New vendor -- JS Miniatures, maker of Georgian fireplace surrounds

Isn't this lovely?  It's a Georgian fireplace surround with faux marble insert from a new supplier, JS Miniatures, in the UK.  The proprietor, Jennifer, also writes one of the blogs I follow, A Georgian Dolls House Blog.

These surrounds are available either in kit form, (with wooden structure and one of four colours of faux marble) or ready-made.  I really like them -- it's a nice, clean design, and the marble adds a lovely detail!


JS Miniatures Website
A Georgian Dolls' House Blog

Winners of the Giveaway!

(This is Edmund, head male cat at our home.  He has nothing to do with the draw, but I love this photo :)

Well, we've picked the winners of the 250 follower giveaway.


The winner of the Blue and White set is DAISY!

The winner of the Witchy set is MINI-ME!

The winner of the Jardinere set is KIKKA!

Thank you to all the participants so much for your support and interest :)  Would the winners please email me with their postal addresses?  My email address is mco [at] ns.sympatico.ca

Love to you all,

Nina

250 follower giveaway!

Finally, it's time for our giveaway, a small token of our appreciation for all our followers and friends online! 

As usual, there's a choice of three packages.  This time around the themes are:

1.  Blue and White

This will include the screen that Evangelista made, covered with Itsy Bitsy Minis' Jacobean Blue pattern wallpaper.  There are also three necklaces, a white tray tiled with delft tiles, two tea cups and two tassels.

2.  Witchy

This includes tassels, a little black stool upholstered with fabric printed with a bat, an open book showing a map of the heavens, three necklaces and the little bat needlework cushion.

3.  Jardinière

This giveaway has a white chair upholstered in a faded green and pink toile, two rose-themed needlepoint cushions, two topiaries and three little necklaces in greens and pinks.

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To enter, please be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post, letting me know which  package draw you'd like to be entered in.   I'll have the kids do the drawing on Thursday afternoon (Nova Scotia time) during Knitwits :)

Hallowe'en theme project -- Bat Cushion

Happy Hallowe'en to all the witch, wizard and spooky aficionados out there! As a Hallowe'en gift for my fellow miniaturists, here's a little bat cushion I designed and the pattern for it.

This is quite a dainty cushion, stitched in stem stitch on 22 canvas.  If you want to make it bigger, or want to stitch it on a smaller canvas, then you could add an expanded border :)

Here's the pattern chart:

As always, this is my own design, and I'm thrilled for you to make as many as you like for yourself or for gifts.   (Just a note -- the little sample in the top photo doesn't have the contrasting grey sections shown in the pattern because I didn't have any grey floss :))

Hello! I'm back!

Oh my dears.  I'm so sorry!  I'd like to thank everyone who wrote me, asking how things were -- all is well.  David's health is good and I've just been really busy with my one woman show which closed last weekend, quite successfully.

Just a quick update about a few of the things I've been working on, then I'll put up a post tomorrow (I hope) for the giveaways.

I've been embroidering up a storm over the last few months.  Here are some of the things I've completed or almost completed:

The dragon rug just needs to be finished off -- the stitching is done, Hallelujah!  I've been working on it since before the England trip, in fact it was my travel project :)  The rest are all cushions, most of them patterns from Felicity Price's book Needlepoint 1 12 scale projects.  The one in the middle of the bottom row is from a Janet Granger kit -- it's the cushion pattern Yvonne.  A really lovely design, fiddly to stitch but worth it.

Eva and I have been working on House of Miniatures kits at Knitwits.  I love these kits, at least the ones that are not upholstered.  I've had NO joy with settees, sofas or wing chairs :(  They just don't work for me, but the straight-up wooden ones are fabulous.  I buy them as cheaply as I can on eBay -- just search for "house miniature kit".

I just finished this dower chest, and found it really easy to complete. It's going to live in David's workshop in the attic of the William and Mary house.  I love everything about this little piece -- from the chest top to the drawer to the turned legs.

Eva just completed this lovely Queen Anne side table on Thursday.  She worked very carefully at it, and did a lovely job. Such a useful table!

And I made up this tavern table kit a few weeks ago.  If you get a chance to pick up one of these (they come in two sizes,  this one, a smallish sqaure one, and a larger rectangular one), and it works with your project, do pick it up.  It's a very easy kit and I love the results!  Perfect for a tea table, games table or in a pub or kitchen.

More tomorrow, my darlings, and I'll scurry around and try to get caught up on all your blogs!

Love,

Nina

Witchy giveaway items -- preview!

Here are some items for the second part of our giveaway:  pieces for a stylish witch or wizard :) (We're going to have the actual draw post later this week, where you will be able to leave comments to be entered in the three draws).

Among the items for the draw are a little stool that I reupholstered in a bat-print.

I also made two little tassels in halloween colours, plus an open book with a black snakeskin cover which features a map of the heavens.  The kids made three classy necklaces, too, and I made a plain tray for them.

More to come!

Some items for our giveaway

For the last few weeks the kids and I have been working on our giveaway presents, our celebration of reaching over 250 followers. There will be three prizes, and today I wanted to share some items from the first group: Blue and White.

Among the other goodies we'll have for you is this screen, painted by Evangelista and then decorated with some of the leftover wallpaper from the WAMH dining room -- Jacobean by Itsy Bitsy Minis.  She did a really nice job on this!

I made this little tray and decorated it with the same paint finish that Evangelista used, and then I added some delft tile paper I'd picked up from Netherlands shop Silly Sisters online.  I think the tea cups are very pretty :)

More to come tomorrow!

A roast by Kiva, whitewood furniture and topiaries

Just wanted to show you a couple of things I got in the mail yesterday.  First is this amazing roast beef by Kiva Atkinson, one of the greatest polymer clay miniature food artists in the world.

I've long wanted a piece by Kiva, and my number one wish was for a beef roast.  In person it's even more eerily perfect than in photos.  Another thing I adore about this piece is that it would work in a miniature scene in almost any period.  Thank you so much, Kiva -- I'll treasure it!  Kiva's blog is Kiva's Miniatures and you can find her work for sale in her eBay shop, user name jklr4.

I've gone back and forth on what sort of display piece to use in the Blue and White Room in the William and Mary House, and finally I decided to buy this Queen Anne dresser from Minimum World in the UK.

It's unfinished (if you're searching for it on UK sites, it's called whitewood) furniture, and I'll stain it and maybe do a little surface decoration of some sort.  I'll certainly replace the handles.  I love the details on this piece:  the legs are quite elegant, the scalloping at the top and especially the bottom is lovely, and the little finials at the bottom are an unexpectedly charming touch.  I've ordered lots of whitewood pieces from Minimum World and they arrive promptly, well-packaged, and MW's shipping costs to North America are very reasonable. 

Finally, here's one of the projects the Knitwits and I made last Thursday to be part of our upcoming giveaway:  topiary trees!  I'm so happy with how these have turned out :)  More soon!

A belated welcome to all our new followers!

I am so far behind, my dears, in welcoming all the wonderful people who are reading our blog.We're at 255 followers, and I haven't even done my 200th giveaway yet!  Well, we've got some very special things that we're making for you right now, and will post about them soon :)

The kids and I really appreciate your interest, comments and kindness to us.

Welcome to:

Janny Warmaar from the Netherlands works in an elegant shabby style and blogs at Art of Mini.

Kim who blogs at My Fairytale Cottage.

Marleen is a Dutch blogger who blogs at Marleen's Miniaturen.

Esther Diaz is a Spanish blogger who blogs at Mi mundo de miniatura.

KCDesigns is from Germany and blogs at Meine Miniaturen in 1:144.

Francesca (Chipironini) is a doll and miniature maker from Spain who blogs at Petitissim.

Eu... is a Portuguese blogger who blogs at Tenho um blog, e depois?

Catherine blogs in French at Le monde créatif de Catherine.

And also to Natalia, Livia, AnythingMiniature, HazelC, Bob for whom I couldn't find a website.

John Ottewill table

Hello!

We're back from Moncton, and David's procedure went swimmingly. He's so relieved, now that it's over, that he's practically skipping around the house!  Happiness abounds ...

Here's a couple of photos of the John Ottewill William and Mary table David gave me for my birthday. 

Isn't it gorgeous?  The compass rose marquetry on the top is perfect, and I love the curved stretchers and the tiny drawer.  It's the most exquisite piece in the house!

And here's a shot I took tonight through the parlour door:

That's Sir Isaac Newton to the right of the chimney breast :)