Miniature Doll House

Many years ago I made three miniature 1:12 scale doll houses. I don't even remember why I left this craft it has been that long. But this weekend I decided to clean the smallest one and move it downstairs into my living room. Here are some pictures of the outside. It is on a swivel platform.

It is a replica of a country mercantile. The inside pictures show a grocery shop, post office, doctor's office, bathhouse, photographer shop and dressmakers shop. It's pretty chock full! Now that it is cleaned up and in a new location I think I will finish up a few parts. I always wanted to make a better sign for the roof so I think I will start with that.

This is the smallest of the three I have made. The original building was The Coventry Cottage by Greenleaf dated 1993 which makes it twenty years old. Instead of a cottage I made it into a shop. The other two are actually homes. One represents a Victorian Christmas house and the other is a contemporary family home.  Now that I have started, I am determined to clean both of these and make any necessary repairs as well. The problem is once I started with the mercantile I realized I could easily slip back into miniatures again. They are a lot of fun, and much like doll making there is no limit to where your imagination can roam. The only thing is how am I going to fit another craft into my life???

Snow Day!

How many days until Spring?  I can't believe we are in the middle of another snow storm! I took a quick picture this morning of my house. I used my iPad to take the picture because the battery in my camera was dead (of course) but it came out better than I expected. Actually, it is much snowier than it looks in these pictures. We have already gotten about 6 inches from this storm and it is forecasted to snow throughout the day. The sad thing is, yesterday we were pretty much snow free- there were only a few dirty snowbanks that had yet to melt away. Now this!

Well, obviously school was canceled this morning so I now have this unexpected "free day"- what shall I do?

My house - believe it or not there was grass yesterday!

Snow bank to the right of my driveway. That stockade fence is over my head. At least the new snow is covering the ugly old dirty snowbank!

Paper Crane

Please welcome my latest doll: Paper Crane!

I was inspired by the origami doll the Textile Tart's group made last month to create this needle felted wall doll. I will be bringing it to our meeting today to share. If I can get better photo's taken I will replace these but for now these will do. The first photo looks like one leg is longer than the other but in reality one foot is extended a bit from the wall- they are the same length. Also I find it difficult to take clear close-up shots of the face without a bit of blurring. I'll work on that.  But, I do like her. The ornamentation in her bun was once my grandmother's earring. The large button on her wrap also came from a bag of buttons I got from my grandmother. I have had the fabric I used on her kimono for a long time, just waiting for the right figure. I lined the kimono with gray satin and she also is wearing a pair of linen pantaloons that are embroidered with a gold leaf pattern. She is 22 inches tall, I used the same torso pattern as my other three wall dolls. Of course, as is also the case with all my wall dolls, she is named after the item in her hand. It is an origami crane.

Origami Doll

Just wanted to share my Origami Doll. The Textile Tart's met yesterday for our monthly meeting and one of the members, Mary Ellen, was kind enough to instruct the rest of us in the construction of these adorable origami dolls. Origami is the art of paper folding. Mary Ellen told us that these dolls are commonly made by children in Japan on Girl Day. They were a lot of fun to make, and everyone went home with a new addition to their doll collection!

Happy New Year 2013!

Today is New Year's Eve - I hope the new year brings unexpected delights to all!
I have spent my vacation week knitting and felting to replenish my shop. Mostly I have listed new mittens but I have also added two new items-Kindle Fire and Kindle Paperwhite sleeves and am currently working on a pattern for future iPad Mini sleeves.

Kindle Keyboard/ Kindle Fire Sleeve

When I haven't been working on shop items, I have been needle felting little creatures onto the little feet I made last month. Here are the first three results.

The first one I made, and my personal favorite, is the owl.  I call him Harvey Hoots. He stands 5 inches not including his head feathers.

Harvey Hoots

 I would have just made a few more owls but I only had one set of large size eyes so it was either stop needle felting altogether or think of a different creature that had smaller eyes. I decided to try a rabbit.

I call him Henry Hops. He stands 5 1/2 inches tall, just a bit taller than Harvey. I think he has a very sweet somewhat befuddled expression.

I have been watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix all week so I think it influenced my final character choice- Biker Chick. She sports a genuine black leather jacket with a Born To Ride patch. She also has black leather accents on her shoes and a lovely chain necklace.

Biker Chick

Who Is Your Favorite Pixar Character?

Last May, on Mother's Day, we were having a"Collins' Family Breakfast" when I asked each of my children which Pixar character was their all-time favorite. The amazing thing is that of the six people I asked, none of them hesitated- they all had a favorite. My oldest son, Neil choose Woody from Toy Story. Carla, his wife, immediately picked Nemo. My daughter Kathleen chose Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. Her husband, Mike had two favorites, but his first response was Guido the little guy in Cars that changed Lightening McQueen's tires in record speed during the big race. Their son, my darling grandson, immediately piped in with Lightening McQueen. And finally, my youngest son, Mike, chose Wall-E. A psychologist would probably have fun analyzing their choices...even I have thought about that a bit... but I wanted the challenge of trying  to create a surprise Christmas ornament for each of them. At first I wasn't sure if I would be sewing or felting but in the end I needle felted them all. I started right away making the first three.

                                May I introduce.....

Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.  
5 1/2  inches tall- Needle Felted Wool

Nemo
4 inches long- Needle Felted Wool

Wall-E
4 1/2 inches tall-  Needle Felted Wool with Button Eyes

After completing these first three, I became distracted by other projects and let them sit in my workroom for months before getting back to them. Now I find it is just a few short weeks before Christmas and I am only half done. Plus, I had put off making the most difficult one- Woody! I find it very difficult to needle felt small people. Getting defined facial features on a head that is not much more than an inch long is quite a challenge. But if I was going to have an ornament for everyone I had to get back to it.
     
                     Here are the last three.....

Woody from Toy Story
6 1/2 inches tall  Needle Felted Wool

Guido from Cars
3 inches tall- Needle Felted Wool with button Wheels

Lightning McQueen from Cars
3 3/4 inches long- Needle Felted Wool with Button Wheels

And finally a group shot....

Finished just in time for Christmas Day!

Christmas Elf

Here is the first of three elves that I hope to have completed before Christmas. Recognize the feet? He is made of stuffed felt with a needle-felted face and pom pom on his hat. He is holding a tiny ornament. From head to toe he is only 6 inches tall but add in that big hat and he is 11 inches tall.