Caturday

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thought for the day

It says it all, sadly.

It's finished!

Yes, building has come to an end at the doll house. Now I have many months / years to add to it! Yesterday I went to Tom Thumbs and bought the peacock chair and potted fuschia to go on the verandah. 

I've added some of the lights. Ooh, superglue should be sold with solvent! Even with gloves I managed to get glue on my fingers as I attached the magnets that hold the lights. 

This photo shows the correct colour; I did not paint a pink doll house as in the previous pictures!

Today is White Ribbon Day

A reminder to stand against violence towards  women. To never "commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women."

Click on link:

No bystanders where violence is perpetuated.

It's nearly finished!

Last night I glued in the windows and the shutters. It sounds like an easy task. Squeeze on some glue, position the pieces on to the house and tape until the glue is dry.  Hah! Liquid nails is horrible stuff. It doesn't flow easily and it goes stringy. The next problem was that the inside windows don't sit flush with the facade. They have to be fused to the front ones, without glueing the window panes.

Patience, lots of it, was required. Gritted teeth helped too! I had to keep checking the shutters were facing down and that I had the window panes the right way around. The balustrades on the verandah are meant to be screwed on to the base. Why? Neither I nor my friends thought that was necessary so they were glued in place with liquid nails too. The gle dried overnight and this morning everything is secure.

All that needs to be done now are to add the dormer windows to the roof and put in the awnings above the windows. Of course they don't fit so I'll need to sand them carefully until they do.

It's a three dimensional jigsaw!

There are 27 pieces to put together for the verandah. Some of it I did myself but when it came to joining the verandah roof to the floor AND attach it to the house AND keep it straight, additional hands were required.

H and D have been here for the afternoon. Not only was the assembling of the front verandah finished but the front of the house has been attached.  Now the windows, shutters and door need to be added.

Caturday

The perfect place to sleep...

in the middle of where mum is working!

An elegant lady

The postman arrived today with a parcel with some treasures inside:

This lovely lady. She is in the room box at the moment.

And this really cute hutch with rabbits. This is a present for the friends who are helping to build my house. They are also building and furnishing a house for their grand daughter and I thought she would like this addition. 

I have a lovely new frame...

... thanks to B at the Guild who made it for me. My current tapestry fits this frame better... Now I just need to put some more stitches into it!

I took my miniature tapestry rug with me yesterday and thanks to the help of several of the ladies I now know how to do it. I've realised I need to enlarge the pattern; it's a bit miniature too!

The roof is on!

H & D came over and put the roof on the house today. For some  reason the partition didn't quite fit so D has taken it away to cut the corner from it. 

Now I am in the midst of painting all the small pieces for the dormer windows and the front verandah. 

In memory...

 ... of those who paid the price for us to live freely.

Caturday

Gardening is not my greatest skill, so I am glad for this advice from my local vet!

The house has a front door

I've finished painting and gluing all of the front door pieces and from the front it's come up rather well. I've discovered a new use for my kitchen knife that is supposed to cut anything. The perspex window didn't quite fit into the routed back so I cut a slither of it off and, voila, it now fits! 

The door knob and lock came with a key which doesn't  actually fit into the lock and I wasn't sure how to incorporate it. Then there was a lightbulb moment; I've glued it to the underside of the welcome mat I bought a while ago.

Cup Day Fun

What a glorious sunny day For the Melbourne Cup. All those with fancy new hats and fashionable frocks will be delighted that not a rain cloud is to be seen.

Today is also the day my friends came over to add the roof and the attic to the dollhouse. Then we discovered the hinge that was in the kit is the wrong one and is too long. We contented ourselves with preparing the roof and adding the gables. D has taken the roof and hinge away to cut to the correct length.

Of course we stopped for coffee, chose our horses, and watched the Cup run. H would have done nicely, her horse came second. My horse started ahead but like D's ended up in the middle of the pack. 

Miniatures to Stitch

Janet Granger has the most amazing cross stitch and tapestry designs to stitch for doll houses. Friends and I poured over her website a couple of months ago and, of course, we ordered some kits. J was here last night and brought me my 1/12th scale tapestry rug kit. I nearly started it immediately!

Interior Decorating

This weekend I finished putting the carpet into the dollhouse. Blue for the bedroom, mushroom for the lounge and beige for the dining room. I have also finished putting in all the skirting boards. 

The attic pieces are finished and I just need to varnish the roof and we can put the next part of the dollhouse together. 

I couldn't resist putting in the few pieces of furniture I have waiting to be installed when the house is finished. 

One year ago...

...I holidayed with a friend who had started making an afghan rug using the Magic Square Knitting technique. You only knit one square at a time but each square is joined to the previous one so there is no sewing up at the end. I decided that I wanted to try one so we went to Wangaratta Knitting Mills. There was not a lot of choice but I came home with 3 balls of 5 different colours. We both discovered very quickly that our purchases did not go far! When I came home I was able to colour match with another brand and added two more colours. 

The border was a bit uneven when I had finished and I decided to add a crochet border. Thanks to another friend I found that crab stitch makes a lovely edging and it's quick to do. I think I needed to use a smaller crochet hook as the edge has gone a bit wavy but I'm happy with the result nonetheless. This is it folded into 4, it's 10 x 10 squares. I was going to make it longer but by this stage it had become a bit too heavy to hold. 

Tiny Treasures From a Friend

I had lunch with friends yesterday. A lovely afternoon together. I even managed to win one game of "Milleranagrams"! 

Look what they gave me for my doll house, so very cute! The hall stand and stand with umbrella will probably stay in the hall. Just think of all the tiny things I can put on the hall stand. The shoes might go in the bedroom by the bed. But then maybe they were taken off as she entered the house? The cat in the teapot is very sweet; mischievous little cat.

The Doll House

Three of the rooms now have flooring laid.

Parquetry in the entrance hall

Wood in the kitchen 

Tiling in the bathroom

About Time

Yesterday I went to the movies; not something I do very often. "About Time" was funny, poignant and a good way to spend the afternoon. 

I met "M" in the morning for an early lunch, a brief shop and then the movie. Having seen the trailers there are two more movies I would like to see. 

The only problem is I have to remember to watch out for them or they'll be gone before I know it! "The Butler" looks worthwhile, as does "The Book Thief". Perhaps I'll have another go at reading the latter first. 

The Doll House

Having painted and wallpapered the base of my doll house today was the day to assemble it with the help of my friends H & D. H and I did all the gluing, whilst D had the exacting task of pre-drilling and nailing.

The next part to build is the attic and roof but before I begin to paint that I'm going to put the flooring down and add the skirting boards in each of the 6 rooms. 

Caturday

Mum, please buy me a taller tree!

The border is complete

I've finished the double border on 'Amber Waves' now. I kept looking at the diamond that I stitched first and wasn't happy with the finished result. The rays were uneven when they came to a point. Also the original design leaves the background bare with the canvas showing through, which seemed too bare to me. 

I have filled the diamond in with basket weave over one canvas thread in a DMC thread that matched the canvas and am much happier with the result. I've re-stitched the rays in a different order and the central point is more even.

On my walk today

This is one of my favourite trees in the neighbourhood and I have been waiting for it to flower. It's only half out as yet but I didn't want to miss it if we get heavy rain.

Some of the rose bushes are in flower. They are ahead of mine which at the moment are still in bud.

The miniature room is finished

My room started out with the thought of it being a lounge room. I think it has turned into an elegant sewing room! I bought a chaise lounge for it today but it is too big; it will go into the doll house. There is now a second cat, which gives my first cat something to pounce on. They both look about to play. 

I am now thinking about what is going to go into my dollhouse, I chose the carpet for the bedroom and tiles for the bathroom today. I want to have an open kitchen / dining room so am thinking about polished boards. The parquetry flooring was nice but maybe to dark, I'll have another look at it next time I go. I'm undecided with the other rooms; plenty of time to decide.

Caturday

What else was there to see?

I could probably have spent all day in the Arts, Crafts and Cookery pavilion but there was so much more.

Dressage

Sheep shearing

Animals

All the fun at the fair

On Tuesday my friend V and I went to the Royal Melbourne show. We watched, with a mixture of delight and horror, people on crazy rides like this one:-

Yarn bombing was everywhere, around poles, bicycles, a tractor but I think this was the best one. 

Imagine my delight

Last Saturday I arrived at the Needlework Tapestry Guild to sew with my friends for the afternoon. I was greeted with "Congratulations". My tapestry piece won first in the "Novice Tapestry" section at the Royal Melbourne Show.

Here it is in situ where I saw it on Tuesday

Caturday at the town house

This is boring! Open the box.

What is this?

Are you crazy?

I have my townhouse!

More accurately I have my doll house / townhouse kit.

Together, I and my two friends H and D went to The Doll House shop. D wisely took along his trolley. The box is now lying on the couch waiting for me to unpack and check that I have all the pieces. When it is finished it will look something like this. Inside it has eight rooms, two are in the attic, and there is staircase to each level. 

This lovely clock also came home with me to go into my miniature room.

On my walk today.

It may have been cold and damp but there were sttill more trees showing their spring colours. I saw the first roses today, a bit bedraggled with the rain but pretty nonetheless. My rosebushes have buds but no blooms in flower yet.  

Amber Waves

Over the weekend I finished the first pattern in 'Amber Waves'. 

The next step is to stitch the grid lines; which have to be accurately counted!

Sewing Machine & Treasure Chest

I went to The Doll House today to buy a sewing machine for my miniature room. 

Then I spotted this, a chest full of tiny treasures. 

I might keep it to go in the dollhouse.

(they aren't red, they're a mahogany brown)