Sewing again

As explained in my previous post, this time of year in our family is always very busy.  However the birthdays are over now, as are my daughter's music exams and I've at last managed to carve out a few evenings to start working on dolls clothes again.  I keep wanting to get the dollshouse on the go but get distracted by outfits for 50cm dolls instead!  The new Gotz catalogue is out, and my elder girl is particularly taken with 'Hannah the Rockstar' - she loves her outfit even though it is a deep rich pink (not my red head's favourite colour).  The outfit doesn't come separately, Gotz are clever at attracting people to buying more dolls, but as we've already got an extensive family of Gotz, Australian Girl and Euro girl dolls, I don't want to buy another blond Sarah/Hannah doll.  So I've decided to try and copy the outfit, though with different material.

I've got as far as sketching out the pattern based on a Joan Hind pattern for an A-line dress, though adapted to suit the pleats in the rockstar dress, and have just cut out the material, so am almost ready to start sewing.  I have also bought a real guitar (black plastic) which is very similar to the guitar that Hannah is holding (ebay again), it even has its own padded case.  Some months ago I bought some tartan plimsols which go with the two different materials I'm using for this dress.  All of this planning, material matching and considering is happening while my younger girl sleeps upstairs and my elder girl is away for a few days on a school trip, so neither of them know.

I'll post more as the dress progresses.  In the meantime, welcome 'all4dolls' to my blog.

Camera tripod, and welcome

I like Amazon wishlists, they make it possible for me to let my hubby know what I want for my birthday without me having to write a paper list, it also means he can read the same reviews I've read about things, so can understand why I've picked a particular item.  It was my birthday recently, and he gave me a pan and tilt tripod for my camera.  What is more, he was delighted to get it as it is just the kind of techie present that appeals to him (as soon as I took it out of the bag, he was helping me set it up).  Last year I treated myself to a good camera but I've found that even with the best effort I can't stand still enough to shoot decent video with it for any length of time, and setting up shots of dolls has been difficult as they sometimes do not always come out the way I want them to because I've held the camera in my hands, so I've been hankering after a pan and tilt tripod for several months.

I was able to take a photo of my birthday cake (decorated by my little girl and made by her godmother) with the family all posed around it (using the timer on the camera), and am hoping to start taking some new photos of my miniatures soon.  However June and early July is a very busy month in this family, it is the birthday season for several of us, my elder girl is off for her Duke of Edinburgh Bronze expedition, we've been involved in loads of concerts recently with more to come, the weather has been reasonable for an English June (glorious yesterday) so it is hard to stay indoors doing miniatures or dolls when the garden calls and there are countless other activities taking my attention.  I've not had any time at all for sewing since I made dresses for my daughters at the end of May (and we have been on holiday for half term).

Welcome to Minnie Kitchen who has decided to follow my blog.  You don't appear to have a blog, but you do have a very delicious picture next to your name.  I hope you enjoy my doll blog.

A Mothering Sunday welcome to 6 new followers

In the UK it is Mothering Sunday today (as part of Lent).  My 6 year old took Samantha to Church this morning in her Kimono, at the end of the service the vicar handed out bunches of daffodils for all the children (and grown up children) to give to their mothers.  For a little while Samantha held the daffodils.  When we got home we found that some of the crocuses are in full bloom in a tub in the front garden, so this was a photo opportunity for Samantha.  My little girl wanted to send the photo to someone, so I'm posting it here to share with everyone who follows this blog, whether you are a mother or not.

Samantha and the crocuses

In the past couple of weeks 6 more people have decided to follow my blog, they are:

Roberta (a cat lover like me) blogs in Italian and English http://ilboratoriodipitosfora.blogspot.com/ and makes some lovely creations (see her outdoor chair made of cardboard but looks like it is made of metal http://ilboratoriodipitosfora.blogspot.com/2010/02/ecco-la-mia-sediahere-it-is-my-chair.html)

Rosanne Saw sews dolls clothes for play dolls in Australia - it was her site that helped me in my hunt for a UK source of shoes to fit the Australian Girl dolls http://www.rosiesdollsclothes.com.au/

Maria Jose http://marivigano.blogspot.com/  lives in Spain and blogs in Spanish.  She makes all sorts of lovely miniatures.

Franberry is a self confessed Sasha addict!!! http://sasha3times.blogspot.com/ She seems to have quite an extensive collection of beautiful Sasha Dolls, and a little girl to help her enjoy them

Montse blogs in Spanish http://montsesol99.blogspot.com/ and has a fascinating collection of all sorts of dolls

Marleen blogs in Dutch and English and makes miniature bears.  She is lucky enough to have a whole 'hobby room' for her miniatures http://marleensminiaturen.blogspot.com/

Welcome everyone, thank you for reading my blog.

Welcome, and dollshouse is home again!

Two followers in one day!  Wow.  I've got 50 people following this blog - I'm amazed and pleased - thank you everyone.  The two newest followers are:

Núria blogs in Spanish and is creating a shabby chic house, though also uses playmobil figures to good effect.  She blogs at http://mininuris.blogspot.com/

Traci at Random Aspects blog http://random-aspects.blogspot.com/ also has an etsy page http://www.etsy.com/shop/goodlifeminis.  She has some very interesting projects (such as her Greek house), and is just about to start another one (restoring a colonial farmhouse)

Welcome to my blog Núria and Traci. 

I'm especially pleased today because we collected my half-built Westville Greenleaf dollshouse from storage this afternoon, and although I won't be able to spare the time to do much to it within the next month, I can at least now feast my eyes on it again, dream and plan ;-)  For the moment we've got our full size house off the market, as we work out whether our finances can stand the strain of a mortgage (we currently own our home outright, which is a comfortable position to be in).  If we do think we can afford something better, we may put the house back on the market in the Spring, but in the meantime there is no point paying for storage, so we're bringing our clutter home again!

Welcome 4 more followers

Despite the fact that I've been outrageously busy for the past 2 weeks and haven't managed to do any serious blogging, this little blog of mine has acquired 4 more followers:

Daphne L Williams has two doll related blogs.  She has been making porcelain dolls for 10 years and clothes them http://finallyknowboneka.blogspot.com/ and http://porcelainvspolymerclay.blogspot.com/ - they are well worth a look as she does beautiful work.

Swantje has a dollshouse related publishing company - the latest book is all about Christian Hacker dollshouses and is one I'd love to own.  See http://www.swantje-koehler-verlag.de/index_wp.php?start and http://www.swantje-koehler-verlag.de/blog/ (which is in German).

My Reallity owns 19 dollshouses!!! http://myrealitty.blogspot.com/ of all different kinds and styles.  I like the photos of the houses all around the inside of the full size home, what an amazing collection.

Amica doesn't appear to have a blog but judging from the profile picture, loves dogs.

Welcome everyone to my blog.

P.S. We did some full size baking this afternoon, and my elder daughter decorated ginger biscuits and cupcakes.

Welcome

During the past 2 or 3 weeks my doll blog has gathered 4 more followers:

Danitza Zarate doesn't appear to have a blog, just an email address so I know nothing about this person.

Sandra Morris runs a small business for which she makes minature dolls and toys.  She has a small (live) dog with real character whose reaction to the recent snow was great fun to read about.  You can read her Tales of the Toymaker at http://towerhousedolls.blogspot.com/ 

Püppilottchen (Nicola) lives in Germany, designs toy for sale http://www.pueppilottchen.de and collects vintage Lundby dollshouses and Kathe Kruse dolls.  I enjoy looking at her doll photos on flickr as well as her blog at http://pueppilottchens-spielzeug-blog.blogspot.com/

Diepuppenstubensammlerin is the newest follower and collects vintage Lundby and Hennig dollshouses.  She also lives in Germany and her blog at http://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/ is all in German, so I use Google translate because my German is minimal.  She also has lots of dollshouse photos on flickr.

Welcome everyone to my doll blog.  I'm planning some more posts shortly, I just need to take some photos.

A snowy welcome

Because of my blog silence (almost) over Christmas, I've been remiss in not welcoming two new followers:

Neither Lúcia Soares and Pandora Box appear to have blogs, but both seem to be following several blogs - welcome to my blog.

Tonight it is snowing heavily again - it started here just before 8 pm.  As it is Twelfth Night, I undecorated our little potted Christmas tree and put it out in the garden, about 45 minutes later it looked like this:

Since then my husband has looked out and and commented that it is now so covered in snow it isn't so photogenic.  Poor little tree, going from a warm house to snow in one quick move!  I hope it survives.  We've got at least 2 1/2 inches now, and it is set to continue.  Goodness knows if the schools will be open in the morning, and what the roads will be like.  At the office today we were told to bring work home just in case, but I shall find it difficult to work if the girls are at home too so I'm hoping that the schools will be open and that we'll manage to get them there (and me to work).  Apparently this is the worst cold snap that England has seen in 30 years.  I'm hoping to photograph the Aussie girls Matilda and Belle in the snow tomorrow with the little tree, but am not sure what Belle will wear on her feet, as we've only got one pair of boots that will fit (Matilda's boots).  So maybe they will have to take it in turns to go outside!

I've spent part of this evening continuing with Peter's skating outfit.  A few days ago I bought some black stretch jersey material and made him some skating leggings.  Now I am using the silvery material from which Lacey's skating skirt was made to make him a top, however because the silvery material is so slippery to sew, I've made the bodice double layered - with the black jersey on the inside of the top.  It has turned out very well, and all I need to do now is sew the fastenings on the back and some sequins, but that is a job for tomorrow night, as it is late and I've burned the candle at both ends too many nights in a row.

Oh, it is tomorrow already - goodnight!

Welcome, and look forward to the weekend

I'm looking forward to this weekend because it will be:

a) A lot less hectic than last weekend, when we had 3 different events on one day and two the next!
b) My elder daughter and I are spending tomorrow afternoon making miniatures!

I'd so love to go to the Dollshouse Festival at Kensington tomorrow, but for one thing my current bank balance just won't allow such indulgence (train fare and entrance fee before even buying a mini), and secondly I can't justify buying more minis when I haven't made up some kits we bought at Miniatura about 18 months ago.  So we are devoting the afternoon (and possibly the evening as well) to making up kits, doing cut outs from recently purchased miniature magazines and generally giving Mrs Harvey's toy and cake shop a proper clean up in preparation for all those parents coming to buy Christmas toys for their children.  I plan to take lots of photos this weekend of work in progress and I'm looking forward to sharing them with everyone who follows this blog.

With that in mind, I'd like to welcome six more people (wow, I can't believe I've got 37 people following my doll writings):

Mary in Italy specialises in crochet (something I can sort of do as I made a baby blanket once, but am not very good at, as I prefer to knit).  She makes the most amazing crochet flowers - see http://not-only-flowers.blogspot.com/ and www.nonsolofiori.com

Lisette, who lives in the Netherlands, is already getting ready for Advent on her blog http://lisettesminiaturen.blogspot.com/. She, like me, has been passionate about dollshouses all her life.

Daisy, in Brazil, has great variety on her miniatures blog http://miniaturasdaisy.blogspot.com/ with lots of lovely 1/12th scale food, though she has several other blogs too.

Monica, like me, loves sewing, and has a collection of Sasha dolls http://maconstreetstudio.blogspot.com/.  She isn't afraid to give them a repaint to great effect.

Roz & Aidy of Lilyelf miniatures create wonderful individual dolls which you can see at http://lilyelf.blogspot.com/

NikNik lives in Russia and makes all sorts of interesting things including some incredible doll modelling http://niknikm.blogspot.com/. She is the mother of Victoria who has been following my blog for a little while.

Welcome everyone, I hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy yours.

Patchwork Quilt, and another welcome

I've spent the past 4 evenings sewing a patchwork quilt to welcome a friend's baby (due very soon).  Although I have done patchwork before (a log cabin pattern duvet cover for my elder daughter's bed, and a hexagonal pattern cushion cover to match), I've never actually quilted before.  I found the pattern in a book on patchwork projects, it is called a baby's quilt with matching dolls quilt (which I haven't made) and the instructions were straightforward, with clear photos illustrating what to do.

Because I don't know the gender of the soon to be born infant, the quilt had to be suitable for either boy or girl, so I settled on a rainbow colour combination.  I used a pressed wadding for the middle of the quilt, which made it manageable to sew the quilting on my sewing machine.  The quilt measures 34 inches x 31 inches.

I'm rather pleased with the results.

The quilt completed

Showing the back and front of the quilt

Close up

Close up

Whilst I've sewed, my blog has acquired two more followers:

Silken Purse who is an artist, has several blogs:
http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/ 
http://theplumedpen-ofladyvelvet.blogspot.com/ 
http://thefrenchdressingroom.blogspot.com/ 
http://dressingtableheaven.blogspot.com/
http://youaresuchadoll.blogspot.com/

Dora is also an artist, her blogs are in Spanish, which I cannot read, but are still good to look at:
http://lasminiaturasdora.blogspot.com/
http://pinturascarmendora.blogspot.com/
http://premiosdora.blogspot.com/

Welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy it.

Welcome and Jam

This evening I have made a batch of real, full size Quince Jam.  I've still got enough quinces for another batch, but one batch in an evening after a full day at work as well as feeding the family and listening to my elder daughter's violin practice is just about as much as I can manage in a day, so the last batch will have to wait (I made a previous batch about 2 weeks ago, and the quinces have been sitting on the table awaiting my time ever since).  Thankfully, it is a fruit that doesn't go off quickly, so I was able to sew those Halloween outfits for the dolls without feeling too guilty about wasted fruit.  I would like to make some jars of miniature quince jam one day for my daughter's dollshouse shop and my Westville house.

I've got four more people following this blog:

Suzan http://kankadolls.blogspot.com/ makes dolls from wire armature and papier mache.  Her blog is in Turkish, so I can't read it but the photos of her dolls are amazing.

Snowfern in Singapore http://snowfern.com/ creates wonderful miniatures, especially food, some of which is sold on Etsy, and also contributes to http://dollhouseminis.blogspot.com/

Florine in the USA http://my-vintage-dollhouses.blogspot.com/ collects vintage minatures and houses, is very knowledgeable about them and like me browses eBay a lot ;-)

Debie is a doll artist who sells her wonderful original creations at fairs in the UK http://piskies-and-poppets.blogspot.com/ and on Etsy. Maybe one day I'll get to see her dolls and meet her at a fair.

Welcome everyone and thank you for following my blog.

More followers

Welcome to my latest followers:

Firstly Synnøve who lives in Norway and is doing beautiful things to her dollshouse http://synnovesetdukkehjem.blogspot.com/

Anama lives in Argentina, her blog is all in Spanish so I can't read it http://anamavesi.blogspot.com/, she makes lovely little outfits for miniature dolls

Lize http://lizelund.blogspot.com/ is in Saudi Arabia and does some amazing minis

Debbie probably needs no introduction to many miniature enthusiasts and I am very pleased that she is on the mend after scary surgery http://debbiestinytreasures.blogspot.com/ and is blogging again

Eva writes her blog in English and Spanish http://mini-escenas.blogspot.com/, she has been having fun with nautical scenes and building a tree out of clay

Moti is in Spain and does one of a kind miniatures at http://ooakminis.blogspot.com/ and http://solominis.blogspot.com/.

Welcome everyone - thank you for following my blog and making comments.

Welcome and Thank you

I think it is high time I welcome and thank everyone who has found my blog so far, taken the trouble to comment and / or follow the blog using Google Friend connect.

The first people to find it are very far away from me in Australia:

Ann at http://agdfan.blogspot.com/ who does wonderful knitting for play dolls - see also her photos on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/38224945@N03/ for more examples of her knitting for Australian Girl Dolls

and Rebecca at http://rebeccascollections.blogspot.com/ who collects vintage miniatures and is very knowledgeable about them

Sarah Price has a wonderful blog about her miniature church and its growing family of parishioners http://miniaturechurch.blogspot.com/. She doesn't have many followers yet though, so please pay her blog a visit.

Susan is new to miniatures and blogging but has already got 88 followers http://susanshouses.blogspot.com/ and collects vintage houses including some amazing finds from thrift shops

Sylvia http://lotjesdollshouse.blogspot.com/ has been building a lovely miniature candystore

Papillon Bleu does wonderful tea parties for her handmade dolls http://papillonbleuuk.blogspot.com/ - she is brave enough to endure variable, grey English weather though she comes from France

http://tallulahbelleoriginals.blogspot.com/ has created an incredible character filled doll called Kendo (see http://tallulahbelleoriginals.blogspot.com/2009/08/ladies-and-gentlemen.html)

Kathi is building a mini beach house http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/ and is new to miniatures

Katie http://dollhouseminiatureart.blogspot.com/ creates amazing miniature punchneedle rugs

Sinem is Turkish and unfortunately I cannot read her blog http://rose-blogum.blogspot.com/ which does not appear to be miniatures or doll related

Debbie at http://uneekmusings.blogspot.com/ creates unique character dolls made with wooden clothes pins

Sonia is Spanish http://minitink.blogspot.com/ and writes her blog about her miniature creations in English and Spanish

Lori http://ohminiofmine-loshcosh.blogspot.com/ builds the most amazingly elegant Greenleaf kit houses into something special, I wish I had the space for several lovely houses too!

Marlene is working on an 1820s town house http://somersethouseaproject.blogspot.com/ but is in the middle of moving house herself!

Julie creates yummy miniature food http://yummyminiaturefoods.blogspot.com/ and also sews and carves

Victoria http://vika-m.blogspot.com/ is tackling miniature wood turning to great effect as she is building a Russian village house

Jackie makes handmade cloth dolls http://plain-n-simpleblog.blogspot.com/ with painted faces

Maite is Spanish http://miniaturista-minisypx.blogspot.com/ and has an enormous dollshouse which looks like apartments

Minna is in Finland http://minnasdollhouses.blogspot.com/ and has several houses, including vintage and one she and her husband built recently

Mercedes at http://libertybiberty.blogspot.com/ is in New Zealand and has just had an article about her detailed miniature house and garden published in a Spanish Miniature magazine

Please visit these blogs if you haven't already - they are full of interesting surprises.