Quarter scale glamour

I am fortunate enough to have four of Cynthia Howe's shops: 'Posies' the flower shop, the Chocolatier, the Patisserie and the Dress Shop.  So I've been putting them together, but not doing the filling part yet.  I have been 'talking' to a couple of people lately and promised them that I would post photos soon so here they are.

Each of them is done in the same way for the body and lighting so after the first one I was familiar with the procedure even though I did of course follow the instructions to make sure.  And the fronts are similar in their dimensions as far as depth goes but each has significant variations.  So here they are, first the Chocolatier or chocolate shop, with the front on.  The raised engraved panels on the door and below the window as well as above the windows is so delicate and pretty.  I have lightly brushed it with white to bring it out but didn't do as good a job as Cynthia did on hers I'm afraid.  I also have to tidy up the bronze paint on the columns.

For all of these shops I used sample pots of  Dulux Colour Solutions interior/exterior paint.  For the Chocolatier I used Placid Blue for the exterior and Bright White for all white areas.  Being sample pots these paints have a low-sheen finish, so they are not quite matt but not shiny.  For the bronze parts I used craft paint.

For the base of all the shops I used craft paint, first painting them with Ceramcoat Hippo Grey, then while that was still wet, using a coarse bristled brush to dab randomly with Americana Mississippi Mud, Americana Light Avocado, Apple Barrel Country Gray and Ceramcoat Norsk Blue, dabbing them so they meld together to give a mottled effect.  When the paint was dry I gave them a coat of Jo Sonja Satin varnish.

And now with the front open.  Isn't it pretty?  The wallpaper is so elegant and delicate at the same time.  The flooring is marble.

 I haven't added the hinges to attach the fronts to the bodies of any of the shops yet.  And no, the shop is not 'wonky' ;)  I must have been holding the camera at an angle as usual so it makes it look as though the shop is uneven.  I thought I had corrected it but apparently not.  I am also disappointed that having the shops against a white background has washed out the colours somewhat.

Here is another shot with the lights on.  It shows the pretty lightshades.  Each of these kits comes with a full lighting kit: all the LEDs needed, grommets to put in the ceiling to put the lights through, battery and switch unit.  The wires for the lights go into the top section of the body of the shop, and the top lifts off to allow access.

Then the second of the shops, the Patisserie, with the front on.  See the pretty panels under the front windows?  And the gold lettering on the sign?  I love the door too, and the trim around the large window and the door.

For the Patisserie I first used Dulux  Fairy Wings, which looked just the soft pretty pink I wanted when I did the first coat over the primer coat.  But when I did the second coat it was too bright and 'fairy-floss-like'.  So we went back and bought another pot of Fairy Wings half strength and that was perfect.  Again, I used the Dulux Bright White for the white parts.

And here is the inside. The pretty faux 'office' at the rear of the shop is built-in.  Isn't the fretwork shelving around the top delicate and pretty?  I seem to be using those words a lot but that's exactly what they are. The flooring for this shop came as self-adhesive squares that were put on individually.

And here it is with the lights on.  You'll note that there are four lights in this kit: two in the mirrored display unit at the rear of the shop and the two lighting the shop itself.  The glass in the door by the way is frosted, and engraved with the word 'Private'.  I think the 3-D effect of the wainscotting is very attractive too.  The area was first painted white and Sylvia had included the laser-cut wainscotting to go over it.

Now 'Posies', the Flower Shop.  Somehow I've managed to lose the little flower decoration that goes on the left upper section, which is a bother.  If worst comes to the worst I'll have to stencil another one on, using the outline of the original that was removed from the backing.  The decorations are 3D and really charming. It's annoying when things go 'walking'!  Don't you love the awning at the front?  Cynthia included some fabric and instructions for painting one's own.  I reduced the width of the stripes by half the suggested with, and used the same Reddish Brown that I used for the trim and name of the shop instead of the shop colour as Cynthia did.  I actually did two awnings because there was sufficient fabric for that, and did one with the green and this one.  I compared the the look of both and Peter and I preferred the appearance of this one.

If you look closely you might see that the window and door are both engraved.  The window has 'Flower Shop' on it and the door has a nice little stylized floral motif.  I tried hard to get a photo of the engravings for you last night but they kept coming out really blurry.

The green I used for this shop was actually chosen by Peter.  I had several dark green sample chips in my hand and couldn't decide.  He chose this one, Dulux Highland Green,  and I'm glad he did - it's really nice.  The cream is Dulux Pollinate (half strength) and the brown is Dulux Reddy Brown.

 And here it is with the front open, showing inside.  I notice now that I haven't put the trim around the window and door, so will have to do that.  The border around the top is optional but I thought that it was really appropriate for the shop and very attractive too so I was more than happy to use it.

And with the lights on.

Lastly, the fourth of the shops is the dress shop.  And yes, the trim on the large left window is missing.  As I removed it from the plastic bag that the trims were in only half of this one came out - and the other half was not in the bag, nor had it dropped out as I removed the sheet of trims because I opened it over something to make sure I caught everything.  I will write to Cynthia about this and one other item as well.

This shop is again painted in the Dulux Placid Blue and at first I did the trims in Dulux Pink Tulle, a soft peach colour.  However it looked washed out so I re-did it in Dulux Surprise which is the next darkest one on the colour chip and I was surprised when I was looking at the dresses supplied to go into the shop that the blue and the apricot ones match my colours exactly.  I hadn't taken them with me when I chose the paints, and only looked at them together last night.

And now with the front open.  Don't you love the trim around the windows and the shelves under the windows?  I'm not happy that the piece across the front doesn't meet the cover in this one - for most of the shops I realized that this was the case early in the process and moved the ceiling up a bit so that this piece would meet better.

And here it is with the lights on - so pretty.  I love this wallpaper.

I am really happy with the shops despite their shortcomings.  Being a perfectionist means that nothing is ever good enough really because nothing is ever perfect.  So I am never really totally happy with anything.  But I am learning to be accepting of a reasonable result.  Sort of.  They certainly do look pretty and if you don’t look too closely you don’t notice their shortcomings.  I have been 'talking' quite a bit to Sharon Goldsmith lately and her advice was to just be happy that things are done.  So Sharon, I am putting that advice into action ;)

I am also re-instating the quote for my email signature that I used for a while - and it prompted quite a bit of discussion from people who have the same problem as I do.  It says "Better to get the project done with plan B, than to never start because of 'perfectionistic paralysis'.  And that expresses me perfectly - I often avoid doing something because I think it will be hard or that I won't be able to do it well enough, and then when I do gather up the courage to attempt it I find it is easier than I thought it would be.  Or that it comes out better than I had thought it would.  And as I said above, I am also working on doing things even if the result is not the standard that I want it to be, and on being happy just that it is done!

Cynthia Howe shops are not cheap but they are just so well worth the money.  And remember, I pay a lot for shipping to Australia, and they are still worth it.  She includes so many beautiful details that the finished result can't help but be something special.

I have also worked on quite a few of the pieces of furniture to go in each of these shops and tomorrow or the next day I hope to show these to you in situ.

Welcome Sharon

G'day Sharon, so lovely that you have signed on as a follower of the blog - thank you very much indeed!  We have been talking quite a bit lately and I really appreciate the nice things you have said about my work.  I am so pleased that you enjoy visiting here.  I have enjoyed getting to 'know' you a bit better recently.

Sharon does the most wonderful kits in 1:48th scale.   You can find her work  here.  At the moment I am waiting for the arrival of the Country Comfort Bed & Breakfast cottage kit from her.  It is such a sweet little house and I look forward to adding it to my collection.  I already have several furniture kits from Sharon and am really pleased with all of them.

It is always such a pleasure to see that someone else has joined as a follower.  It is so rewarding to know that people are interested in the little projects I do and your encouragement means so much to me.  Thank you all, my friends, for your support.  It is so motivating to to see that you have visited and especially to receive your feedback.

Hello Leanne; and I will be back soon!

I noticed that you have also joined my blog - a huge thank-you for being so interested.  It is lovely to have you here and I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Please do come again, it is so motivating to have other people with whom to share my interest and little mini projects.  The feedback from all you lovely readers is just wonderful.

Azaelia in our garden

Real life has taken up pretty well all of my time lately.  My mother has been in hospital for the last three weeks, quite ill with an infection, along with her chronic breathing difficulties and her congestive heart failure.  It is quite a drive to get to the hospital so takes several hours out of the day.  It is difficult to see her degenerate mentally as a result of being so ill and I have to come to terms with the fact that she is 88 and has so many problems and probably won't be here all that much longer so I am emotionally drained by it all.

I have however been doing some petitpoint when I am able to do so, working on birthday items for our birthday swap group on Phoenix_Makesminis and the lucky message prize for Miniature_Haven.  I will post a photo of the gorgeous little crocheted doily and jug cover that I received for my prize for winning the lucky message.

Lots of furniture for Dandelion Cottage

Yesterday was very exciting.  A sizeable box arrived by courier containing two orders of furniture from Herdwick Landscapes (http://www.herdwicklandscapes.co.uk).  What fun unwrapping each of the beautifully labelled and wrapped packages.  Everything is so well packed that there is no problem with mailing all the way to Australia.

Now the cottage is full of furniture.  All I need is another set of shelves or a cupboard to go beside the dry sink.  The potboard dresser is larger than the chicken dresser so there's no room for the settle on the back wall.  I might try and see whether it fits on the front wall, otherwise I'll have to leave it out.  That's a shame because the little hedgehogs now won't have anywhere to sit ;)

For quite a long time I was put off 1:24th scale because the furniture often was so squat and out of proportion and I didn't like it but the Herdwick furniture is delicate and in proportion, catching the feel of the real life items so well.  They are extremely well made too, and the photos don't do them justice at all.

So here are photos of the lovely things. First of all the potboard dresser.  I have a teaset with blue flowers on it that I will display on here after I find my wax to keep them in place - they keep falling off at the moment.

Also downstairs is the cupboard with shelves above it.  This is a neat little cupboard.   I did order it unfinished wood because I was going to paint it blue like the sink unit but I really love the look of the finished furniture, although it's a lot of brown in the cottage.

The two rocking chairs are just darling, aren't they?  I think that Mr & Mrs hedgehog will be very comfortable on those at night after a busy day when  the children have gone to bed.

Some accessories for the downstairs area are the water butt that should sit outside the door.....

....the ash box with ashes for in front of the fire..................

....and a bread cart to string up somewhere.  I didn't realize this would be quite so big in the house but I'll fill it with different items and work out how I'm going to hang it and where.

Then there is a griddle and a kettle to go on the stove.

I already have a set of pots that need to be treated to get rid of their very silver look.

Upstairs there is this wonderful cupboard bed.  I fell in love with this bed and it is quite large but lovely.  Here it is closed, with the bed steps in place.

And here it is open.  It has little cupboards underneath too.

I'm sure that Mr & Mrs Hedgehog will be very cosy and private in their darling bed.

I haven't forgotten the children.  They have a double bed with a trundle bed underneath.  It's all properly strung just like a full size one.  When I can locate my fabrics I will make bedding for all the beds - I'm looking forward to doing that.

A chest of drawers and a mirror give the hedgehog family some more room for their clothing and also a place to make sure their spines are nicely arranged.

There is now a basin and jug on the washstand so they can all have a good wash and of course they have the towels on the towel rack that I showed you before, to dry themselves with.

I also bought this darling lamp from Chris (www.midiminis.weebly.com) at the online show last month.  She made it especially for me, doing it with a lovely white lustre finish.  I'm looking forward to getting the wiring connected and seeing the effect in the cottage.

And here is everything in place, more or less.  First downstairs....

And now upstairs.....

That's pretty much everything that can fit upstairs on the first floor, but on the ground floor I still need to get something else to go on the other side of the sink.  Not sure whether to order another cupboard or maybe a small table to go there.

With all this brown furniture it needs colour.  The blue and white china will help, as will some nice soft cushions on the chairs and pretty bedding and curtains.  Probably a mat on the floor in front of the stove. And of course some food and such.

 I have made up a phoenix kitchener stove to go instead of the fireplace, which I was considering moving upstairs but I'm not sure now whether there'll be room for it to go up there.  I hope there is because I really love the fireplace and grate that Carolyn had put in the cottage.

So now the cottage is nearly furnished and I want to get going on those extras.  But of course I'm still all packed up except for the few tools I've managed to dig out.

The studio is coming along though.  Peter has nearly finished the top shelves across the back.  He is working lots of 12-hr night duties at the hospital at the moment so it's hard to get to the shelving.  And my brother is flat out busy and can't help at the moment.  So it's a case of waiting.  Still.

Just making more UFOs!

All good intentions are leading just to the creation of more UFOs at the moment, it seems.  I started on the Seaside Cottage kit from Suzanne & Andrews and now it is finished except that I can't attach the roof permanently because I can't find my quarter scale scribed flooring to put down.  At first I had intended to just use the plain flooring supplied but now I want to add the scribed flooring - I've hunted through all my boxes that are packed, to no avail.  I know I have some, somewhere!  The house is sitting there waiting for this last step.  The furniture is done, all except for dressing the bed - my fabric containers are not in reach just now.  Then it needs more accessories.

Okay, while I am waiting for some paint I've ordered I'll start on the Karen Benson Toy Shoppe kit.  I have lots of things ready to put into the shop already so it will be nice to get it together. By the time I have it constructed the paint I've ordered will probably be here - Deb is usually pretty quick with the orders.  Well, that shop is constructed, wallpapered and - still waiting for the paint to arrive so I can finish it off!

So I started on Petit Chateau.  I had the paints which I'd bought previously, and have a lot of the furniture kits for this house too.  Got the shell constructed, started wallpapering the rear section - and ran out of Grandmother Stover's glue.  I know I have another container of it.  In the boxes, of course.  Can I find it?  You guessed it - no.

I rang the miniatures shop about 1 1/2 hours away.  Yes, they stocked this glue - and had sold the last containers of it on Saturday, just two days previous to my phone call.  It will take two weeks for her new order to arrive - the same as it takes for anything to arrive to me that I've ordered from overseas.

What about starting on the furniture kits for the Chateau?  I took them out - and a lot of them need staining.  I have two stain pens, neither of them the colour recommended.  Not usually a problem except that if I use them the furniture won't show up very well against the floor colour.  I did manage to make up a couple of items that are painted but as for the rest..........I will have to order some more stain pens.  It can be tricky to get these through customs, but I'll go ahead and order them.  So that's another two week's wait.  and of course I can't get them and the glue from the same overseas dealer, so that's two lots of quite expensive shipping to pay.  Oh well.

Okay, I have everything I need for the Petite Properties schoolhouse kit at least.  I had been spraying the pieces for this and for the church as well, with acrylic sealer to prevent warping if I used Creative PaperClay on them.  But I decided to use the ballast and sand on the school, to give a 'brick and flint' finish.  And it all went okay except I'm not happy with the job I've done on the exterior - the ballast goes on well but I have trouble getting the sand to stick to fill in between.  So there are lots of places where I've used paint fairly thickly to fill in as well.  The school is constructed, the playground is landscaped and I started to put the fence around it,  All fine.  then I began to put the railings in between the posts - and I was missing some, and also missing some little caps for the top of the posts.  I thought I'd finally be able to complete something (the furniture kits are all made up too) - but the UFO gremlins had other ideas (big grin).

However I did persevere, and now the construction is finished..  And today I actually have some progress photos to share with you.  I still have to decide what to do with the wires for the lighting and cover them up on the back wall.  Will I plaster over them or use a little annexe room building at the back to hide the wires and switch?

So here it is

I realized when I looked at this photo that the school had 'walked' and was now sitting over the path that goes from the back gate to the 'asphalt' area in front of the toilets. Obviously until I decide on what I am going to do with the wires I can't attach the school to the playground base area.  The roof is darker than it looks in these photos.

Here's the left end, with its lovely big window - I think it's beautiful, that window and wish I had one like it in RL - somewhere.

Here's a view of the right end, showing the side door that accesses the playground and also showing the toilets.

Sometimes I decide for some reason or other that a particular thing looks as though it will be difficult to do and I tend to put off doing it (or don't do it at all).  For this project, it was the toilets.  Or more specifically, attaching the wire to the toilets and the cistern.  But I got down to doing them today and they were fine.  As long as I let the glue dry really well between each stage it went together well.  Then I attached the cistern to the wall and the toilets to the floor so that the wire was balanced and held between the two.

So let's have a peek inside those toilets (sorry the photo is a bit blurry) - can you guess which one is the boy's?

And here is the right side wall (toilet block end)

And the gremlins are beaten at last! You might have noticed from the photos that the fence is also finished.  I found those pesky missing pieces.  I was short of one of the longer side 'railings', but had an extra one of the short 'railings'.  I didn't want to leave that stretch bare so after some consideration I decided to cut it in half and glue both halves in place leaving a gap in the middle.  To cover that gap I added a bit of vine growing up on the inside of the fence and draping over the railing (and the gap).  I'm happy with the result of that too.

I'm glad I put the tree in the grassed area, even though it's not the most realistic tree around :) 

A slightly closer view of the entrance will (hopefully) show the tiles I've put on the floor in the porch area.

This photo also shows that I went with a slightly more brown look to the building.  I am not entirely happy with the surface of the school.  I used medium-sized ballast from the railway shop, then while the glue was still wet I poured sand over it.  It did do that to a certain extent but not as much as I wanted - perhaps I put the ballast on too thickly.  Anyway, when I painted the base coat over the surface I did it quite thickly to fill the gaps where the sand wasn't deep enough.  Then I thought the whole thing looked too brown.  I was watching an old episode of Midsomer Murders at the time and there in the background was a church done in the flint and brick style, and it was in beiges and browns - much warmer.  So I added some Nutmeg Brown (Folk Art) to the base coat mix and redid it.  Then I sponged in a random way with the Nutmeg Brown, some terra cotta and different shades of the base coat.  After it was dry I distressed it by dry-brushing with black.

I did test the lights of course before I painted the roof, and they work really well.  They look a bit ugly though.  I hope that adding some shades and painting the wires will improve their appearance.

I put the furniture inside to check whether my plan would work out.  Nothing is glued down because I'll need to be able to get to things to add the accessories.

Now I need to get down and make those accessories.  The story for this building is that it is set in the present time but the students, who are in grades 3-6, that we call Primary (aged 7 or 8-11) here in New South Wales, are studying the history of their village and their school.  The old school desks have been brought out of storage so that the children can experience some of what school life was like in an earlier time.  There will be a display of  'historic' things on a table between the two bookcases on the large window wall, and some photos or such on the on the old chalkboard on the easel.

Speaking of which, I need a chalkboard for the front of the room as well.  There's only one place that has enought room for that, and it is on the right hand side of the back wall (which is the way the students will be facing, so it becomes the front of the room.  Is that clear as mud?  If you look at the photo of the interior you will see the space there between the smaller window and the teacher's cupboard (which I might move elsewhere).

What will I tackle next?  Some of the cottages that I want to furnish? But they need wallpapering if I'm going to do that.  Back to the glue again.  I have the bits for landscaping Pickett Hill, maybe that would be an idea.  But I'm in the mood for construction.  But I should do those accessories first or this too will become yet another UFO ;)

Welcome - belated again!

I must welcome Leanne and Preble, the newest followers of this blog (neither of you list your blogs, please let me know if you have one)

.  I apologize that it is rather belated.  But it is nonetheless sincere.  Thank you for joining our group. and taking the time to sign on as a Follower.  I truly appreciate it very much.  I am so happy to have people to share my thoughts and meanderings with others online.  I wish I had people to share with among my family but apart from them looking (sometimes) at the different buildings or showing them to the grandchildren, there isn't anyone with the interest to talk about those things that we miniaturists love to talk about.  So this is the alternative for me, and I really, really love looking at the work that so many of you show on your own blogs.

I am inspired by your lovely creations and although I can't dream of achieving the wonderful woodworking that some of you do, I aspire to improve with my miniature-making.  Don't always achieve any improvement, but I am trying.  Very trying, my husband would say if he wasn't such a kind and loving man! I look at the effects you achieve and am encouraged to try to make my projects more interesting.

So thank you, my friends, for your encouragement through your comments and your inspiration through showing your work on your blogs!

Where there's a will......

It's a shame that little things like earning a living or sleeping have to get in the way of important things like my miniatures studio ;) but while I wait for the menfolk to start again on the important things in life (she says with her tongue firmly in her cheek) I am preparing for something that my mother has requested.  She 'volunteered' me to put on a display of miniatures at the retirement village where she lives.  And the activities coordinator was very excited.  They have had various displays and exhibits and the residents find them very interesting.

Now that is very sweet of Mum, and of Christine, who is the Co Coordinator. but neither of them realize as you and I do, dear reader that while I have lots (and lots and lots) of miniatures, I do specialize in UFOs!  So no, dearest mother, the exhibit will not be in October - I will arrange for it to be a little later in the year.  And it presents a bit of a quandary: which of my projects will I concentrate on to complete and where are the bits required to complete them?

I am thinking that perhaps some that are near completion in the various scales would make up a display that represents my collection - there is no way I could finish everything off and take it or even finish all of those that wouldn't take too much to complete, in time to display them.  It might even be easier and quicker to do some of the kits from scratch if they are the ones for which I have all the accessories and furniture as well.. So I will keep you updated on how I go as I concentrate on preparing for the display.  At least it gives me the impetus to complete those UFOs in rather a hurry!  And to sort out those boxes in the studio that have had everything packed into them in the expectation that they'd be unpacked and properly sorted onto shelves - some were packed more with an eye to carrying the most in the available space in the boxes than with other considerations, though I did try to keep things that go together in the same box.  Now, where did I put that container with all the electrical bits............?  And will I order some lights for Dandelion as I had planned or not......?  And I know I've made all the toys for the toy shop, so perhaps if I make the toy shop for them to go into............?  Hmmmm, better do some sorting out and make a list, I think!

Update

Well dear friends, I promised you photos after Sunday of the shelves in my studio.  So here they are:

Aren't they looking good?  And here's a photo of my minis on the shelves.

What's that you say?  You can't see any shelves?  Just a bare wall, you say?  And no minis on the shelves either? Let me look again.  Yup, you're right.  It looks just like a bare wall to me, I can't see any shelves either,  That's because there aren't any!

But it's not quite that dire - the sink cupboard is finished except for the door that will cover part of it, and th e sink unit being put into it.  So are there minis on those shelves?

No,  are right again, that's not minis on the shelves, it is tools.  Not my tools - my brother's tools and my hubby's tools.

But some of my quarter scale minis and my Fairfield are in the cubby.  Yes siree, they are - or at least they were for Sunday, to make room in the house while we had guests.  Here they are:


Two rows deep and several layers high on the desk (and under the desk too).






This is the large table that takes up two thirds of the right side of the studio, it has tools over half of it and under all of it.  I have boxes of minis on the rest of the top and all across the front of it behind the door.





A trestle table is set up in front of the stack of timber for the shelves, with the big drop saw under it as well as heaps of large boxes of minis.







The Fairfield and the Town Square on on the trestle table along with some containers - I've tried my best to keep relevant things together but it hasn't always worked so well because the menfolk decide that certain boxes can be moved to make way for other things.




Nicely arranged and organized, aren't they?  Not!  Don't know how on earth I'll ever sort it all out again.  And the thought of bringing it all back into the house is rather daunting too.

You might detect a certain note of, shall we say - cynicism in this post?  I wonder why?! Sigh.  But it was nice to have those boxes out of my lounge room and dining room as you can imagine - and I was able to vacuum my floors properly too, so the house feels clean for a change :)

Sunday (yesterday) was an enjoyable day, made even more so by the unexpected and most welcome addition of our youngest daughter Kirsten, our two granddaughters Grace and Chelsea, and the 'bump', or Herbie as Kirstie calls her unborn baby.  She is 17 weeks pregnant with her fifth child.  It was also great to have my Mum here and show her what we have all been so busy with these last seven months.  It is difficult for Mum to get out and involves hiring a wheelchair taxi, so we tend to visit her at the nursing home rather than have her here too often.

Mum was really interested in seeing the Fairfield that I've been talking about, and of course the studio and the paved area.  I get my love of pretty gardens from her too, so we had a good discussion about what I had planted in there.  My brother has no time for gardens - he gets that from my dad.

And the garden is making pleasing progress even if the studio isn't!  On Thursday Peter and I spent the day clearing up the building mess from the back yard and the cubby (what a job!), and planting some more plants.  The mandevilla will now climb up in front of the verandah post, and hopefully will enjoy being out of the pot it's been in for the last couple of years and will bloom profusely with it's pink flowers with a deep pink throat.

 The scaevola is putting on some growth and is a really pretty colour.

A lot of the buds on the philotheca 'Winter rouge' are bursting open into their pretty star-shaped flowers.

The little marguerite daisy has been blooming ever since we put it in.

Even the little Federation daisy has recovered from being butchered when being transplanted from it's pot and is blooming away, sweet little thing that it is.

The lavender is putting forth some blooms now.  Is this an English lavender?  It's my favourite kind.

 And the Lavender Sidonie has recovered from the shock of being planted out into the pot and is blooming away beautifully.

I have deadheaded the dianthus and they are looking a bit bare now but hopefully will give another flush of flowers.

Isn't the  Diascia looking lovely?  It's filling out just so well and draping over the sides of the pot beautifully.

The paving was finally finished on Friday, with all the half bricks that needed to be cut being put along the edges of the rows.  Peter and I had planted the gardens on either side on Thursday. The lovely camellia sasanqua 'Little Jen' has virtually finished its first flush of flowers but there are quite a few buds that will hopefully come out soon.  This is a pretty little camellia with a weeping habit and blooms for a long period.  It should look nice against the grey of the wall.  To the right of it that tiny plant you might be able to see among the sugar cane mulch is a ground cover with white flowers on it, then there's a dwarf buddlea under the window.  It only grows to about 80cm high and wide.

 When this stick with a topknot of  leaves grows up it will be a beautiful Chinese Tallow tree and provide some shade for this paved area as well as spectacular autumn foliage.  It is supposed to reach 8m height and 3-5m width. We had a good talk on Thursday, the tree and I, and I explained just what is expected of it.  At the moment it is only about 5ft tall but the branching at the top promises to give good shape later on.  We really could have done with the shade yesterday, it was so hot that it was actually a bit unpleasant to sit on the paved area for long.  We'll have to buy a cheap temporary gazebo to put over the table and chairs for a while I think.

The cinerarias in the middle of the wheelbarrow aren't looking their best at the moment - I have deadheaded them and more flowers are coming up from underneath.  Our youngest granddaughter Chelsea also did some deadheading on Sunday.  She loves the garden and is often out among the flowers at her house.  They will look better in a couple of days.  But the violas are still gorgeous, draping over the sides of the wheelbarrow beautifully even if they don't look quite as good as they did a couple of weeks ago.

Not a bad show considering that it was still winter when these photos were taken!  Yesterday, Sunday, was the 1st September and so the first day of spring.

I love pretty flowers but I'm not a good gardener.  Hopefully with these plants being outside the cubby and with me passing by every day I will notice what needs to be done and will take the time to do it, deadheading and weeding and watering as required.  It will encourage me to take breaks from sitting for too long like I do indoors.  I have a kitchen timer that I want to set for every 30 minutes and take a 5-10 minute break to get up and walk around - I am far too sedentary.  Since I've been more active working on the studio I can fit into clothes that I haven't been able to wear for three years.  They are still tight but I can wear them.  I need to do more activity even when I am able to mini again.  Not only to lose weight but also for better health.

Here's a quick overview of the front of the cubby as of Thursday.  First the left side.  The pickets still aren't fixed in place on the verandah - you can see that they are all uneven.  I just put them there to see the effect again (changed them from the right side to the left) and they have moved.  And you will notice that the window and door trim still isn't done.  Sigh.

It's starting to look quite pretty though, with the plants.  The hanging basket will be lovely soon, when the blue lobelia start to bloom and contrast with the white flowers in the centre.  And the sweet peas are supposed to be just perfect for hanging baskets but I don't think they know that they're supposed to hand down :)

I'm really looking forward to the climbing mandevilla being in bloom up the left post..  We do have other little plants that I want to put in among the larger plants too, or along the edge of the garden to hang over the sides of the railway sleepers.

Now the whole front.  sort of anyway - there was still a trestle table with some long lengths of melamine covered compound timber shelves on it when I took this photo on Thursday, blocking a complete view of the right side.

And here's a view of the paved area at the side.  Our garden table and chairs need a complete sanding and re-oiling, they are rather neglected at the moment.  We like the grey aged look but they do need attention.  So does the garden bench that we've moved to the paving from under the jacaranda tree- I have my eye on a wrought iron bench for under the tree.

As you can see there is quite some way to go yet even though the paving itself is done.  The lattice screen on the left will be reduced in height to about 6 foot, and three more panels will be put in so that it goes all the way to the back fence to screen off Peter's shed and the area behind it where things like wheelbarrows etc are stored.  We have planted the first of the star jasmine plants that will grow up the lattice but it's hard to see in this photo.

The front of it needs to be made more attractive and will have a frog pond to the left and a step put across a large part of it.  It's quite a high step at the moment.  We're also looking for some sort of rail to make it easier for Nathan to get up and down.  I've put some thin plywood over the window for now until I buy a blind, to prevent the heat from spoiling my minis.  I think I'll get a traditional shutter for the exterior too.  And as I said, we need some shade - maybe a sailcloth or gazebo.  Today Peter and I will be planting some lilly-pilly plants across the back fence.  They will grow up to cover up the ugly fence and to provide a screen from the back neighbours as well as some nice greenery as a backdrop.  The new growth is a lovely bronze-red too, so it's very attractive.  We might even spray paint the fence the same dark grey as the trim on the cubby to tie it together and make it a nicer colour.

So - I am learning patience my friends!  There's still a lot of painting I could do on the cubby, and it needs to be done before the weather gets too hot.  And there's still some gardening to do before the weather warms up too much too.  And hopefully the menfolk will get the shelving done soon as well.