Nova Scotia

While in Bloomfield on Mother's Day, we did a bit of shopping and I got this wonderful windchime for DS Shirley for their place at the lake. It looks much better in  person and I absolutely fell in love with it.

I like to travel light but since I had a Teddy bear for Holly and the Harry Potter room for Jonah, had to take a big suitcase which turned out to be a blessing as I ended up bringing a whole pile of things home from the Maritimes. VBG

Bear for Holly bought at the Calgary Doll Show

Arrived in Halifax shortly after 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Cheryl and I spent the evening catching up.

Cheryl had been  given a box of miniatures by a woman whose mother had collected them but had no interest in them herself. On Wednesday, we had a fun time sorting through them and deciding which we wanted for our stashes.

What we started with....

Didn't choose this furniture originally but when I realized it had bears painted on it, thought it would work in my Three Bears House. Have bears for the house but thought I might like to do another Teddy Bears' Picnic at some point so got a few more bears.

Some wonderful teeny things: a swan, elephant, puppy, pitcher and horse plus some lovely pieces of porcelain in the pale green that will go with my planned lady's bedroom (more about that to come) - although I don't think she'll have much use for the moustache cup that's part of the set. LOL

The elephant is a very clear bright red. The whole thing is only 1/2" tall. Really caught my eye.

For no particular reason!

Odds and ends of tools and blades. The black piece on the left is a nice little plane.

Love her books!

David had put Cheryl in charge of selling his late wife, Ruth's, jewellery. Most had already been sold but there were still two ziploc bags left so I had to check that out also. From all that I bought, you would never know that I seldom wear jewellery! (Mind you, some I bought as gifts for family.)

This wonderful pair is Cheryl's. They're made from Fimo and will be great on a dollhouse wall! Incredible work!

The red on the drop on the left is just the reflection of my blouse. Won't use the earrings as such but they might make nice sweater clips (remember those?).

Sterling silver earrings

Great Christmas earrings for a friend!

Some odds and ends Cheryl gave me: painting of an orca cresting, two unique art glass pieces, painting of the three churches at Mahone Bay, NS, on (I think) slate; gumdrop earring, native art, snowman, two flowers, three flowers that will make lovely candle holders for cut-off birthday candles.

On Thursday afternoon, Wendy McD joined us for some mini-time. She and Cheryl were going to work on teacup scenes (didn't work as they had hoped) and I cut out some mini-books. Joanne S. joined us for dinner and brought some of her beautiful ceramic and porcelain pieces. She also brought the beautiful marquetry table she made for auction at Guild School at Castine which she is attending this year on a scholarship. Joanne is a very gifted artist in several media. You can see her work at http://www.kilnworks.ca/index.html and her minis at http://kilnworksminis.weebly.com/ 

Also on Thursday, received an e-mail from a grand-daughter of Jane and Paul Barabash who for years had The Toy Shoppe, a miniature shop off Whyte Avenue in Edmonton. The family was selling off the remainder of the stock from the store. Among the offerings was a three room extended roombox for $40 - made an offer and got it! Joanne agreed to pick it up for me on Saturday and even delivered it to my condo!

It's 48" x 11" x 10"

Friday afternoon, Cheryl and I treated ourselves to manicure/pedicures. Cheryl got bright blue toenails but pale fingernails - both with sparkles! I was going to go with my usual boring red but somehow (yeah, Cheryl) ended up with burgundy brown nails and toes - also with sparkles! Got lots of compliments everywhere we went so guess the choices weren't TOO bad.

Marilyn, a member of Canada Minis, had invited us to stay with her in PEI. The discussion about our stay included references to wine and chocolate so on Saturday we went to the Lindt store and stocked up on the chocolate part! Also went to Dollarama where I picked up three packages of computer labels (haven't been able to find them here for quite some time), some 4" x 4" ziploc bags and two burgundy chair cushions (could only find four here).

I'll split this post here and continue with our trip to PEI.