iseecerulean

Pin setting tweezers, drill bits and Archimedes drill from Smaller Than Life.  I lost the smallest bit in the hotel room already.

Stand mixer and cookbooks from Dorota Mateusiak.

Squirrels, chickadee, and insects from Barbara Meyer.  Garden gnome from Spencer's Nook.  The potted poppy didn't have a name on the receipt.

The wooden toy works!  It was made by Keenderson Miniatures.  Owl was crocheted by Gibson Girl, wooden box from Smaller Than Life, glasses from Dollhouse Isako, and glass decanter from Mini Decorators.

Flower kits from Paula Gilhooley, fabrics from miscellaneous tables.

Painting by Elizabeth Hefley of ERH Gallery, two tone basket by Nancy Wantiez, other baskets from and Mini Mansions and I don't remember who, wooden basket kit from Laser Creations.

The desk was from the bargain table...five bucks!...it needs to be glued and clamped at the bottom.  The gourd is a real gourd, a spinner gourd, grown and finished by Jeanette Utpatel.  I don't remember where I bought the tricycle and bowls.

 Geode, ammonite and snail shell from Lynn O'Shaughnessy.

That's it, that's all my loot.  Not too bad for someone with no shopping list :)

I came home from the Bishop Show and the Three Blind Mice Show with some wonderful pieces....

All of the above from D-Tales Miniatures.

Squirrel by Leslie Frick, and rabbit by Weazilla.  The unfinished table didn't have a store name on the receipt.

Fishbowl by Miyuki Kobayashi. 

Look at that little face!  I named him Scruffy.  He was made by Marie W. Evans.

Boxer shorts by Lucy Iducovich....don't remember where I picked up the other items.

Wright Guide Miniatures always has good stuff.

Dome from Grapevine Miniatures, the rest from a store with no name on the receipt.

Bananas by Orsolya Skulteti, pottery by Jane Graber.  The porcelain house was an estate sale piece, I don't know who the artist is.

Update - Blondie solved the mystery, the artist is Sylvia Mobley.

At the Three Blind Mice show there was a grab bag of minis that I picked up, then put down again, which Lynn then picked up and bought.  I met Lynn in the lobby of our hotel and she kindly let me ride over to the show with her.  We hit it off and chatted the whole time. 

Lynn from Cleveland, if you see this, please email me....there were some little porcelain trees in that grab bag that are a match to this house and I'd love to buy them from you.

What a blast!  I chatted with old friends, made new friends, talked with some of my heroes....Dorota Mateusiak gave me a present!...Ferd Sobol held my hand!...and my best friend was with me.  Susan needs to join me every year :)

Let's start the photo show with Susan's purchases...

Wright Guide Miniatures

We only packed and moved one car load a piece.  I'm sore from yesterday, and Kate has to work tonight.  All I want now is jammies, a big mug of Earl Gray Creme, my quilt, my couch, and Netflix.  Laundry and dishes can wait for a day.

Done! Done enough to move in, anyway. I have no pictures because we mopped our way out of the house last night.

I announced that I'd had enough, we could knock the rest of the things off the to-do list with one long, hard day, and went into project manager mode. I was out at the house bright and early, after I'd had my morning coffee, to finish the touch up painting in the blue bedroom. Husband came out a bit later to mount a deadbolt, hang smoke detectors, put on register covers, etc. Kate came out after she got out of work at 10 am. I washed walls while Kate cleaned out all the construction odds and ends. We swept, mopped, scrubbed, etc. I taught Kate how to use her drill...she drilled holes for and put on the cabinet knobs she bought for the kitchen. Etc, etc, etc...it was indeed a long, hard day. We came home, had a late dinner, and went straight to bed.

Kate was getting so discouraged, with everything that kept going wrong, but seeing the house in a liveable state instead of as a construction zone has lifted her spirits considerably. My muscles ache, but today we start moving her stuff in.

Spring sprung here three weeks ago, but it only lasted a week before winter shooed it away. Everything is covered in snow again.  It's cold, dreary, and depressing.

Work continues at a slow pace at Kate's house.  Just as her 60 hour work weeks were going back to the normal 36 the new nurse got sick, so she got called in.  She, her future roommate, and I have been painting whenever one of us can get out there, but we all work full time, so it hasn't been as often as we'd like.   Kate's exhausted, I'm sick of painting, we both want the renovation to be finally DONE already so we can rest.  I'm looking forward to my Chicago trip in a couple of weeks!

She had an electrician out last week to run modern wiring and replace some outlets in the living room and kitchen.   Her roommate's Uncle came yesterday to replace the broken sump pump in her flooding basement.  There were two sump pumps in the basement, one broken and one working, when she bought the house.  We didn't realize the second sump pump was necessary until all the rain and thawing snow caused water to pour into holes in the sides of its basin, overflowing onto the floor and rushing across the basement to the second, working, sump pump.  He told us "this town is wet", we'll always have the issue, everyone with a basement does, but as long as the sump pumps are working the basement will be dry.  She is still going to have the property re-graded this summer, though, as the ground currently slopes toward the house and garage instead of away from them.   (That's not noticeable when one buys a house in December and the ground is covered in a foot of snow.)

While the new sump pump was being installed Kate spent hours scrubbing the last of the residual grout haze from the bathroom tiles while I primed and painted the ground floor window recesses. 

The list of things to be done is getting shorter. The painting is almost done now except for touch up painting on the walls of the blue bedroom, the trim around the front door, and the trim in the mudroom.  (The mudroom and front door need to wait for warmer weather.)  There are some odd and end tasks to take care of...cabinet knobs installed, outlet covers put back on, curtain rods hung, have a mirrored front made for the custom built medicine cabinet, etc.  Mostly it just needs a good cleaning.  The professional cleaning she was gifted doesn't look like it's going to happen, the cleaners her realtor knows are either out of the business or unavailable, so Kate and I will do it ourselves.

The drywall was slightly damaged around the living room outlets when they were replaced, and rather than try to repair the damage Kate bought new, larger, outlet covers.  She fell in love with these resin ones, but they didn't come in white, so "I'll just spray paint them!"  Sigh. 

I explained they are too detailed for a non-expert to spray paint without making a gloppy mess, then brought them home with me and am painting them for her.  I was going to brush a coat of enamel paint on them, because it will wear well, but she wants them to match the rest of her trim.  Thankfully I insisted she buy a good quality paint with ceramic in it.  Here's the first with a coat of gesso....once I'm sure the gesso adheres well I'll coat the rest.