PROJECTS.... 16

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 12

You may very well be wondering if I will ever get to the end of this subject! Here we have an indoor washing line, an old Dutch windmill clock, another shot of the two ceramic jug-thingies, an old slate, and a printing set. The latter occupied me at my grandparents as a kid - you slipped little rubber letters in a frame and pressed on an ink soaked pad then printed a phrase or sentence. Great fun for a young child to play with and useful as a spelling aid.

More dolls - sorry! I do not know how I amassed so many.... The ginger-haired one is very old. I believe my aunt or mother owned it when they were a child - so it would date circa the 1930's. I have no idea why there is a large ink-like smudge on its forehead, though. An everyday plastic doll with half its clothing missing follows. The two large dolls at the back are from my childhood in the 1970's. The princess styled doll with long braids was a 1970's fad doll - a bit like a Barbie in the US, but not as long running. The final doll in this shot is another old one. I think it came from the 1960's or possibly earlier. I am not altogether sure.

More wooden blocks my grandfather made, this time in a cart with cotton reel wheels - which I assume he also made. The little red and black plastic things are toy soldiers. Alas, a tomboy was I! Wooden furniture and other blocks in a bag also made by my carpenter grandpa completes the picture.

PROJECTS.... 15

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 11

The yellow things are chairs for a dolls house. The pink stuff is either thread of sewing silk. My grandmother was very artsy and did a lot of sewing, embroidery, etc. It was probably one of her old threads. I am not sure what the stuff behind is.....

Then we have a dolls house sofa, once again made by a parent or grandparent for my collection. Two very old envelopes filled with sewing patterns follow - these might be worth a bit as the patterns are obviously old. My grandmother died when I was 4, so that would date them as prior to the 1970's....

A pile of old pennies and ha'pennies which I have since sent to my 21 YO son in Australia, as he collects coins. The basket again - and a [pile of knitting and needles - probably these were my grandmothers too. The curled up 'thing' is a piece of orange peel - my mother swore by it to keep moths at bay.

More dolls, sigh. A Sweet April in case but without original clothing or feeding bottle. A Spanish lady. The blue dressed doll was fro Windsor Castle and I think was Catherine Howard, but it might have been one of the other wives of that Henry fellow....

An official old comic paper and a homemade comic complete this photo's loft-rescue contents. One of my pastimes was to write my own comic papers...

 

The old wooden box with a once-was-pink lid was made by my grandfather. It is filled with cubes of wood - homemade bricks to play with! Two ceramic jug-like-things that came from my grandparents home if I recall correctly. A plastic magnifying glass and old stamps.... IT is crazy the junk I once had - and my parents KEPT!

A photo of me in elementary school and a photo of my mother and the grandparents I keep mentioning along with one of my grandmothers embroidery patterns completes this photo.

PROJECTS.... 14

PROJECT G: THE CARPET 2

 

All done - much better without the coffee stains!

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 10

Here we have a rather battered and 'well-used' beach bucket. Next are 2 sets of drawers for a dolls house made from matchboxes, paper clips and paper. A giant container of marbles follows. I would spend hour upon hour playing with my alleys as a kid. I ran them around anything with a rim, such as the toilet seat I showed in a previous post. I would join them in groups like school classes and separate them to different areas of a table with a rim with box boundaries as the marbles went to school classes.....

A better shot of the milk order cow board that has previously been mentioned follows if you travel your eyes left to right. Then, a woven basket of wooly stuff. I recall this being my grandma's basket, or at least being at her house, but not much more in the way of memories. I have no idea what that yellow rag is.....

This next shot shows a tin of bits and pieces - including plastic beads. Next to it is a kitty-ring - which is a sort of 1960's version of the pacifier-dummy of today. The little yellow chewable ring had a squeaky kitten on the end to press, as I got old enough to use fingers as well as mouth. Cringe, cringe... yes, I admit, I was a member of the Famous Five Club as a kid.... lol

A toy ladybug that wound up and ran on the floor and a pair of broken Welsh dolls follow. For a poor working class family, I certainly seem to have accumulated a lot of junk...

The naked doll was one of my friend Gillian's toys that I went on about so much I think she gave it to me - or we traded - or something. A better shot of the woven basket ends this stretch of 'goodies'.