The Smallest Room of the Dolls' House is Finished

My cabinet dolls' house has been an on-going project for nearly 30yrs and this is the first room that I am declaring - Finished - Done - Complete.  It is the smallest room.


The dolls' house was started for my daughter but she quickly dis-owned it and over the years, many things that we could not afford in the renovations of our actual house (or that were simply too grandiose) I did in the mini house.

Victorian era prettily painted bathroom fittings were one of those things - indeed in the full-scale house there isn't even enough space to have a bathtub!  But the bathroom set was one of the first things I bought for the dolls' house... I painted all the flowers on about 12yrs ago

cosmetic bottles made of beads

The doll's house bathroom has marble tiled floor, fancy tiles (I painted those flowers too!) and a view of Pont Alexandre III  out the window.  Well, every house should have a view of a Parisian bridge from the bathroom window!! 





Some things I made myself.  The light-fitting is Fimo, towels & face cloth sewn from a stretch toweling baby onesie, lots of beads...

towels sewn from baby-suit

Enjoying a sense of closure here - just so long as I don't think about the other 8 rooms!

Parcels - it's all about parcels

Getting a parcel is wonderful fun.  These days I don't get parcels from my grandmother so I find other ways to ensure that nice little boxes with lots of sticky tape all over them, keep arriving on the door-step. 

One way is to participate in (or organise) swaps of Blythe Doll goodies - which I do through Ravelry.   Violetta got to open the latest parcel ...  




 And she called Bird and Julia over because ...

Another one of US !!!

De-boxing a LPS Blythe can be arduous ...  there are lots of knots and things

Here are last - little Heidi the Hiker.  Julia likes her pantaloons and Bird approves of her ponytails. 

 Heidi offered everyone a 'lick' of her lollypop and then she showed off her
"'tremely cool sunglasses"   but Bird got the giggles ...

Those sunnies are really quite funny

 Meanwhile - Violetta had found more things in the parcel - all in pretty pink paper ...







 








"Well - this certainly IS a lovely dress and beautifully made but somehow I think it is more Audrey's style ... "

and here is Audrey wearing the completely wonderful Audrey Hepburn outfit ... dress, gloves, pearls and tiara!   thank you "Squishy10"   from Ravelry for a great swap outfit. 

I must show you the outfits I made for this swap - in a future post.

The other way to make sure you get parcels is to buy things on the www.  When people discuss the decline of "bricks & mortar" shops & shopping this factor is never mentioned - but surely one of the best parts of on-line shopping is the arrival of the parcel - and by the time it arrives you've almost forgotten what you bought and you get that wonderful 'parcel opening' thrill ...

One of the doll's house / miniatures companies had a special on some kits that you have to put-together yourself ... I couldn't resist getting some natty little tables - very useful bits of furniture for problem corners.

Not sure when I'll get the time to put the kits together ...
Of course I'd bought some other things too ... a jardinière on a pedestal (I'll plant a fake aspidistra in it) a very nice ham with garnish and 3 little mice.   


All very Beatrix Potter's "Two Bad Mice"   (only there are 3!) 
Now to get the "two red lobsters ... a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges." 

Tom Thumb doesn't even need to carve this ham - it is already sliced

And the LPS Blythes had a very nice dinner to welcome Heidi ...

Some Knitting, Some Lace and the Dolls' House

Knitting - found a bargain on my last trip to Spotlight ... Patons' Bluebell at $2 a ball! There was a nice dark tealish green and my grandson lurvs green so I grabbed enough (plus a bit) to make a vest for him. A vintage styled vest. In the 30s & 40s textured stitches were very popular for masculine knits, lots of twisted stitches, some cables and lots of patterns in simple knit & purl.

I had a lovely time trawling though my vintage patterns and eventually selected this knit/purl stitch pattern - the original is called "Lance" or perhaps that was the name of the dog. I'm using a more modern pattern for the maths but will adapt as it has 80's armhole shaping.

Lace - lots of lace news :-) At Epping Lace group on Thurs I only managed to do 1 tiny exercise - The Footside from Jennifer Fisher's book "Torchon Lace for Today" but that night I had the bright idea of making that exercise - in much finer thread - to put on the ends of the towels I'm making for my dolls' house. Only problem was that I'd had the book on loan and had returned it. So next day I had to try to remember how it went - luckily it is very simple. Not sure I got it quite right but in 1 strand of embroidery floss it does make quite a good, very fringe like trim for a miniature towel. Cheap Emb floss does not wash well though - I think this will benefit from a bit of ironing.

I must say that it felt wonderful to make my first pieces of Lace for a Purpose - not just a sample or exercise - even though the purpose is rather a silly one, being trim for miniature dolls' house towels! Here are some of those towels in situ - with new "perfume bottles" and new "plant" - it is a new species, the African Sage Violet.

The bathroom is almost done now - solved another little problem too. As the dolls' house is a cupboard all the rooms are quite deep - which means that the small rooms are awkward to arrange - with one bit of furniture hiding others and those at the front dominating. The ceramic wear was a cheap set (which I then painted) and I've always been unhappy with the base of the hand basin, it's clumpy, but how to disguise it? plants? a little rubbish bin? Had another bright idea looking at my sewing thimbles ... I had one that is too large and has a flat tip ... paint it up and voila!


But back to Lace - also went to the Lace Guild day at Linnwood on Sunday, spent lots of credit card and now I have my own lace-making equipment YEA! pretty pearwood bobbins :-)

Celebrated last night by making that sample (it is not an amoeba!) lace-makers will recognise it from Rosemary Shephard's book (I hope!)

My new Winder and the Dolls' House

My latest Gadget ...

a ball-winder. Have been wanting one for winding up my home-spun and home-dyed yarns as they look so lovely and professional when wound neatly on one of these gadgets - however - the retail price of these quite simple gadgets is bizarrely astronomical. So I waited (not very patiently) and on the weekend, browsing through the 2nd hand shops ... found this one for $25 :-)

Have been 'playing' with my dolls' house this week - finally solved the problem of suitable fabric for miniature towels (more later - when I finally finish them!) and have done lots of work on the bathroom. Lots of fun with tiny pots of smelly paint!

In my previous post I was probably a bit confusing about how this dolls' house works - it is a cupboard - an idea I copied from one I saw in a tiny museum in Queensland almost 30yrs ago. Here are photos with the doors shut and open

3 rooms per floor / shelf, no doors or stairs but some (fake) windows.





And here is the bathroom - newly painted.
I've filled in the hole in the ceiling, added cornices, skirting tiles, and a border at the top of the tiles. Also I've made a flower pot for the wire stand and fixed the light fitting so it hangs straight! And I've sent away for a proper window. Once the towels are finished, the flower-pot 'planted' and that window installed and curtained ... I think I'll be able to say the bathroom is done! Dolls' houses are like real ones - once you start ... ...

Will I work on the Nursery next?

It needs: a new light fitting, more pictures, better curtains - lots of soft furnishings. At least I think it has enough toys :-)

Roses and a mini bathroom

Bought some gorgeous old-fashioned roses at our local Farmers' Market yesterday ... wish we had smell-a-'puter because they smell even better than they look.

And there is no need to worry about how this bathroom smells - it is part of my dolls' house!


Originally started for our daughter about 25yrs ago - this dolls' house is a converted cupboard which means it is all about the interior and there are no chimneys to fall off or roof tiles that catch the dust. The wood on the side of that photo is the door of the cupboard.

Daughter quickly disowned the dolls' house and it has become another of my UFOs (UnFinished Projects). So - in an attempt to provide myself with some motivation, I'm posting about it. The bathroom is one of 3 rooms on the top floor/shelf of the cupboard. I'm quite pleased with the ceramic-ware which I painted - we couldn't afford gorgeous repro flowered ceramic-ware for our own bathroom when we renovated but I could make some for the dolls' house :-) and the light fitting is OK though it doesn't like to hang straight! (it is made of beads, string and Fimo). However, the green paint job needs redoing and the 'window' at the back is rather awful. Also I need to make towels and things but have been completely stuck for suitable fabric.