Welcome new followers...

It's so lovely that you have signed on !

I do hope you have enjoyed your visit and that you will come back frequently to share my mini journey.  At the moment I am working on developing my 'village' of Ferny Creek, and it grows as fast as Bea and Tony of Petite Properties release new kits in quarter scale. I an expecting the courier any day with the latest arrivals: the lean-to greenhouse, the full greenhouse and my third side scullery.  And of course I have kits from other makers to add to the collection too.  So please do stay tuned and feel free to leave comments  :-)



When 5 x 1 = 3

Crazy Maths?

... well, not really.   And I haven't made a mistake either vbg. I have been working on five of my new Petite Properties kits. They aren’t finished yet – I want to work on the lighting for them and decide what to do about lighting for some of the other structures I have already made up.   I also need to complete the cottages I constructed for the Fair that were built but not decorated inside. And of course they all need furnishing, and so does Washtub. So there’s a lot to do and to enjoy. But since I can at times be a bit reluctant to get the clay out and make a mess I thought I’d do the basic shells all together. It’s nice to take my time though and to not have any deadline. Especially since I have this persistent ear infection that really makes me feel off at times, and I am being very slow to get things done.

First there's Barnacle Cottage. Here it is so far,  with the front on, though the trim still has to be added. It is cream outside and inside at the moment but probably won't remain that colour.

 

And here is the interior, though none of the inside pieces are glued in yet. I won't put them in until I decide how I want to set it out. 

Then there is Orchard House. Again, the roof won’t go on until the lighting is completed. The flooring isn’t glued in yet either, to allow for wiring.  I did both the base and the first floor in floorboards this time, to provide a bit of variety.

I did the side scullery with a brick finish to go with the finish on Orchard House and it looks really different from the one I did in stone for Gooseberry Cottage.

I had ordered the side scullery to go with Windy Hill Croft.   Since I was using the clay I went on with the croft anyway,  and I have ordered another side scullery to go with it too vbg (that will be the third)...so here it is so far:

Windy Hill Croft will be a farmhouse, and I already have a few animals from Mini Gems to go on the farm - apart from the kitties that I put in every structure I do, in whatever scale it is.  I’ve done this building in a similar finish to the worn whitewashed stone on Washtub, like the sample that Bea shows.  Only not nearly as well, unfortunately!

And finally, Halfpenny House. I've done a bit of kit bashing on this one, cutting the front wall in half then cutting it again and adding the window from the ground floor to the first floor to give a second window upstairs. The ground floor will have full-width French doors opening on to a paved area.

Again, I've done the 'wooden' flooring on both the ground and first floors, using Bea's technique of strips of paper painted to simulate floor boards.  I've used double sided tape on the back instead of gluing them on, and find that works really well.  I really like this method - thank you Bea!

The final photo I have is because of a discussion we had on 'The Beehive' today.  When I use the clay, I always find that the mdf warps.  Even though I have tried various methods of sealing it - sanding sealer, gesso, primer/sealer and combinations of these, it still warps.  So with flat pieces I let the clay dry, and any warped pieces I spray on the non-clay side with water then put them on a flat surface (both sides protected) and put a heavy weight - books etc, on top for 24-48 hours.  When I did Halfpenny House I foolishly assembled it then applied the clay to the right wall and it ended up with the wall curling mischieviously outwards at the top, separating from the back wall and ending up way out of shape.  That is more difficult.  So here is what I do in this situation - the wall is still sprayed with water and then protected, and the whole thing is clamped to the table.

Hope showing the photo makes the explanation a bit clearer. 

So why does 5x1=3? Easy - it's because Barnacle Cottage will stand alone; the Croft will stand alone (except that it will eventually have a side scullery). But Orchard house, Halfpenny House and the Side Scullery are all being combined into one dwelling. And I'll be adding a bit more in the way of embellishment as well, later on. How is it going to be arranged? Well, my dear readers, you will have to check back and see lol!

And in the meantime I am also working on another project for one of my online clubs -- but it has to remain a secret until after the end of the month. I have completed the building part and am trying to do the decorating part and have run into unexpected supply problems so I'm not sure how it will pan out. As usual I will just have to give it a go and see. So once again - stay tuned, there are developments in the wind!

Welcome Nuria - and I'm so fortunate!

Welcome Nuria

Hello Nuria, and welcome to my mini world - I have visited your blog and am fascinated by your house.  You are fortunate to have a husband who is interested in miniatures as well.  I tried to sign on as a follower there - unsuccessfully - but will do so as soon as I can overcome the language barrier.  I am grateful that I can translate the posts themselves but the page to become a follower doesn't translate.  Never mind, I will work it out vbg.

So why am I so fortunate?

Well, because my husband has been spoiling me lately!  He bought several new containers for the cottages so we could display them at the Fair.  I had the larger one in which we put the group of Petite Properties, but Peter had the one for the Town Square, the one for the English Cottage and one for the Sea Shanty (which I didn't exhibit, but used for two other houses) - all made in time for the Fair.  Isn't he a lovely man?

Not only that though, he knows that the small screen on the computer I've had for the last year and a half or even less has been annoying me very much.  It is only a 13" one, and I thought I would get used to it but it is so restricted when I am on the net, and can't see enough of pages, and on so many other occasions too.  It is a great laptop, with good RAM, 500GB HD (which we thought would be quite adequate since I have several external hard drives) a 64bit operating system, great graphics card and an LED screen plus other features that are top notch.  But the limited number of USB ports was annoying, the size of the screen was much more annoying and the HD has slowed down because there is so much on it - and yes, I have removed lots from it, regularly defrag it and do the housekeeping things.

So today we went shopping for a small storage unit to put my little containers for quarter scale bits and pieces in, for more convenient access on the shelves.  But Peter went to Penrith instead of the local shops where I thought we were going, and we went to a large store where they sell (among all the other usual things) - computers!  I came away the excited new owner of  a laptop with a 16 1/2" screen, an external HD (USB3.0, which is 10x faster than the USBs that I have now) plus various programs.  We decided to Flexi-Rent this laptop, and as part of the deal I get a tablet (not an iPad unfortunately, it's a Samsung) and a mobile internet at very low cost which means that Peter will now have a mobile internet too.  And to top it off, a whizz-bang surge protector board that I've wanted for ages but haven't bought before because they are expensive.  All in all a lovely surprise - and wonderfull spoiling!

To top off a lovely day, the courier came just before we went shopping, with my parcel from Debbie Young with the new kit 'The Avalon' plus some furniture kits. 

Since my order of bits and (quite a lot of) pieces from Grace Shaw arrived yesterday, my lovely son Nathan gave me the Petite Properties Orchard House and Halfpenny House kits for Mothers' Day on Sunday, and I also bought Windy Hill Croft and another Side Scullery (and they arrived on Thursday - just in time), I have plenty of lovely things to play with.  But I have started on Barnacle Cottage first, and am trying to organise my work area yet again.

But what a lovely day!  Now all I have to do over the next few days is to back up my laptop, get my new one set up (I'm typing this on it, so I have begun to do so), and learn to adjust back from a small keyboard to a larger one again vbg.

Today is the second Sunday in May and for us in Australia that means it is Mothers' Day.  So to all mothers, whereever you live, and whatever date you celebrate Mothers' Day in your country, I wish you a day filled with love and happiness.

I was in charge of the Bible study meeting yesterday morning and I chose to have a segment on mothers as part of it, with a short quiz on mothers in the Bible, and several quotes regarding mothers.  Here are a few of them - I'm sure you have heard most if not all of them:

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while but their hearts forever.

Sweater (noun): a garment worn by a child when it's mother is feeling chilly.

The phrase 'working mother' is redundant' -- Jane Sellman

All mothers are working mothers - Author unknown.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children - Charles R. Swindoll.

The formative period for building character for eternity is in the nursery.  The mother is queen of that realm and sways a scepter more potent than that of kings or priests.

If you have a mum, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been.  Robert Brault

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  Abraham Lincoln.

Children are a great comfort in your old age.  And they drive you to it faster too!

So -  I hope you have a very  







Welcome Sonja.......And recovering

Welcome Sonja, thank you for signing on as a Follower of my blog.  I hope you have enjoyed visitng and will come back often.  Please feel free to leave comments - I love sharing with other miniaturists and getting feedback from them as well.

Recovering from the after-effects.....

....no, not what you think!  It's the after-effects of preparing for the Fair - and of the Fair itself lol. Jan and I worked right up to the time we took our display items to the Exhibition Centre on Friday.  The Town Square base had some problems so I decided to do some further work on it on the Saturday night after Sabbath and take it over just for Sunday.

Getting to the Fair was an adventure in itself:

Jan and I had worked out how we would arrange the table, putting things on different levels so that the buildings that needed to be viewed from both sides could be seen clearly, and those that were just viewed from the front were in a position that was suitable.  I had drawn up a plan of how we would set it out, everything was packed (except the Town Square) and we set off.

Peter took most of the buildings and covers in our Pajero 4WD and we followed him in Jan's hire car, testing out how her new GPS performed.  It was perfect, following exactly the route that Peter took (he knows the way).  Until that is we were nearly there, and the roads were blocked off!  The Sports Centre is part of the Olympic complex at Homebush and because of other events, the two main roads we wanted were closed.  Unfortunately the GPS can't be told that little fact, so Jan was pleased that Peter knew the area well.  He was able to find another way in, so we finally got there.

Setting up our table:

Setting up our table we were soon glad that we hadn't brought the Town Square with us because we changed the display a little bit and Nerida, the organiser of the Fair decided we needed a second table vbg.  Felt a bit greedy.

This view is from Sunday; on Saturday the second table (with the light blue cover) was bare.  Setting up took a while, but the display looked nice when we were done. 

 It was also a nice surprise that four ladies along with two of their husbands came along - they are fellow members of The Beehive (Petite Properties online group), had read about the properties I was making and wanted to meet me in person.  They had a good look at the PP that I had brought along and all felt that they are even better in real life than in photos - and are going to order some for themselves.  So for Sunday when I came for the day I typed out little labels with the names of each property and the fact that they were Petite Properties kits so that people who wanted more information could see it.

Disaster!

On Saturday night Peter and I tried to fix the problem with the base for the Town Square.  We stayed up until 4am, but it just got worse and worse, so we finally decided to give it up as a lost cause.  On Sunday morning I was up around 6.30 and had a bit more of a go but still got nowhere. 

In the end I packed a smaller board that I had, which was just painted green.  I didn't worry about all the trees that I have been buying over the last few weeks either, sadly.  Such a waste of time and effort.  So the display of the Town Square wasn't nearly as nice as it could have been.  Very disappointing.  But the buildings still attracted a lot of attention in their own right which of course they deserve.

And I still have more shops to add to the Square as well - several more, in fact.  They are extras that I bought plus one that was a gift.

At the Fair

Sunday was extra special for me because Peter and our son Nathan were there too.  Nathan wanted to buy some items to furnish a roombox he started years ago.  It will be Beauty's bedroom from 'Beauty and the Beast' - his version of course.  He used some of the money he received for his birthday (which was on Saturday) and bought an inexpensive doll, bed, dressing table, wardrobe and carpet for the roombox. 
I spent the day on my feet, and in spite of strict instructions from the chiropractor that I was to spend no more than 15 minutes at a time walking around before sitting down for a while, I did overdo it.  But I still didn't get around all the sellers before my money was totally spent lol! Here are some views of the trading tables, from the entrance near the blue tables at the lower left of the first photo

On the far right of this second photo are the exhibition tables. They are down the right wall and across the bottom of the hall (out of view) with a second row parallel to the right wall.

There were fewer traders this year (result of the disasters that have hit Australia this year I guess) but all those who were there did good business.  I thought the number of exhibitors was down too, but the quality was excellent.  I'll show more photos in another posting. Our exhibit was well received, and people were fascinated by Jan's Sea Cliff - the details in it, and the structure itself.  The fact that it is a modern house was popular too, and I heard people say how they would like to just move right in. 

The Petite Properties also attracted lots of attention.  I was told by Jan from Goulburn, one of the new people I met on Friday, that on Saturday they had even more interest than on Sunday. 

 I wish I had the little information tags on them on Saturday as well, but Jan did a great job of telling them where to find the kits.  So between us we conducted  a terrific publicity campaign lol!  The WIPs (works in progress) were mostly in one case.  I didn't put the shop roomboxes in there, due to lack of room, but I had plenty on display without them.

Toadstool Cottage Patchwork had it's own display box.  I am really pleased with this one.  There are still some details to add to it - but after all, Sarah and Alice are in the process of setting it up, so more progress can occur over time.

For now the scullery of Gooseberry Cottage is serving as an art studio.  Rachel Workman is refurbishing Rosebud Cottage's interior (lots of refurbishing going on in Ferny Creek, isn't there vbg?) so she is renting the scullery until it is completed.

Gooseberry Cottage and Flowerpot Cottage were back-to-back in the display case.  Flowerpot was sadly minus its extended garden, due to those flowers from the US still not arriving  :-(  The base is prepared, grass 'planted', tree is growing vigorously and the seat, chairs and table underneath it ready for someone to rest in the shade.  But the flowers are lacking.  So I haven't attached the cottage at this stage.

After the Fair
Yesterday (Monday) I spent recovering, with painkillers, and  a hot water bottle in close contact with the small of my back.  I itemised everything I had bought at the Fair for my Inventory (did I really spend that much?) and today I' had planned to be taking photos for the same.   And yes, I do keep an inventory of my miniatures.  One for each order/vist to a store and a second one by category which has each item with a photograph of it (if it's a kit, of the finished item) and its location in a building or dollshouse.  Yes, I know - obsessive.  But Nerida, the owner of the miniatures store who introduced me to the wonderful world of real miniatures nearly 14 years ago, told me right at the beginning to keep an inventory - and a journal of each project I do.  I have heeded her advice, kind of, ever since.  The only thing is that I'll have to burn the inventory before I pass on or my family will have collective heart attacks at the amount of money I've spent over the years lol!

Today it was off for a back treatment.  Then it was on to downlading the photos from the Fair, and  planning what is needed to finish off those properties that are not yet completed,,,,,and of course there are those kits in their boxes or bags still calling out mournfully 'What about me?'  Oh well, there's plenty to plan.  And maybe the courier will arrive this week with my new order from Petite Properties (Mothers Day present from Nathan) or one of the other parcels I am waiting for.......