What I bought at the Sydney 2016 fair

should really not have been much at all, as I had just won a rather expensive antique dolls house at an auction .... (I don't have any photos of it yet, as it arrived in Bathurst after I had left).
The main sources of vintage miniatures at the fair were two I had bought from at previous fairs, Robyn's Minis and Diana's Gifts, and one seller whom I hadn't seen before.

I went to Robyn's Minis first, and bought these two lovely sets:

 (I apologise for the poor photos - I was trying to take them in a hurry in Bathurst, so I'd have a record of everything I bought - no time to arrange a good set up with good light.)

These are tiny - the chair is about 1 1/4 inches tall, and the table about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. The Kewpie in the bath is less than an inch long. The bath and the kewpie doll are hard metal; all the other pieces are soft metal. Only the sewing machine is marked - it has the word TOYODA on the bench part, so it's presumably Japanese.
Towards the end of the fair, as Robyn was packing to leave, I went back and looked at some pokerwork furniture she had put out on the second day. I had thought at first that it might have been the kind that was made in Japan, but on closer inspection, I think it might be homemade.

Look how the rails of the chair back are set into grooves in the cross piece (the rails on the bed head are the same):

I got to Diana's Gifts just as Anne Dowdall, from Victorian Miniatures in Canberra, was buying a lovely blue Codeg or Fairylite bathroom suite, and a little Britains table and chair and Taylor & Barrett fire for her Triang Princess dolls house. It would be lovely to see her Princess one day, with the vintage furnishings she's finding for it!
These are the things I bought from Diana's stall:

The Wedgewood style blue and white jug and basin are by Judy Keena - I bought a couple of plates by her last year. I also bought a little summer pudding from Diana's Gifts, at the end of the second day - it got photographed with something else, so it's shown below.

I can't remember the name of the lady who had the other stall I found some vintage pieces at - I think it might have been Nora. She was also selling some pieces she had made herself, before her hands got bad.

A nice bundle of plastic Britain's garden tools, a little vintage flower in a pot, and two rugs, two dusters and some dishwashing brushes made by Nora (?). I think the blue piece (rug/tablecloth) wasn't made by Nora, but I might be wrong.
Nora also had these lovely things:

The picture frame was made in Denmark - I'm not sure about the picture itself. The toiletry set says Made in Western Germany, so is post WWII. The mirror is unmarked, but made of quite heavy metal.

Also from Nora, a couple of wooden pieces - a Strombecker table, she thought, and a lamp, as well as an ARA poodle:

Nora also had some lovely geraniums in pots that she had made, with coloured reed matting around the pots. I would have liked to buy one of those, too!
 
From a stall with at least two women selling (I did not see their names, I'm afraid), I got these little bits and pieces:

The bunny chair and salad vegetable teapots (made of resin, I think) are for the bunnies in my Tree House. The fish teapot below is by Val Casson - there were four of her teapots on this stall, and it was quite hard to choose one!

Margaret Crosswell from Tasmania was at the fair again this year. I bought three bird figurines and another little vase:

I had gone to the fair thinking I would like some miniature knitting by Jennifer Howlett, but I didn't see any on her stall. However, when I was talking to Anna-Maria at the end of the first day, I noticed a fantastic Suffolk Puff quilt, and asked her about it. It turned out that it was made by Jennifer, and was for sale! Then, when I went back to buy the quilt the next day, I spotted some knitted rugs. Were they for sale? Well, partly to show what could be made with the fine wools Jennifer sells - but also for sale, yes. So I bought two - and know next year to ask to see what Jennifer has! 

This is a really bad photo, especially of Judy Foster's beautiful embroidered slippers! I had looked at her embroidered tea cosies a couple of times, but then decided that I have some tea cosies already (though not embroidered), but don't have slippers! These go rather well with the cashmere lap rug from Jennifer - I don't yet know which lucky doll will get them.

 This is not much better, but does show the fine embroidery a bit more.

Kim's Minis from New Zealand was back this year. I spoke to Kim about making a lamington preparation set for me - I need to email her with the details of the table I'd like it for. When she was last there (back in 2012, I think), I had greatly admired the marquetry pieces she sells, and I decided to buy one this time:

The summer pudding is not from Kim's Minis - it was from Diana's Gifts, and is marked SM 84 on the back. I did buy a bowl of sliced apricots from Kim's Minis - it will be great with some icecream in a 1960s or 70s dolls house:

The vase of chrysanthemums was a last minute purchase, from a stall I can't remember the name of. The canisters and bread with knife and board were made by a woman called, I think, Liz Hannaford or Hansford.

 I bought soft furnishings from several stalls:

Minis by TwinMum (Norma Blackburn) had some 3D printed pieces on her stall. I bought this little esky, very useful for dolls house picnics and barbecues:

At the Miniature Supermarket, I bought lots of vintage supplies on the first day, as by the end of the fair last year, these had mostly sold out. I also took photos of the sample boards, so now I can see what is available!

 1920s honey

1930s supplies, including soap, coffee with chicory, oats, fish and washing powder

1940s supplies, including cocoa powder and strawberry jam

1950s supplies, including WeetBix, Vita Brits, Rosella soup, Akta-Vite and Bushell's tea

A few bits for a 1960s house - a book, The Lost Koala (which features dolls called Jenny and Sue), Old Gold soap and Mortein fly spray.

 Here's The Miniature Supermarket's vintage display board:

And the contemporary display board:

And the books available, from the 1870s to the 1970s:

I made other purchases I haven't photographed: some magazines and a book from various stalls, and two kinds of moulding for making picture frames, from Victorian Dollhouses. I haven't tried making frames before, but I have several paintings I've acquired in largeish frames, that I'd like to reframe - so, when I've bought a mitre box and saw, I'll have a go!

So, to finish, here are two views from my window at the hotel I stayed in, the Ibis Budget in Olympic Park itself. Previously, I have stayed in hotels in the city or Strathfield (after my sister moved from Sydney), but I thought I'd try staying close to the venue to avoid long trips back and forth. It was certainly easier, and now that the Ibis Budget has kettles in the rooms, very comfortable! I was lucky to get a corner room, so I had views in two directions.

Sydney Fair Displays, Part 2

This photo could have gone in Part 1, where I showed the two flowerpot creations. Here you see them next to a wonderful Venetian canal house was made by Lidi Stroud, (http://basketcase-miniatures.blogspot.com.au/) of Nambucca Heads. (Thanks, m1k1!)

This did have a decorated interior, though I believe it wasn't finished - but what I particularly loved is the 'water', green and semi-opaque ... and the discolouring of the stone near the water.

Another aged house, one of my favourite displays at this fair - this is from Mountain Miniatures, who did not give any individual names of members who created the displays:

 The bedroom - a sagging mattress, and walls lined with old newspaper ...

 Two views of the kitchen - notice the protruding spring in the chair

 Lots of baked beans, some weetbix - and eggs from the chooks on the front verandah!

 A broken window, chook poo and straw everywhere - and rusty corrugated iron under the verandah. This house got lots of admiring comments!

Here's the whole of Mountain Miniatures display:

The large house was another of my favourites - a calendar shows that it's set in 1973, and it has fantastic 1970s colours and designs!

Main bedroom

Upstairs landing (though the stairs are imaginary)

 You can just see into the bathroom!

 A teenager's bedroom, perhaps

 The living room

 Another view of the living room, and the wooden divider by the front door

 The kitchen, with a calendar open to October 1973

 Another Mountains Miniatures creation - a sandwich bar in a lunchbox!

There was a big display of Queenslanders - Warren Barnard makes kits of these houses in 1/48th scale, and he had run a workshop making them the weekend before the fair, resulting in a small town!

From Tamworth came a street of 12th scale tiny bungalows:

 Margaret Webster's on the left - and a better view of the tank at the side:

The inside of Margaret's cottage:

Margaret had also made the tray of odds and ends - for her cottage and for other members, too. She wasn't really happy with the pot belly stove, which she said is not quite right for this kind of cottage - but it looks nice and cosy anyway!

 Next to Margaret's was Diane Allwell's:

Then came one without a name:

Then a lovely cottage made by Annette Waters of Armidale. Sadly, Margaret told us that Annette had died not long before the fair, but they decided to bring her little house anyway. I'm glad they did - it's beautifully finished.

 [EDIT: I have been asked to remove the photos of the last cottage.]

 

There were lots of other displays, many that I didn't get photos of - here's one other I did take, a Japanese room in a tea box:

And finally, the amazing creations of Lewis Morley and Marilyn Pride. Lewis had a cinema this year, with a scene set just outside the foyer:

Lewis actually took out the box office so I could see inside it - but I didn't take a photo! The attendant's interrupted lunch is sitting on the bench ...

 Some close-ups of the bright yellow Vespa, where hopefully you can see the stickers on it:

Marilyn's scene is a bit gorier - don't scroll down if you don't like blood and guts!

 

That's Marilyn behind the tree.

Marilyn started to explain that the priestess was an ancient Cretan. To me she is readily identifiable, but apparently, while everybody knows about ancient Egypt, Marilyn has found that hardly anyone knows about ancient Crete.

 That's all my photos of the displays at this year's fair - I hope you've enjoyed them.