What to do

This is me,  I have not done any minis for so long, Somerset House is at a stand still, I still have not put up the railings, I have all I need except the desire to get it done.

I have been thinking about if I will finish Somerset House, or just store all the stuff from inside and pass the house on. I have no suggestions to what I would replace it with, or even if I will be without a house.  My dear hubby says "leave it where it is, you can always do it when you have the desire again", so that's what I have done.

I do feel guilty when I see the house each time I come into my office, but at this time I am getting so little pleasure from it. I went to a show earlier this year to bring back the mini buzz, but the show was so poor, not enough good makers.

Can you suggest any good sites, places to visit to fire it all up again................

Another rug

 Hot off my needles

I love stitching this design, Christine says she would use it for a pink room or 1940's themed project, I hope she likes it and finds a happy home for it. For me the hardest part is doing the fringing, but this rug does not look right with out the fringing.

I have been off this week, I have had abscess, with a swollen and painful mouth, which has enabled me to finish this rug so quickly. No mini's at this time, not able to stand for long and most of the building work  I need to stand to finish.

Christine please e-mail me your address, the rug is waiting for you.

200 followers

Christine from Hollyhock Cottage has become my 200th follower, and I am going to celebrate by offering her a gift, I love cross stitch and would love to make you a small rug of your choice for your cottage.
Watch this space

Is this the best you have ever seen

 This is the best work I have seen on blogs

Brae's work is just stunning

 Please visit her blog, and stop with a warm drink and enjoy what you see

Every thing Brae makes is to such a high standard, pop here

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.

Just a bit more

I have been working on the pavement tonight, I have painted the front, it will match the lower house colour when it's finished. I have added the ridge where I want to set the railings in, I have left a bit extra in front of the steps, this should keep the steps in place.
The side panel is in place, every where needs a top coat of paint.

I am leaning towards painting the pavement black to look like tarmac, it was invented in 1820's, but I worried the dust will get into it and spoil the look in time, I don't want heavy paving slabs or paper on top, which leaves me with tarmac or soil, neither is very inspiring. There is very little I can put on the pavement, lighting was gas and mainly next to the house or above the railings. Postboxes are Victorian, much later.