I just wanted to let you all know I made it through the eye surgery fine and will get this “irritating” patch off Thursday morning. It can’t come soon enough. So for now we have a one handed typist, a one eyed seamstress, and hopefully Debbie got a good report from the ENT and doesn’t have any “one” problems…
A few people asked about the lamp on fire… I didn’t “make” or even “plan” for that… it’s just when I turned off my lights and then pushed the button on the lamp, the filiment looked like it was on fire when it was reflected on the wall. I thought it was pretty neat looking myself, but not really a useable picture.
I can see with my distance eye better on my computer than I can on my phone… but hopefully tomorrow I’ll have both eyes back working together again. I’ll still have a clear plastic shield on my right eye, but the shield has holes in it, so you can sort of see things.
Anyway, I’ll be hopefully back in action tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks for liking the scene I set up… a backdrop panel certainly would have been nice to have, but I couldn’t find anything the right size or what I really wanted…
Okay now on to today’s post… I wrote it before my surgery…
Kathie went to this Doll Auction and took quite a few pictures of what was there… I’ll let her do the narrating…and I hope she’ll let us know if she bought any for herself or her friend! :o)
“I went to a doll auction and had a list for a friend who couldn’t come to bid on certain dolls. Whoever made the clothes did an amazing job…took some pics and I knew you would like seeing all the layers to this one. There is an equally nice George too.”
They are just fun to look at for someone who sews… no need to share! (But of course, I had to share, Kathie… we love seeing things like this… (it makes us more cultured! I just know it does!) :o)
Price tag from years ago… he was 15.00 loved his Majorette hat. The strap was painted on the side of his face
Thank you very much Kathie! I loved seeing the doll dresses (but hated seeing the safety pins stuck right in the middle of the dresses… why not pin the tags in a seam or on the edge of the lace on the sleeves… Pins can leave holes, especially in the older more delicate fabrics…) just my two cents worth…
Thanks again,
Blessings, Jeanne
Those pins were my first thought too! Maybe if they tied the tags around the wrists of the dolls it would work out better and keep the material from getting holes.
What a delight to see the intricate sewing on those dresses! I love seeing the beautiful laces underneath the first dress that trimmed the underslips, which no one would usually see. My favorite is #183, because of the pleats and just the way the doll is presented. She actually looks new!
Most antique dolls are not my cup of tea, but it is so interesting to see how they did it way back when! Thank you, Kathie, for sending the pictures to Jeanne!
Jeanne, I hope you had a good night’s rest and able to see better today!
So glad to hear that the surgery went well. Be thinking of Jeanne as she gets that plastic cover removed today. How long does the plastic shield with holes have to remain on?
I agree on the safety pins on those lovely vintage doll outfits. First thing I thought was oh no, some beautiful fabric/outfit is being ruined with those gross pins. Were the auction people born in caves? Don’t they know how to handle vintage fabrics? So, what were the sale auction prices? I’d be very curious to know even though I’m a modern doll collector. And I’m sure some noticed that Martha’s broach was a Masonic pin.
We cleaned up all of the leaves possible yesterday in front and stuffed our pick up can leaving only our plastic cans full and a huge pile in the street. After the garbage pickup, we loaded the street pile into the can for next week’s pick up. Then, we had some welcome rain overnight. Guess what? This morning the lawn and street are covered yet again with thick leaves. 🙂 No idea where will put them. 🙂
Regarding your reply to my comment yesterday. I did not pick this house we’re in so it did not come close to my “wants” list. It just happened to have five acres of property with it and David was tired of paying for a place to keep his equipment not to mention that some was stolen from one of those places. He wanted a place where he could have the equipment on the property and this was it. Also it was rare to find such a large piece in town because most of the larger pieces had been broken up when the owners passed away and the family sold it off in parcels. Since the schools were in town, the kids could walk, ride their bikes or catch a ride with a friend whose parent drove them to school. When we first moved here there were no buses for the kids in town.
As for me my parameters were a small piece of property with a white picket fence kind of thing. I wanted an indoor laundry room (which I’d had every other place we lived), a fireplace (which we had where we lived before here and I hated to give it up), two bathrooms (which we always had everywhere else), and a dishwasher (which to me was a no-brainer but did not fit into the layout of my 1945 kitchen and I didn’t want to constantly be walking around a portable). As I said my “wants” were low on the priority list. Now I will have all that I want, but it only took me 32 years to get there. The fireplace was a little harder to come up with but a few years ago we bought an entertainment center with an electric fireplace, so I have the ambiance without the mess. And now I also have a sewing room which wasn’t even on my list back in 1990. All the bedrooms were taken by family members.
Well, good for you on getting all of those wants! We’ve been in this house 47 years and have remodeled just about everything. We’re at the point that we need to start in again on the updates. I’d like to add a another garage and put in all new flooring. Only problem is, where to put everything while the work is being done. 🙁
Joy, I did notice that pin! My grandfather was a Mason and had a ring with that same design.
As for raking leaves, then having a rainfall when more come down, and you still have to dispose of the first batch, …….welcome to the club!
Glad to hear that your surgery went well and hoping you are home resting now and free of the pesky patch. I hope you won’t demand too much of your new and improved vision today.
ENT visit was so welcome. It turns out that refurbishing a house isn’t great for breathing freely. All will be well in the near future and I am already looking forward to a little tree trimming as we were totally in boxes this time last year.
Thanks for sharing Kathie’s auction photos. It is not often that you get to see these historic treasures up close. Like Joy my collection is modern. The oldest doll I own is my Midge from the 1960’s and a few Madame Alexander’s dating to 1993. Oh, and my 4 early 1990’s American Girls. Well, maybe my collection is not as modern as I think! I love learning about the antique dolls, who made them, who owned them, and what they wore. I think I will gift myself a subscription to Antique Doll Magazine, my favorite magazine about dolls. I loved Doll Reader and Dolls in the 1990’s but the current version doesn’t come close.
Charlotte, I hope all is well.
Jeanne, I am so glad your surgery went well and that today you are patchless. How long do you have to leave on the plastic shield? Seems like that would be annoying too.
Debbie, I’m glad your ENT visit went well. I have an allergy to dust so I wear a mask when I have any cleaning to do where I’m going to stir up a lot of dust, like cleaning the garage. Fortunately these days the guys have been doing the sweeping out there because it is their work area for the renovations. I also wear a mask if I mow but Jason has been doing that these days. But I will be glad when the last of the “tear out” is done where the closet on the breezeway used to be. I really need to seriously clean that area but it’s useless until they are finished. Where the closet was is where the three steps down to the laundry area will be. Soon I won’t have to go through the garage at all to do my laundry. Yay!!!
Charlotte, hope all is going well with you.
Kathie, thanks so much for sending the pictures from the antique doll auction and a big thanks to Jeanne for posting them. I’m a modern doll person myself (except for my 1950s Ginny) but I do love seeing dolls that were produced before we had all the modern ways of doing things. The techniques used back then were amazing. Kathie you would love the doll museum in Cedaredge, CO, that I posted pictures from awhile back. Problem is that people donated the dolls but did not always have a record of them. I recognized some of the dolls at the museum that the docent didn’t even know who they were she just loved being amongst all the dolls.
Thanks for the comments on the pictures. I was bidding for a friend couldn’t attend. The 3 dolls marked 183 were sold as a set. I absolutely loved the Band Majorin white. His hat is amazing. So …the pretty aqua girl with pleats and boy in pale aqua pants and the band major I got for 45.00 which was much lower than most…. The auctioneer was going so fast and if you looked away you missed a bid. These were also repro but as you can see in the close up pics they were beautifully done. He is a very nice Auctioneer but his lingo is hard to understand🥴 ( There was an old tag on the Majorette that said 259.00 ..from the good old days)
They do doll auctions twice a year and it is sad they pin the tags on…but they auction everything from entire homes and farm equipment and land. This was the first day…I think he said there were 800 auctioned. There were some sold in lots. There were boxes of some that needed fixing… I had to sit on my hands…just can’t rescue any more🥹
On Day two they auctioned the real pricey antique dolls..some equally as well dressed but I didn’t go that day😉 Prices we’re all over the place. Some went 3 or 4 times what my friend gave me to bid. All in all it looks like doll prices are recovering a bit.
The only doll I bought was a 20” Madame Alexander Dionne with Molded hair. Her compo is very nice and her dress is cute …and may be original, but is tissue paper thin and has split in places🥴 I love the MA Dionnes and have several sets in different sizes and this 20” will be the only one of that size.☺️ I just couldn’t pass her up.
Love the grouping you were able to purchase. I’m sure I would have had to do hand sitting as well. Did they have vintage Christmas things? Those are going for so much now. Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Dear Kathie, thanks for sharing. I love looking at dolls in auctions. I mostly do this online, as opposed to in person but it is still fun.
Congratulations on getting a Dionne. And wow, you have a few sets! They were very popular Alexander items.
Are you going to the MADC Convention in Indianapolis this Summer? It will be the 100th Anniversary of Madame’s company.
Like others, I also noticed the safety pins through the fragile antique fabric. Our one antique store that sells antique dolls have tags on their wrists or for those in display cases. the tag is at their feet. I don’t collect antique dolls, but my mom still has a few of her from the 1940’s. I do likesome antique dolls and like everything else back then the clothing was exquisite.
Glad the surgery went well, Jeanne. I enjoyed your scene with Rebecca yesterday. The lamppost is really nice. Like Barbara, I’ve also used that Museum Wax without issue on dolls as well as furniture to hold things in place. It leaves no residue behind.
Dear Jeanne, I am glad you are doing better.
Thanks for sharing Kathie’s photos.
I missed seeing the pins in the dolls’ outfits so I scrolled back to look. Ugh! What are people thinking? Clearly they are not doll people.
What I also don’t like is vendors who spray their dolls with Febreze to “refresh” them before sending them to buyers. I had one vendor do that. If the doll hadn’t been one I was seeking, I would have sent it back. I emailed the vendor to ask why she did that and she said, “oh, I do that will all of dolls.” I emailed back and said please stop. Doll collectors do not like odors associated with their dolls.
Happy December 1, only 151 days until May!