Once In A Blue Moon - Day 1

The New Year brought some unexpected and unpleasant surprises in our family's life that explain my disappearance from the Blogger land, but I will not burden you with our problems. I will just say that it is nice to come back and dive into my little world with big projects. I missed it a lot. I am so hungry for new miniature adventures that added tons new projects to already existing pile of old ones, but later about it...

All that time I didn't have a minute to work on my current projects. The inside walls in my castle are waiting to be painted; the church has to be put together; the room box devoted to my Grandma requires a lot of stitched elements to finish it; Vanessa's estate is staring at me with dark empty windows from the corner of the room trying to make me feel guilty, brrr... creepy...;

Guess what, they will wait... This weekend I am in the mood to start something new.

Last October during the local mini workshop I won this little cute building in auction for $10.

After some research I found out that this miniature cottage was built from the discontinued Dura-Craft kit that is called Chelsea. I even found a picture of it

The cottage I will turn this building into will be called Blue Moon Cottage.

Does anyone know where Blue Moon came from? what it refers to? I went to google and read that "Blue moon" appears to have been a colloquial expression long before it developed its calendrical senses.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first reference to a blue moon comes from a proverb recorded in 1528:

If they say the moon is blue,
We must believe that it is true.

Saying the moon was blue was equivalent to saying the moon was made of green (or cream) cheese; it indicated an obvious absurdity.

In the 19th century, the phrase until a blue moon developed, meaning "never." The phrase, once in a blue moon today has come to mean "every now and then" or "rarely" — whether it gained that meaning through association with the lunar event remains uncertain.

I am not certain where Blue Moon will bring me, but now the cottage looks like this.

I had to take it apart in order to treat the inner walls in the way I see them, and with this optimistic note and a great feeling of accomplishment I am going to the bed.

Have a great weekend,
Natalia


Blue Moons: myths, facts, history, and dates | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html#ixzz2VIUXJy7X

Pearsall's Silk - Experiment # 3 - Future Dollhouse Miniature Footstool Seat Cover

I am not giving up on figuring out the ways to use the Pearsall's silk I purchased last month. This time I moved on 49 count silk gauze. Since, as I've said before, this silk is thicker than DMC cotton floss, and 49 count of silk gauze is last count you can actually use DMC floss on, there was no sense to try the Pearsall's silk with tent stitch on 49 count.

Bargello! Sweet Bargello! Lovely Bargello!

I just love the way the silk covers the surface of silk gauze...

I have one more design to try for Bargello on 49 count silk gauze, so stay tuned!

Happy Sunday to all of you!

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Petit Point Savonnerie Rug - Work In Progress - 2

I finished a little cabochon in the medallion of the rug. It took me 3 and half hours of joy! Usually I don't count the hours that I spent stitching the rugs, but this one is exceptional!

I also wanted to show you the picture of how big this Savonnerie rug will be when it is finished. Impressive size, true?

I wish everyone one to have a great and creative weekend!

Natalia

Dollhouse Miniature Petit Point Savonnerie Rug - Work In Progress - 1

Today I start my new commission. This is a dollhouse miniature petit point Savonnerie rug. The size of the finished rug will be 11" x 13". I use 40 count silk gauze and DMC. Here is a sneak peek on a little start of a big project.

Wish me good luck!
Natalia

Pearsall's Silk Floss - Experiment # 2 - Future Dollhouse Miniature Needlepoint Frame

Before to jump experimenting on 49 count silk gauze with new Pearsall's silk floss I received last week, I decided to make another sample on 40 count. This time I used DMC cotton floss for the whole design (petals and the leaves of Pansies) and the Pearsall's silk floss for the background.

Now, let's see what the use of different threads let's do to the same design. Actually, instead of stems (that you can see on the first stitched sample) I added another leaf on the second sample.

First of all, I like the choice of DMC colors better. Don't you agree?

As you remember, in my last post I said that the Pearsall's silk floss is thicker than the DMC cotton floss. You can see it on this picture better:

However, the choice of DMC colors make the whole flower to pop up out of the whole picture.

The use of short and long stitches of 2 colors of Pearsall's silk floss (Old Gold and Golden Brown) gives a nice texture and emphasizes the colors of the Pansies.

Now I will spam you with the rest of the pictures, lol. Enjoy it.

The rows of the stitches on the flower remind me the tulip fields!

Hooray! Spring is coming!

By the way, this is the insert for the future dollhouse miniature needlepoint/tapestry frame.

Now, next experiment with the Pearsall's silk will be on 49 count silk gauze.

Natalia

Pearsall's Silk Floss - Experiment # 1 - Dollhouse Miniature Pillow

For the try of my newly arrived Pearsall's silk floss I chose to make a miniature pillow with Pansies.

I can't put it together yet since, as you can see, there is still a lot of room left for the experiments, :)))

As I said in my previous post, I didn't purchase a big variety of colors, and only violet colors to try a new design of Pansies. For this dollhouse miniature pillow I used 3 types of threads: Pearsall's (for the petals), DMC cotton (leaves) and Gutermann silk for the background.

I started experimenting with 40 count silk gauze. Pearsall's silk floss seems to be thicker than DMC and still gives nice coverage on 40 count.

Because of this difference, it gives a nice 3D effect of the petals of Pansies that I haven't expected. I tried to take the pictures as close as possible for you to see the difference:

Definitely, when you touch the surface of the future pillow, you can feel it, :))

Now I will try Pearsall's silk on 49 count.

See you soon,
Natalia

New Silk Floss Arrived...

I am a silk floss addict and I am enjoining it, :)))

I am always excited and anxious to try new silk floss on silk gauze. A week ago I ordered Pearsall's silk floss that has been discontinued and had to put my little Siam kitten aside for a while. The silk is twisted, seems to be thicker than DMC, shinny (:((....

In spite of the fact that I didn't order many colors, I hope my kitten won't be neglected for a long time, but I HAVE TO try my new silk floss right the way!

I will post a result of the experiment as soon as I finish it!

Natalia

Little Siam Kitten

This little Siam kitten was created today. He is very tiny even has been stitched on 40 count silk gauze. Now I am thinking what to do with him...

Silk Gauze SALE at My Webstore www.dollhouseneedlepoint.com

Silk Gauze on SALE! Chose from 40 count to 90 count at Bargain Corner:

http://www.dollhouseneedlepoint.com/apps/webstore/products/category/1098667?page=1

Please, visit my store www.dollhouseneedlepoint.com for great deals on silk gauze for your dollhouse needlework! Go to On-Line Store and then turn to the Bargain Corner!

First come - first served!

Have fun stitching!

Natalia

Sneak Peek - Dollhouse Miniature Victorian Slippers

I am inviting you for a sneak peek on my new project: Victorian slippers with a rose on the front and pansies on the sides. 72 count silk gauze, Pearsaills silk, 14 colors

to be continued...

Natalia

Victoria Carriage in Miniature - the end of the 19th century

The design of a Victoria carriage that I've finished last week is based on a typical carriage made in Dereham at the end of the 19 century and which Mr. Skinner (the Original Director of Hobbies in December 1895) used to transport himself and his family to church each Sunday.

The design has been reproduced by Hobbies Design as close to the original as possible. The original that you see in black/white picture was cut in white holly.

I used black walnut and white ash for my Victoria Carriage to get the contrast of 2 woods and enhance the beauty of the carriage.

Originally I cut out the knobs for the wheels from the black walnut and made the wheels working,

but later have changed my mind and switched the knobs on white ash and made the wheels non-working.

The Victoria Carriage is 13,5" long and 7" high. There are 3 seats there:

the coachman's seat and the passengers' seat

as well as a place for your baggage

The floor of the Victoria Carriage is covered with a velvet paper color Wine.

I used working LED coachman lights to make it easy for a coachman to drive in the dark and be seen by the others.

and I see there is a first passenger already, but the horses were not chosen yet...

Have a great day,

Natalia

Hiking Season 2014 is Opened. Part 2.

While checking out another hiking place we came to the conclusion that that part of the State Park is not taken care well at all. See yourself. We parked at the public parking lot and went straight to the information table to introduce a new route to ourselves. This is what we saw:

Since there was only one road leading forward and no any other paths, we decided to follow it. When the road turned into completely covered with ice disaster we took a right turn and started climb up. We climbed up pretty high.

This is our turn,

and this is an icy road we tried to avoid

We followed that road till we found the fallen tree on our way that we successfully went around and it appeared to be the top of the hill.

Still no signs, so I can't tell you what elevation it was, what is the name of the hill, but we stubbornly followed the road

till we found some signs of previous human being presence, like old pieces of a broken building, some metal pieces, etc...

The place felt uneasy, unhealthy and creepy. The gloomy weather didn't help either. In a word, that place felt dead, and I just refused to go further, and the curiosity brought my husband to the ruins of an old building

If you look to the left side - there is a forest,

if you look to the rite side - there is a forest

At that moment I felt that we were so careless and negligent to ourselves: not knowing where we were, no water with us, no knife, no nothing, only a cell phone without reception...

The way back was much faster... 6 miles of walking and no fun today...

I am thinking SUMMER...

But it was not the end of a day. Absolutely not satisfied with that walk we went to a new place and did a fast but very steep 2 miles up and 2 miles down climb.

That was a workout, I must tell you! and such a fabulous view!

I am thinking SUMMER more...

Natalia