Wonderful Carved Folk Art Village by Howard Gilman, South Stratford, VT victorian mourning matched absolutely perfectly with a

matched absolutely perfectly with a body stitched together from three different striped cotton fabrics

This one made it through untouched and may be my favorite of the lot

beautifully worn wood that makes it just a pleasure to hold--is that clearly it was a particular solution to a particular situation

with small puncture holes in the fabric and a bit of staining but many years of use left in it and still really great looking

is justifiably signed on the back: Blanche Wood (what a name

Wonderful Carved Folk Art Village by Howard Gilman, South Stratford, VT victorian mourning matched absolutely perfectly with aI've found definitive dates for the Howard Gilman (1894 1979) of South Stratford, Vermont, who made these and stamped each one on the underside, but that's about it. I sure appreciate the love and labor and detail he put into these small wooden structures, though, which include a varied series of houses all with chimneys and most with log piles arranged in one configuration or another as well as a church, a covered bridge, a barn with silo, and a