Ella's Thanksgiving in Taos

We visited my mom in Taos for Thanksgiving Thursday

and stayed until Friday afternoon.

Ella explored my mom's sewing room with all of its treasures!

Ella visited the 1930's Portable Singer Sewing Machine.

It is the special attraction of the sewing room.

Ella jumped down into a box of fabric remnants that have been used for quilting.

She said that playing in fabric remnants was a lot softer than playing in large, dried leaves.

A wall near the ironing board held finished quilt blocks. As more blocks are completed, all of the quilted blocks will be organized in order to sew all of the blocks together in a quilt.

A lot of the fabrics were Japanese fabrics. 

One fabric had Kokeshi dolls on it.

My mom has several collections of Kokeshi dolls.

The largest are almost as tall as Ella!

My mom was a weaver for many years. She wove these dolls by weaving the tube bodies on a loom and weaving the faces in circles. Mom sure has different dolls at her house!

Ella also visited the kitchen from the counter. We had pinto beans with corn tortillas and chicken on Thursday. I wasn't interested in a large turkey dinner for two. I wanted my mom's cooking!

There are many of my mom's quilts hanging on the walls! 

This one is in her kitchen.

We returned home on Friday.

We made a few stops on the way out of town.

We stopped by the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church;

also known as the Ranchos de Taos Church.

San Francisco de Asís :: Ranchos de Taos, NM (sfranchos.org)

The San Franciso de Asis Mission church is an early church made from adobe. The surrounding walls have an adobe base. They were more recently covered with textured cement due to annual erosion. 

The back supports for the church are called buttresses. 

As a part of the church, they are made of adobe. They remain prone to erosion

from the melting snow. It is repaired annually in the spring and summer

as needed.

Our next stop out of Taos was the Rio Grande Gorge.

The Rio Grande flows through this canyon like

the Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon.

The main highway south of Taos drops through the canyon

where the Rio Grande is visible.

We stopped at one of the turn-out locations to view the river.

We followed the highway and the river all the way home.

Amaya's Country Cottage

When I was in eighth grade, I made a four-room dollhouse out of science project

boards and leftover wallpaper from our home. When I was in ninth grade, my parents gave me a built but unfinished dollhouse for Christmas. It had three stories with a pyramid on top. I painted it, wall-papered it and shingled it. I then received kits for furniture to continue with dollhouse crafts.

When I moved out of state as an adult, I did not take the dollhouse with me. It was too large to take with me and move into a small apartment. It remained at my dad's house. My dad later gave it away to a family with a little girl who loved it and played with it.

My reaction to my lost dollhouse was to buy another one.

I bought a Country Cottage.

With my experience with high quality woods used in dollhouses,

I wasn't going to buy a dollhouse made from particle board.

I went online to David's Dollhouse in Colorado.

I contemplated the Fairplay Dollhouse.

It looked the most like the one that had been given away.

However, I lived in a small apartment and didn't have the room for such a tall dollhouse.

This can also be a lot of work!

 

I bought the smaller Country Cottage.

It arrived on December 3, 2014.

I opened it during Winter Break.

(Ummm....what?)

I assembled a lot of it during Winter Break.

I resumed work by summer vacation in 2015.

I decided that the Country Cottage

would be a 1920's Farmhouse.

Amaya's Bedroom

Amaya almost always wears her overalls,

cowboy hat and boots. It works for someone who lives

in a 1920's farmhouse.

Amaya's Bathroom

Amaya's Kitchen

The stove/oven in this kitchen is a Roper stove/oven.

I had one in the earlier house from my teenage years. I confirmed that the old house and all of its furniture was still in use. I then bought another Roper stove for my 1920's kitchen.

Amaya's Dining Room/Living Room

Although the dollhouse has been completed since 2015,

I am now wondering about adding pictures on the wall that would

work well for the existing design.

**********

Books by Wendy

The dollhouse kit was cut and assembled by David and Wendy of 

David's Dollhouse. It is my understanding that he no longer focuses on the kits he once produced.

David and Wendy still work in dollhouses.

Wendy especially focuses on dollhouse miniatures.

David's Dollhouse (davidsdollhouse.com)

Autumn's Reintroduction

 Autumn is a Faiyland PukiFee. She came from an online friend. 

She arrived on September 5, 2015.

She kept the blue eyes she had when she arrived, 

and I had sewn a few simple outfits to begin her play time. 

 

I ordered a red wig for her. 

I decided that it was longer than I preferred so I trimmed her wig into bob.

Unlike Ella and Amaya, she has never been replaced or sent out for a new face up or any repairs.

What Autumn is known for is her love of the fall season!

Her small 6-inch size has made her easy to take out for field trips.

One of her favorite costumes for fall is

an elf costume from Denver Doll Emporium.

She does go out other times of the year.

She went to the Santa Fe Renaissance Faire

at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas on September 19, 2015 

My LittleFee Adventures: Santa Fe Renaissance Fair (nmlittlefeeante.blogspot.com)

She does not have as many clothes by Jenifer Burns

as Ella and Amaya. This is one style from Jenifer

that they all have their own versions of.

This is one of Autumn's favorite outfits for spring.

And this is my Fairyland family with Ella,

Autumn, and Amaya!