Tiny Cushions (and Much Shoulder Pain!)

Oh, my aching shoulder! Here are six new pillows, worked in 26 ct for the top 4 and 22 ct for the lower 2. Each is backed with a colour that matches the trim row around the edge. That is the last of the pieces for the show, unless I can manage to finish the braided rug to go into my lamp base vignette. The show is on Saturday, and our local mini group will have a display, so I have to tidy up the scent shop vignette, as well as mount a display of my miniature Tudor embroidery pieces.

They were fun to do, but the problem that has developed in my right shoulder/collarbone area makes long periods of doing any one thing problematical; hence, so few postings lately. I have a doctor's appointment in early June....

The Scruffy Cat

Here is the scruffy cat, posed in front of the pawn shop vignette.

As you can see, he has a very long tail; someone at the show said it looked as if he had a rat's tail. However, scruffy cat is supposed to be a Siamese. Some of the furring is pretty good, but on his back especially, the "fur" has gotten mixed up with the glue. He really kind of grows on one, though; I think he will live in the doorway of the Japanese vignette, eventually.

After the Show

It's too late for a photo today, but I picked up the scruffiest-looking semi-furred cat you have ever seen from one of the antiques/vintage dealers at the show. I think it was someone's first attempt at sculpting and furring, as the cat's body is made of pink polymer clay. However, the "fur" and the glue kind of got mixed up, so the cat looks as if it has had a long crawl through a garbage bin.

Currently, I am working on a set of seasonal miniature pillows; the wreath for the Spring one is done, and the frame is in place. Half of the Summer wreath is also done, there are more colour changes in this one. The fabric is 26 ct, on which I can work the design without my glasses, but I suspect I will have to use the magnifier on my lamp to work the background. As they get finished, I'll post photos.

The trip to Halifax was hellish, there is no other way to describe it; rain for the whole 5 hours on a high-speed highway, and the amount of spray thrown up by other automobiles on the road left you driving blind half the time. I was very glad to get there, undamaged and in one piece. The trip back was much better, with dry roads,blue skies and sunshine; now that we are on daylight savings time, it is light until about 8 p.m., then we have an hour of twilight. Makes for better driving, but the deer were very close to the road....

Another Neat Plant

Last evening, I did manage to finish the Christmas Rose plant; the little plant pots are approx. 12 mm or about half an inch in diameter, to give an idea of the size of this plant and the previous one.

Another piece with many tiny leaves, a dozen buds in two different sizes, and the Christmas Roses themselves. There are two more plants in the series, but I have to pick up the right colour of sand for them, and set aside at least a day each to make them.

Now I get to do an inventory of my "Shop in a Box", to take with me to the CFB Shearwater Hobby Show. And there are a number of things I made that need to be packed up, labelled and priced. Also, I have to tidy up last year's Camp MiniHaHa project, the lamp base one, to take along with me for display at the show. I began a braided rug for it, but got sidetracked (quite common in the miniaturing community!), that I'd really like to finish up tomorrow afternoon.

With luck, I will find some treasures at the show this weekend - there are always several toy dealers who carry a very interesting range of antique or vintage toys, some of which can be used in minis. Now to hope there is no snow to mess with our travel plans....

Miniature Flowering Plants

The last little while,  Dolls House and Miniature Scene Magazine has been running a series of flowering plant tutorials, by a Danish designer named Mette Laurentz (I think!) They are quite complicated in the sense that there are more than a hundred tiny, and I do mean tiny, hand-cut leaves involved, each of which has to be shaped and glued onto the stem. The pot they are planted in is 12 mm in diameter, or about half an inch!

And here is my take on her Osteospermum, also known as a Cape Daisy. The flowers are made of coffee filter paper, coloured with Japanese marking pens. The foliage is hand-painted paper, and the buds are paper with painted detailing. The flowers are two shades, with the darker ones being at the end of their blooming, and the lighter being just opened. The flower centres are black sand.

A pot of Christmas Roses (white hellebores) is drying overnight, it should be ready for photography tomorrow. That will be the last day of work, as Thursday is my volunteer day, and we leave on Friday for the CFB Shearwater Hobby Show. Once back from the show, I hope to tackle two more complex flowers; with all the snow we still have - we had a snowy Easter - I need Spring colour!