Embroidery

I joined the Petitpointers yahoo group and I feel quite at home there! I have embroidered as long as I can remember, probably starting in primary school aged about 7 or 8. Neither of my sisters understood it, but I just loved it.

This was my last ever effort in full scale. 136 colours, 36 count, about 20"x16" (50x40cm)

Then when I put my dollshouse together over 20 years ago now, I needed rugs for the rather bare rooms.

The first one, probably from the P&M magazine early 1990s, 17x20cm

For the hallway 9x13cm

Afghan rug for the bedroom 11x14cm

Baluchi carpet for the dining room 13x17cm

All of the rugs except the first one are from the patterns in Making Miniature Oriental Carpets and Rugs by Meik and Ian McNaughton from 1998.

I much prefer working in silk (DMC mostly) on 36 or higher count and the patterns were for 24 count. I just added more blocks in the middle. That does mean that the edges need to be modified too and you have to work from the corners to the middle. The dining room rug pattern was for 2x3 blocks (the octagons) and I needed 4x5 to make the right kind of impact in the room. 

P&M magazine oct/nov 2002! Started it in 2007 or 2008 though!

The latest one is the hunting scene for the firescreen. I've got the wood, now I just need to get all the machinery out (table saw, scroll saw and lathe, hurray I love my tools!) and cut it all and turn the post. This project is spread over 4 pages, and the only part about the embroidery is the pattern and the last paragraph, which also includes how to fit it into the screen! It really assumes you know what you're doing. A nice project to finish in the summer holidays starting Friday 20th July!

Delft tiles progress?

Today is another minis day, the weather is grim. Flood warnings everywhere! I live on top of a hill and I don't have a cellar, so all I can do is keep my fingers crossed for everyone else.

On Tuesday I got the 6x4 tiles back and a few little dishes, that I really like. The top bowl is for a pestle and mortar, but the pestle is still to be found, that happens when miniatures go in the kiln with 'normal' sized stuff. 

On the photo above the 6x4 basket tiles don't look too bad, but it isn't great, definitely not good enough to put in the kitchen. The main problem is that the glaze has made the paint run on some of the tiles and they don't look part of the whole, if that makes sense.  It can't have been the paint as all was done from one small pot in one session, the only difference being extra water for the shading. I also think the flowers seem to be floating above the basket and the fruit is too small (that's the three blobs in the bottom of the basket) . 

                                          This close up shows the fuzziness a bit better

Why the glaze hasn't worked uniformly is a mystery. All in all, I could do better, so I will paint another one. It will probably be September or October before it can be fired, though.  It also gives me a chance to make the tiles a bit smaller. These are the equivalent of 150x150mm which is the correct size for Delft tiles but they look too big in the 1/12th kitchen. Or maybe 6x4 is too big for my 1/12th kitchen. I feel a bit more 'research' is in order....

Room for more!

Rooms with lots of room for more ...

The outside is ok, although I'm still considering changing the front into brick. It's not quite this white, though.

 The kitchen with 2 of the walls taken out for refurbishment. That is where the Delft tiles will eventually go. The tub and chairs were gifts and I haven't done anything with them yet. Same with the sink, which needs a serious makeover.

<-  Ground floor


First/second floor landings ->

The dining room minus the table. I made it a long time ago and it was never how I wanted it. The chairs really belong in the kitchen and the revolving bookcase needs some books. A painting wouldn't go amiss either!

The most complete room, but still things like paintings, books and other items in the secretaire bookcase and some proper sofas/chairs will need to be added.  The whole wall with fireplace and bookcases is detachable, to get to the lighting or even more drastic refurbishing in the future.   It's quite telling that the Christmas stuff is still out...  The leather shoes were made at one of our club afternoons.


This room is still in the very early 'research' stages. I'm not sure what it is going to be yet, but I like the cupboard against the green. 

 The master bedroom. I made cream silk bedding and bed curtains and took it off again as it was the wrong colour against the wallpaper and carpet.  The bed was my first project using a scrollsaw and router for the headboard panels. The posts were bought online. It needs finishing as almost everything else does. The cupboard in the corner was my first attempt at wooden furniture and is a copy of a life size one I inherited from my grandmother. It now houses all of my boxes full of fabric, glues and paints, leather, wood, tools and many other things that might come in handy one day...