We are HOME and happy to be here with darling kitties! I hope you will love this charming MUSICA . . . 

Perfect music for nesting . . . which is what I did yesterday, our first day home; I waltzed around to this song putting everything back in order; kissing the kitties, hanging laundry, eating farm-stand Honey Crisp apples, putting the pumpkins we bought on the porch, hanging the wreath on the door. I dressed my stove in the two vintage dishtowels I found on the trip . . . cute eh?  Look at those embroidered, appliqued apples!  How come that was even THERE?  Why hadn’t someone snapped it up before me?  Lucky!!

I was all over the place trying to figure out how to do this post . . . I have too many different subjects/things from the trip to show you!  But since I started with antiques, I thought I would continue that way . . . especially because we careened into every antique-store driveway we saw and found some really fun things.

“Was it open?” were the most-often spoken words on our trip.

This cute little barn was filled with wonderful old stuff.

But this one had the best prices!  I found a 4′ x 6′ black, flowered, hooked rug here, for $49!  For my pantry.  Oh yes!

Some things struck me as perfect for Christmas presents . . . like this large embroidered towel with the title “Mother’s Little Helper” on the back.  For some reason I’m weakest for embroidery, potholders, tablecloths, napkins, dishtowels, fabrics, needlepoints; the soft stuff.

And I found another vintage measuring cup! These are not easy to find!  The shapes are softer than the modern ones,  and they aren’t printed on, they’re embossed!

But this was the big one, and I do mean big.  I walked into a wonderful store called Rustology in Stafford Springs, CT and just fell in love with this old doll house.  It was almost four feet tall, and about six feet wide . . . and three feet deep.

The front of the house is on wheels and you can roll it away to reveal the wonderful rooms inside.

Wouldn’t Jack just LOVE this?  The owner of the antique store said he found it in the attic of a Massachusetts house during an estate sale.  It was originally built as an exact replica of the real house — It must have had a room of it’s own to live in, it’s so big.

What this must have looked like when it was furnished, I can’t imagine!  That flowered piece on the floor is an actual carpet, a tiny petit point; and you can see the old wall paper.  And the doors!  And the doorknobs!

If this was my house, I would make everything for it.  I would paint little paintings, and mold little clay, and stencil the walls.  It would be so much fun finding the perfect pots and pans, making tiny pillows, looking for little dishes.  Decorating it for the holidays!!!  Joe could make beds, I could make sheets.  Our real house could fall apart, but the doll house would be perfect at all times!

It definitely needs help, but it has great bones … and all the wonderful details; trim around doors and baseboards.

The shutters are perfect, and there’s glass in the windows, and through this window you can see two other doors with doorknobs.

The front door . . . Imagine it with tiny lights on it!  The owners of the antique store love the doll house as much as me; they were showing it with so much pride.  I don’t think they are in any hurry to sell it; they’d only had it for two weeks . . .  they were asking $6,500 for it.

 Anyway, I had a lot of fun in there pretending what I would do with it if it were mine.  I considered which room in my house I might put it in, and came to the conclusion that it was too big for any of them.  I also would have wanted it when I was twenty, so I could have done it the same way I did my charm bracelet, making and gathering one piece at a time, from everywhere, so each piece could have a story to go with it.  Magical magical house.  Lucky someone who will end up with it!  But this house requires commitment,  if you move, you have to pack it and take it with you which would he a true heck of a packing job!  Maybe the smart thing would be to get it, give it to a historical society with the caveat that during your own lifetime, no body touches it but YOU.

This house was in the same store . . . . MUCH less expensive — $250 . . . and pretty darn cute, although it needs a lot of work.  It opens like a little closet … how smart, hardly takes up any space at all; I really liked the original shape of this.

And it has lots of charming details too. . .

Inside, you can still see vestiges of the glory that it once was . . . but someone would have to start from the beginning to put it right again.

Sooo, while I’m at it, I thought I’d show you some of the pictures I took of REAL houses as we drove hill and dale around Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Because truly, one of the inspirations that motivated me into moving to New England was the charming houses I saw in books and movies.  I wanted an old house sooooo badly; my life just wasn’t going to be complete until I got one.

Just look at these and you will see why. I would be perfectly ecstatic to have any of them!  Look at that glassed in porch.  Perfect for a tea party!

Obviously these people have another way to get into this very old house besides the front door!  Look at those pumpkins!!!  Wonderful, huh?

Of course, I am a fool for picket fences with colored leaves falling around them.

Sunny cottage, little arched porch, dentil-work up top, and tiny windows.

Very old house, leaves swirling through the air.

Love this soft yellow house in Historic Deerfield, Massachusetts — if you ever get a chance to drive through here, you should do it…. the prettiest houses ever, so full of history, most of the houses are very old, pre-Revolutionary war!

The great thing about these houses is that no two are exactly alike and all so amazingly romantic … I always wonder what kind of thinking was going on that they added so much gingerbread; the wide porches, bay windows, columns, and balconies?  And inside, with all the built-in little nooks and crannies!  Some of the bigger houses have a cozy fireplace in every room!  I think I would have liked those people!

So on we drove, past houses and barns, farm stands, graveyards, and antique stores . . .

The sunsets would light the mountains on fire with color . . .

In one little town, we saw they were having a Book Sale . . . So of course we stopped to see what treasures we could unearth . . .

OH BOY, look what I found!! My first book, Heart of the Home!  Rescue secured!  Book no longer lurking pitifully in cardboard box!  I brought my baby back home.  Pobrecito!

And then, while nesting all day yesterday; I put some Martha’s Vineyard sand in my new measuring cup; then I added a pear-shaped candle I found on the trip, and a couple of shells and some sea glass.  I thought, how perfect for the kitchen table!

And then I set it on top of my book, and it all looked so cute together, I thought,

I already have one of these books, and I already have one of these candle holders; I should make this a give-away for the girls, because they stick by me through thick and thin.  And so that’s what it is!

And then, guess what?  My brand new Collector’s Edition Ornament was waiting for me when I went to get the mail!  Isn’t it cute?  This is the 5th year in a row for our dated collectible ornament (no, in case you’re wondering, we don’t have any left from the other years; we only get a few in of each design, and because they are dated, when they’re gone, they’re gone!) . . . . so, I thought, oh yes, I better throw this in with the book and the candle, right?  They look so good together. ♥

I added a leaf I brought home from the trip . . . . and I’ll sign the book when I know the name of the winner and where its new home will be.  Just leave a comment, and you will be entered in our drawing for all these goodies!  And BTW, if my blog is being emailed to you, you have to come directly to my website (click here: www.162.240.10.175/~susanbs3/susanbranch/) to enter for the drawing . . . just scroll to the bottom of this post where you see the tiny word “comments.”  Click there, and leave a comment and that will automatically enter you!

OK Girls, bye-bye for now … I have more to show you, but realized this would be the longest post EVER if I tried to do the whole trip all at once.  So, there’s more to come!  XOXO Love, me