The Spinster Sister Aunts-Maggie & Bessie Butternut

Meet Maggie & Bessie, the Butternut spinster sister aunts.

   Although they appear to be quite dour, they truly are 

sweet old dears & favorites of the Butternut

nieces and nephews.

Their dresses have hook & eye closures with

decorative shell buttons.  Their bodies are sewn

on the machine, (saves my hands for the fun stuff!)

 everything else is hand stitched.

(not period sewn)

 Their under sleeves are stitched on. (ouch)

They have brown stockings and shoes with laces.

The large stitches below the neck keeps the stuffing 

in place.  They don't want to become the "bobble 

head" spinsters.

 Aunt Bessie makes the best sorghum molasses cookies

 in all the Ozarks.  She always has a warm plate of the

 delicious goodies when the nieces and nephews come 

to visit.  She's dressed in a reproduction butter yellow

cotton with a small navy print.  Much prettier than

the photo shows.  She's about 18 inches tall.

Her dress has pagoda sleeves and white cotton
under sleeves, drop shoulders & gathered waist,
a common style in the mid 1800's.
Her collar and lace trim are hand crocheted cotton.

  

Plain & simple cotton undergarments.  Nothing too 
frilly for Bessie or Maggie as they are a tad prudish
when it comes to their undies. 

 

Bessie has a stitched face, wool hair braided in a 
small bun & is stuffed with wool roving.

 

Her dress is accented with 4 vintage 

glass navy buttons.

Aunt Maggie's wild blackberry jam has been the blue 

ribbon winner at the Taney county fair for five years

runnin'.  A slice of heaven on home made sourdough 

bread slathered with freshly churned butter.      

Aunt Maggie is dressed is the same style as Bessie.

Her reproduction calico is a gorgeous green with

a tan flower print.  She's about 20 inches tall.

 Aunt Maggie has tan glass button.  Both sets

of buttons are pre WWII, probably not appropriate

for the 1850's but they sure are pretty!

 Both ladies are mildly aged to show love but care.

I'm still working on the small doll.  Struggling 
with a wool cape, that may get abandoned.
Tiny doll, thick wool.  I'm also working on a
simple doll stuffed with cedar shavings.
 I will add the Butternut Spinster Aunts to my
for sale page.
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Hope you had a wonderful Turkey Day.
Thank you ladies for welcoming Cinders to blog
 world.  Very kind of you.

Happy Sewing!

Thanksgiving Greetings & My Friend Cinder's New Blog

My friend Cinder has started a blog.
Cinder makes new and refurbished vintage
quilts, willow and deer antler
baskets, several types of wool rugs & other
creative things. 

Please stop by and welcome her!
Bittersweet Needle and Thread
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Father Tuck's Fairy Land Panoramic Series & Dolly Bonnet

We've been very busy this past week getting ready
 for old man winter's arrival.  Snow is in the forecast
for today!  All I managed to get done was the little
 dolly's bonnet.

I thought you'd enjoy a look at this set of 6
 push out postcards.  They were sold in 1930,
 from original paintings by A. L. Bowley.

Aren't they sweet?

Dolly Clothes & Dollhouse Furniture Repair

I've made some progress on the little country doll's

clothing.  White muslin for a petticoat, apron and day

bonnet.  Linen pantaloons and a soft flannel petticoat too,
all trimmed in tiny vintage lace.

Still lots of sewing left before her wardrobe is done.

I took some time this week to repair some dollhouse

furniture that's been in the box since the 70's!  When I
 removed the pieces from the box, the glue was so brittle,
several pieces literally fell apart.  Plus, I broke one of the
beds removing the giant staple that attached it to the box.   

This furniture was made in the German Democratic

Republic or East Germany.  It's hand painted and has

 tiny wooden bead board trim.  I love the Bavarian folk

art look.  It's destined to go in a simple 2 room alpine 

style cottage dollhouse, that is yet to be painted, but

that's a "gunnado" project for this winter.

Kleinhartmannsdorf is a village in Saxony, Germany

about 118 miles south of Berlin.  Kuche translates

as kitchen.

It wasn't hard to repair.  I see why the hubby has so many

clamps in different sizes hanging on the shop walls!

The beds have a cardboard type bottom, but the hubby

will replace those with wood.

 The scale is a bit larger than the 1 inch to 1 foot scale

that's standard. (I think it's 1/10 scale).  Dollhouse

 furniture made in Germany came in several scales, from 

teeny tiny, 1/48 scale to doll size, 1/6 scale.

 

 The bedding is red and white checked, common

with German companies such as Dora Kuhn and Bodo 

Hennig during the 1900's & still popular today.  

Odd that the towel rack and part of the utensil

holder is not stained and varnished.  Maybe there

was a shortage of supplies in East Germany. 

Good as new.

Hope you had a good week!

Refurbished Italian Creche

It's way too early to think about Christmas, but

 I took advantage of the nice fall weather to refurbish the

Creche to one of the nativity sets.  It's really looking natty.

Last year after Christmas, I came across this beautiful book 

written by Keith Christopher & illustrated by Christine 

Kernacki.  It gave me the idea that I would give one of the

nativity sets to my great niece Ava for Christmas this year.

  Okay, she's only two, but I know my niece Emily would love to

 have one for her family (she's very traditional & loves anything

that's been in the family), besides, little Ava will get oodles of 

toys and someday, I think she will appreciate having it.  

This book is very simply written.  It's short 

and will hold a little one's attention.

The creche is structurally sound for it's age, around

50 years old, but it's lookin' rather shabby.

I brushed all the old moss and straw away.

I had some sphagnum moss from a prior project, glue 

and a small bale of straw from the fall decorations.

This glue is very sticky and extra thick stuff. 

 I used it to adhere the moss, covering all of the 

old glue spots.

I used Tacky glue diluted with water 

and brushed it on to attach the straw.

 

 

After it was thoroughly dry,

I took it to the hubs shop and blew off  

everything that was loose with the air hose. 

This nativity set is made out of some sort of 

composition clay.  Weighty, sturdy and in near mint

condition.  One good thing about nativity sets, they 

aren't really toys and are only displayed once a year.

I actually went to E-bay this morning and was

amazed at how many beautiful "vintage" nativity sets I

 saw.  Many in wonderful condition and not too expensive.

I love the word vintage, it makes something "used"

sound so special!

 The little sheep to this set are plastic.

I don't think chickens were at the first nativity,

but Ava loves chickens, so I bought these plastic

German ones by Schleick.  I think I'll look for some

 baby chicks and a baby goat too.  I love goats.

I also bought a storage container to wrap it all 

in.  I think it turned out very nicely & ought to 

be good for another half century!

I'm working on a doll too.  Just got her wool

plaited hair done & starting some clothing.

 

Happy fall!