What a nightmare!

There will be no minis this week at all as I'm having new windows fitted and the workmen seem to have taken over the entire house. Willow is hiding under the settee and won't come out for anything. I've tried enticing him with toys and treats and I can't reach him so there he will have to stay. He's a house cat so I'm scared that he will jump out through one of the holes in the wall in his panic and I'll lose him. I did think of putting him in the cattery but he hates that too so we'll just have to tough it out together.

In the meantime I'm getting on with some stitching so have photos of more needle lace to show you. The finished butterfly ...

... and a leaf. This is going to be a part of an autumn leaves embroidery in needle lace and goldwork eventually. All in good time. A second leaf is almost finished.

More needle lace

I just returned from a three day workshop in mid-Wales. We stayed here in Llanidloes ...

It's a really quaint old town with lots of Tudor buildings

This one is the old market hall - sadly no longer still used 

I spotted this in a shop window and couldn't resist taking a photo of it ...

This is what I was making - a two piece butterfly.

Not quite finished but not bad going for three days' work I don't think. I'll show you the finished article in due course. I'm totally hooked on making needlelace now - just can't stop!


I've got back to the minis again today but no photos - just gluing moulding in place and ceiling paper on those third floor rooms in the manor house.

Translation gadget

I've managed to do it!! I've been away for a few days and obviously come back refreshed and renewed as today I managed to work out how to get the translation gadget to attach itself to my blog. Thanks for your tips though - much appreciated.

I really just got home from another lace making workshop in mid-Wales and haven't had time to take photos of the work I did there. I'll try to get them loaded tomorrow to show you.

Google translate gadget

I've been trying for what seems like ages now to add a translate gadget to my blog but Blogger just tells me that the Google translate gadget is broken - as are all the other translation options that it supposedly offers. Can any of you more experienced bloggers please tell me how to get around this and make it possible for my overseas followers to read my posts in their own language?

Thank you

The library has books

I've been hard at work in the library for the past couple of days and now have the floor down and polished, the walls panelled and painted, the bookcases made and filled ... so I thought I'd better let you see what I've been doing.

The books are fake, some are just free printable blocks of books from the internet cut out and stuck onto the front of a block of balsa wood. The others are individual covers which I've cut out and again stuck around blocks of balsa. Because they're glued into the bookshelves (to make them Willow proof) and on the back wall I'm happy that they look realistic enough. The central, smaller cabinet is a trophy cabinet and now has a 'silver' trophy cup on one of the shelves but I took this photo before I remembered I had the trophy. Other items will be added when I see something I like. I'm going to Pudsey Miniatures Fair in November so will see what I can find there.

I felt the walls looked a bit dark (they're much darker in real life than they appear in this photograph) so I dry brushed them with a bit of ivory paint to make the room look just a little bit worn around the edges. They need more work yet. This room will also have a wing chair, footstool and a large desk eventually - when I've made them.

I've done a little more to the bed so it now has a top sheet and silk coverlet. Still more to do here too but my main priority at the moment is really to get the decorating on this third floor finished so I can get on with the build as, because the house is 1/24th scale and the rooms are so tiny, I'm decorating as I work my way up. The majority of the furniture and the accessories can wait really. It's just that sometimes I get a little carried away and eager to see it all finished.

The bedroom is coming together

I've been working on the bedroom in the manor house this last week. I've made all the furniture for this room so it's taken a while ... and it's still not completely finished but I thought I'd better give you a progress report or you'd be thinking I'd disappeared from blogland completely :-)

This is the silk fabric which I printed on my computer for the bedroom walls. I have a sheet left which I plan to add to the drapes on the bed too.

Here you can see the fabric in place. I panelled the bottom half of the walls in this room. I've seen this effect in a number of stately homes which I've visited recently and am really quite pleased with the result.

This is the wardrobe (minus doors) and the pot cupboard, which still needs a second coat of stain and some handles on the door and drawer.

And here you can see the bed and the washstand. Since taking this photograph I've added a higher foot board to the bed to hold the mattress in place but you can see the valance strip in position at the top of the bed base.
It's all coming together slowly but surely.

Still here and working on the manor

I know, I've been gone a while. Life just sometimes seems to get in the way doesn't it? Since my brother left I seem to have been racing from one thing to another. It was the Embroiderer's Guild branch exhibition this weekend so I've been helping out there and I'll show you all my pieces in another post. It's also been a week for catching up with friends as well as my two group meetings - embroidery and miniatures. I always feel it's such a shame that they are held on two consecutive days in the same week each month - if you see what I mean. I'd rather they were spread out a little but obviously I can't do anything about that.

Anyway, enough of my rambling and on to what I've been working on. The manor house is moving along at a relatively fast pace now with the first floor rooms completed and progress on the second floor too.

The dining room - I had to try some of the furniture I've bought for size. The lights are in but not working yet.

The sitting room - I'm planning to recover that settee as I'm not at all happy with red upholstery in a green room. You can't really see on the photograph but there are two tiny cameos in the medallions on the back wall with wall lights fixed above them. They'll show up better when the lights can be turned on.

The first floor landing - I found these two tiny suits of armour in the gift shop at Shibden Hall and couldn't resist bringing them back for this room. There's a grandfather clock at the front of this room too which got missed out of the photo.

This is the bedroom and I decided to print a design onto some silk fabric for the walls in here. I've printed enough to decorate the bed with matching fabric, though that's a way off being done yet.

Two of the bookshelves for the library. There will be more shelving, a desk and a wing armchair in here too - still to be made.

I found this adorable little girl in a charity shop for £1. I think I'll make her a new dress when I have a little time to spare. And then I spotted these at the haberdashery shop. They were all pretty cheap and I couldn't resist. The little silver pram and cot will be painted and used in a nursery at some point as children's toys.

And finally a photograph of Willow relaxing on the bed in my son's room. He's just glad to have me at home and to himself at last after all the excitement of the past few weeks.