Hello again!

Well here I am again, after such a long absence.  Thank you for being so faithful my friends, I see from the figures that many of you are still popping in to see what is happening.  Sadly, the last year has been a difficult one in real life, and both minis and the blog have suffered.  So I appreciate all the more that you have persevered with me, it means more than I can say.

Not only have so many of you been checking in regularly but there are actually new followers! wow!!  The warmest of welcomes to Roeli (La Petite Sofie); Esther (Mi mundo de miniatura; Los collares de Esther); Susan (Susan's mini homes); Amary (Amary miniaturas); Paky (two blogs but by invitation only); Idske de Jong (Idske's miniatures); Ray W (no blog listed); Becky (A bee in a bonnet); and Sharon Goldsmith (no blog but runs By Sharon Miniatures with delightful kits).

The welcome is belated but truly sincere.  Thank you so much for visiting this blog and even more for becoming a follower.  I hope you will visit often and leave a comment to let me know that you have been here and how you feel about what I post :)

Happy Australia Day

 Today, 26th January, is Australia Day.  This is a very special day for Australians and there are heaps of activities in most towns and cities throughout the country.

In Sydney the major celebrations centre around the gorgeous Harbour of course.  From inflatable thong races (in the US they call them flip-flops, don't know what you call them in Britain)

 to the annual Tall Ships parade down the Harbour, and vessels ranging from maxi-yachts to small pleasure craft throng the waters.  There is even a ferry race.

 People get into the spirit by dressing for the occasion.  Some with face painting

Some with temporary tatoos

Some with their dresses, teeshirts, shorts and hats

Even the family pet is likely to score some patriotic sign.

 Having a barbie (barbecue) and going to the beach are traditional activities.  And the grand finale after all the fun, the ceremonies, the awards of Order Of Australia to people who do special things in the community and the rest of the celebrations is a wonderful fireworks display over Sydney Harbour and in lots of communities.

 So wherever you are, I wish you a happy......

New babies in our life

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that the new year will bring you good health, happiness and lots of love.  I haven't blogged for a while because I have been recovering from two surgeries in five days in early December.  I am fine now, just get tired a lot.  I think it will take me a while to get over having the two general anaesthetics but I'm grateful that I am not in pain any more.

Our family has increased by three more.  We are now owned by four gorgeous cats: Max, who we got in June and who turned one year old in December, and three babies from Max's parents in the next litter.  Here they are

On the left in this photo is Sapphire, named by our neighbour (the parent cats belong to her) because of her vivid blue eyes when she was littler.  Of course they aren't blue now, they are turning green because the kittens are 8 weeks old.  On the right is Sophie.  We can tell Sophie and Sapphire apart because Sapphire has a black smudge beside her nose, Sophie has a pale ginger smudge beside hers.  Sapphire also has a white patch on her back and her colouring is a little more muted than Sophie's.

And here is Sam.  He is a lovely cream colour with the faintest of ginger tabby markings, and light ginger tips on his ears.  Curiously, he still has blue eyes.  His colouring is deepening a bit as he gets older, at first he was whiter than he is now and I worried at first that he might be deaf as some white cats with blue eyes are.  But he's not deaf, that's for sure.  Because he has the genes for colour he escapes that.   He is the most laid-back of the three.

Sam is the friendliest of the three, and Sapphire is almost as friendly.  Sophie is coming around now that we've had them for a week, and they all have got to the stage where they enjoy - and ask for - pats and stroking.  They even enjoy being cuddled now whereas they didn't like being held at first.

Over the last few days all three of them have learned to climb the cat tree, and Sam has even made it up to the top level.  It's six foot high and it took them a while before they could manage it.  Because we want the cats to stay indoors for a couple of months, and to come inside at night, we have provided them with plenty of toys and I have also ordered another climbing tree for them.

After Chloe, our gorgeous tortie who was Max's sister disappeared, Max fretted for her for some time.  He and his other sister Cindy used to play together all the time, even before Chloe disappeared, and then Cindy disappeared too.  Max and his brother Cuddly, who is a pale ginger fluffy cat are great friends now and Cuddly likes to come into our house and steal two toys that he really likes.  He takes them to his house next door and our neighbours find them and return them.  We think that Chloe was stolen by someone who really likes tortoiseshell cats.  And that when they discovered that she had been desexed, they came back for Cindy.  So I am concerned about the welfare of our two new girls too.  The kittens might end up being kept totally indoors though I hate to think of them not being able to enjoy the back yard and garden.

 At first Max was totally affronted to find the kittens had taken up residence and he sulked for a couple of days.  He had visited them often when he went next door, but having them invade his own territory was different.  Then eventually he started playing with them and now he greets them nose-to-nose and grooms them.  All four of them bounce madly around the house chasing each other and having great fun.

He still likes to sit on me for a cuddle morning and evening as this very unflattering photo of us shows.  Max doesn't sit on my knee, he likes to lie on my arm and nuzzle into my shoulder.  He was distracted by the camera here so moved his head.

But he won't sit on me if one of the kittens is on me too.

The kittens also seem to think that as soon as I turn on my laptop it is the signal for them to come and sit on the keyboard.  I have to fight to keep them off so that I can type, though I can still play my solitaire with them on it - until they move and press different keys, with interesting results :)  I must say that having the three of them adds a lot of fun to our lives.

What do you mean, you want to play solitaire?

At the moment they sleep a lot but the length of time they do that decreases by the day.  They will be nine weeks old this Thursday, and have already grown a lot since we got them a week and a half ago.

So, being a mad  cat lady, I finally have the four cats again that I wanted.   The last time we had four was many years ago.  I am very happy.  It's a shame that cats calm down as they get older, they provide a lot of pleasure witht heir antics.  Mind you, I'm glad that I haven't replaced my curtains (I have the fabric ready to make new ones) or bought our new lounge suite yet ;)

Happy Christmas to you all

I wish you all a Christmas full of joy as we celebrate our Saviour's birth.

Mini Marathon - Snowdrop Cottage

The garden is finally finished for the front of Snowdrop Cottage so I can now show you the photos.  I've had this kit for ages but because I didn't do so well on the exterior of The Old Rectory and need to scrape it off and re-do it, I was nervous about tackling this type of exterior again.  But I bit the bullet and this time didn't add the granular medium so thickly and that left room for the sand between them.  I'm delighted with the end result and would like to shrink down and explore inside a bit more :)

So here are some photos of the exterior.  First an overview of the front facade:

Now a view of the garden and paving stones.  I am looking for a smaller bench to go on the right hand side where the paving provides an area to sit.

I still haven't distressed the roof I see - will have to get to that.  And I made so many flowers that I have enough to do a small feature on another house which is good.

A closer view of the left side

And now one of the right side

 And now moving to the interior.  I have papered it and the lighting is installed.  You will see that I've put a staircase on the left of the living room.  I think it needs a bit taken out of the bedroom above too, to show where the stairs go to.  I had intended that it would be a hallway behind the faux door in the bedroom but I realized after the stairs were well and truly glued in place that they were going the wrong way for that.  It bothers me now but I can't pull the stairs out of the bottom room because I've run out of the wallpaper - the next lot of it that I bought was quite different in colour and I like the pale green that I've used.  So the bedroom will have to sacrifice some space I'm afraid!

 Here is a closer view of the staircase - another 'Cottage Stairs' kit from Petite Properties.  I added the extra strips of brown timber at the top and bottom as a contrast and to give more dimension, and also added a baluster at the bottom.

 I do keep straightening the light shades but they have a mind of their own.  When I have finished sticking my clumsy great hand into the rooms I will fix them up and add some more glue to keep them in place.

The living and bedrooms both need a chimney breast now and a fireplace.  Which makes me realize as I am typing that the chimney breast needs papering too and I don't have any paper.  I'll have a look and see what resin fireplaces with chimney breast I have already got from Petite Properties.

So that's another exterior done.  I have yet to decide what to do with the wires from the lighting though.  At present they are loose at the rear of the house.  I keep coming up with different ideas but haven't got a round tuit yet vbg.
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Mini Marathon building continues - Post Office Cottage

 Post Office Cottage is another of the houses in the mini marathon.  It took me a while to decide what to do with this one but in the end I thought that I'd make a tiny post office in the right side of the ground floor, put in a dividing wall with an entrance to the left side, and make a small bathroom on the first floor.

So here is a view of the front.   I've done it quite different to the way Bea did hers I think, but I'm really happy with it.

This view shows the paving from the door around to the telephone box.

I have been working on the inside a bit too, making a couple of counters for the post office and a letter rack, but I'll show them later on when I've stained them again ready to put in place.

I didn't do any garden for this one because I had planned to put a garden bench under the smaller window at the front so that my mini people could have a chat with friends and neighbours when they came to the post office, but the area turned out too small so I have to have another think about that ;)

Mini marathon progress - Privet House

I've realized that I haven't given you an update on the mini marathon for a while.  I now have several cottages completed so today I will show you Privet House.  As always this house is just sooooo much nicer in reality than it is in photos, and I was delighted with it as it took shape.  The colours in the photos are a bit off, the green is more of a hunter green and the distressing on the house isn't as obvious as it looks in the pictures.

 Here is a front view.  Looks a bit stark at the moment - I haven't decided what to do about that.   A vine?  A tree nearby?  Flowers?

 A view from the left side

And one from the right

I put stairs into the house, just on the ground floor for now, and will later put them on the first floor too.  They are the 'Cottage Stairs' kit from Petite Properties.

I made a faux cupboard under the stairs.  I think now that it probably could have had a straight top but I built it to follow the line of the stairs.

I googled for some 1930's wallpaper and linoleum and liked this green and cream one for the kitchen.  It goes really well with the green and cream of the house.  As you can see, I haven't put the lights in yet so haven't glued the upper story floorboards in.

Privet House has an attic too but I'm not sure whether I will use it as rooms or whether to just put the wiring and battery up there.

So that's the second of the mini marathon houses.  What do you think?

Mini marathon progress - Bluebell Cottage

I have been working a lot on St Thomas' Church.  I was trying to get it finished by the end of August but as it became obvious that this was not going to happen, I decided to tackle Bluebell Cottage and at least finish it off to a stage where I could post it in the monthly progress album on Miniature Haven for August.  I coated the external walls with tacky glue and let that dry overnight while waiting for some of the paint on the church to dry then on day 6 of working on it I 'buttered up' a number of Petite Properties, including Bluebell.  In other words, spreading Polyfiller over the exterior.


On day 7 I scribed the stonework and painted it with Bea’s Dirty Stone Mortar paint.   Also did another coat of white house paint on the interior and the ceilings.  
On day 8 I decided that rather than rush the church and mess it up I’d keep going with Bluebell Cottage and finish the exterior of that rather than just doing little bits while waiting for bits of the church to dry.  I have to order some more lights on Wednesday.  That’s one reason why I won’t be fully decorating the interior.  I want to light all the new projects I’m doing.  So I guess I’d better take an inventory of how many I’ll need!

I sponged over the exterior stonework with the usual undercoat of Bea’s Stone Mortar paint, then dabbed over it with English Mustard, Teddy Bear Tan, Bisque and Bea’s Dirty Stone paint.  When it was dry I distressed parts with a bit of black on a dry brush.  The roof has slates using cardboard strips snipped at 0.5mm intervals and then overlapped, and painted with a mid-dark grey.  When the grey was dry I added some streaks of lighter and darker greys.

In order to be able to add the windows and doors to the removable front I’ve wallpapered the front wall in the paper I intend to use inside the living room.  The kitchen will be painted so I didn’t have to do anything on that side.  The dormer windows in the roof could be added without papering the ceiling there – I’m not sure whether that will be papered or not.

And here is a progress photo, though after this was taken I added the trim to the dormer windows and did the different colours on the roof slates:

It looks even better in reality than it does in the photo.  I’m really happy with it.  Of course it needs landscaping and some pretty flowers – this cottage will have a nice garden.  And looking at it the edges of the roof need touching up with paint too, and I notice that I haven't added the windowsills though they are painted ready to add.  Still, this is a progress photo.  Still to come: the interior,  electrifying, the garden and landscaping.

Such a cute little cottage.  It reminds me a little of 'Rosebud Cottage' even though the porch is slightly different, which is why I didn't do it in the same finish as Rosebud.  I really like it.  And yes, I do have a story for it, which I will tell when I show you the finished cottage.  Hope you like it too.

Welcome Ray & Becky

Apologies that this welcome is so late, I didn't visit this blog while I was in Tasmania and should have checked the new members earlier but it is nevertheless most sincere.  Thank you for becoming followers of the blog - I hope you enjoy your visits here and look forward to reading comments from you.
Ray you don't mention a blog - how nice to have another male follower.  I really hope you offer a man's viewpoint, it would be great to hear from you.
Becky has a lovely blog, though she hasn't posted for some time.  You can visit it here.  Becky has six 1:12th scale dollshouses, and has some lovely photos on her blog.
I do enjoy hearing from you, my readers.  It makes all the difference to be able to share my mini dreams and journey with you.  Thank you all for your interest and comments - the feedback means so much.  Especially since I don't have the interest from my family :).

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 :)