Mini Road Trip

Hey there!  I've missed you guys.  I'm so glad to be back after a very eventful week!

It all started the first weekend of March when I went on a little road trip up to Atlanta for a dollhouse show.  The show wasn't quite as fun as I had hoped it would be....well....to be honest I've been to tons of dollhouse shows that were overwhelmingly awesome and huge and left my head spinning in a sea of cuteness but there were only TWO vendors that caught my eye at this show.  Oh well.  It was still a fun little adventure.

I bought some adorable rooster and leaping bunny topiaries for the French Winery/Boutique and when Col. Sew Fab saw them he "claimed" them and said they would live on his desk until I had the new dollhouse built for them.  Um.....well.....o.k......I'm not going to argue with a man that wants tiny animal topiaries on his desk.

And I bought some adorable French themed kits from a shop called True 2 Scale (vase with flowers, hat box and plates, pillows and notebooks/journals).  These will look sooo adorable in the French boutique......

And then I saw this little beauty and my heart skipped a beat.  It's an extra small dollhouse (it's done in 1/4" scale) that's only about 9" wide.  It would fit in your hands!  I didn't get it at the show but Suzanne and Andrew's Miniatures will probably be getting an online order from me for a "Picket Hill" kit in the near future.....

And here's what happened the rest of the week....

-When I returned home from my road trip it was like a scene from the movie "Mr. Mom."

-Emma held a grudge for FOUR days after I got back from my road trip.  There was some serious puppy pouting going on!

-I ran 10 miles for the FIRST. TIME. EVER.  So excited about that accomplishment.  I have been wanting to hit the 10 mile mark since I first started running a year and a half ago.

-I came down with a bad cold for a few days last week and took a few sick days.

-While I was browsing the internet on one of my sick days I came across some pictures of a dollhouse quilt shop!!!  Why on earth didn't I think of that?!  Why don't I have a dollhouse quilt shop?!

-Realized that the dollhouse bakery that I'm building could sometimes be a bakery and then sometimes I could redecorate it and turn it into a quilt shop.   Isn't that a brilliant idea?!  That way I wouldn't have to build a whole new dollhouse to be the quilt shop and we wouldn't have to sleep in the backyard because the dollhouses had taken over the house!

-And there were a whole bunch of functions I attended last week with Col. Sew Fab as Tyndall Air Force Base said goodbye to one commander and welcomed a new one.

-And the closest I came to sewing was when I looked at pictures of dollhouse quilt shops.  I'll have to try to make up for that this week, won't I?!

Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  Quick dollhouse lesson for anyone who's interested.  Most dollhouses are 1" scale. That means that 1" in dollhouse world equals 1' in the real world.  The 1" scale houses are what most people would consider to be a "normal" dollhouse and the type of dollhouse that little girls would play with. The little dollhouse I almost bought at the show was 1/4" scale.  That means 1/4" in dollhouse world equals 1' in the real world.  So, the teeny, tiny 1/4" scale houses are perfect for people who are running out of room because all of their fabrics and crafts are taking over the house.

Pinkalicious Weekend

Col. Sew Fab went on a snowboarding "Mancation" in Utah last week and I decided he shouldn't be the only one having tons of fun!  So, I decided to work a half day on Friday, start the weekend early and have my own little mini-Staycation - long weekend - craftathon.  And it was a heavenly, pinkalicious, girly, totally indulgent, carefree weekend!

I did a bunch of hand quilting on Hooterville.....

And I pulled out an old quilt top that I started FOUR YEARS ago using Little Lady fabric by Lakehouse Dry Goods and gave it some much needed attention.  My memory kept telling me that the quilt still needed a lot of work but much to my surprise all of the piecing was done....it just needed some borders.  I guess you forget a lot of things when you ignore a project for a few years.  And now I think it's just begging to be hand tied, don't you?

I also did some prep work on the Vintage Valentine quilt.  The one thing I'm really starting to understand about this quilt is that there is no rushing it.  Not that I ever really rush making a quilt.  I take my sweet time making quilts and they're antiques by the time I finish them.  But this quilt has so many pieces.....and there are so many steps to doing freezer paper applique....it's going to be a slow, leisurely, relaxed process requiring just a bit of patience.....

And I did tons of work on the dollhouse bakery.  This is the view through a window opening.  And yes, my dollhouse bakery has crown moulding and hardwood floors.....

And this is the exterior of my cotton candy pink bakery......

And now I need some help!  What should I do with the roof of the bay window that I'm holding up in the picture?  Paint pink and white stripes on it kind of like a striped awning.  Paint it a different color like a darker pink or brown?  Do some sort of copper roof?  Shingles?  What???

And finally.....I did lots of online shopping!  I bought all sorts of things for the dollhouse winery/boutique and I finally got up my courage and bought an inkjet printer that will print fabric and photos!  How fun will that be???!!!

Hope you had a great weekend too!  Tell me all about it!

Hugs,
Jenny

P.S.  You can see the Hooterville pattern here.  We still have some of that Little Lady fabric available here.  You can see the Vintage Valentine pattern here (image below).

The Most Patient Man In The World

Shhhh.....don't tell him I said this but Col. Sew Fab just might be the most patient man in the world.  Here's why I say that.....

Last weekend we did a bunch of work on the dollhouse bakery.  We actually took an old dollhouse room box that I never finished and decided to remodel it into the dream bakery.  So we spent the weekend refinishing wood dollhouse floors and sanding off a very bad and very old stucco job and priming and painting the walls.  Three times.  Yes we painted the walls of a dollhouse three times.

Dollhouse Before

I originally wanted them to be green.  Then I wasn't sure I liked the green with the wood floors.  So we painted them buttery yellow.  Then, I definitely didn't like that color and decided that my heart was set on green.  So we repainted the walls the exact same shade of green that we used the first time.  And then I was happy.  And let's face it.....even if I weren't happy with the third repainting, re-priming and re-sanding I'm smart enough to just keep my mouth shut!

Dollhouse After

But I truly love the color and I really love how it looks with the white furniture.

Next up.....PINK clapboard siding!  Yay!  And I have to finish the one, simple sewn Christmas gift that I'm making this year.  If you've been following the blog since last December I bet you can guess what it is!

Hugs,
Jenny

Just A Man and A Dollhouse

Just a picture of a man.....

Refinishing wood floors.....

In a dollhouse bakery Patisserie.....

Hugs,
Jenny 

I Need A Pintervention

While I spent the last six days on Staycation I realized something.....I am a Pinaholic. 

Here's what happened......Staycation started out innocently enough.  I did some sewing and watched some tv and did a lot of work on the dollhouse.  I painted and sanded and cut and glued teeny tiny little pieces until I was blissfully bleary eyed.  And I even mentally redecorated the dollhouse for the third time.  But I won't even go into detail about that yet because I'll probably mentally redecorate ten more times before the dollhouse is done!

And then I ordered tons of supplies for the new dollhouse bakery patisserie because of Col Sew Fab's offer that I couldn't refuse.  I even finished the giant living room quilt after sloooowwwly working on it for 1.5 years!  Yay!  More on the quilt tomorrow.  

Anyway.....I also spent some time browsing Pinterest to find more ideas for the bakery....and then things spiraled out of control.  I saw one pretty little picture of one pretty little French Provincial dollhouse shop and I fell head over heels in love.  I became obsessed with this darn dollhouse and spent TWO DAYS searching Pinterest and etsy and google images and blogs and online shops for all of the perfect little items for MY very own little French Provincial dollhouse shop/winery because I REALLY need a third dollhouse project!  I've drawn floor plans and picked colors and I have a huge etsy wish list full of all of the perfect furniture for the shop (I even found mini wine barrels!) and of course I have a Pinterest board dedicated to this (Miniatures - French Provincial Ideas).  

I've even named the little shop/winery!  I'm going to call it le Petit Lapin (the little rabbit).  I had originally planned on calling it The Black Rooster because I found some really cute French black rooster dollhouse accessories but then I realized that when you translated that into French it becomes le Coq Noir......and well......that just doesn't sound good if you know what I mean.  I almost spit out the wine I was drinking when that came up on Google Translate.  And if you don't know what I mean just think about it for a moment....it will come to you....

Where was I?  Oh yeah.....I need a Pintervention.  I CAN'T STOP planning new projects that are inspired by Pinterest.  I never seem to finish these projects.....but I'm great at planning them.  Maybe I should use this skill obsession for good and become a "Craft Project Consultant."  Wouldn't that be an awesome career?  I could meet with clients and help them plan their craft and sewing projects and pick their colors and find all of the supplies and build Pinterest boards for them while sipping some wine and then set them free to do all of the work.  I'd be great at it!

Cheers to my new career!

Hugs,
Jenny

Staycation vs Mancation

Well.....just a few more hours and then I'm officially on Staycation!  I haven't done one in soooo long and I can't wait.  It'll be 6 days of sleeping late, sitting around in my pajamas, sewing, crafting, baking, eating (the calories you eat on Staycation don't count!), watching tv, sipping wine and champagne and soaking in the hot tub.  Absolutely heavenly.

And while I'm on Staycation Col. Sew Fab is on a Mancation in Chile.  He'll have a week full of mountain biking, white water rafting and volcano climbing.  So he'll be enjoying his version of heaven too!

But you won't believe what happened before he left!  I had been talking babbling about how I want to make a dollhouse size bakery while he was packing for his trip and he said "let's build your dream dollhouse bakery together over Christmas break.  Just buy all the supplies while I'm gone."  Seriously!  I'm not kidding!  Yes - I realize that he's a keeper!!!  And I also realize that I already have a million craft and sewing projects going on.....more projects than I could finish in a decade.....but that was an offer I CAN'T REFUSE.  Soooo.....add online shopping to the list of things I'll be doing while on Staycation!  Yippee!

Hugs,
Jenny

P.S.  Take a peek at my Pinterest board called "Cupcake Shop Ideas" if you want to see what I'm planning for my dreamy, pink, heavenly little cupcake shop!

P.P.S.S.  If you're not on Pinterest just send me an e-mail or leave your e-mail in a comment and I'll send you an invitation to join.  They keep the spammers out by making it "invitation only."

Fun Mail

Don't you just LOVE getting fun stuff in the mail.  These little goodies arrived in my mailbox today and I can't wait to play with them during my Staycation next week.....

Oh yes....on the left is a teeny, tiny kit for making itty, bitty cupcakes out of modeling clay.  I think they're going to be about the size of chocolate chips!  And the kit on the right....well....that's a kit to make itty, bitty glitter houses WITH LIGHTS inside that will go on the top of my dollhouse mantle.  My own house doesn't have light up glitter houses.....but my dollhouse will have them!

And these are some of the goodies that I bought at Michaels earlier this week......

I'll cut up the bead garland and use the individual balls as ornaments for the dollhouse Christmas tree.  And I'll attach little threads to the stickers and those will also become ornaments.

And the greens on the right are from the dollhouse Christmas tree kit that I bought on etsy a few days ago.

Now, if I could just get my super huge, super secret project done I'll actually get to play with these very soon!

Hugs,
Jenny

P.S.  I bought the cupcake kit and the glitter house kits from True2Scale and the Christmas tree kit is from HartsDesireMinis.  Both are shops on etsy.

Merry Little Christmas House

So, I had one of those light bulb going off above the head moments (after spending hours on Pinterest) and I realized it would be soooooo flippin' cute if I got my dollhouse built (or mostly built) and electrified in time for Christmas.  I could put little wreaths on all the windows and doors and get a few little bottle brush trees from Michaels for the "yard" and maybe get some fake snow and it would be the cutest little Christmas house EVER!

I actually whipped out the instruction booklet for electrifying the dollhouse yesterday and it kind of made me want to cry.  Thirty five pages of directions on how to wire a dollhouse!!!  Thirty five pages!!!  Mind.  Officially.  Boggled.  So, I handed the booklet to Col. Sew Fab and he browsed through it for a few minutes and said "I totally understand this."  Maybe he shouldn't have said that because guess who just "volunteered" himself as "Official Dollhouse Electrifier."  I'm sure that's exactly what he wants to be doing over his Thanksgiving holiday, right?  What man wouldn't want to spend his time wiring a dollhouse for electricity???

So, what do you think?  Do you have any bright ideas for holiday decor for the dollhouse?  Christmas cookies made from Fimo?  Presents wrapped in cute scrapbook paper?  What else can I do to make this the cutest little Christmas house EVER???

Hugs,

Jenny

 

I Am Soooooo Cool!

I am sooooo incredibly cool!  I spent most of my weekend applying siding to the outside of my dollhouse and beadboard to the inside while wearing pajamas!  And eating cupcakes.  And watching Heroes on NetFlix.  And forcing Mr. Sew Fab to repeatedly ooohhh and ahhhh over the dollhouse.  I'm surprised the paparazzi don't follow me around to document how cool and exciting I am!

I even put a little Building Permit up on the side of the dollhouse!  And then Mr. Sew Fab told me that by law a building permit must be by the front door so it was immediately moved to be by the door.  I certainly don't want any legal problems slowing down the construction process.

 

And Mr. Sew Fab even said that the dollhouse might find a permanent home in the Living Room.  Be still my heart!  And I didn't even have to bribe him with baked goods to say that!  It's a miracle!

Happy Sewing......and Happy Dollhousing!

Jenny