Amsterdam

 Hello Dear Readers,

As I told you in my last post I made a day-trip to Amsterdam last weekend.
Purpose of the trip was to check whether the measurements of the facades of the canal houses and their ornamentation as I remembered it agree with reality.

Amsterdam was *cold and windy and -as expected- packed with tourists.
We decided we'd rather take the tram instead of going by foot.
The tram is public transport, fast and easy not to mention cheap.
It has stops on numerous places in the city.

Being cold to the bone at that time, I took the majority of  the pictures from within the tram. You will notice a glare from the window in some pictures. So they won't win a prize for beauty.
In some pictures it's like the top of the houses tilt here and there.
And they actually do.

It seems the harvest of pictures is meager, but I renewed and stored quite some GigaBites on the hard disk in my head.

After having a drink we decided there was time left to look for fabrics.
Throughout the years I have collected quite some silks, small and larger pieces, because I have no definite idea about the colors I will use in my house.
Or, rather, I have made a LOT of ''definite'' choices regarding upholstery in the past, only to learn they always change with time.
Because you can never tell on forehand whether you will need it in the future, I
played it safe and purchased some silks.
And because I liked the print, for the first time also some small pieces of cotton.

Left, on top: again a green-blue silk (again because I already have several silks in this color, though every piece differs a bit)
Left, in the middle is a dark blue silk velvet, very thin, maybe for curtains or upholstery of chairs
Left, under: a black and gold silk; I think it has a majestic look, but maybe too fancy to use for curtains and/or upholstery in my dh. We'll see.
On the right, in pairs of 3, the cottons. In the upmost right three theres's a touch of the green-blue silk color, so maybe I will use those for cushions.

So far about my day-trip to Amsterdam.
Next post will be all about minis again.
I'll probably show you what I embroidered and when there is progress on the storage room I will keep you posted too.

Have a great weekend,
Hugs to all of you out there,
Gee

*footnote: this post was censored by my kids :))

shop stuff

Hello there, Dear Readers!

Welcome to the new followers, glad you read along, the more the merrier!

Feel free to leave a reaction, I really love reading your opinions and ideas.

I hope everything is well with all of you.

Time flies when you're having fun, don't you agree?

The days are already shortening, getting more windy and rainy and I hope you are all well prepared for the approaching cold days.

I for one, have warm blankets ready piled up in a corner of the couch and thick, warm slippers are on stand-by for the first real cold day that comes along.

Winter is not going to sneak up behind me and catch me in surprise this year!

Amazing how quickly everything adapts to the cooler weather.

The white roses still bloom, other flowers seem to find them show-offs and have given up the idea of getting another sunbath.

They  have pulled on their gorgeous autumn-colored coat.

Genuine diva's, those trees and plants!

I always feel blessed to live in a 4 seasons country, although sometimes inconveniences arise (for example if it snows), but each season has its own charm and splendor.

sooooo .... before I really get to sound like a sentimental old tart, time for a change of subject:

I've enjoyed your blogs, what creativity and how inspiring!

Pick a topic and everyone has a different approach to it.

What possibilities!

Meanwhile I weathered the front of the shop a little and made the cabinets in the shop look worn and dirty.

There is a floor, the walls are papered, there is light

and there are even some toys.

And everywhere filthy fingers of children ... Well, that can hardly be avoided ...

There even is a counter

There are still lots of toys to be made but eventually the shop will be loaded.

Until yesterday I was still in doubt, but then I dug up a sled and a sweet-faced doll in knitted garments and now I am certain I'm going to add snow to the outside of the shop.

I also used the time (or wasted, just how you look at it) to think about how I want the storage room in the dollhouse to look like.

Because that is the next room that I plan to work on.

While summer lasted my mind was set on other things, but since the day it is getting colder outside I love to curl up in a chair, having a hot coffee or coco, thinking of  pastries, hog heads, pheasants and preserved foods .

So I've been searching my stash to gather stuff to go in the storage room.

The walls, the ceiling and the floor are already primed.

Originally there would be a floor tiled with small tiles, but the tiles I ordered are plastic ones and quite hideous, so I have not decided about that yet.

Today I made a day trip to Amsterdam, will tell you more about that next time.

At this moment I am floored.

Apparently I just wiped my eyes, unknowingly smearing my mascara over my face, because my daughter just casually informed if we have raccoons in the family-tree.

Time to call it a day!

Hope you all have a great week,

hugs,

Gee