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

Hiking Season 2014 is Opened. Part 1.

I have a lot of compassion towards the rest of the country and people who suffer the severe cold this winter.

Even though the winter officially is not over yet I can say we didn't have much snow this year, and due to the weather we opened our hiking season early in 2014. My Sweatheart and I love hiking, especially exploring new paths and testing our own possibilities.

It was 01.18.14 when we decided to go back and finish the trail we started last April and didn't finish it, because we saw a couple of big bullhead snakes on the way and I made my hubby turn around. It was a fast and nice warm up for us.

We saw beautiful mallard ducks habitating (is it even a word? :))) the Little Spokane River along the trail. After observing them for a while we found they have a nest in this little "cave"

We saw some deer on an island, unfortunately they went their way while I tried to get my camera out of the case, :(((

There is a part of the trail that is closed, but my dear dear, who is always full of adventure, decided to check it out anyway.

It was so interesting that there was no snow around and only the path itself was covered with ice...

Even this big fallen tree didn't stop my explorer (the picture doesn't show how big the tree is, but we actually had to clime on it in order to get on the other side).

We figured out that this part of the path being located very very close to water and being bushy is a dangerous place to be, because of the snakes during the summer.

We successfully reached the end of the path

It has been gloomy like this since last November, but we can't complain, true?

As you remember, we moved to a new house last April, and since that time I've heard a lot about so-called Indian Painted Rock. Even our neighbour (who actually doesn't hike) told us we need to see it. He said that the painting is hardly seen now and the rock is gated to limit the access to it. In my imagination I pictured the Indian Painted Rock as a good size of mural some where on the to of the hill that you have to conquer. I was a little bit disappointed when I saw it at the end of the path. We actually passed by it so many times while driving and I never paid attention and never gave a though that this place could be a historically preserved Indian Painted Rock.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you too much about it, because we couldn't find any information on the Information table. Sad...

to be continued...

Have a great weekend and a lot of hiking! Stay safe, calm and healthy!

Natalia

Victoria Carriage - New Scroll saw Project

Four Days ago I started to work on a new scroll saw project - a Victoria carriage. The pattern is not very difficult but like everything requires consistency and patience. Each day I tried to cut out as much parts as possible balancing between real and miniature life. I used 2 different contrasting kinds of wood: walnut and white ash, 1/8" each.

These are results of 4 days of work:

Day 1 - It was very late but I was so excited and cut out a couple of simple pieces.

Day 2 - It was a very productive day! That day my hubby called me a NUT, finding me in the garage at 5.00 a.m. working on these parts, :)))

Day 3 - There was not too much of free time, but I managed to cut out back wheels

Day 4 - I have finished cutting out front wheels and some small pieces.

I used very fine blades trying to avoid too much of sanding after all, however you can't ignore this process completely, so I prepared these pieces for sanding:

Time for sanding and finishing the wood! It will take some time!

Happy weekend!

Natalia