On the 12th day of Christmas my beautiful friend gave to me...............

if you have been following these 12 days of Christmas, you will have seen the beautiful carved dining chair with the Pheasant seat cover and cushion.....well here is the Dining room sideboard tray, and place mat to match.....all I need now is to source some classic wallpaper to do these lovely items justice.......

my camera has not quite captured the beautiful colour of the male pheasant ...he is magnificent.

the mat will be used to stop the crockery on the sideboard from leaving scratch marks....

thank you for the last 12 days Gill.........it has been a wonderful and very rewarding experience, I am so fortunate to have found a friend like you to share with xxxxx

Happy Blogging

hugs Virginia xx 

On the eleventh day of Christmas my delightful friend gave to me.............

It`s MONDAY again...............

its baking day and of course that means its Monday.......

the tiny mixing bowl with the pastry already to work into pie crusts

a very smart wooden rolling pin

I think these are going to be biscuits....cookies

just wonderful............

a little post script...........I have a wooden rolling pin, I have had it about 30 years now.........it was given to me by a dear and sweet elderly lady who lived close by, she would come over once a week and leave a bag of fresh oranges for our daughter when our daughter was small.....and one day she brought a rolling pin and a well used bread board, used to slice uncut loaves, saving kitchen work surfaces from scratches and cut marks, saying she no longer baked but would I like them as she knew I baked a lot.....after I thanked her very much, she told me that both the rolling pin and the bread board had belonged to her Mother, and she herself had been using them since her Mother passed away over 40 years earlier.......I then discovered these everyday items were each over 100 years old, her Mother had been using them for the whole of her married life and had been married 58 years........and have you guessed???? YES!!! I am still using them today!!!!!!!!!! so they are approx 130 years old and still doing their job ever so well.......

Look in tomorrow for the last of our Christmas swap....

Happy Blogging

hugs Virginia xx

On the 10th day of Christmas my thoughtful friend gave to me.............

Oh My!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have wanted one of these for so long, I have tried sourcing the findings to make one to no avail, I cannot believe this is mine!!!!!!

if this one thing was THE ONLY gift I had received this swap my Christmas would have been awesome!!!!!!!!!!! 

Gill I really, really, really love this, I was only talking today with my dear friend Sue about one of these!!!!!

O.K. I hear you....here are the photos.......

a wonderful Chatelaine

my miniature chatelaine.....with a crucifix, a set of house keepers keys, a pair of scissors and a note book and pen, there are real paper pages to the note book too..........

Happy Blogging

I could not be happier

hugs Virginia xx 

On the 9th day of Christmas my talented friend sent to me..............

A wonderful and clever handmade inkwell............the quill is made from a real feather, delicately trimmed to size and shape, beautiful......

you can see the "gold" tip to my quill pen in this close up...........

a couple of shots to give you a better look.....

 

how tiny is this........

 

I love my quill and ink well Gill xxx

 well we are almost at the end of our 12 day swap.........and aIthough I am still eager to see the last 3 items I am a little sad it is coming to an end...............STILL ROLL ON NEXT YEAR, maybe you would like to join us..........if we could get enough and an even number it might be an idea to extend our swap to others...............what do you think Gill......?

Happy Blogging
hugs Virginia xx 

On the 8th day of Christmas my awesome friend gave to me..............

not going to put the wrappers on today, got to get straight to the gifts.......

a wonderful hand made shopping basket with a tray of eggs, free range, and two lovely posters for my kitchen.....

here are some close ups of my new gifts

you can see they truly are free range eggs.....

 the tiny egg box has a chicken on the side......lovely detail...

just like the real thing!

and the second poster......

 

 thank you Gill, this has been the best of Christmas`s with all my new treasures xxxx

wishing you all a very Happy New Year xx

On the 7th day of Christmas my special friend gave to me.............

Well if you have been following you will know that I received a scrumptious crusty loaf from my friend Gill...........and what did I wish for...........a jar of Auntie Dot`s home made lemon curd...........well just look what I got today, the dolls house faeries must have been listening and granted my wish!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as usual there was double wrapping but in my excitement I opened the entire thing before taking my photos so hence the second photo shows my second layer already opened...

with lovely lemon paper too!!

a sweet little metal carry case for a jar of strawberry jam and a jar of lemon curd......

each with its own teeny traditional cap....

yummy yummy for my tummy......my favourite preserve

so sweet.........and every pun intended!!!!!

Now to get that loaf and pretend I am 4 years old and its MONDAY!!.........mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Happy New Year 2014 everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

hugs Virginia xxx  

On the 6th day of Christmas my lovely friend gave to me........

well just look for yourself.......

 as ever wrapped twice......do you think Gill may suspect that I would be tempted to peek!!!!!!!!!.............me peek.....NEVER!


Gill I absolutley love this sweet plate rack.....there are tiny hooks for the tea cups along the bottom rail, and it will be perfect for my, as yet not started, "Lavender Cottage"........a sweet little home that will have everything in either white, lilac or lavender, the perfect property for a flower kit of a Lilac bush that I purchased a while ago..........you have just witnessed the birth of a project !!!!!

 and I love the tiny floral detail it is beautiful.....

a closer look at the tiny cup hooks

This is completely hand made and I adore it, as I have said previously, items made by a person has a bit of them included which makes the item all the more special........thank you so very much Gill

Well we are now half way through the 12 days of Christmas which means there are 6 more wonderful surprises to go..........such a wonderful selection I cannot possible start to guess what will come next............if you want to see as much as I do then come back tomorrow...

Don`t forget to go and see Gill`s parcel openings on her blog, Teeny Tiny Things......I know whats coming up for her and I am so  excited for her!!!!

Happy Blogging, hugs Virginia xx

On the 5th day of Christmas my generous friend gave to me...........

before I reveal the photographs I have to tell you this fact about my childhood.......

I grew up in a small hamlet where almost every one who lived there, was related to every one else.....a hamlet of coal miners and their familes, Sunday was of course Church day, and Tuesday was Ironing day, but in between there was Monday and Monday was Wash day, and because the fires were well stoked to get hot water it meant the ovens were also very hot....hence the opportunity to BAKE!!!! there were scones and flat cake (similar to Eccles cake), there was cut and come again cake, there were tiny fairy cakes and rock buns, there was apple pies and cherry pies when they were in Season, there were meat pies (leftovers from the Sunday roast) and there were jam tarts!...........and then there was my favourite.....crusty, warm, melt in the mouth, BREAD!!! nothing like it with freshly patted butter that just melted into the warm, soft, doughy white centre of the loaf......and I could get a piece smothered in butter and home made jam from every Aunty`s house from mid morning, on a Monday, until early evening mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I can smell and taste it right now!!!!! When I started school at the age of 4, I always looked forward to the school holidays and especially MONDAYS!!

Enough said but you will realize just why I love this tiny miniature from Gill.....

as ever the anticipation.......

 Gill always wraps twice!!!!

 fresh baked crusty bread, yummy yummy for my tummy.....how I wish I was 6" high with a pat of butter and a jar of Auntie Dot`s homemade lemon curd...

I will have to watch little fingers in the kitchen with that sharp knife............

REALLY couldn`t you just go a slice of that bread??????????

Thank you Gill, I love it.

Don`t forget......go see Gill`s gift for today

Happy Bloggin hugs Virginia xx

On the 4th day of Christmas my good friend gave to me..............

I have never had presents to open this far into the celebrations before and I have to admit, I feel like a little girl again, so excited!!!!

 My first hat box, and how pretty it is, can you believe I actually do not own any hat boxes even though I have several ladies who love hats!!! in fact the Lady of the house in my Victorian Mansion is very partial to hats so this can be the start of her collection..........

But what is this....................????????

there is something inside...........????????

 can you see???????  Oh my!!!!

it is the dearest little pink Summer bonnett, so the Lady of the house will have to make way to her youngest daughter who will just squeal with delight when she sees this beautiful Summery bonnett just the right size, colour and style to be worn at the Village picnics on the Green, or even the famous village cricket match held every year in mid July!!!! 

Sorry I digress into my little world with excitement..

I hope you can see the detail, the hat is made from straw and detailed with roses of various shades of pink, with the softest pink ribbon.....

a much better view than the end of my finger, Gill can you tell this has just made my day....the hat box thrilled, but this tiny little bonnett is such an added bonus...thank you my good friend xxxx

Do not forget to visit Gill and take a peek at what she is going to open today....you can find her in the list of my blogs under Teeny Tiny Things or go to http://teenytinyminiaturethings.blogspot.co.uk

and leave her a message just to let her know how much you like what she has done for me, that`s if you want to??

Happy Blogging

hugs Virginia xx
ooops nearly forgot to say " a very warm welcome to my new followers" thank you for joining me xx

On the 3rd day of Christmas my sweet friend gave to me.................

the excitement of opening another gift parcel

and there are two......thanks Gill

 

A set of 4 lovely decal plates, in one of my favourite colours

And in the second of todays parcels this rather nice mat, that I think will go very nicely in one of my 1:24 scale houses as it will be just the right size to become a bedroom carpet rug.....

So with rug and plates this makes for a very lovely 3rd day swap.....thank you so very much Gill, I am thrilled yet again xx

come back tomorrow to see day number 4....and don`t forget to visit Gill at http://teenytinyminiaturethings.blogspot.co.uk