New followers…..Two days to go…. Sunday update…and dragons in the house!

New Followers

Welcome Rosamaria and MiniLisa.  It was really nice to open the blog today and see that you had signed on as followers and joined the giveaway.  I have visited both your blogs and am impressed by the work you have on there.  I hope you enjoyed your visit here and that you will keep returning to share my mini adventures and leave comments with feedback.  Not all my work is quarter scale – I do 1:12^th scale as well but who know, you might enjoy my quarter scale too vbg.

Countdown

It is Sunday 18^th September here in Sydney, so it is only two days to go until the giveaway closes.  When I started this blog I had no idea that there would ever be more than a little handful of people who would be interested in my mini doings, and once again I want to express my appreciation of all the encouragement and enthusiastic 

comments that you have left.  I am amazed at the number of people who visit both

here and my picture trail, and I am embarrassed that the picture trail is so out of date – must spend some time putting new photos in there.

There are dragons in the house

Yes there are – two of them!  1:12^th scale, babies at the moment.  I made them last night from air drying clay so they are still white need a lot of finishing off  – but when they are dry I will sand them off a bit, paint them and add photos.  I’m really, really happy with them.  It’s the first time I have tried to model anything other than fruit or done walls, floors and landscaping  for the Petite Properties and other cottages from ADC, and I am pleasantly surprised by how well they have turned out and the amount of detail I was able to get into them just using the slanted end of a paintbrush, a craft knife, a plastic spatula, some toothpicks and the point of a wood-carving tool to mark the scales.  I’ve got both of them up on some lego blocks today to let the air circulate all around and allow them to dry underneath and I’m moving them around a bit.  It is quite warm, 24.4 degC which is 81 degF so they are drying quickly.

Here is Violet.  She is the first one I made. 

And here is Rosie – she is slightly larger than Violet but has a thinner head.  They need to be females because of something I need to do with them – they are part of a scene – but I can’t tell you too much about it yet.  Soon though……

 

I will probably make another one tonight, to see whether I can improve on these two. There’s no way you can get really fine bits on them, but some of it is fairly fine.  I was concerned that keeping the clay damp enough to be able to work with it for long enough to get all the bits shaped might have resulted in lots of cracks as it dried but it hasn’t. 

Sunday update

Update about what?  Well might you ask lol!  There’s not much to update at the moment – I’ve just started.  There’s a bit of a story attached.  Every Sunday morning my husband Peter and son Nathan play in a ten-pin bowling league run by a wonderful local lady, Margaret.  It is for people with disabilities and their carers.  Margaret runs several leagues, drives bus routes for students with special needs (that’s how we met her – she was Nathan’s bus driver for 6 years) and is a real friend now.  I don’t play because of my back though I do enjoy the game.  I have taken a break from going to watch for over a year now because the noise of the bowling alley often triggers a bad headache, if not a migraine.  But today was Presentation Day and Nathan really wanted me to come so I did. 

Margaret is so devoted to her leagues.  She arranges gifts and trophies for the members.  Today Peter and Nathan received a trophy each as members of the team with the fourth highest overall score for the year; Nathan was one of the people who were awarded a medal for ‘most improved’; and they both had a certificate stating their highest score and thanking them for their participation.  Margaret had lined up our local Member of Parliament to do the presentations.  It's a pretty awful photo of Nathan - my camera is playing up and it kept turning off so I couldn't try again, but here he is with his medal and trophy.

Nathan was so happy about me being there to watch them bowl that I have decided to start going again each week – headache or not.  I take something along to do while I am watching and cheering them on.  Today I took the bits for a puff quilt in 1:12^th scale.  It is something that can be done in the lighting in the bowling alley, easy to transport etc.  And I thought that if I keep it packed and ready to go each week it will eventually get done, whereas I’ve had it sitting here at home for three years now and haven’t even got started on it.

So – I will give an update each Sunday and that will keep me accountable lol!  Today I traced a pile of circles using an Aussie 5cent coin.  Since people are always showing things against coins here it is.   I’m sure a lot of you have no more idea how big an Aussie 5 cent coin is than I have how big the coins are that you show, so here it is with a ruler as well vbg.

I cut out lots of circles of fabric, several layers for every paper circle I cut out and got a couple of puffs made.  So I have barely started.  But now I have committed to a weekly update – well, I hope there will be progress next week!

Well that was quite a lot to tell you today!  Now I'd better get on with some more organising of my mini things.  Peter has finishing painting the hallway where the shelves go, so I have been putting the quarter scale containers back onto the shelves.  There are a lot of containers!  I don't like the fact that having the shelves there takes 15 inches or so space in the hallway but there is nowhere else to put them at the moment.  When it is a bit cooler I hope to get some of our new plants into the ground.