And a good time was had by all!!

The Montreal Miniature Show rocks!! I had such a good time! My pocket book - not so much. Oh well, if there had to be a casualty I'm glad it was my wallet and not my adrenaline rush!!

I was at the door, waiting for the show to open, first thing Saturday morning. I met up with my friend Louise and her two sisters, Joan and Joyce. Together we decided we would spend the morning on the sales floor and then go to the exhibit room later. As we entered the room, the first thing we did was head for the Grandpa's Dollhouse booth to share big hugs with Liz and Wayne Dieleman. It was great to see them again. Their daughter, Brittany, was also helping out at the booth so it was nice to meet her as well. I got a quick picture of Louise and Joyce in front with Liz and Wayne standing behind. It may look like Louise and Joyce were caught by surprise but, believe it or not, they were actually prepared. Sorry guys - I should have taken a 2nd shot! But - we love you anyway!



After a brief catch up with Liz and Wayne, I discovered friends from Camp Mini Ha Ha, Adrian and Elizabeth, also had a table at the show so, of course, hugs and catch up started all over again. Then, I started shopping.

First, let me share my strategy. I had decided before I left home that, as much as I knew I would be tempted by so many things, I would restrict myself to purchasing only things that I could use in already started projects, or ones I know I will get to in the short term. Yes, there were so many beautiful, incredibly well-crafted pieces but - there will be more there next year, and the year after, and the year after.....Bottom line - FOCUS! I needed to remember to keep my focus. In this regard, Louise was no help whatsoever! Every time I met up with her at another table she would point me toward something that was close to irresistible. I am now calling her "my enabler". But - for the most part, I resisted the temptations she kept pointing out to me. So - what did I buy?

For my greenhouse I bought a potting bench, some flower pots, two hand-made orchids and a little birdhouse that will go on the potting shed that will be attached to the greenhouse.


I bought a kit for a white wicker chair that I will use in a project I will tell you about in the near future. I always wanted to try my hand at making wicker so I figured this would be a place to start. I also bought a spool of white waxed linen thread so, if this goes well, I can try another piece of furniture. I also bought a little metal chair that will be good for my quilt shop once I repaint it, and a little swing for my sister's fairy garden.


Okay, about this time, I spotted a man, bent over examining some of the gorgeous handmade pieces of Julie Dewar, and, coming up behind him I said, tentatively, "Giac?" He turned and stood slowly, "Yes..??" "Crazy Lady from New Brunswick!!!" I said. "Oh my God - Crazy Lady from New Brunswick!!!" said Giac, while simultaneously enveloping me in a great bear hug. Giac (from englishmanordollhouse.blogspot.ca)is an incredibly talented miniaturist. He and I have exchanged emails in the past but have never met. I had a wonderful chat with him and his husband - both wonderful, friendly young men with great senses of humour. I hope we'll get a chance to meet again some time - either in Montreal again at the show or, who knows - maybe here in the Maritimes some day! I finally stopped jabbering and allowed these two great new friends to carry on with their shopping, and I with mine.

I did buy 6 sheets of textured brick paper to use on the quilt shops I have cut out. I had started to cut out egg carton bricks for these but, once I realized how many I was going to need, I quickly changed my mind. Maybe some day I will exchange the brick paper for a real brick-like product but, not right now. I didn't bother with a picture of these sheets because, well ...they were sheets of bricks. I'm assuming there's no one out there who can't imagine what those look like.

I also bought a really cute, working, hanging clock that I will use for my eventual pub project and a resin man who will look good in the pub as someone listening to the traditional music session taking place. Can't you just hear those Irish tunes now?? I'm sorry about the really bad picture of the clock. It seems that, no matter how I tried, the flash from the camera made the close up really blurry as it bounced off the glass in the clock.


I bought a lovely set of doors for the end of the greenhouse but - as you can see, I just shoved them into the bag with everything else and, unfortunately, they completely broke apart after I shoved more and more things into the bag I was carrying. I should have been more careful but, they'll be very easy to put back together so I'm not worried - just kicking myself for being so careless. Then I looked through some of the old magazines for sale and bought a Dollhouse Magazine that had some inspiration for the exterior finishes of my planned Wizard Emporium for my granddaughter. The other was a project book from Dollhouse and Miniature Scene that has a large section on making plants and flowers - perfect for the greenhouse project.


That brings us back to "my enabler". I really, really, really didn't need this final purchase but Louise and Liz double-teamed me!!! Honest!! It's tough enough resisting them one at a time, but when they're both telling me I absolutely should buy this -- how could I resist?? (This is what I told my husband, anyway. Please back me up on this!!) Liz had a lovely wooden greenhouse she had picked up from an estate sale. It came with three long greenhouse display tables as well. My evil twin was sitting on my shoulder saying "You have to have this - you have to have this..." Oh, wait -- that wasn't my evil twin - that was Louise. Okay - same thing, I guess. She's like my twin sister from another mother! Of course, I bought it.


After thinking about it through the night I realized that this purchase was not going to impact the direction I was going in with my other greenhouse project because I am envisioning something entirely different for this building. You'll have to wait for a while to find out what it is though because I've promised myself that I won't start any new projects until I finish the several I have either on the go or ready to start in the very near future.

This has been a really long post so I will wait until tomorrow to start showing you the pictures of the exhibit from the Montreal Miniatures Club. They had some incredible works of art! That's just a teaser to tempt you to come back tomorrow to check them out. *smile* TTFN!