On display

Loads of tiny treasures on display.

 I found this frame in a local charity shop, £3.95, a bargain and perfect for a long standing plan. I threw away all the contents and cleaned the plastic back sections. Adding coloured papers to the back to cover the imperfections. 

 Then the fun, finding all these lovely items from my big house.

 Just a few of the special items.

 Now to hang it on my office wall.

It's great when a plan comes together, and after looking at loads of more expensive frames which did not fully meet the requirements, pleasing to have stumbled across just what I needed.
Most of what I have here is just so special to me, I hated having them packed away.
Still have plans for my library room, but my real garden is taking most of my time.

Almost, but not quiet

I had good plans for my mini corner this afternoon

 I was going to get hubby to cut the ceiling board, and add this paper, I would then paint it white. I have used this paper in Somerset House it makes the ceiling look great.
I also wanted to lay the floor, I have found my wooden blocks and purchased a flat piece of black leather to use, my plans were set, by this time my corner would look tidy.

 I have also made another mini rug, 

not for this project, 

I have all the rugs I require, 

but as a gift for Laura it will fit in a project she is working on. 

 Oliver came to visit, so a few hours of fun and no mini work done, he is so cute he is forgiven.

I have Wednesday afternoon at home waiting for a delivery, so I will have a mini afternoon. I would like to have the floor done and paint the walls, the ceiling will have to be done next weekend.
With stitching and gardening my mini time is limited.

Made in the USA

 The post man delivered me a parcel yesterday and here are the contents,

These clothes were hand made by Connie from It's a Mini Life, 

she shows on her blog how she makes these items, and is very clever.

 The bedding below is great, I do not have enough bedding on my beds, I love both the fabric patterns.

 Some wallpaper, 

Connie has looked at the era of my house 1820's and matched this paper to the correct era, 

I have a couple of places I can use this.

 A challenge, I love the pink linen, not a colour I would purchase, but I will use it.

 Beautiful hankies, I love using hankies in my house, they are a great size and texture.

 This magazine is from last October.

 But inside is 5 pages showing Connie's apartment block with good photos, by having 5 different flats, she has a mixture of styles and it's very colourful.

I have not done much more to my house, but with a 4 day weekend starting on Friday, I hope to be able to do things, my husband has promised to help with the roof area, I need to cut holes for dorma windows, and a large window for access to the roof top. Once I have sorted this I can complete the attic rooms.

But I will placing all my lovely items in their new home. Thanks Connie, hope you like my parcel.

I'm late.............

This is my kit, I am sending out, I will pull a name from the hat on Saturday, please watch this space...........

it will be worth it.

Bright Idea's

 Fliss and I spent time together on Sunday

As always we had a long look at the house, Fliss is very good for idea's, in my sitting room I have had a rug made from woven material, I have never seen a pattern or a ready made rug for in here. Fliss took the large table cloth shown in my last blog and laid it on the floor, and now you see my new rug. It looks great, I am thinking about putting a coloured lining to give it depth.

My stash from the local show is poor, two reason's, my house has most of what I need, it will be never finished, secondly there were only 23 sellers at the show, and most were small and loads of hand made items. We did not have one big seller there, and only had three tables of which I loved the standard.  It's a vicious circle we have, poor attendance stops the good sellers going to the smaller loacl shows, and then poor displays stop people going.

Table cloths

 I have done a bit of shopping, these are all made by Chris Sims, she sells on e-bay.

 Her prices are very good, and her work is tiny, using mainly silk.

 She will make for you, any colour or size.

 So now my house has enough table clothes of every size and shape.

I have done nothing on the mini side of things, I have my railings ready to be fitted, I still unable to decide how to finish the pavement outside my house. We have a local show at Portsmouth next weekend, but the sellers list is only 23, and I was hoping Peter Clarke would be there, not sure if I will go. I need inspiration.

Today is the day

I am pleased to show you my second tiger skin rug, I finished stitching it last night, it's smaller than the first, I will finish it today and put it in the study.

Thank you every one for your comments on my give away blog, it was the most comments I have ever had on one post.
So after 3 years of writing about my house and mini projects, I am pleased to have my give away ready,

Fingers crossed

You are all in the box, twice if you linked me to your blog, after a good shake of the box

The winners are

Winner = Bea at b-e-i-s

Runner up = Sonia at http://minitink.blogspot.com/

send me your address and your gifts will be sent to you.

Please also wish Daisy at http://miniaturasdaisy.blogspot.com/
a happy birthday, sorry you did not win today

I have had so much fun, watch this space, I intend to have another rug to give away in the summer, I have made all the rugs I need for my house but love stitching them.

Making curtains

I have pulled my folding board out, and now I have finished Su's wedding dress I have loads of champagne silk, so I am going to start dressing the windows, I have had this house for 5 years and never dressed the windows.

I have the book below to help me out and I have kept a couple of articles from magazines, the only decision I have made is that all the curtains will be in the silk and all the same colour, the design in each room will be different. Watch this space I will post photo's if they are worthy.

I have been looking on Amazon and have seen this book,
I might treat myself to it, it looks helpful.

Books that inspire

Today I am tired and not feeling good,
so I find myself blogging, and reading all your work.

I thought I would share with you some of my books, I am a book worm and have shelves full of books on every topic going, I do like English history books, and craft books.

The book below is not a miniature book, but the patterns can be adapted for miniature work, the bands make very good boarders.
Most of my books are purchased on Amazon at very good prices.

This is a fun book,
I have made loads from here including the carpet shown on the cover.

This has loads of different styles
Felicity has made each design in a whole range of items to match for your room.

I do not buy kits, so this book by Janet Granger,
has some of her good carpets in, and a good mix of designs.

The following two books are my favorite's, you can see the tags on the top, which shows which carpets I have done, they are full of colour and I find them easy to adjust to the size I require.

Hats off, what a mess

I have not done much mini's in the past couple of months, and as you can see my house is a bit of a mess, or a dumping ground for all my junk!

Today I have decided I am going to plan my days, to give me time for everything, I am a stay at home lady at this time and whilst my health is not great, I find the days pass so quickly and I have not done much. So I want to have a couple of "mini afternoons" as well as doing what I can in the house and my cross stitch and gardening.
My first plan is to tidy the front and inside of the house, then make the attics, I know what rooms I want there and have the supplies to make and decorate this floor.

I wanted to show you this top hat I have made, its not the best but for my 1st try I am pleased with it, it sits on the table in the hall.

I cheated for the inside lining, when I make hats the first thing I do is use wonder web to attach the inner lining to the outer material of the hat, with ladies hats the material is always the same, with the top hat I used a light silk inside and the black silk for the outer.I then cut out the pattern,I find this much easier, but your cutting out has to be the best.

With the ladies hat, I just trim all the cut edges with decoration to hide any faults, I do not sew I glue, and find the results much better.

This hand made bonnet I brought at a fair, I am unable to make anything this fine.

Birds

Today is another sunny day and I have been working in our garden, you can follow that tale on my second blog here. Now I am back inside I went looking for signs of spring in my mini world.



The small boat is found near my beach house, and there are always seagulls around, I often see them on the boat, we have a couple of resident ducks, they move around alot, but these two are always together.

Under the eves on the beach hut there is a nest. there was nothing at my bird feeder today, you can see it at the back of this picture, it hangs on the other side of the beach house.

In the back yard of my kitchen there are a couple or Robins, one is on the fence and the other is by the nest in the old boot. I think I should spend time here cleaning up the yard, all the flowers are dead!

Spring time

With spring in the air, I thought it was time to place my spring plants, I have brought each at local shows, Its the big show at Lyndhurst next weekend, and I won't be able to get there.
So I am saving my pocket money for later in the year.

I will pop to Hobby craft later in the week, I have to make Joshua a pair of black trousers with a red stripe up each leg, he is going to a show in Southampton, and wants to go as
Murray Wiggle.
You should search out the Wiggles, they are great fun.

Food for thought

Throughout the projects and house is food,
and here I wanted to show you some of the special pieces I have collected,
I'm not good with Filmo, so I enjoy shows where you can choose for the most delightful items.


These hang over my kitchen fireplace, waiting for cook to choose for the masters dinner.
The centre bird has real feathers.

The fruit has been brought from many different people and put together in this dish.
It sits on my desk, nowhere for it in my house, but each item a master piece.

This box of vegetables, fresh from the garden.

Turkish delight, my favorite,
I had to have a dish in my house, this sits on the table in the ball room

This chicken is on the kitchen table, it's not that fat, so it won't go far,
the feathers on it's neck are real, made by another local lady.

Plate of biscuits, left in the sitting room for the lady of the house
Most were made by me, very basic.

Ham, Pies and beetroot, all ready to be served.

Who broke the egg, fresh strawberries with shortbread.

Sweet pastries, freshly cooked, cooling ready for the main meal.