Barb, the Potluck Dinner ornament, and Barb again, CBC

My friend, fellow miniaturist and upstairs neighbour, Barb, came by yesterday afternoon to see what I had purchased at the Show and Sale and see my displays. Had a great visit.

Later, I looked through my stash and purchases to see what I could possibly use in the Potluck dinner ornament and came up with these things:

Think these will work over the table and chairs on the right hand side.

Wanted to hand this from the ceiling for it's too large and blocked the tree so it's out.

Had thought to cut off the golf tee as a base for a table to go with the furniture below. The golf tee will still work but that piece of lazer poop will not. Need something a big bigger in diameter and thinner in depth.

Found these great 1:24 scale Christmas card on Jim Collins/Small Stuff 

 printie site. (One of my all time-favourites!) Plan on putting them on the left side of the room.

Maybe chair seats and/or cushions on the furniture.

In the meantime, Barb had gone through her stash and found some things she hoped would work for the scene. 

And I had gone through my collection of the first five years of American Miniaturist magazines and found several needlework patterns that I thought Barb might like to try as she does incredible needlework in both RL and miniature.

So I visited her this afternoon and we had a wonderful session of "What do you think?" Those brainstorming sessions are the thing that Zoom sessions will never replace.

One of the ideas that we came up with was changing the colour of the furniture from Debbie from the yellow/gold to a forest green. Another was making small cushions from the plaid ribbons and possibly covering the chair seats on the table chairs with the plaid.

So it's coming together in my head, at least.

In other news, I heard from the CBC and the filming of Ann's kitchen has been delayed until mid-October. Bless her heart, Ann has agreed to that and my daughter has that week off work so we will be able to take the kitchen in then. Looking forward to it.

The Show and Sale

Sunni had been kind enough to take my displays in on Saturday afternoon so all I had to do was go in and turn the lights on in Ann's kitchen.

Joanne and I arrived at 9 because she had made a lovely display in Joanne Prodor's memory and wanted to get it in the Show room before it opened. The first non-member face I saw was Diane who has attended our Show and Sale for years so we had time to exchange a few words. Lovely to see her every year.

Next I saw three members from Saskatoon who stayed in the hotel this year. (Last year they stayed in the guest suite in my condo.)

Once the doors opened, I headed to talk to two dealers who were having birthdays, then to greet some special out of town dealers whom I hadn't seen since last year.

Then went shopping! (In no particular order!)

Bought this lovely little kitten and carrier from member Loretta who flew up from Wisconsin for the S&S which she has done for some years. It's 1:48 but I plan on using just the kitten in my Potluck dinner ornament.

Got this luggage set from Gay. She had several kits for them but had two finished kits so, of course, went that route.

Picked up these kachinas from Marg W. who got them in Arizona. They're about 2 1/4" tall.

I have several pieces of Canadian First Nations' art so everything may become a museum display.

Got this great IKEA type miniature from Dainty Little Dollhouse from Saskatoon.

 All the drawers are removable. Not sure yet just where it will go.

Picked up these kits from Gay. The bedroom furniture in the Bombay dollhouse is mostly made from these kits. Will find someplace for them!

Debbie M., a dealer and distant member, joins us each year. She was kind to gift me with this set of 1:24 furniture, some of which will also end up in the Potluck dinner ornament.

Picked up this stand mixer to put in Ann's kitchen as a 'thank you' for Ann's lending me the kitchen for a couple weeks.

Also got this gorgeous brass easel from Gay and the light works!

Had an enjoyable conversation with Gay's mother, Gladys, and their table neighbour, Bob Frances.

The following pieces were from Donna of I Love Minis Canada. Her Etsy shop is here.

Bought this because I have it in real life. It will go in Ann's kitchen as a further 'thank you' for the use of the kitchen. (That's is own fitted packaging at the top of the picture.)

This set of mixing bowls also come in its own fitted case and also comes with a whisk, a spatula and six smaller bowls - two each in three sizes. Worth every penny!!
This purchase was personal. I have that set of mixing bowls which we received as a wedding present 52 years ago and which I still use at least weekly.

While the Show and Sale was lovely and, as you can see, I bought some beautiful pieces (some of which I actually have plans for LOL), the real joy is seeing friends, old and new, that I often only see once a year. And helping man the Membership table gave me a wonderful chance to talk with prospective new members and hear what they've been doing and/or planning gives me a new enthusiasm that I hope lasts for at least a few of my own projects.

And while I like that our meetings and workshops are now on Zoom, it's so nice to meet new members in person and talk one on one.

I must apologize that I did not think to take pictures of all the wonderful displays that club members brought in this year. There weren't as many this year as there have been in the past but the work was stellar and it's always a joy to see where members imaginations  and skills take them.

Show and Sale tomorrow!!!! YIPPEE!!

Thursday was a mad rush to get the Art Gallery completed. So much so, that I didn't take all the pictures I should have. 

A display stand made from a case a purchased miniature came in. The brass elephant was in a group of brass pieces my DS Marie gave me. The blown glass on top was an ear-ring.

I bought the Geode at the St. Albert Farmers' Market and the great little "ivory" piece on top was an ear-ring.

These two stands were purchased from club member, Liliane V., at our June members' garage sale.

On top is another geode from my stash along with some candles. The whale on the bottom was from my DS Marie.

The "Reclining Nude" is one of several pieces of glass "scrap" I got at a lovely glassblowing shop on the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia several years ago on a great trip with two fellow miniaturists. I painted her with red Gallery Glass and am finally glad to find a home for her. The geode is also from the St. Albert Farmer's Market.

I really like glass roomboxes because they're so open but, oh, my, they are terribly hard to photograph, especially when I'm not the best photographer to begin with.

I've added the art gallery sign (printed on brochure paper) along with
 the door (framed in adhesive aluminum foil) to which I've added  signs showing the store hours, credit cards accepted and a reversible Open/Closed sign.
After this was taken, I also added silver panels  to push the door from either side. I had two great half circles to glue on either side for handles but my E-6000, Quick Grip, Zap-a-Gap and my small tubes of Super Glue were ALL dried up so had to abandon that idea.

The left side

The right side

ANN'S KITCHEN

This is one of my all-time favourites of the rooms I have made. The fridge/freezer is full of food. The cupboards and drawers are pretty much full with food, pots and pans, kitchen tools, cutlery.

Even though you can't see them, Ann and I know they're there. (As do her grandchildren who enjoy it when they visit.)

Ann brought it in to work yesterday morning and I went over to pick it up. She was terribly upset as she had tipped it when she got it out of her vehicle and some things had fallen and moved. I reassured her that it would only take a few minutes to fix and not to worry. So I put everything back in place and put new batteries in the light (which surprisingly was still working, albeit dimly, after five years).

We were blessed to have Ann supporting us during a very difficult time in our life and I'm so glad that she was willing to share the room back for a couple weeks so I can enjoy it again and share it with others.

THE SALE TOMORROW

We have a great line-up of dealers for tomorrow. I really don't need anything (like that has ever made a difference LOL).  

However, I would like to find a few things to add to the kitchen as a "thank you" to Ann for letting me borrow it. And I'd like to see if I can find a few things in 1:24 scale to complete my Potluck Dinner door prize for this year. 

I'm unlikely to find anything to add to "Vern's Attic" for Jonah and Holly but will keep my eyes open. I've also been collecting pieces for a memory box for Leanne, so will keep my  eyes open for something to add to that.

Quite honestly, mostly I'm looking forward to meeting old friends whom I've met over the years, seeing our faithful dealers who have supported us through all these years, meeting in person newer members of the club that I only know through Zoom and doing my shift at the membership table (from noon to 2 p.m.) and meeting all the people who are incredibly excited to meet other people who share their enthusiasm, understand and support it.

R.I.P. Joanne Prodor

From Sunni Dixon:

It is sad news to announce the sudden passing of the founder of the Miniature Enthusiasts of Edmonton . In the cold winter of 1982 Joanne, along with a couple of her friends had the idea to start a club. She led and inspired us and organized us for many years. We met pretty much every Tuesday night ! Such wonderful times and friendships still existing to this very day.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family. 

As a latecomer (2002) to M.E.E., I only got to meet Joanne a few times but her legacy certainly lives on in our club. What Sunni didn't go into above was the fact that those die-hard miniatures who attended that first meeting had to leave their vehicles running in the parking lot as it was -40 degrees that night. Now that's dedication.

Back wall of the Art Gallery

 Well, I finally decided on the positioning of the art work on the back wall. Than I had to attach everything to the matboard. I've always used a web-type double sided tape to attach various things in my dollhouses and roomboxes. I used to get it at WalMart but hadn't been able to find it for quite some time. At one of our club garage sales, I did find a roll of double-sided carpet tape so I had a back up for the web style tape when I ran out. Managed to get these things in place with the web type until I needed to use the different tape for the three round red pieces.

While the back wall of matboard was dry-fitted to fit tightly against the back wall, I put a strip of the latest double sided tape across the top of the wall to ensure it stays in place.

So with the back wall in place, I'm ready to finish the room.

Have gone through my stash looking for things to fill in the round display pieces I bought from Liliana so will try out some of the possibilities tomorrow.

My DS Marie gave me this great number of brass balls lit by LEDs. I really want to use them somehow in this piece but just haven't figured out how to do it..

My planned displays for the Show and Sale September 15

My first choice to enter at the Show is the kitchen I made in 2019 for Ann (of Thyme to Celebrate Catering) who supplied my mother with meals in the year before she died. Ann is very kindly lending it back to me so it can be used for a show that CBC will be filming later this month (children's program ONIVA) and will lend it to me a week earlier so it can be at the Show.

My second choice is the wonderful Christmas scene that I bought at a club garage sale by Karen Jones. I don't often buy other miniaturist's work but this one is so exquisite and beautifully detailed that I had to have it. It deserves to be displayed.

As you know, I really haven't done much of anything mini this past year BUT this morning I decided to do the Art Gallery that I had planned for the chrome and glass container I bought at the club garage sale in June.

The container: 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2

I had a beautiful piece of blue velour matboard that I used for the floor and an interesting piece of matboard that I used for the back wall. It's cream with a subtle design of white swirls.

The upper left, upper and lower right pieces are pieces that DD Leanne found for me. The remainder are pieces that I made in a wonderful class that Tina MacDonald taught us.

My first positioning of the art.

Here I have coloured the edges of some pieces in black and white. One is framed in Silver and the three round pieces on the left are trimmed and framed in copper (with a pen).

I had thought to use Velcro to fasten these pieces but I'm out of Poster Velcro and the few pieces of Velcro that I now have are too thick so I think that I may use double-sided carpet tape to position them.

So tomorrow's challenge will be to attach the art and put the back wall in the art gallery.

Show and Sale

 Well, it's that time of year! YIPPEE!

On September 15, M.E.E. is holding it's annual Show and Sale at the Royal Hotel, 10010 - 178 Street, Edmonton, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Great sale room with great dealers! Janice Crawley (IGMA Fellow) will be back with her beautiful porcelain creations as will be Sherri MacRaild (IGMA Artisan) with her incredible toys!. Judy Mitchell (Wee Dreams and Cobwebs) also returns with her eclectic display of work. Tina MacDonald (MiniatureMinutia) who appeared in the first series of Best in Miniature on CBC also has a sales table. And after a few years hiatus, Another World Miniatures from Saskatoon has returned.

Those are just my all time favourites. There are SO many returning and NEW artists that you will be amazed.

Admission: Adult $6.00, Age 7-15 $2.00 and children under 7 Free

Included in the price of admission is admission to the the Show Room (across the hall from the Sales Room), you will be able to see the incredible work that club members that been doing.

What a great way to spend the day!

Another little story from August 30

There are a number of us in the building who have a lovely hairdresser who comes and cuts our hair every six weeks. On August 30, she came a day early (usually comes on Saturday) and brought her 12 year-old daughter along (with our advance permission) due to scheduling problems.

Daughter, Josie, is a lovely young lady who looked at my minis while Mom, Tay, cut my hair. 

Mine was the last haircut scheduled so when we were finished, I presented Josie with a small box someone had given me, a Christmas tree, a Christmas fireplace, some red felt for a carpet, some wallpaper for wainscoting, and a chair that I designed years ago.

I gave her a cardstock printout of the chair with a poinsettia design and showed her how to cut it out and fold it together.

It was a lovely visit and I wish we had had more time to spend together but they were off to a dental appointment.

I was, however, able to sent Tay a page of links to some of my favourite websites so that was a plus.

As usual, waaay behind in posting

On August 22, a group of us met at Tina's to spend time with Viro, a lovely miniaturist from Mexico City, and her husband, Herman. Viro has been a dealer at the Tom Bishop Show in Chicago and is a member of an active miniature group in Mexico City. Fortunately for us, her English is very good - certainly much better than our almost non-existent Spanish.

She brought along a selection of small gifts from which I chose this one:

Picture on wood with a wooden angle on the back

She also brought along a small case of her work and a couple of the group bought some great pieces.

I wanted to give her my "City of St. Albert" mini book which I did. But while I was searching for it, I came across a set of mini postcards representing St. Albert that I had saved and forgotten about. So I printed them on poster paper (sort of a lighter weight photo paper) and was able to give a set to everyone who attended. 

They could be used as a set of postcards in 1:12 OR individually used as paintings in 1:48.

 Lovely afternoon.