Ta Da!

While I was working on the quilt I decided to use it in the dollhouse that represents my real house. While I liked what I had before it didn't really look like anything hubby and I have ever had in our bedroom. So I tore the entire bed apart and made a new headboard based on my real one. I also made new curtains and table cloths for the room. It looks great!
The house is a Christmas house all the time because it's my favorite holiday. Hubby plays the French horn, there's a dollhouse in the corner because most of my dollhouses are in our room. I'm so excited about how the redecorating turned out!

Mini quilt, ala Casey

The first time I alternated navy and green, every other one. That made a striped effect that I didn't want. So I tried again with two navy, two green. I like the resulting pattern much better. This is a great way to use up old bias tape or woven ribbon. I had some of each on hand from one of my mom's craft supply sorting sessions. I tend to get what she no longer wants or needs. :0) I like the blues and greens in the quilt. I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the backing fabric yet. I need to raid the fabric drawers to see what I can find. I'll post photos of the finished quilt.

The country bedroom

Today's been a catch up day for household chores. The laundry piled up while I was battling the flu! So I haven't gotten to any minis today but I would like share a country style bedroom I made a couple of years ago. The quilt on the bed was the inspiration for this room. My friend, Tina, in the UK designed the quilt as a kit and needed some testers. I got to test the kit and ended up with this beautiful quilt. Tina wanted photos and I didn't have a bed on hand so I threw this one together with craft sticks. I ended up really liking it so I put it together for real and gave it a whitewash finish. The rest of the furniture in the room was made and/or finished to match. The armoire is a Michael's hutch but the rest of the furnishings were made from scratch. The vanity chair is one of my favorite items. I made it without any pattern or kit. I just used what I had on hand and I'm really happy with the result. The rug was printed onto a T-shirt transfer and then ironed onto the back side of camel colored corduroy. That gave a wonderful texture to the rug. The wallpaper came from Jim's Printminis - the colors coordinate perfectly with Tina's quilt. This room is a favorite - it looks like a place I could really be comfortable. There's even a mug of coffee and a copy of my devotional Bible on the stool next to the upholstered chair.

Victorian style

Well, I am still sick so I don't have much new to share. I was able to do a little mini-ing last night but it's for a swap so I can't share pictures. I will, however, share some pictures of some Victorian style things I made for friends in the past.

This fire screen was very easy to make. The base is a wooden wheel and the post is made from 1 1/2 stair spindles. I used a wooden circle for the frame and the inset is the embossed top from a winebottle - the wrapper that goes over the cork. I dry brushed paint onto the embossed areas to look like stitching. I still need to make a couple of these for myself!

The bed was also a quick and easy project. I started with ready made bedposts but the headboard is a leftover scrap from a dollhouse. Actually, the entire frame of the bed other than the posts was made from leftover bits in my wood box. The patchwork quilt is actually glued rather than sewed since the bed covers are all glued permanently in place and I didn't have to worry about durability or flexibility of the quilt.