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Monday, May 18, 2009

Memory Lane......

As you may or may not know, this computer is slowly dieing..... We went and got a new HP this weekend, but Walter hasn't had time to install it yet. Maybe tonight. I am not much help with the installs, but I did go through all of our old floppy discs this morning......It took me THREE hours! Therefore I didn't get much done in the way of minis. Actually I didn't get anything done in the way of minis.

I am cross eyed from looking at photo after photo. Most were not worth saving, but I did run on to some mini photos that I didn't remember keeping.

The big prize that I found was two inventories that I carefully copied from an old book at the U of A library a few years ago. They were both from the late 1500s and English. I was thrilled to find them because they were estate inventories from when the two men passed away. I would like to do Tudor houses that have exactly what the inventories include.

The first man was a weaver that died in 1583. He had £4 1s when he died. He looked to be quite prosperous. They listed everything in his shop and in his home. It was a three page inventory.

The other man died in 1596 and was a joiner(woodworker). He worked out of his home. which appears to be a one room cottage. He had £ 3 19s 5d when he passed away. His was a one page inventory and they even listed "Certain timber and other trash around the house".

The point is, they never missed a thing in these lists. It made me think......How in the world would I even start a list of all of the things in this house???? Nearly impossible and ours is a small house. OK, that's enough about how over self-indulgent we all are now.

I also found a few mini photos that I didn't remember or thought I had lost. Here's a close up of the motorcycle witch that I made for Pat Arnell a few years back. She(the witch) actually made it into one of the mini mags in an article about unusual transportation. She is one of Tessie's cousins and the one that got Tessie into cycling.....
Please note the black widow spider tattooed on the back of her hand. Funny. This bike was actually puce. If I had used a different bike for Pat's witch, I wouldn't have had to paint the one for Tessie!

I found a really good close up of the 1/4" scale quilt shop in the big latte cup.



Here's a hint on quarter inch furniture. Did you know that you can carve on the quarter inch plastic furniture that comes on cards by room. These chairs were really clunky. I took an Exacto to them and narrowed all of the parts down and rounded the corners. They look so much more in scale. You can also cut the furniture apart to make new pieces just like people do with the Chrisenbon kits and the Michael's hutches. It's fun to chop them up and see what you can make.

This is a photo of Buffy and Spike in the Southwestern Room Box.....I absolutely don't remember for what reason, why or when I took this one. There were several. I am now wondering if Tessie escaped from her old glass box and used the old Mavica to take this one. Why would I even think of putting them in this particular room box?

I am just rambling now. I will leave you with one last photo. AfterTessie impolitely told everyone that the party was over at midnight, she sat up and tried working on the rug for the gazebo. Look at the tangles! She really wants that finished because she knows that I still am going to finish the Clockwork Cottage before I go on the the next project. She still thinks that should be her beloved Spiderwort Mansion........How many times now have I told her
"Don't hold your breath, Tessie!"?


I'll see you tomorrow, even if I have to write the entry on the infernal laptop keyboard......

11 comments:

Debbie said...

Tessie really WANTS a new house Casey!
Love the picture of Tessie's cousin on her motorbike.

MiniKat said...

Well here's hoping the installs go well and the new computer is up and running by tomorrow.

I wonder is Tessie realizes that the more she tries helping with rugs, the longer it takes you to actually finish a project?

Sans! said...

Lovely rug and it sure looks finished to me. I enjoy all your old pics, Casey. That witch on bike rocks!

Pubdoll said...

How fantastic with the inventories!
So great to have, and so great you took the time to copy them. Really nice idea to make houses including all those inventories!

I do a bit of genealogy search and would have been so over the moon happy if I had found something like this belonging to some of my ancestors! I have several records of what we call "skifte", literally "change", a list of what there is to be inherited when people passed away, but that was mostly listings of houses, cattle, debts and money.

tarkus said...

Buffy and Spike kind of look like they are in Giles' apartment from before he moved back to England! Tessie's making sense to me taking a picture like that.

It is nice to know I'm not the only weirdo with Buffy/Angel action figures living in my houses!

Caseymini said...

Helene, I don't know how it is in Norway, but here you can go in and use the university library. It varies, but at the U of A library you have to pay a yearly fee to check out the books. I used to be free, but went up as the years went by. Ours is now up to about 100.00 a year. I don't want to spend that much. We can still go in and use the library without paying, so if I want to do research I just plan on spending some time there. I found the inventories in an architecture book from Exeter, England. They had even more, but I chose two that had information on people that I thought would be interesting to do. The point is, you can find various inventories if you know where to look. Good luck!

Caseymini said...

Tarkus, what do you mean "weirdo"? We are perfectly normal. It's the rest of the world that is strange. I also have Xander, Willow, Giles and Oz. I have plans(someday) to do the magic shop........

Pubdoll said...

Thanks Casey!
I would never have thought of looking in architectural books for that purpose!
I have already learnt much about my ancestors from books lent in the library, but I think I will have to check out my local library once more:)

Katie said...

...it's fun taking trips down memory lane! Glad you shared it with us. A quilt shop in a tea cup~ that's crazy!! And sooooo detailed! :)

April said...

I think I was involved with putting Buffy and Spike in the Southwest house for pictures. It may have been the Mavica. I think we were testing it out.

Okay, now I have to get started on inventorying everything in the house...

Caseymini said...

Good Luck with the inventory, April. There are some extra empty notebooks at the mom store when you run out....And you will!