Queenie has a new hat

Queenie has been with me for 60 years except for the years when we lived in Italy. During those times she was looked after by my mother and has always sat in Mum's childhood rocking chair.

She's a German doll with a porcelain face, jointed limbs and eyes that open and close.  Her underwear and dress, including her boots are original.  She's also wearing an embroidered overdress that belonged to our eldest daughter when she was a baby that was bought in Italy.

Queenie was given to me by my paternal great-aunts, Emily and Edith, the sisters of Thomas Henry who died in the Great War just a month after my grandmother gave birth to my father, their third child. (Mentioned in my Rememberance Day 2012 post).

Above are photos of them as young women and as elderly ladies taking tea with my paternal grandmother, Helen May.

The two sisters never married and I know Edith's sweetheart died in one of the Boer War campaigns. The two ladies lived together in the house that I eventually inherited together with many of their personal items and where I lived from the age of ten when Edith, the younger sister, died. This house still had gas lighting in the 1950s and seemed to me to be very dark and atmospheric when I went to visit as a young child.

Here's me with my doll's pram. As an only child and the oldest grandchild I received a great amount of attention and affection.  My parents and I lived with my maternal grandparents as many young families did during the years after WWII and I remember spending a lot of time with adults and being taken on visits to great aunts and uncles, including Miss Emily and Miss Edith.  Later on tree-climbing and other adventures were preferred as many of my primary school friends and cousins were boys!

Until recently Queenie has had a hat which also belonged to our elder daughter, D-M. when she was a baby - a cotton bonnet trimmed with embroidered ribbon that now seems out-of-date as a fashion for babies!

Then during our daughter's visit at Christmas she produced a parcel containing a lovely vintage hat for Queenie.

Now all she needs is a vintage coat to complete the outfit!

Public Art: 'Barking up the Right Tree'

Leading off the Sheffield Winter Garden is the Millennium Gallery where there's a wide corridor with access to various galleries and this is where the permanent metal sculptures by Johnny White are exhibited.

'Barking up the Right Tree' was commissioned by Museums Sheffield to celebrate the opening of the Millennium Gallery in 2001.  The cutlery theme reflects the collection of metal ware, cutlery and silverware housed in the Gallery.

This unusual piece of art is kinetic and has a humorous touch.  If you press a button on the trunk-like base, the branch-like necks and round faces move with the help of levers and there's a barking sound from within the sculpture. Once again all the items of cutlery have been donated by the people of Sheffield.  I'm often in the Gallery and like to stop and watch the reaction as the buttons are pressed.  Both of the sculptures are a talking point especially by those who have been connected with the cutlery trade.

Forkocactus spoonelliflora

One of the much-loved sculptures in the Millennium Gallery because of its kinetic aspect, is Forkocactus Spoonelliflora by the local sculptor, Johnny White, who works mainly in steel and stainless steel.  It was commissioned in 2008 to celebrate the ten years of Museums Sheffield and reflects the metal-working industry and cutlery manufacture in the city.

Plants that grow in the Winter Garden which adjoins the Millennium Gallery were the inspiration for the cactus design.

All the cutlery for the sculpture was donated by the people of Sheffield, many of whom would have had connections with the metal working industry.  There's a slot for money to drop into the base which sets off musical sounds from the percussion instruments that can be viewed through the small windows.  The money is used to support exhibition and educational projects in the museums in Sheffield.

There's another unusual sculpture in the Millennium Gallery by Johnny White which also incorporates cutlery in its design. More about that next time.