Coming together

I have done some work on my house this week. In the past couple of months I have done loads of cross stitch finishing a large project, so now I have more time. I wanted to rebuild the basement extension and terrace garden. Firstly I had to find all the components to make the basement. That was fun, I could not find the back wall, it would be easy to spot because I have put bricks on it, I cleared out under my stairs where I keep all these things, not there. I checked out my drawers in the Attic, not there. So in the end I had to make a new back wall.

I need to brick the back wall to make it look like a cellar, I will also make a rack for all the wine bottles. The two barrels will stay on the right hand side. The other thing is I had a large dresser placed in here and yet again I can't find that, I can't believe I would have thrown it out in our house move, it has to be here somewhere. I love the two little candle holders, I brought them at a show last year, there would be no electric this part of the house.

I also cut doors in the main house, leading from the ballroom out to the garden, when I first planned this house I had the room as a dinning room, but then as we do I changed it. I have not done much with the garden, my plans were always to wait until we moved, the plan now is to complete the gardens. I do have a fountain, I have purchased a very small pump to have a water in the garden, but I think this will not happen.I have a tree to make and I want a garden wall at the back. I will put hedges around the garden, and add flowers, with two large displays in the front planters.

This week I want to go through my house tiding each room, moving across the office has knocked over a few items. The lights all work which is good, and as the darker evenings approach, I can have my lights on more often with nice effects.

The Study

This is my final room on the ground floor, it's a study library, I made the half panel wall and book case and stained them to match with the floor and door. The green paint is correct for the date. The rug in front of the fire was the first I hand stitched for this house. The books have been brought from sites and shows, I even have 2 Spanish ones we found in Spain a couple of years ago. On the desk sits his book and magnifying glass, he is studying the human body. Each light works separately,and in each room I have placed a socket in each corner at the back, this allows me to change items without touching the main wring at the back and all the fires are independently lit.

Here I have started doing a woodblock floor, this is for a friends house, but it shows how I achieve the finished item, by placing on card it is a much easier task and I am able to take out the floors if I want to get to the room below ceiling lights. It is a long hard task, trying to keep the blocks straight and close together, after they are all placed I will varnish with a satin finish, these do not require any extra colour.
I try to place items around the house to show a family live here, it's harder to show male items, I have the top hat on the hall table and here in the bath room I have the smallest of shaving brushes. Most of the decorative items I love are for females, so its a bonus to find something nice for the man of the house.

Chinese Room

This is my Chinese room
The owner has purchased the wonderful items on his trips to the east.

Sorry about the wonky photo, but it does look good,this is my ground floor reception room,

it can also be used as a ballroom, with music playing and on a sunny evening the french door open onto the courtyard garden.

The room was designed to be open space with furniture, I liked the idea that there is little clutter, maybe allowing you to think the room is bigger than it is.
The wonderful Chinese cabinet belongs to Fliss my daughter, but it does not go in her wartime house, so I have it on long term loan.

The Chinese rug I stitched
and the very fine cross stitch on the chair,
Fliss made for me as a special present,
its far to fine for my eyesight to stitch.

I am looking for a pattern to stitch for the chair seats. The table I made, I took the top from a cheap table, brought the legs at a show and used a gold peel off sticker for the rim.

The tall vase by the fire place I brought from Prague, I do try and find items when I am away for my house.

All the painting you see through out the house, I printed on card, added a frame and mounted myself. I would like some real art, but these will do for now.

The french doors I cut myself,
after the house was built
it's not really that hard,
I drew around the frame
drilled loads of little holes and then cut
I had to sand the hole to make it smooth and
after I added the door frame any wonky bits
were hidden.

That's the second time I've used wonky, what a lovely word.


This view from the court yard garden shows the large mirror I have on the wall, I brought two window frames and cut the tops and places together, backed them with mirror board, a nice large, lightweight cheap mirror, The light it reflects helps the room appear much larger.

My garden is not done, I have just placed a
few items, I have plant kits to make, but I
also have a florist and as soon as I have
finished anything I put it in my shop.
My idea is to make the garden seasonal
and put what I'm not using into my shop.

the green house will not stay, but I do love my fountain a Friend brought it for me as a gift.

I am very lucky, my daughter Fliss and my friend Ann both have houses.
My young niece also has a house and we all pass items to her.
I did go to a doll's house club, but I'm not keen on dolls and we spent alot of the time working with dolls. But the ladies of the club taught me some great skills.

I am trying to finger Tatt, I can do it,but as soon as I think this is going well I make a knot and I have to start again, who knows one day I might finish something and show you on here.

Hallway

We enter the house through the ground floor hall, where all guest would be greeted and taken into other rooms of the house. I have put a false door at the back of the hall, this suggest the route taken by the staff to the kitchen and the lower level.
The floor is hand laid using parquet tile's from Burchmore's. I have used these in all the public rooms on the ground and 1st floors. Each floor after placing the tiles on a thin card has been varnished with a satin stain.
The rugs in this area are hand made and taken from a book "Carpets and Rugs" by Sue Hawkins, the stair carpet was designed by me, using the pattern from the rugs to match everything together.
The table is Bespaq, which was expensive , but does look good. The top hat I made myself, using a pattern from a dolls house magazine. Other items have been brought from local shops. The lights are oils lamps a very new invention.


I love cross stitch and have made all the rugs for the house, the rug above I saw on a site, the owner's mother had sewn it 30 years ago, and no pattern of it could be found. It was just what I wanted for my main bedroom, so I recreated it and stitched it twice for the green bedroom. But my daughter Fliss loved it so I stitched it for a third time and gave one to her.

The carpet for the dining room, was an oblong and still not big enough, in this case I made the centre into a square, copied the outer design and then added my own design for the final green and cream, to create the size I required, I also stitched on a slightly larger canvas.

Not all my stitching works this well, I have started projects, only to find the changes don't work or the pattern is thrown off. I have many half worked item's, once started mistakes and bad planning has made them impossible to finish.