Mini Marathon

Having worked out a good schedule to work towards completing Hungerford Manor and lots of UFOs so I could display them at the Retirement Village where my mother used to live – and also just to get them finished – I found that I couldn’t go on with Pickett Hill as scheduled because I couldn’t find the instructions or some of the parts.  So while I am sorting through the studio I went on with the next item on the schedule, right?  Wrong!

Instead I took out a pile of USOs (unstarted kits) from Petite Properties and decided to embark on a Mini Marathon doing those and some UFOs as well.  So I started assembling a whole pile of them – pretty well all of the Petite Properties ones I had waiting to be done, in fact.  

So what are they?

1.     Le Petit Palais.

This is one of the UFOs, on which I was working before the first room for Hungerford Manor arrived.  This is as far as I had got to, and I was waiting for some items to arrive before I could go on with it.  This is the first building in the mini marathon – most of the items I’ve been waiting for have arrived and I hope the rest will come soon so I can complete it.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

2.     Thimble Cottage.

Such a cute little cottage, it has a charm of its own.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

3.     Snowdrop Cottage

This cottage has a nice little side room and a pretty picket fence.  I have been looking forward to starting it.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

4.     Post Office Cottage.

Complete with a traditional phone box beside it and a post box on the front wall.  I haven’t decided whether to put the post office in the front or not yet though I think it would be a shame not to.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

5.     Cemetery Lodge

Standing at the entrance of the graveyard, this is the residence for the person responsible for the Cemetery lived with his family. He kept the register of who was buried in the Cemetery and where the grave was, collected any money owing for the upkeep of the grounds and was responsible for the grave diggers and groundsmen.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

6.     Book ends

I love the idea of using minis as home décor and these are a nice way of showing off some  minis which have a practical use.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

7.     Bay Tree Manor

I think I ought to be called ‘Mrs Lose-it’.   I bought the instructions for this building up from the studio to the house to look at them and decide whether I wanted to change the internal layout.  And I promptly mislaid them!  So I have constructed it to a basic stage mainly by instinct.  But I did find them later - folded along with another set of instructions, so I will have them for the last part of the construction.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

8.     The Crow’s Nest

The Crow’s Nest is quite different from the rest of the buildings released by Petite Properties.  It’s name suggests a water-side property, and I automatically envision fishing nets and a boat nearby.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

9.     Daisy Chain Cottage

I loved the first Daisy Chain Cottage I did so much that I had to order a second one.  Will I think of a way to make this one look somewhat different or will I make them twin houses?  You’ll have to wait and see ;)

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

10.  Blackberry Farm

I’ve been collecting lots of things for the farm for quite a while but there’s still lots more to do.  It’s another building that I’ve really been looking forward to doing.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

11.  St Thomas’ Church

The church will be a beautiful building when completed.  No photos as yet, sorry.  I’m still at this stage debating whether to do it with a stone and flint finish or a stone finish.  Eeny, meeny, miny, mo……

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

12.  Tanglewood House

One of the buildings I started while on our trip to Tasmania.  Again ‘Mrs Lose It’ has misplaced the wooden beam section for the side walls so I’ve obviously packed them away in a different container.  I thought I’d put all the minis from the caravan into the studio but I’ll have to have another search.  And continue to organize the studio aka the cubby.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

13.  Parsnip Cottage

The second of the buildings I started in Tassie.  I really like the details in this cottage – it has windows in the rear and the scullery to the side, as well as stairs.  I love stairs.  We live in a bungalow as do the majority of people in Australia so stairs are a novelty for me, though at my age I guess my knees would not appreciate them J

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

14.  Bluebell Cottage

This is a tiny, cute little cottage.  I couldn’t resist adding it to the mini marathon.

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

15.  Privet House

Rounding out the number of buildings to 15, is Privet House.  

Photo from Petite Properties Ltd. Online Shop

So there they are - and again, please note that the photos are from the Petite Properties Online Shop, they are not my finished projects.

Day 1: I started to assemble as many of the carcasses of the new buildings as I could.  I did most of them except the farm, the church, Privet House and Daisy Chain Cottage.

Day 2: was spraying day.  I gave the shells of the houses 3 coats of acrylic sealer, inside and out.  This was a big job, because there were so many pieces by the time I had the shells of the houses, then the roof fronts, roof backs, and house fronts.  And while they were drying between coats I was doing stuff around the house - and found the instructions for Pickett Hill.  So that's one of the items found at least.   Yee-haw!

Day 3 and Day 4: were painting days.  I spent my mini time painting on these days: using white emulsion paint on the interior of the houses, the ceilings, inside the roofs, and inside the removable fronts.  And that brings us to today.  I still haven't finished this step.  In between days 3 and 4 of minis I had a housework day and took all the minis that had gradually crept into the house from the cubby (ie the studio) including all the mini marathon buildings, back into the cubby.  Each house and the things associated with it are in its own basket, labelled with the name of the project.

So why am I doing all these buildings together?  Because I want to get them all assembled and ready to furnish and instead of doing them one by one and ending up with UFOs because I become distracted by other projects. I will do them all together.  I will probably decorate and light them at this stage as well, and do some landscaping.  Then I will take them one by one and furnish them.  Let's hope I don't end up with another 15 UFOs!!!!!!

How long will I spend on them?  It depends.  I was due to start on Pickett Pond next week with my dear friend Jan but she is having a tough time at the moment with a very sick pet who is a treasured member of the family and I will wait until things are settled there and Jan is ready to start on Pickett Pond before I do too.  My heart really hurts for her at the moment and I wish I could help her.  In the meantime I will (hopefully) finish off these projects and not only tick off some UFOs but also complete some USOs to add to my village :)