A very quiet house...

My son and his wife and their baby left this morning after a few wonderful days visiting us.  I'd not met this wee little girl, but she is a delight, and I had serious quality Granny time with her.  At four months old, she is already a sweet-natured baby, really only fussing when hungry, wet, or tired.  Otherwise, it was all big drooly, toothless smiles and chuckles at the dog--with whom she bonded immediately. 

Josh and Montana

Granny Jan and Juniper

Josh and his phone

 

Papa Phil and the wee featherless biped.

Juniper loves dogs already!

Pals.

We had a "burger burn and beers" in the back yard to celebrate their visit--inviting friends my son hadn't seen in a decade or more.  Sunday the guys sat around watching the game, and my daughter in law and I found an estate sale right around the corner.  Monday the guys hit the firing range while we girls played with paper clay and paint.  The cat finally came out of hiding to investigate the strangers, but by then it was almost time for them to go home!

Hope you all had as fine a weekend as we did!

What's up at House Conwell

Haven't posted since the doll show postmortem blog, but things have been crazy busy here.  Guess everybody says that, but alas, 'tis true.

It looks to be the case for a while to come, but in a good way!

On the home front, my son and his wife and our tiny new granddaughter will come down from Colorado for a while.  We haven't seen them since they left with orders for England years ago!

Montana, Joshua, and little Juniper (Bumpy June-Bug).

Then later in October, Phil's folks will visit, and I miss them so much and can't wait to see them again.  I really hit the lottery when it comes to in-laws, and feel blessed to know them.  And our Schultz will be ecstatic because he gets to see Annie, whom he is slightly afraid of and maybe a little in love with, if you'll pardon the prepositions. 

"I'm all in!"  (Dec. 2012) Phil and his folks playing poker, a family tradition.

Brothers Conwell (Dec. 2012) and quadrupeds, Schultz and Annie, hangin' with the chew toys.

On the realty front, one of our rental houses is empty now, and we've decided to sell it.  So guess who will be painting and house-repairing this weekend on her fiftieth birthday?  Phil and I make a good team when it comes to projects like these, though, so the weekend with him will be a memorable time.

On the doll front, I finished one of my post-doll-show orders, a teeny izzy (9") and she's all ready for bed in a super-fine linen gown and cap.  The lady who will give her a new home has been to visit me at every doll show since the first one...when I teased her at the show for not picking out a doll, she said, "But the one I want is sold."  So of course nothing would do but that I made her one similar.  Miss Mary has a thing for dolls in white, so little Nell will fit right in.

9" Izannah, "Nell"

 

Those tiny applied thumbs are quite a trick!

The small ones are harder to make, but something about them really tugs at the heart.

On the landscaping front, I planted a "Charlie Brown Tree" this week--a baby Honey Mesquite--over the objections of every landscaping adviser ever.  Don't care.  I love mesquite trees, and wanted one on our place.  The weatherman is forecasting rain for our area, but not very hopefully.  I think I will augment that hope and maybe do a few rain dances while I'm watering today.  (It's our day to water, 3 am to 7 am...yes, we set an alarm.)

Hope your weekend is fabulous dahlinks!

Doll Show Post Mortem

Phil and I used to do a "post mortem" of SCA events on our way home from them.  You know...discussing what went well, what stunk, what we enjoyed the most, what we'd do differently and how should we do it.  We were "merchants" instead of "vendors", because those were medieval reenactment events, but the essentials remain the same.

This last Saturday's show was at a new venue, so the logistics changed some.  Primarily the set-up time was cut by a third!  I was seriously scrambling to get it all set up in time.  Part of that, however, is my fault.

My set up involves backdrops with drapes, layers and layers of tablecloths, holiday decorations, lace and crochet doilies out the you-know-what, and tiers of crates and tiny chairs.  Add to that the dragging out & unwrapping of umpteen gillion dolls, and untangling doll stands from out of that (shudder) horrible snarl of clanking wires and bases, and a big dose of Virgo Perfectionism...well, you can imagine.

This show has taught me that I must take Mr. Emerson's advise and "Simplify, simplify, simplify."

I spend all day yesterday sketching out a new lighter, easier and non-draped backdrop system.  New tablecloths that do not require layers, and new risers that do not require doilies.  I will miss that lush look of crocheted lace, but something had to go.  (Maybe a few doilies, just for a touch here and there?)  SEE???  Somebody stop me!  

Enough about set up.  The show went well on several levels. Dolls found new homes, I have new friends, and--thanks to a friend who'd saved lots of antique lace for me--new dolls will be dressed.
One particular delight was meeting Miss Loretta Nardone, of UFDC fame, discussing the possibility of a seminar on cloth and clay doll making at the 2014 UFDC Convention.
Oh--and listening to her Boston accent.  I love accents, and hers is so fun to hear!  

This week I have to tend to all that stuff I ignored in favor of the show, so now it's time to fix that.  

After I finish my coffee.

Hope your week is fabulous, dahlinks.