It was spring of 2011….The Mistress of Cousin City Mouse had created a tiny cottage door.

And she had created a tiny cottage door (in a soft buttery yellow shade) for Eliza the Mouse ™

to take to her new home at Rose Water Cottage…for the move was fast approaching.

This is a photo of that very first cottage door, at the baseboard of sister-in-law Bonnie Peay's home…

The first weekend in November of this year, she was having her annual autumnal chili supper event, and I had assisted sister-in-law Mechelle Moss with the decorating.

There were stacks of pumpkins with spanish moss…

…gardening carts filled with mums and pumpkins…

pretty berries…

and pretty shades...

At dusk, friends and family began to gather…

There was the sweetest vintage washstand holding an old wash basin…

and a full watering can at the ready…

for there would be marshmallows to roast…

and there would be sticky fingers…

There was a lovely vignette below the shade tree,

perfectly perfect for stealing away…for the decorating was taxing...

…and then night fell …

The campfire was all a'glow…

and hands were warmed…

The chandeliers hung from the old tree, providing just enough light over the tables with their burlap runners and pumpkins and tea lights ..

The candles melted and dripped waxy droplets throughout the evening…

On the covered porch, there were autumnal vignettes Bonnie had arranged…

and it was oh, so cozy…

Just inside the french doors, draped across the barkcloth covered chair, is one of the first shawls I knitted (a gift to her for her birthday in March of 2011)…a Tasha Tudor-inspired Cottage Shawl in that shade "the very color of beeswax candles and yellow ware bowls."

(And it wouldn't be long after those first shawls were made, that little mousie shawls would be created)