A pretty pinny, and a useful gardening bag

I would enjoy gardening more if I had a pinny (I love that word) and a gardening bag like this.

We made them at our latest doll house club night.

I learned a great tip: the scissors are made from a hook from a 'hook and eye' set. Just fold it out flat with plyers. Brilliant!

A giant step for this dinky house

The smallest of my little houses is a very demanding house and seems to revel in being difficult. Unsticking things, warping wood and mismatched corners. Not my fault of course... ;)

I feel like I am clunking around with a giant's set of tools, smashing a bit here, squeezing something in there.

While it's starting to looking quite pretty, you can probably spot my goofs.

I need to invest in a sharper blade. Mine is dreadful and I'm really regretting starting this house with it. So, the paper cuts around the windows are a little messy, but I will cover those with window boxes and colourful flowers.

I especially love the staircase and the upstairs, very, very cute.

Next to do: furniture, back wall and roof. There are pool tables to make and tiny little gold balls that need painting. There is also a garden to build and fill with flora, garden seats and picnic style tables. Oh, and I need the very tiniest of twigs or stiff stems from the garden to make logs for the fire.

1/144 scale stairs

I've built and stained the tiny staircase and couldn't resist posting it up! It needs another coat of stain but is coming along nicely.

I need some teeny people with equally teeny feet to climb them.

Haberdashery department

We're making a department store at our doll house club. I've chosen the haberdashery department: lots of small sewing items, balls of wool and bolts of fabric.

After spending a considerable amount of time wrapping fabric around 3/4"x5/8" strips of cardboard, making balls of wool from cut drinking straws at 3/8", wrapped in embroidery threat, and buying a range of suitable oddments, I thought I had enough items to fill my shop.

Unfortunately it still looks half empty but at least I've a good start. We don't need to be finished until September, to display at the Sunderland Horticultural Society event in Seaburn, so I've plenty of time to fill it to the rafters.

1/144 scale pub - The Swan

Working in 1/12 scale is starting, just starting, to feel intuitive.

The need for attention to detail is one of the draws of this hobby. Head often battles with heart, purist versus 'oh but it looks nice anyway' when a slightly off-scale rogue becomes apparent.

Moving to 1/144 scale feels like I'm starting over. My 2.5 inch high pub will have two floors, furniture and pool tables. It's small, very small. In fact it is perfect scale for a doll house in my 1/12 scale house.

The Swan is made from laser cut wood, 1/32" in some cases.

I've started carpeting and wallpapering, and have just stained the wooden window frames and tiny doors.

The penny is included to help demonstrate scale.

York Dolls' House Fair

The York Dolls' House Fair in York is a treasure trove for collectors of all ages, attracting hundreds of visitors every year.

Stalls offer items to cater for every budget, ranging from artisan crafted furniture to kitchen utensils costing pennies. Mind, you do get what you pay for.

Amongst the hundreds of thousands of items I saw today, a cute teacosy caught my eye, and as it was the only one, I bought it straight away.

I also bought another house, this time a 1/24 scale which I know is going to be a challenge. I need to decide how to log my build on that house, along with my new 1/144 scale village pub. New blogs are on the horizon...