Dry Fit

[whine]This is HARD![/whine]



Thank goodness I found, and joined, an online dollhouse building community! The members there recommend doing a "dry fit" of all the parts in each stage of the building process before you do any gluing. Good thing I listened. These houses don't exactly snap together. Tabs have to be whittled down and lined up perfectly for everything to fit.



There were several times during the dry fit that I was very, very, glad that I was only using tape to hold things together. Some of the pieces had to be reversed, and others arranged differently than I had expected.



Everything is quite square right now, but that's because all the pieces are fitted together. When I'm doing the actual gluing I'll have to do it one piece at a time and if I don't get each join perfectly square it could mean the pieces that come later won't fit together.

This is a LOT harder than I thought it would be!




Oh.....and in case you haven't noticed? Petunia is trying to get your attention. . . . . . .



She's modelling her brand new, hand knit, cashmere dress.

Experimenting Coming Up

I explored Home Depot today furthering my research on all the possible ways to simulate stucco for the little doll house. Right now it looks like I'll be using Spackle, as Trisha suggested. It was the cheapest alternative. Some of the other ideas would have been just as effective, but involved expensive purchases, or came in containers that were far too large for my purpose. I really loved Paula's idea of the stone effect paint, but it only came in gallon containers.

Before I go spackling the whole house I'll do some testing seeing if I like the results.

Petunia's New Shoes

Petunia's pretty excited. I was out this afternoon looking in thrift stores for textured wallpaper (to mimic stucco on the outside of the dollhouse I'm making) and on a whim I rummaged through the bin of toys. I'm always keeping an eye out for inexpensive, secondhand Kelly dolls as their outfits and shoes fit the Pukipuki dolls. The outfits, if they are in good shape, are just a bonus, it's actually the tiny little shoes I'm after. They aren't all that easy to find. I think doll shoes are the first thing lost by children (or sucked up with the vacuum by Moms tired of finding them laying all over!).



Instead of vacuuming them up, Petunia begs you overworked Mommies to send them to her. She'll take very good care of them.

New House Construction

As if all the fibre related hobbies were not enough, now I've taken up house construction and interior decorating as well ~~~~~~~~~ but on a miniature scale!



When my daughter asked, I gladly accepted a doll house kit she decided she didn't have time for. Now that I've opened the kit up and seen what is involved, I don't blame her! Scarey! This is definitely not a hobby for a busy mom with little recreational time.



I've been working on it for several evenings now and I've only cut out, sanded, and given a base coat to the pieces involved in the first step. There are many other steps to go as it is quite a detailed little house when it is done.

Hopefully it will look at least as good as this when I am done, though my paint, and wallpaper choices will be different, as will the set up.



It will be for a RealPuki Soso that I'm waiting for. The little cottage will be her home and fibre arts workshop.

I'll keep updating the blog as the project progresses. Right now I'm in the process of trying to decide how I could add some stucco like texture to the outside of the home. My hunt through every thrift store in town did not come up with any textured wallpaper.

Crafting Space ReOrganization

Haven't heard too much from me lately? I've been busy with a rather large project. Though I worked on it for hours every day, it still took about a week to complete. What was I doing? Reorganizing my crafting rooms.



Up until now I've been trying to sew in my former "weaving room". Having the sewing table in there meant that I had to fold my floor loom, cover it, and push it up against the wall.....which meant that I couldn't use it. It also meant that I had precious little space to sew in! I've moved the loom to what was my "stash room" so that the "sewing room" is JUST for sewing. I don't know why I never thought of it before, but with some reorganizing and decluttering there is far more space available in the "stash room" for the loom.



So now this soft grey coloured room is my Sewing Room. I invite you to click on the pictures. It will take you through to my Flickr album where you can hover over the "notes" to see what all this stuff is!



You think this is a lot? I made two separate trips to give donations to a thrift store and went twice to the spinners and weavers guild to donate a few things there as well. Oh....and took a large table loom to my daughter's house too.



This yellow room used to be the "stash room" and it was cluttered and crowded and full of stuff that I was storing but not really using. It's now my Weaving Room. Opposite the loom.....



.....is what I've allowed to remain of my stash. It's the messiest looking area of the two rooms but I assure you, it is well pared down and it's now organized so that I know exactly where everything is.



Even the closets of both rooms have been cleaned out and reorganized. Gosh I feel so efficient! I should go create something.

Taking a Friend for a Ride

When the sun came out today Peanut and Pumpkin could not wait to show their new little friend, Petunia, around the neighbourhood.

They started out with Pumpkin pulling.....

......and Peanut pushing....

....but soon Pumpkin's winter-tender tootsies were feeling the bumps in the pavement... (I did tell that girl to wear shoes!)....

.....and Peanut offered to give them both a ride.