It Might Be Cheaper To Move House

I am finding quilting very frustrating at the moment. The machine I use on the quilting frame has decided to go on strike. I am struggling to find anyone to mend it,and there was I thinking that there were people out there who needed the work. Shows what I know. Anyway until I can get that little problem sorted I need to change tack a bit.

Over the years I have had many interests. Those of you that have persevered with my blog from the beginning may remember that I had a go at porcelain doll making at one time. I also had quite an obsession with cross stitch until I realised that although I enjoyed doing it I didn’t really want walls full of cross stitch pictures. The same applied to the dolls. I loved making and dressing them but displaying them is another thing entirely. I had a fairly serious dabble in dolls’ houses. I had a small dolls’ house for years without doing anything to it. Then I walked past a shop displaying a very large one in the window. I sent for catalogues and saw what can be bought in miniature and the rest, as they say is history. I was hooked and I did display one of the houses, in fact still do. The other two are taking up valuable space in my cellar but I’m not sure what I can do about that.

This is the house I saw in the window.

The Study with the boyfriend being interviewed perhaps. The clock does actually work if I make the effort to change the battery.

The snooker room to which they might repair if they hit it off.

Milady’s Boudoir

Milady’s withdrawing room. Don’t you just love the ‘real’ fire effect.

The other living room.

The dining room.

The workroom.

You may have noticed some of the rugs. They come from my cross stitching days. I did find a use for it for a while.

Reminder of The Big Cheese’s family past this one. Apparently his Granny had one before it fell apart. What can I say.

I also made cold porcelain flowers on one of the courses I went on. You would not believe how realistic some of the flowers were. They are cut out with tiny cutters and then moulded to shape. Very therapeutic.

Some from another project but the same course.

I dabbled a bit in bobbin lace for a while too. This was fascinating but I didn’t feel I was ever going to be an expert. I also had to rely on someone else for a lift and I hate that. I still have all the gear though. I always buy all the gear.

I went on a very satisfying course to make a parquetry picture. That was very fiddly but the result is, I am sure you will agree, worth it. Unless you are a dolls’ house fanatic you may think it a waste of time but there you go – obsession changes your outlook on life. By definition if you are reading this you must be a bit if a quilting wannabe or expert.  (I know this because I do not have enough friends to account for the number of people regularly reading my blog.) Look on it as a perfectly executed Baltimore but one twelfth of the size, then you will understand. Which reminds me, perhaps that should be my next project.

My obsession led me to treat myself to a course to make my own. I chose a terrace of three houses and made one into a shop. (Never let it be said I choose the easy option.) The tutor had been in the job too long and lived for the coffee breaks but it was still satisfying. All that big machinery cutting small pieces but I still have all my fingers. The company was good and the food even better.

Another rug this time from the terrace block; the family scene.

Yet another.

Some furniture daughter Number One painted for the shop. I’m still waiting for a couple of other things but it’s only ten years so I expect they will appear soon.

A builder who did some work on our house also had an interest in dolls houses. I made him a carpet and  swapped it for a work bench for the shop keeper in the toy shop. The vice works, it has a mechanism from a clock in it. Clever or what.

Students live in one flat on the end house.

I’m not the only person that spends time making miniatures. The only difference is they manage to charge a fortune for theirs. These are knitted. They must have used pins.

Also for this porcelain doll’s outfit.

I do have another dolls’ house but as I think you have probably reached satuation point with the photographs I will just show one room of this one and  only because it is relevant.

My shop/workroom.

There’s no doubt about it dolls houses are fun especially if you have a sense of humour. It was good whilst it lasted but what do you do with three big dolls’ houses when nobody has a nursery any more? Hope I never have to move it would be a nightmare.

Keep your fingers crossed for my sewing machine. Hopefully my next post will be back to quilting but I’m not holding my breath.

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