Stunning presents from France by Latchkey and Jonquil!

I am simply over the moon about some beautiful gifts that Jonquil sent me from France.   They arrived today, each one in its own little box covered with illustrations :)

First is this corset, covered with tiny, perfect embroidery.  This photo cannot do justice to the work that has gone into this piece, or its true perfection from every angle.  It's also beautiful.  I love it!

 Jonquil also made me this fontage headdress -- very typical of the William and Mary period -- on its own tiny wig stand!  Gorgeous and period-perfect!

Jonquil, thank you so much for such perfect and beautiful presents, the gifts of your own hand and mind.  I am moved beyond words!


If you haven't investigated Jonquil's blog, please do visit.  She's having a very generous give away of one of her pieces of exquisite embroidery until the middle of the month!

Finished carpet!

I finished the carpet I was working on -- this is the first mini carpet on which I've put a fringe and I really love it!

I haven't decided in which room this carpet will live, but I'm sure it will find a good home in the William and Mary House :)

 

We're getting ready to go to England in less than a week -- two weeks in North Yorkshire!

Some spring-time minis available on ArtFire!

Dollhouse Spring

Curated By: dangerousmezzo

ArtFire.com

Handmade Jewelry

Recent purchases including Shearwater show items

Here are my purchases from the Shearwater show.  The parasol is by my friend Paula, and the dress is by Linda, the lovely woman at the next booth. (I also bought some pieces of very fine linen and the porcelain doll from her, as well as a wealth of tiny scale trims.)

Here's a close up of the dress -- isn't it beautiful?  It could even pass for mid to late 17th century (except it should be off the shoulders) -- the first era of the bustle!

 I managed to pick up 10 wineglasses and 8 beer mugs from a lovely lady who was destashing.  The tiny wheel-thrown jug is made by Jo-Ann Shaw who is an extraordinary craftsman. Check out her chalices and cauldrons (as well as her saddles) at her website, Kilnworks Minis.

I lost the business card for the maker of this lovely easel, which I'm going to use in the WAMH in my artist's studio:

I also did a swap for a gorgeous hand-turned wig stand :)

And this isn't from the Shearwater show, but I love it -- it's a turned lidded box by UK Artisan Dave Williams of Harvington Miniatures who sells on Ebay under the name smallartist:

Knitwits tomorrow -- the girls' houses proceed apace and I'll try to post some pictures!

Busy weekend at the Shearwater Hobby Show

David and I had such a great weekend at the Shearwater Hobby Show in Shearwater, NS!

We had a table set up to sell our minis (our first show!) and happily shared it with another member of MESS (Miniature Enthusiasts of the South Shore), Paula, who brought beautiful little parasols and feather fans to sell.

I made tons of little non-opening books for the show and they sold really well, as did the bookshelves David made.  These are some of my old fashioned books ...

And these are the shabby/modern ones -- including tons of Penguin books :)

I'm hard at work on a couple of kits to make these, so hope to have them for sale, soon.

I made a screen for my first piece of original crewel work ...

 And had quite a few framed reproductions on offer, which sold very well.

But the best part of the show were the people I met.  It was wonderful spending time with Paula, who's such a smart, funny, creative woman.  I met Linda, who makes the most exquisite costumes and who is going to join MESS in the summer, when she's at her cottage.  She was so kind and generous to us!

I also met a glorious crew of people from Halifax, Dartmouth and Fredericton, including some extraordinary artisans, and am looking forward to Camp Mini Ha Ha in September and maybe driving up to a few meetings in Dartmouth.

All in all, it was a lovely, lovely weekend!

Armenian Gendje carpet finished, being blocked!

I finished stitching the miniature Gendje carpet (from the McNaughton's first book) last night!  Hooray!

It's now being blocked, and I shall finish it with fringe over the next few days.  So glad to see this little thing done, and I'm so happy that the mistakes I made I either picked out or disguised :)

Fireplaces for William and Mary dolls' house attic

 These two little fireplaces are for the attic rooms in the William and Mary House.  Each is built into an angled chimney breast that will accommodate the slant in the hipped ends of the roof. 

While they're both built of the same moulding, the moulding was put on the chimney breast differently in each case -- totally by accident.   I sort of liked that they were complementary but not matching, so I left it that way!   The top one has been trimmed with coffee stirrers and lengths of mini turnings, and the bottom one just with coffee stirrers. 

They will have brick firebacks.

Finished 1690 sampler designed by Annelle Ferguson

I finished the sampler kit from Annelle Ferguson last night -- as you can see I decided to fill in the background, which I think was totally the correct decision :)

I love this little thing, and will be framing it soon.


MESS (Miniature Enthusiasts of the South Shore) had its first meeting today, and we are going to have a BLAST!  Paula and I brought our libraries of books on minis, we worked out an initial list of projects we want to try and got to meet Mary-Anne's awesome menagerie of little dogs :)  A great day!

I'm also hard at work on items to sell at the Shearwater Hobby Show on April 14th, as well as working on the brickwork and slating of the WAMH.  More to show you guys, soon!

Miniatures retreat this fall: Camp Mini Ha Ha in Nova Scotia!

I'm so excited that I'm going to be going to my first real-life miniatures retreat:  the 12th annual Camp Mini Ha Ha in Cornallis, NS, which takes place at the end of September!

I'm looking forward to five days working, learning and playing with other miniaturists at this great event, which is only two hours away from me, in the beautiful Annapolis Valley.



And here's a little peek at a delicious-looking plate of Stilton cheese, bread and grapes by Amanspeak Miniatures in the UK that just arrived: 

Nice work, and suitable for any period!

My roof slates arrived as well, from Richard Stacey, and I've been slating like a mad thing.  More photos of the house, soon!

1690 miniature sampler by Annelle Ferguson

I finished the main stitching for this sampler last night -- now I'm just deciding whether or not to fill in the background or leave it as is :)

This is a gorgeous kit designed by legendary miniature needleworker and IGMA Fellow Annelle Ferguson, based on a 1690 English band sampler.  It's on 48 count silk gauze making it the tiniest scale thing I've ever stitched (it's just under 2 inches long :)  I can handle this count with my naked (nearsighted) eyes, but any smaller than this and I think I might go a bit nuts.  Or need a magnifier.  Or both.

It's a beautiful design and was a pleasure to stitch. I made a couple of mistakes and I lost Annelle's red thread (so continued with a different shade) but I love it, my imperfections and all :) It's a beautiful design.

I'm going to frame it and it'll go in the WAMH, as a souvenir of my 1:12 scale alter ego's late 17th century youth!