Wednesday 9 May 2012

Thursday 10th May 2012

Today I received all my wallpapers and flooring I need for my dollhouse. They are gorgeous, and huge sheets, they look better in real life than on a computer screen. here are some of them:

These sheets are for the ceilings, they will be plain white with rosettes in the middle.



This is the roof paper:

This is the terracotta tiles for the wash room floor. This is a plastic 3D effect, its brilliant.

I have dry built part of the basement, dry built is where you put it together without glue, just so you know where the pieces go together. It interlocks into grooves, the masking tape was put there to hold it in place until I could get the next piece on:
The room on the left is going to be the Maid and Cooks room, the middle room is the kitchen and the right hand room is the washroom, where the washing was done, and where they preserved foods. The door on the outside wall was where the deliveries and servants entered.

I now have the undercoat and fine sandpaper, so I am hoping to paint it this weekend. I will need about 2 coats of undercoat with a sand each time. I have to leave the edges, bare MDF, so the glue will adhere to it properly. Once it is undercoated I will start wallpapering and putting the flooring on, and then I will paint the outside of the house. This is going to take me a long time, but I am going to have fun doing it. I can't wait to start on it.

Tuesday 1 May 2012


Wednesday 2nd May 2012

It has certainly been a while since I last updated this blog. I have been busy with personal issues, and my knitting and sewing have taken a back seat for a while, though not long I hope.

I enrolled in a course with Open Colleges on 12th March 2012 for a Certificate IV in Small Business Management. I am hoping this will help when I am finally able to start our hobby business. I originally thought after I enrolled that maybe I had taken on too much, that this was over my head and I wouldn't understand it.....but I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I really like it. So far I have submitted 3 assignments and received 3 High Distinction's. I am just so gobsmacked by that, I just find it hard to believe. I have submitted my 4th assignment and I have 2 more completed and ready to submit. I am waiting for Workbook 3 in Study Period 3.

While I have breaks in my study, because I can get through it so fast, I thought I would do something else to keep me busy. So I bought myself a long awaited and much loved Dollhouse from The Dolls House Emporium. It was delivered on 27th April 2012:

The dollhouse:






I have also bought the dolls to live in the house (the Policeman will patrol the outside):




















I also bought these to go in it:


I had to buy a new table to place this huge dollhouse on, which I will pick up tomorrow. This weekend I will make a start at putting the dollhouse together.

So for a while this blog will consist of study updates and updates about the dollhouse. My two greatest past times at the moment.

Monday 4 July 2011

Last of the Knitted Items for Emma

I have been busy trying to finish off some knitted bonnets for my granddaughter Emma. She won't leave the beanies on, so my daughter has asked if I will knit some bonnets for her. She also asked if I would knit Emma a jacket and bonnet in Red and White for their Football Team. So now I have completed all that was requested of me. Here they are:


Now on to make the Family Theme item for July.

Saturday 2 July 2011

June 2011 - Under The Sea

I have finally finished the Under the sea theme for the sewing group....a little late seeing a it was supposed to be finished in June. But better late than never.

I personally don't like these two Dee Dee Dolphins. The pattern was easy, but the instructions were confusing. So I ended up doing it my way using the picture. I sewed all the top section (dark blue) together, I then added the mouth, and fins and tail. I did the same thing with the bottom section (light blue), and then I joined the two sections together, leaving the end near the tail open. I stuffed it and then hand stitched it together.

I have no idea why the tail on both these are twisted, but as they came out the same....it looks quite quirky. The whites of the eyes to me are too big, so next time I will definitely make it smaller. The eyes are felt which have been glued on using craft glue.

I was going to put a bell in each dolphin, but thought I won't do it this time. Maybe next time.

I hope my next project works out better.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

My Op Shop Stash...

I thought I would look in the Op Shop in town, I was hoping to find some patterns on toys or childrens clothes....but they only had adults. But I did find a treasure trove of material....
 I got:
1.5m x 150cm bright Fleecy material
2m blue dove stretch material
60cm white cotton with thin blue squares
0.5m sheer black print material
3 x packets of mixed cotton craft material - some between 0.5m and 1m.
Fleecy material in Navy, Burgundy and Cream
1 packet of black stem buttons for dolls eyes
6 sets of pink snaps
Total price $11.50

I reckon I got a bargain. There is no way I could of got a 1/4 of that for that price in the shops. I am definitely going there often :)

Sunday 22 May 2011

Dolls Are Now Completed

Well last night I managed to complete the hair on the final doll. Both dolls have taken me about 2 weeks to make, the hair took the longest as each strand of hair is tied on separately. So both dolls have ribbed socks, felt shoes, knickers with frills, their dresses and their sun hats. The faces has been embroidered by hand. It has been about 15 years since I last made a doll, I'm glad I haven't forgotten how.




I now have 2 baby blankets to make and embroider. I am still working out how to use my embroidery machine, so that might take a while to complete.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

I have managed to finish off the jacket and matching beanie. I found 3 cute little button with flowers on for this. I also made and have now finished "Little Pig". It even has a cute curly tail.


My darling husband has bought me a Janome 300E Embroidery Machine, for Mother's Day. It is being sent from QLD, so I am hoping it will arrive next week. I now have just about everything I need for my machine, I have bought some threads (but I can always do with more :) ), I also have a selection of designs to try out. One in particular I am dying to do, its a Baby's Word Book, it 10 pages and each page has a picture and a word on it. The pages are sewn together back to back, and all the pages are joined using ribbons through embroidery buttonholes. I can't wait to do this one.

I need t get some Calico tomorrow, so hopefully I can start on the two dolls I want to make. It will be nice to get some sewing done, I am having a rest from knitting and crocheting now.