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