PROJECTS.... 19

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 15

Peter and Danny were the two bears to the left. I forget what I called the white fluffy toy or yellow rabbit. The rabbit was purchased in France. The little pale yellow chick at the back might once have had a name, too. I do not recall the names of the fat bear or large 'pyjama case' dog. I think the straw hat belonged on one of the dolls.

Yes, even more soft toys were crammed into that trunk! Among these goodies I recall my panda with jangly bell encrusted ears. I recall some more of these toys too, but alas, their names escape me. Oh no, ANOTHER of those homemade rabbit toys from my mother - this one in fluro?

Yes, almost at the bottom of the trunk - just a few puzzle and game books left!

Well, now I have to repack all those toys that I will keep til I sell, trash-bag up the rest of the mess - and tidy up what was once a bedroom! This brings us to the close of the loft project - everything covered and about to be sold.

PROJECTS.... 18

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 14

As promised, the contents of the trunk are revealed.... Yes, I am afraid it is even more dolls! Allow me to unpack these soft toys for you to view....

 

A tall rubber cat toy and an ancient cloth dog - the latter of which I recall used to occupy me at my grandparents house. A pink teddy bear, cloth dog, plush owl and....another bloody doll! This humungous creation was made by my mother for me one Christmas and I called it Sally. My mother was worried that it had thin hair, but I added it to my collection of dolls and bears to rescue from the waves when I played at being a lifesaver and fire when I pretended to be Gerry from the Skippy TV show....Both water and fire were created by a satin sheet!

Left to right, we start with a strange blue toy I do not recall. I think it is some type of homemade teddy bear. My old wig is in front! I recall wearing it to class one April fools day.... The next bear along I think I called Sandy.

Next is a green thing - supposedly a rabbit - my mother made. I think when she made Humphrey for me to unpack when on vacation in France, she made another one.... A very old - & alas motheaten - doll follows. I think this would have been either my mothers' or one of my two aunts' dolls. It seems to be from the 1920's or 30's... A plush dog finishes this group - but there is more!

PROJECTS.... 17

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 13

Continuing to explore the loft exports, we come across a pile of junk in plastic bags - to be thrown out. Let's face it, a few items may be sellable, but I honestly do not want to keep any of these things and what cannot be sold, will be dumped as it is not in good enough condition to give away.

A box-load of Enid Blyton paperbacks. I read a lot as a kid and filled my bookshelf so well that I had to have 2 in my room.

Well, we are almost to the end of the stuff rescued from the loft.... Here is the last trunk to open and explore.... What could be inside? Check my next post to find out!

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'.

PROJECTS.... 13

PROJECT F: THE LOFT 9

This strange material item is a sorta dress-skirt. I purchased some material and got my mother to create a dress for me - alas her sewing skills and my imagination came up with....erm..... this! The yellow elastic straps go over the shoulders to hold it on. The waist came either just above or below the bra-line, and the skirt itself flew wildly in 70's style. I used to have to tuck it between my legs when ringing church bells....

Another assortment of childhood memories that my parents hung onto - perhaps only to embarrass me with. The toilet seat was used by me as a child to roll marbles around. I used to pretend they were on a ship or in a school and moving between classes....

The chocolate box is full of magnetic letters. The milkman board is broken or I could have sold it perhaps. In olde world England, one put it out on the doorstep to inform the crack-of-dawn milkfloat how many bottles of milk and other dairy products you wanted.

That leaves us with a toy telephone that was once used as a coin collecting box as well as a toy and a TV set. Obviously it is a toy TV - no other TV would have a wallpaper-roll style picture and the same 'Old McDonald' song playing incessantly.... The TV might be worth something, but....