Crinoline lady

I am always sewing or making something. Even when the babies were small, I would be knitting them cardi's in between feeds. I have made numerous things!! over the years, but I think the 'crinoline lady' will always be a favourite. I remember being around 12 years old and hunting through the old sewing box for something new to sew and finding old table-covers and hankies of many colours with the design pre-printed onto them. So.... I have had a little go at sewing one in miniature!.


Out came the old tablecloth that I still have after 30 Years!! and I begun stitching. I'm pleased with them, what do you think?


The smaller piece is all ready for the frame to be fixed in place and then it is going in my mini terrace house, but I still have a lot of work to do on the larger piece though, to get it all in proportion. I'm not happy with the tree yet and I need to add more flowers and a bird table. Hopefully it will be finished by the weekend and I will pop a photo on for all to see.

 

This is a pic of my peaceful corner. It is a little corner in a hectic house that is quiet and tidy!!

The mushrooms are all turned on hubby's lathe by hubby and the monsters. Then there is one of my little bears which someone has decided needs to sit half way up the orchid stem and my favoutite witch.

And.... if you look closely, you will see my green frog hiding under a large top mushroom.

Working nights this week, so this picture is very apt. I had this pic up in my office when I was a student nurse working in the community. I had a little room at the top of the very old building in the attic. My company was a couple of other nurses and lots of very large spiders, which I admit, I did evict through the little roof window on a daily basis, only to find they had somehow got back in over night!

My tiny space was under the slope of the roof, so my makeshift desk was a wicker basket box, above which I stuck one of these pics. Those were the days!!

Before I go, A big Hi to my new followers, Roz & Aidey and thankyou for following my blog.

Hubby's project ~ Part 1

Fourteen weeks ago, hubby had a life changing accident whilst delivering a load of concrete blocks. His legs were crushed between his lorry and a wall when the crane hydraulics failed and it swung out of control. Out of hospital and mega bored, he has started working on a special project to help pass the time untill he is fit to go back to work. I have no say on this project, my suggestions are met with raised eyebrows and never followed up. Oh, but if he wants a particular item sewn then he's only too quick to say its a joint project!!

Anyway, the reason for sharing this with you, is that I thought it would be good to follow his project along, this scene is slightly different to what we normally make and he will be trying out various new clays and ideas, so I hope you will enjoy reading the blog as much as he is enjoying making it. I will update his project weekly, probably on a sunday, work permitting and title them 'Hubby's project ~ part....'




At the moment, the project has a old stone hut on a half finished base board. Hubby has applied old stone compound to the hut and finished it off with a yellowing varnish. This hopefully will give the impression that it has been around for some time. He has also darkened the window edgings, which look good, but when he's not looking, I am going to sneak in and age them a bit more. They look too new!!







This is base board, which is roughly 2 foot square. It is a MDF base on which he used air drying clay for the first time. Mucky stuff for your hands, but he said it moulded quite well. He has mixed sawdust in with it in some places, to make the landscape more woodland looking. There is also the beginnings of a stream with a couple of green snakes. Funny that, when I made those snakes a few months ago, he laughed at them, now they are in his stream! I notice he has also acquired my little red dragon! I am going to have to keep a close eye on this project, I think.






This is the base from a different angle. You can see the stream has begun to be filled with scenic water. That was the first time we have used that as well. Great stuff, I had great fun, pinching some for little bubble filled bottles.

Been busy stitching!

Well, I didn't get around to making more bears or samplers this weekend, as I ended up working an 18 hour shift to cover sickness, but I did manage to stitch another stool. It's a blackwork design, which can be time consuming but as its a repetitive design, it doesn't take much concentration, great when your tired!






















I also found this piece when I was digging around in my craft box, it's blackwork which I have sown in creams and browns!!


It's a lovely piece but I'm not sure what to make in into to. It could be nice as a Tudor style table runner? I'll have to have a play around and put it on my blog again when it's finally finished.








Back to work tonight on a night shift, so I will be taking some easy stitching in with me to do on my break or if it's quiet (it won't be now I've said it) I think I will stitch some more blackwork cushions to match the stool. I'll pop a photo on when they are finished.

 

I have been fiddling around with the fonts and colours on my page today, so I hope the blog is looking good!!

No doubt I will make more changes to our blog page as I get used to it.

Anyway, I thought today I would add some photos of some of my work, so here goes....

This little bear is all ready to go shopping, a favourite pastime of mine!

I have discovered some new embroidery threads in my local craft shop, they are jewel silks by DMC and they sparkle brilliantly. They are quite difficult to work with as the threads can unravel, but if you can avoid this if you only use a short amount of thread at a time. Here I have cross stitched a little 12th scale cushion using a mix of normal threads and jewel threads in the paler green.

I can't decide whether to work on some new bears or try out some new tapestries tonight. The bears seem to create themselves as I go along, but new tapestries take longer and more thinking! I will see how exhausted I feel after my little monsters have gone to bed!!

Before I go, I'd just like to say a big hello to Nikki of witch and wizards miniatures and thankyou for being my first follower. Her link is on my page, she makes fabulous witchy miniatures.

And Hi to the eldest daughter, you found us :-)

Hi and welcome to our blog

We are a husband and wife team with a passion for making miniatures. This hobby started out in 2001 when we bought a simple doll's house kit for our youngest daughter for christmas. We enjoyed making the house so much that our hobby has evolved and grown into what we are today, miniature enthusiast's!




Hubby makes the houses, shops, cottages, etc. Sometimes from adapted kits and sometimes from scratch (really it's wood!) His favourite medium to finish the exteriors is brick compound, which he applies with a stencil and then ages and finishes off with varnish. It's brilliant stuff, it looks really authentic. It's available from Bromfield crafts. When he is happy with the house, it's my turn to be let loose on the inside. Every night, when I'm not in work, I can be found stitching tapestries and cushions or needle felting bears.


I have been following some other miniature crafters blogs of late and we have now decided to take the plunge and start our own. Hopefully, someone out there will drop in and say Hi.


So here we go... I will be adding weekly to my blog and letting you know what the current project is, hope you'll join me :-)