showing MJ a little bit of Cape Cod.

This is a Memorial at one of the viewing areas along the canal. 

The weather was beautiful, in the low 60's.
The leaves are a bit past peek but still lovely.



And here is the canal with the  Sagamore bridge  in the distance.    The bridge is kind of hard to see in the photo it blends into the sky, but we could see it very clearly. 

Now you can see it a bit better.

MJ and Jaynie became friends very quickly and enjoyed having their pictures taken while we were looking at the scenery.

It is usually a bit breezy along the canal, there was a nice light breeze blowing.  The girls enjoyed it.

We like coming here, there's a nice seafood shack across the street (now closed for the season), a cool breeze and a seafood picnic is great on a hot summer day.

Another look at the viewing area with a glimpse of the canal, MJ and Jaynie are taking a closer look at the plaque.

I took a couple more pictures of the canal before we got back in the car to go to another viewing area.

I hope that you enjoyed this little bit of Cape Cod.


Come back tomorrow to see another bit, the rest of the pictures from our trip.






Jaynie and MJ are spending the day going through boxes and drawers looking for things to decorate for Halloween.  Jaynie says that MJ is great at spotting anything purple, we agree purple is a great Halloween color.

Thank you for visiting, Mary