"All good things take time..." As we all know, all too well - that goes for small things too but I have finally managed to finish the rug for T. Tjørngren's living room. 

I hate to think how long it took me and after all that, you can hardly see it with the furniture in place.

Up until then, he had been borrowing a smaller rug that I embroidered years ago, but this one is a much better fit. 

I couldn't find a rug pattern I liked to the dimensions I needed so I made the pattern or chart using a free online program that I have now happily forgotten what was called.  

The next bit might not mean an awful lot for those of you who don't stitch, but I thought I would share it anyway. Rather than using silk gauze which is most often used for miniature needlepoint, I have worked this rug in full cross stitch onto calico (quilter's muslin). 1) I didn't have any silk gauze; 2) the calico I did have, had a weave similar to Aida cloth only very tiny, making it ideal for mini stitching; 3) by stitching on calico, I was able to make nicely fringed ends which is not really possible with gauze, I don't think. 

I almost regretted using this fabric halfway more than once while stitching it because working full cross stitch instead of petit point, means twice as many stitches - As if there wasn't enough already!

Here you can see it in all its mini glory. Now that it is done, I am so happy, I persevered. 

~ ~ Back in the Loft ~ ~ 

There was so much clutter on top of the chest of drawers, that I made Karl Johan a small shelf to hang above it. Not that he has a lot of stuff, but at least he can now put his toiletries a bit more out of the way.  

So what was the plan for the small drawers? As you can see, Karl Johan has pulled one out and just piled the contents into the empty hole.

Huibrecht was absolutely right when he guessed it had something to do with birds. You see, Karl Johan had found a nest with two tiny baby birds that had blown out of a tree...

He brought the nest home and the only thing suitable he could find to put the nest in was of course his top drawer. Very sensibly has has lined it with a bit of news paper.

To make sure the wee babies stay nice and warm, the drawer sits on the floor next to the stove. I am not sure what he intends to do once they get bigger and start to move about - for now it is ok, cause they are tiny....

... yes, very, very tiny. That big, fat finger is my pinkie. It was fiddley and fun to make. I wasn't even sure if I could pull it off. I haven't made nests.. or birds.. or any animal for that matter before... so what on earth was I thinking? 

My wee birds are fare from perfect. The beaks are wonky and they don't have any legs but overall it they worked out better than I had hoped. I guess sometimes you just have to dive in and give it a go and see what happens. That is what I love so much about making tiny things.

On that note; I have started something new... but I will start a fresh post for that.

Until then - take care and thanks for stopping by.

Anna X

Hanging curtains

 This weekend, I finished installing the curtains in the apartment.

Unlike all the dollhouse kits I have seen, the spacing between windows in old Danish houses is really narrow. At times no more than 50cm (20"), which translates to just 2mm (3/4"), which is the spacing I had made for The Toy House apartment. 

With such a narrow space between the windows, I had to be quite selective when it came to curtains, so that they wouldn't look too bulky. I have known all along that I was going (somehow) have semi-shear white lace curtains over roller blinds, which was really common for window treatment.

To make the curtains, I bought 10cm (4") wide Swiss embroidered edging lace. It is basically a Swiss voile with a machine embroidered edge. The beauty of it for this project is the fine, lightweight cotton, which draws up to fine, soft gathers beautifully. 

I cut the piece into the six lengths, pressed and handstitched the seams. Yes, you read correctly - handstitched! I know, slightly nuts, but I really don't like the stiffness of glued hems.

I then gathered up the top of each curtain before pinning the drapes into place and giving them a good dose of spray starch and leaving them to dry. 

While the curtains were drying, I made the blinds to go behind them (and of course forgot to take photos). They are basically a bit of fabric, rolled up around a toothpick, cut to length and a wee bit of string attached to the lower edge. You can just see a glimpse of them in the picture.

To assemble the whole thing, I cut three pieces of foamcore the same width as the windows. I glued a blind onto each piece. Once that and the curtains were dry, I glued a pair of curtains onto the front of each piece.

Then I cut a strip of balsa wood, slightly wider than the card pieces and about 1.5cm (5/8") longer than the trio of windows. This piece would both enable me to install the three sets of curtains nice and level, but also provide support for a pelmet.

I hope that all makes sense. You can kind of see how all the layers work in the picture above.

After debating about what to do for the pelmet for a bit, I decided to embroider one. I had (very brief) look around for a suitable ribbon, but an embroidered one would be nicely in line with the 'hand craft' movement of the time. 

 

I embroidered a strip of simple daisies. These are simple stitches (chain stitch, stem stitch and French knots), but I admit the size makes it a little bit fiddly. 

Once done, I cut it out and glued it over a piece of firm card. Before I glued the covered card onto the balsa strip, I stained the top of the wood to look like untreated, aged oak - now it just needs the dust to settle and it will look rather authentic LOL.

I am still undecided about curtain tiebacks. In some ways, it would make sense, but I don't want these windows to look too formal, and looking at photos it was rather common to have the curtains loose and just draw them back around the edge of the window sill... not sure yet. 

I hope you are having a lovely week everyone and hopefully find some time to mini.

Anna X

Corner cupboard

The cupboard doors are on and I could not be happier with how it turned out.

It was not as straight forward as I had wished for. At one point, I almost thought, I had ruined it all together.

This is how it went:

After painting the outside of the cupboard with several coats and lots of sanding, I carefully measured and cut out little notches for the hinges to rest in. 

Then I glued the hinges in place on the doors. It seemed to be going ok. I decided to leave the excess of the hinges overhanging the edges, thinking it would be better to trim them after I had glued the pins into the holes and the hinges were properly secured. 

Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the next bit - This is where I started to panic, thinking I had ruined it all.

I added the pins and then repeated the processes to attach the doors to the cupboard carcasses. Even though I had recessed the hinges and pushed the pins in as far as I possibly could, the extra bulk of the pin heads, meant the doors wouldn't close. The glue had not set hard yet, so I carefully pried the hinges off, cut the recesses deeper and tried again. Still didn't work, still wouldn't close nicely. The deeper recess meant there was too much strain on the thin hinges and they broke!

Deep breath!

I cut and made new hinges, this time without holes. I decided the cupboard won't be opened and closed so glue alone would have to do. 

I glued the hinges into the recess and once that glue had dried, instead of cutting the excess off, I bent and glued it around the edge of the door and to the back of the cupboard like at tine cranked hinge. 

I know this it not very authentic for a cupboard door, but I figure this is my small world, so I can bend the rules and I don't think it looks too bad.

The doors now open and close nicely, What a relief. 

I must confess I was rather excited, so I couldn't help but pull out some of the minis that will be going into the cupboard and pile them in to get an idea of how it will look...

... and then, I piled it all out again (you should have seen my work table that night!) and popped it into the apartment, keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn't look too big and bulky in the little room.

It is snug, but it is how I had imagined it would be. Truffle the dog could not care less of course. He is simply put out, because I still have not made him a bed to go in front of the stove. Before I do that, I have a couple of little finishing touches to do on the cupboard.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments. 

Anna X

Making knick-knack

I had thought, I was going to log the building of the Toy House and its contents in some kind of order that made sense...

As much as that seems a logically and sensible way to go about things, that is never going to happen :-). I make things higgledy-piggledy, when I feel like it, when a great new idea comes into my head and when time allows. 

This week I made this 'thing'. Any guesses? 

It is tiny. Only 15mm (5/8") wide. There are three holes in the top piece and tree corresponding diverts in bottom piece. 

It is tiny. Only 15mm (5/8") wide. There are three holes in the top piece and tree corresponding diverts in bottom piece. 

Another clue...

I bought these Tiny Resin Pipes from Nalladris some time ago and painted them. (Obviously, Thomas Tjørngren would enjoy a pipe in the evening). They are minute and I needed to somehow keep them together and make sure they wouldn't get lost. I had thought perhaps a wall mounted shelf or rack of some kind, but then I found a few pictures of antique pipe racks and was surprised to see just how elaborate and clever some of them were with built-in tobacco drawers and detailed decorations. 

I settled for this more modest version as a model for my mini version. 

   

The little pipe stand fits beautifully on the shelf in front of the top row of books. The beautiful little vase is by the talented Lorie Marsh of Lorie Marsh Ceramics - I was so lucky to win this and a larger pot.

~ ~ ~ 

I built a small bookcase for the upstairs apartment from scratch a little while ago. I couldn't find one the size or height I wanted - sort of half way up the wall. Those I looked at were either way above my budget or clunky and 'ugly' looking so I figured... It's all just rectangles, how hard could it be?

The bookcase is made from basswood with timber mouldings for the trim at the top and front edges. 

I took the photo before it was varnished - or rather, I use layers of French polish. It takes time and layer upon layer but I find it easier to control the final look of the piece. 

The top moulding doubles up as the front of a shallow drawer. My grandmother had a cupboard with a very shallow drawer at the top like this. Just out reach of little people but not so high grown-ups couldn't reach it easily. I found it most intriguing as a child.

In it, she kept special things.. 

... like photo albums and medals. 

Like the pipes, the tiny medals are from Nalladris. I threaded the medals onto tiny pieces of silk ribbon before popping them into little boxes. The boxes from black card, with ribbon for hinges and silk ribbon for the little 'pillow'' inside.

 

To fill the shelves, I first made a pile of books. Books are fun and easy and filled the shelves quickly. A couple of them open, but most are made from covered balsa blocks. 

To make the wood look like pages, I scored the block multiple times with the tip of my craft knife before painting them cream/ivory and then rubbing a bit of chalk pencil onto them. I think it works.

There are way too many books and I need to find more knick-knacks, but this is a start. 

I hope you are all keeping well, staying safe and looking after yourself and those around you.

Anna X