Happy New Year!

May the best ye hae ivver seen be the warst ye'll ivver see.
May the moose ne'er lea' yer girnal wi a tear-drap in its ee.
May ye aye keep hail an hertie till ye'r auld eneuch tae dee.
May ye aye juist be sae happie as A wuss ye aye tae be. 

The above, in translation, reads: 

May the best you have ever seen be the worst you will ever see.
May the mouse never leave your grain store with a tear drop in its eye.
May you always stay hale and hearty until you are old enough to die.
May you still be as happy as I always wish you to be. 

Slainte!

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to wish all my followers a very Merry Christmas from my home to yours.

A wee sneaky peek......

This is not a photo relating to Hambleton Hall. In fact it's a sneaky peek through the basement window of my newest property Netherton. I happened to mention it on Simon's blog Miniature Enthusiast and took pity on his desire to know more!

There's a lot more to see of this property but until I finish one of my others I'm holding back.

I hope you like it.

York Fair

I had a lovely day at the York Fair yesterday and was pleased to meet, quite by chance, a fellow Edinburgh blogger - Jackie from Fridayschild blog.

Although I bought quite a bit, not a lot of the items were for Hambleton Hall but sufficient to let me get a bit further with this property.

There's some fabric for Her Ladyship's curtains, two little hankies for her drawer and a toasting fork for the yet to be created Nursery.

A very warm welcome to all new followers. I'm very pleased to have you here and hope you like what you see.

Back from Miniatura

I returned home today from a very enjoyable weekend, having spent Sunday at Miniatura in Birmingham.

I managed to pick up some lovely bits and pieces. The chamber pot, photographs, journal and lace cloth are for the recently finished bedroom and the boxed shirt is for "him". I have trouble finding nice items for gentlemen so that when I do see them, I snap them up.

A moment of madness and long awaited progress in the Salon.

I had a moment of madness the other day, as if I didn't have enough to do, and I decided to clean a room in my dollshouse! 

Not all the windows have been dealt with in the Hall and I'm ashamed to say I had some real life dust to deal with.

How embarrassing is that - the shame!

It actually turned out to be quite a good little exercise. It gave me the chance to look at some of the items in that room that I'd forgotten about and also reminded me of the fact that when I purchased the sideboard, my intention was to fill it. That will now be done.

Another job I've completed in this room is to make the curtains. I've had this fabric for about three years but was reluctant to cut into it because a) it was purchased from Susan Bembridge to co-ordinate with the wallpaper, and b) I wasn't quite sure how I wanted the pelmet to look so I decided to leave well alone until I could come up with something that was simple enough that it didn't clash with the paper but was grand enough given the status of the room.

I'm happy now!

Just playing...........

I'm sitting here procrastinating! There are things I should be doing but instead, I'm playing with effects on Paint.NET. There is stuff there I never even knew existed and even the things I knew about, I never remember to use when the time comes.

I took the above photo the other day just to see how the two rooms looked side by side and then today I played with it.

The lady of the house now has a room of her own.

I've been working hard these past few days to complete this room.   I feel I've been working on it forever.    The rug and the bonnet were the last items to be added and apart from any other little item that I might find at Miniatura, Birmingham at the end of this month - the room is finished.

The wallpaper came from a beautiful selection offered by Janny at Art of Mini.   The dainty little candlesticks came from Flora and her Etsy Shop as did the little box of letters on the table to the right. There was also a plaster bust from Flora but I wont be using that until I've got the curtains made.

The cranberry glass was all purchased from Glasscraft at various fairs.   The book on the bed is Jane Eyre from Dateman Books

If you want to get ahead, get a hat!

A few months ago I ordered some bits from The Mini Milliner, including a kit for this little bonnet.

This is the first hat I've made and can certainly recommend Margaret's kits. The instructions were clear and there were more than enough bits to complete the job. The little glove box and gloves are from Margaret as well but they came ready made.

I have to confess to taking it apart once as I hadn't got the scale quite right but after that it was very straightforward. This will be going into Her Ladyship's room and once I've had a chance to fiddle, I'll be back with pictures as it's pretty much finished.

Inspiration from Sabiha

Some time ago Sabiha made some pegs from cocktail sticks and posted a little tutorial. With that in mind, I made some pegs today.

I'd never seen cocktail sticks like that here before and happened to mention it on Sab's blog. Janice very kindly sent me some and at long last, I've turned them into pegs.

Thank you Sabiha for the inspiration and thank you Janice for the cocktail sticks.

Asseyez-vous Madam, si vous plait...........

For a long time now I've had this notion to have a go at this particular chair as created by Lea Frisoni (I tried to post her link but it looks like the site has changed) but didn't have a specific place in mind for it until I started working on the bedroom belonging to the lady of the house.

It took me all last Saturday afternoon to create the frame and all Wednesday afternoon to upholster it! The fabric could have done with being a bit finer as it was tricky to stick down but it's done now and I'm very pleased with it.

I just had to see what the collection of Cranberry glass looked like when placed in it's final position and I think I need to get another couple of pieces. The trouble will be remembering what I've already got!

This room is very nearly complete. I'm just looking for a suitable rug then I'll be back with more pictures.

From Queensland, Australia to Edinburgh, Scotland

Recently I was lucky enough to win Christine's giveaway and it arrived today. Given that it had come all the way from Queensland to Edinburgh, it hadn't taken that long.

Sitting on the top was a little message from Christine

Underneath that there was a lovely little crate tied with "rope"

Inside were two little "shipping invoices/bills of sale", some wonderfully clever little woodshavings and the gifts themselves suitably wrapped in "burlap"

After carefully unwrapping all the little treasures - a tantalus, pheasant, a very detailed cheesboard, a lovely little cloth and at the very bottom of the crate, some UK newspapers.

Isn't it all great?

The Admiral is extremely impressed with his new Tantalus and will certainly be enjoying a "snifter" this evening.

Cook has decided that tonight Pheasant will be on the menu and you can see it here on the table ready to be prepared.

The cheeseboard has made it's way to my Tearooms and fits in there perfectly.

THANK YOU very much Christine - I love it all and appreciate the care taken with all the little details.

Irene, goodnight - Irene, goodnight..............

Well, maybe not for me, but certainly by me!

I'd been hunting for a suitable bed for Her Ladyship for quite some time but nothing really hit the spot (despite the fact that there are hundreds of beautifully dressed beds available) and because I didn't want a terribly "frilly" bed, I decided to have a go at making my own.   I did it using balsa wood, spindles and decorative railing.

I'd purchased some fabric at Miniatura with the bed in mind and I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out.   There is a lace robe "artfully" arranged at the end of the bed.

The little rose I've had for a while and the little bundle of letters were made by Flora

At last, some progress and a welcome message.

At long last I have some progress to show you of Her Ladyship's bedroom.   I wanted to add a little more character here rather than just the usual chimney breast so I started playing with the foam board to create little niches on the fireplace wall for her extensive collection of Cranberry Glass.   I think it's worked out quite well and has only taken about 1" (2.5cms) off the width of the room.

The wallpaper was purchased from Janny of Art of Mini who has a beautiful selection of papers to choose from. The floor is created from iron on strips then varnished and the door at the back - which leads to Her Ladyship's dressing room - is resin which is why I couldn't match the colour to the main bedroom door.

The ceiling height of each room in Hambleton Hall is only 8" (20.3cms) and I feel that the light fitting is perhaps sitting a tad too low but given that Her Ladyship is vertically challenged, I think I can get away with it!   I was just so pleased to find this along with the wall lights in her favourite Cranberry glass  that I was happy to live with it.

In time, these shelves will be filled with a collection of Cranberry Glass and at present I'm working on a bed.   I also have other pieces of furniture but these require a bit of work before I can show you.   All in all, I'm pleased with the way this is turning out.   Next comes the fun bit - shopping for accessories!

I'd also like to take this opportunity of welcoming all new followers to my blog.   It's very  nice to have you here and I hope you like what you see.   Thank you.

I've been shopping!

Above is the Hambleton Hall selection from my trip to Miniatura at the weekend.   There's fabric to dress a bed, a selection of Cranberry glass that I intend adding to, a lovely little silver dish for holding grapes, a razor strop (I'd been holding out for a nice one for a long time) and a flower kit.   This will be my first venture into making flowers   I'll let you know how it goes!

I did buy lots more but I've had to seperate it all into each relevant property (one of which doesn't have a blog - yet!)

It was also nice to see Mags (Mags-nificent Miniatures) and Julie (Bellabelle dolls).  We wont be catching up at the Scottish Miniatura this year as there isn't going to be one :-(

If anyone would like to know who I purchased from, please ask.   I forgot to ask permissions from the sellers to post their links - so better safe than sorry.

Shame on me....

How embarrassing is this - no updates since the New Year!

It has taken me some time to track down a suitable wallpaper for this room and now that I have it, there's no excuse not to do anything with it. I don't have a fixed picture in mind for this room yet, but it will come. I just don't want to leave it so long till the next entry.

I've been working away on other projects but the time has come to get on with this so... today the decorators moved in. They've primed the walls - they used a brush because they couldn't be bothered getting out the roller. They can do that tomorrow!

I'd also like to welcome my new followers. It's lovely to have you here and I hope you enjoy what you see.

I promise not to leave it so long between posts!

Happy New Year!

A very happy and healthy New Year to you all. Thank you so much for following my blog - it's been a great year. Irene X