The Halloween party at Pumpkin Hill!

So we invited our friends for the Halloween party- the first in the dollhouse in years since it's been restored! What a blast! Lots of candy- and mice who were regular's at Minuette's sweet shop came in costume as well....

Minuette's friend, Jack Mouse, came with his candy corn and everything....April Mae decided to come as a skeleton. Fitz & Floyd made Jack's costume...

I myself, decided not to go as a bee- and a good thing! My buddy Chelsea came as a bee in the same costume I had tried on! and my other friends Kelly and Kelley came as a witch and a bat! I decided at the last minute on my bunny costume. The bee costume was scratchy and tight...Marigold perched on the new TV between my rabbit ears....lol....

 Happy Halloween from all us down here at the Pumpkin Patch on Pumpkin Hill!
~Dixie, way down South in Virginia

Happy Halloween from the Pumpkin Patch!

Happy Halloween everyone- from the 'Patch down here at Pumpkin Hill...This is such a favorite picture of mine. Our own pumpkin house is coming along...slowly.

We are almost ready but not quite. Windows are coming along on our dollhouse restoration. But I have news- MORE dolls are arriving...one is coming today. His name is Wallace and he is a dollfactory polar bear from the Wylde Bunch ....my buddy Miranda Facebooked me...I'm getting real savvy with this Facebook thing for a doll.

So Wallace will according to dolly tracking, be arriving today. From what I gather from Lisa, he is looking for a new venture here at the pumpkin patch, and will be taking over as the professor/teacher at the local one room schoolhouse Lisa is setting up . Evidently us dolls don't have enough to keep us busy, so we need to go to school. I'm not sure if I'm going to like this very much. But our Rement desks are here, and Lisa is busily looking for additional items. If more dolls keep arriving, then I don't think the one room schoolhouse will be BIG enough....

But there is another doll that has been on the 'list' that is arriving as well....(evidently there is a list of 'wanted' dolls Lisa has- she won't show it to me cause she knows it would probably disappear-!) but a doll named Miss Hitty, made out of wood. Lisa has long wanted a Miss Hitty- I think it's because all of her FRIENDS have miss Hittys, but you could do the same rationalization with us tinies on that line of thinking.......after all, there are alot of us!

She won Miss Hitty on Saturday night. Here is a picture of her

'

Evidently Miss Hitty isn't even finished! Not only do we have a ANOTHER doll coming here to the Patch to live, but she needs to be finished! And she's made out of wood! whoever heard of a wooden dolly--?? but oops, there I go again- the Woodenhouse family will probably welcome her as they are made out of wood and look like Queen Victoria's dolls........as moderator of the blogs, I have to be open minded about alot of these made to look old dolls...
But on a happier note- Halloween is here and Miss Lisa and Mr. Chris took me driving yesterday up to Spotsylvania- the historic part. It was a beautiful fall day and it was lovely with the leaves turning, and all. We even stopped at a one room schoolhouse- Lisa's passion is taking photos of these places.This was the Stubbs schoolhouse and it is now fully restored and preserved. I think it was built a very long time ago- as it had a well and an outhouse and a wood stove.

There are a couple of one room schoolhouses near our place here at the 'Patch, but they are no longer used as schoolhouses, just storage places, or closed up and stripped of the old schooldesks, or worse. So it was nice to see one so beautifully restored and cared for, since it is a part of our history. Miss Lisa's grandmother went to a one room schoolhouse and often told stories about it, which is why I guess she is so insistent that we dolls go to school, and is bringing Professor Wallace here. I was glad to go along that day in my basket and see the schoolhouse now...

Here's hoping everyone has a lovely Halloween!
~Dixie, way down South in Virginia

Progress on the dollhouse Restoration....

The dollhouse restoration really came a long way today- the top two bay windows were painted and adhered to the two windows on the 2nd floor. Now I just have the middle window to finish and install. Lots has been going on today- it was a rainy, cold, wet and dismal day- no better time to work on the dollhouse than a day like that! Dixie was in her room blogging, Minuette was in the kitchen washing the dishes- yet again- she loves her kitchen. April Mae was trying on costumes for Halloween- she was hesitating between a princess dress and skeleton costume- which she finally squeezed into. Maizie was on the floor in the parlor reading spooky books and looking thru old halloween bags stash for decorations...and I have prepared the tinies for yet another tiny anthro- a polar bear who is making his way to us from ....drum roll, the Wylde Bunch at the Treehouse from Miranda Wandering ! Wallace has a mind to probably open an ice cream shop, so we will have to see. Where Wallace will reside is a tricky situation, but Dixie seems open to it.
Also new in the Pumpkin Patch- if you haven't seen the badge to the right- Dixie has a Facebook page all her own- where updates on the blog and new dolls, new friends will be posted about. Imagine- a doll, having other doll friends on Facebook. Well, if you're a doll, be sure to friend Dixie Hill on facebook- she would love that. She already has over 12 friends so far!
Wallace will be arriving next week, and we are hoping too- that Miss Hitty will arrive as well. Miss Lisa's Sybarite Slipper has arrived, and so have her new shoes and new wigs...

these two wigs are from Facets by Marcia, and are a synthetic mohair...the white one looks so Marie Antoinette, and the ringlet one reminded me of Keira Knightly in the movie 'The Duchess' about Georgiana Devonshire. I have been toying with the idea of making a loose gown like a gaulle that the dresses of the Petite Trianon were based one, with a high waisted sash, in white. The shoes - the court pumps and court mules fit her wonderfully. I love looking at this doll and she models so beautifully on the large scale Bespaq. Perfect, perfect.
I will have more on the dolls and Halloween later....I have been playing catch up with my photos, and have had to draw back some from the ATC trades I was doing, as I just couldn't keep up. I am hopefully going to be finishing the pumpkin house for Halloween display, and Marigold Finch and Wren can possibly get some mail delivered soon as well.

New stuff happening at Pumpkin Hill- Dixie's on Facebook!

New things are happening at the 'Patch on Pumpkin Hill...one, our kitchen fridge, stove and sink arrived! You should have seen Minuette's face! (she loves to cook and was having to cook all our meals at the sweet shop, which everyone was getting tired of candy and brownies and pie...well, not really...)

Minuette was quite happy, but there are some kinks with it- the furniture, I mean...

I, Maizie and Minuette are a little 'short' but the furniture fits April Mae just right...no, Goldilocks doesn't live here, but April Mae was a little smug. overgrown princess.
But we also got into the 21st centure and our big screen TV arrived as well!

April Mae & Maizie wanted to try it out NOW, but I pointed out that we didn't have a TV Table, or anywhere to plug it in just yet. Miss Lisa said our other windows arrived, so the house is coming along..
and now drum roll............
I'm also on Facebook ! I hooked up with my pal in Denver , Colorado Miranda Wandering and Lisa set up my email and everything! So now I'm official...you can friend me on Facebook and also follow all of our updates from my facebook page for the other dolls as well. I did such a great job of making some of the new dolls feel at home that I've been given the job of reporting on the 'Patch and its inhabitants...hmm..sounds  like work to me..
All for now!
~Dixie way down South in Virginia

Pumpkin Houses...

Hi there. Well the title seems appropriate for a blog called Pumpkin Hill, doesn't it? A little history about pumpkins, seems people have thought of making houses out of them for ages and ages...and I'm a pretty old Brownie.
Anyhow, I was wondering how long it would take Miss Lisa to get out her tools and carve- er, build a pumpkin house. Wren decided she liked 'round' houses but I didn't see how she would fit thru the tiny doors Miss Lisa was using....
She got the idea from this page on Facebook called Flying Fairy Pumpkin house., from the
Urban-Fairies-Fairy-Doors-of-Ann-Arbor facebook page- it is really cool. Miss Lisa got to cutting into this foam pumpkin she had picked up at Michael's with a coupon and decided this would be a 'test' pumpkin...

So far, so good. She stained the doors and windows a dark stain, and planns to use tealights inside of the pumpkin...I know Wren will be disappointed but those doors are small! And it's kind of pokey inside. It really does look like the two eyes and a mouth on the pumpkin.

So my good friend Miranda, from her blog, Miranda Wandering, has a brother Sebastian, who's opening a potion shop. When Miss Lisa wasn't looking, I flew into the spare room in the tub where she kept her miniature magical books she used to make.

Lisa Interrupts here...

Me: Hold on...you did what?

Dixie: Never mind, they love them and want them and they are already mailed.(shakes her hand at me sternly. Upset Brownie....)

Me: Sent what to who and why do they like..???

Dixie: Miranda's brother needs some miniature magical books. You have some and they are just SITTING in that storage bucket losing all their mini magical goodness..I did you a favor. Miss Wendy is happy..

Me:...Oh, so that was what I was just packing outside.

Dixie...hmph, you need to pay attention...

Dixie: Anyways, sorry for the interruption. Lisa can be rather a pain when she thinks things are messed up in the storage containers.

Here are some pics of the books Lisa used to make, and has sent to Sebastion and Miranda..

I couldn't believe Miss Lisa used to make books for fairies, and pirates it appears. But these were just too nice to sit around moldering away...so now they will have a new home at the Treehouse.

All for now-

from Dixie way down South in Virginia

And now to sleep...

One of the hardest things on re-doing the dollhouse is not the papers, trims, windows, etc. -- it is deciding on furnishings. Another problem- deciding on how many tinies will actually LIVE in the dollhouse. Real estate at the 'Patch is scarce and quite expensive right now....Last night I visited Bell's Exclusives, one of the oldest dollhouse shops in Richmond- Mr & Mrs Bell have been in business since I was a small child of 10 or 12. (er, that's 30+ years....) I purchased the two beds and a small table for Kit's attic bedroom. Kit's bedroom is a project within itself since I am trying to replicate her room in 1:12 scale fromt he catalogs. Biggest thing I am looking for is her bed, which I will probably have to paint green.
I will probably order the kitchen sink, stove, and fridge, along with the windows for the house. I have a nice set of bathroom furniture for the room at the left of the Kit attic bedroom...but have wondered if maybe I shouldn't make that into a small bedroom for Wren (realpuki soso) and Marigold Finch. I will probably redo the linens on the beds as they do not really go with the wallpapers, but are big enough for the tinies. So looks like Dixie may be sharing with Maizie. April Mae is not too happy at sharing a room with Minuette, who is quite independent and I;ve been told she snores loudly for such a small mouse. Enjoy the pics!

Dollhouse restoration- windows

Quick note here from Lisa- with a couple of pictures on the windows of the dollhouse in process of being restored. One of the windows is painted and done, and installed. The windows and doors are so out of scale onmy old dollhouse that I had to be ingenuous with using 1:12 scale components. HOpefully in this really busy week I will be able to order two more of these windows, am finishing painting the other one that will be installed on the opposite side where the kitchen is. The door has been done for a while now, big thing after the windows are finished are the interior window and floor trims to be installed as well. That's Maizie hanging out in front of the door, I thought it would be neat to use this door with clear glass to see the details inside. So far, so good...onto finishing this project!More pics in my flicker album under 'Dollhouse Restoration' set.

Part 2 of Tinies Moving in...

 I told alot yesterday about our chaos of

moving into the dollhouse. Well, turns out we didn't move everything, so we had to go back to our rental house from the Woodenhouse family for more tubs of stuff! The Woodenhouse family has been very understanding, and storing our stuff, er junk, in their attic rooms. Minuette and April Mae are such pack rats!

So we piled into the van and stuffed ourselves, the tubs, and Duke between Maizie & I in the front seat. Our van is a used one, (for some reason if you push a button on the dash a voice says, 'are we there yet?') but otherwise, it is serviceable. It was a long drive, Minuette and April Mae amused themselves by waving at everyone out the back windows.

Maizie makes me extremely nervous by constantly yelling 'Don't hit that tree! or Kid, on the sidewalk!'. I am going to have an extra cup of Java in my C&M Coffee cup that my buddy Miranda sent me to calm my nerves, and maybe some cookies too...It didn't help when Minuette and April Mae began singing '99 bottles of beer on the wall' and we made it to the number 40!  before we arrived.

Hopefully the new windows, what are painted and done, will be installed. We are still picking out furniture and figuring out how many beds we will need. Miss Lisa is hedging, and when she hedges, that means another ! Tiny might be moving in and need a place to crash! I will probably have to share with Maizie, as the mini American Girl dolls are taking one of the attic rooms. sigh..I'm beginning to think I need a house of my own, instead of driving nervous nellie tinies about with tubs of STUFF. hmph....I'm feeling grumpy today.

After we had arrived, and everything settled down, I went with my pal Emily out back and watched the sun going down.It is really pretty back there with what is known as soy growing in the field.. Sometimes they grow corn too out here in the country. It varies year to year and at fall, with the leaves beginning to turn, it's really pretty. Emily & I sat on the fence post and watched the sun set.

After watching the sun set for a little bit, we decided to climb the old pear tree, and it was fun! And so relaxing. ...the other tinies grumbled I didn't help unpack- but what's to unpack? Just more STUFF...and we don't have much furniture yet. Sometimes you gotta smell the roses, or like me, climb the trees....

Now if you haven't gone to my buddy Mirand's Blog , then you need to. She's just inherited a whole new house...kinda needs fixing up like our house. Ok, not as much as our house...but more on our house restoring later....

Have fun! ~ Dixie from way down South in Virginia...