Edmonton Miniatures Show and Sale September 18, 2016

Coming up again!

If you or anyone you know would like to be a dealer, please contact me and I'll send you the information.

This is the only miniature show left in Alberta and Saskatchewan so we really want/need to keep it going.

You can help by passing the word along so we can get more dealers and more attendees: it would really help. You can contact me for more information and copies of our poster.

Thanks.

All Day furniture workshop

About 20 of us showed up for today's workshop. We had all ordered kits from Nancy Summers that Lucille picked up for us at Chicago International. And Tina had hundreds of pieces of cotton and silk for sale to use as upholstery.

Hard at work!

Went around the table and took pictures of the furniture pieces in various stages of work.

Jillian had a bit of a 'toothpick explosion. VBG

I had ordered two of Nancy's easy chairs but in the meantime had changed my mind and wanted to do the wing chairs instead. Tina had one wing back kit for sale so I bought that then asked if anyone would be interested in trading a wing back kit for an easy chair kit. 

Many thanks to Lil who swapped with me so I will have two wing back chairs for a planned project (yes, I know, another one LOL). I still have two lamp kits from Grandpa's Dollhouse and I think these will go in one of them with a Bespaq cabinet I bought from Liz at Grandpa's Dollhouse to be filled with Barbara Brear's filler books and perhaps a floor lamp that I plan to make at our workshop on Tuesday night. The remaining easy chair will be upholstered in a beautiful blue brocade (from Tina) for Vern's attic. (And, yes, I will get back to that one of these days. VBG)

The kit glued and taped together.

Legs stained and the bottom added.

Front of arms and seat done.

Back and top of wings upholstered.

At this point, I was supposed to cut templates for the inside arms from index card. It's a pretty intricate template so I called it a day. After I got home, I realized that I could have used the second kit pieces to cut the template much more easily so I'll try to do that (maybe) tonight. From then on, it should be fairly easy going. Famous last words VBG!

I think that some of the templates for this kit could (and perhaps should) be done before the basic kit is assembled. Adjustments would still need to be made but I think it's much easier to cut templates using the flat individual pieces rather than trying to work with corners.

The suggested glue was Aleene's Flexible Stretchable fabric glue so Joanne and I had picked up the small (.66 fl. oz.) three pack with that plus Stop Fraying and Fabric Fusion. Quite honestly, I was not impressed with either (haven't tried the Stop Fraying yet). The other suggested adhesive was Grrip glue which isn't available here. I have Quick Grip (bought on a previous trip to the U.S.) but it warns "use in a well-ventilated area" so didn't want to try it at the church.

Sunni also taught a small, related workshop on how to make cording from embroidery floss. When I get the instruction sheet, I'll tell you more about that. (Joanne's fabric was a dark blue with gold lines on it and she made a beautiful gold cord to go with it. And Trineke made a cording with two colours of floss that will be beautiful on her project!) There was a marvelous selection of colours available as Inger had been given this incredible selection and made it available to the club.

Not mini - but fun!

When I turned 60, my three younger sisters gave me a piggy bank that each one had put $60 in. That began a family tradition: as each of the sisters turned 60, they received the pig with $60 from each of the sisters whose birthday it wasn't. The $180 I received from that pig went toward my first trip to Nova Scotia and Camp Mini Ha Ha.

Youngest sister, Marie, brought out a new pig some months ago along with a package of flat-backed 'jewels' to decorate it.

When Joanne and I went to Michael's last week I found this self-adhesive roll of rhinestones.

 I cut them into single strips.

 The 7 was easy to make with just the straight strips.

 But in order to make the '0', I cut through the thread on one side of the single strip so it could curve.

 While we were at Tina's on Tuesday night, she printed out for me a '0' as a template.

 On one side, I just dampened it to stick it to the pick but on the other side, I used a glue stick to put it in place. Then I glued the rhinestone strips in place.

Then, with super glue, I glued rhinestones around the slot in the pig. (Unfortunately, I was short one size so had to 'sort of' fit two in the remaining space.

 Then I glued these on the pig wherever there was space:

 Then I glued a silver bow from ear to ear:

Then added a jewel to the centre of the bow.

 Here it is!

from one side

And the other.....

DS Shirley is coming over tomorrow to do her income tax so she'll get to see it in person. I get it next year then she'll be the next recipient of it.

MEE Tuesday night meeting, thoughts on the Kitchen

Our meeting on Tuesday was very busy.

Based on a suggestion from Lucille L., the Newbie award at our annual Show and Sale will be named the Lorry Saunders Award and the winner will receive a winning ribbon plus a framed acknowledgment of Lorry's contribution to the world of minis and, in particular, our club.

The Lorry Saunders Award to the Newbie of the Year

As awarded by the

Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton

(Awarded to the Newbie with 5 years or less in Minis who is a member of M.E.E.)

On March 14, 2016, the Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton (M.E.E.) Club lost one of their most-valued members when Lorry Saunders passed away at the age of 79 years after suffering a stroke.

Lorry’s first love was her husband and family but miniatures played a very close second.  She planned her travels around her miniature meeting/show schedule and if she wasn’t in her craft room working on minis, she was somewhere where miniatures were bound to be.  She took trips to England to the big shows and travelled with her good friend, Sunni Dixon, on many dollhouse miniature bus tours throughout the U.S.

Lorry served on the Executive of M.E.E. for many years as President and Display Co-Ordinator for our annual Show & Sale.  She schlepped roomboxes, dollshouses, and vignettes through parking lots and up stairs and down stairs to libraries, hospitals, and schools to display them and to get the word out about her hobby.  She was always there with her hand up when volunteers were needed. 

She mentored new members and was such a wealth of knowledge.  She had an amazing memory for who was who, what their specialty was, and their complete history.  She could spot a dollshouse a mile away* and tell you everything you could possibly want to know about it.

Lorry was a perfectionist and every roombox, vignette, and dollshouse that she made (and they number in the MANY) attests to this.  She made the most exquisite 1” scale birdhouses – always 1/12 – and anyone on the receiving end of her gift at our Christmas party would be in ecstasy after having received one of these creations.

We all had such good times with Lorry and are better people for having been her friends.  She was one classy, true lady.  She will be missed greatly and remembered fondly by all of those whose lives she touched.

* I can attest to this! We were visiting a fellow miniaturist who lived in the condo next door to me and  from the parking lot saw my 'Arthur' dollhouse in my window and pointed it out to us.

I think this is a wonderful tribute to Lorry and her mentorship of all 'newbies' to the world of minis.

LOOKING FOR: Lorry made (and gave away) at least 24 birdhouses over the years. After the funeral, the family asked the club to track them down and, hopefully, get pictures of them. We have found several of them but if you (or a friend) was lucky enough to receive one, please let me know. It would be wonderful to present the family with a full display of all of the birdhouses.

Estate Sale: We sold the minis that Audrey Turton's daughter, Janet, had turned over to the club for sale. There was about 6' of 25 cent minis, another of about 50 cent to $1.50 minis, then a third table of more expensive minis. The less expensive minis were sold at price.

If  you wanted an item on the third table, you put your name on a piece of paper and your name would go into a draw for that item. (This was to allow for mobility and/or distance from the table.)

Janet had agreed that  everything left over would be donated to the children's grab bags at the Show and Sale. Anything left over from the third table will be sold separately at that table at the Show and Sale.

What I bought:

Paid only $2.00 for this. The plates on the wall are worth that. But it's a nice piece that I can probably use for a Christmas piece later this year.

Chrysnbon, I'm sure. I can always use a rocking chair! Especially now that I have used up my stock of Bombay rocking chairs!

Love these! Have no immediate use for them....but waited until things went on sale 1/2 price at the end of the evening so they were more than worth the $2.50 I paid.

$10.00 Not flimsy at all! Possibilities for the sun room off the Bombay House.

For 50 cents, possibility for the Kitchen!

Picked these up for Barb R. who couldn't make it to the meeting.

I also took in the rest of my nautical items that I had left over after making Grahame's birthday present. This was the second time I had offered them to the club and this time, everything went! So glad of that.

...............

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Kitchen. A lot of the new ideas are based on my son and DIL's kitchen renovations so I need some more time to figure it out.

In the meantime, I might work on one of my two lamp roombox kits from Grandpa's Dollhouse. Have some good ideas for those also.

Who knows............

Calgary Doll Show April 16 2016

On Friday, my DS Shirley, her DSIL Kathryne from New Zealand and I went to the Make it Show at The Enjoy Centre in St. Albert. Had a wonderful time looking at all the great exhibits then checked out all the shops in the centre. The only thing I bought was a jar of chocolate cherry jam (made with Creme de Cacao). It is SO good! Then we went to the restaurant at the  Casino and had wings and dry  pork ribs. Both very tasty but it was already after two p.m. and I was going for dinner with Joanne at five before we headed to the library to hear author Todd Babiuk being interviewed by Paula Simon of the Edmonton Journal. They are old friends and colleagues so it was a very fun, enjoyable evening.

This morning, Bev A., Barb R., Judi R and Barb S. came to my place to pick up their orders from Liz at Grandpa's Dollhouse. The other three people who had ordered were unable to attend - two got theirs at our club meeting on Tuesday and Gwen will pick hers up later. (We all order separately but have Liz ship everything to me which lowers our shipping costs incredibly. This year shipping was only $5.60 each!)

New member, Andrea, joined us as we wanted to give her a chance to meet some club members in a smaller, less formal, setting.

My mea culpa. Honest, I did have my camera on hand from the beginning but got so wrapped up watching the unveiling that I didn't remember to take pictures until we had finished lunch and were doing a round-table self-introduction. That was really interesting and enlightening!

Bev, Andres, Barb R., Judi R., and  Barb S.

When Barb R. arrived, she brought me this great birthday gift!

Barb made the carpet and the cheese board is for my kitchen.

Bev, Judi and Andrea checking out all the free goodies from Liz and the fabric sample book that DS Marie gave me last weekend.

This is all that was left from the freebies from Liz.

Barb S. and Barb R. checking out the construction of a chair Barb S. bought.

My goodies! Bought a nursery set just in case I need to make a nursery roombox one of these days. (Not counting on that happening though.)

Barb S. with some of her pieces on the table. One thing she got that I am SO envious of is a lawyer's bookshelf with the glass doors. 

Some of Judi's things.

I didn't get a picture of Barb R.'s things but I went upstairs later and got these pictures. She got some really wonderful things!

 I got some great things including a miniature Grover from Sesame Street for DD Leanne who has a large collection of RL ones; a wardrobe; the baby furniture; a batch of desk accessories; some food and a large cabinet (already have one - what was I thinking?).

Love this Bespaq cabinet. In an ideal world, I would make some of my 1;12 minis in 1:144 and put them in here but, realistically, that just isn't going to happen.

 And an espresso machine for the kitchen.

In addition to the club freebies, Liz also sent me a bag of freebies; The highlights were a blank canvas with palette with paint and brushes and the most incredible sewing box with spools of thread, scissors and other accessories. Also a telephone, copper mold and a couple vases. There were also a couple other things that I added to the other giveaway as I knew I wouldn't use them.

All in all, it has been an absolutely great two days!