Merry Christmas

 

Edward the Elf, his companion dog Prince and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and creative 2015.

Mum's Minis

I'm finally back home and will start work again tomorrow. I miss my sisters already. It has been lovely spending time with them despite the circumstances. Mum's funeral on Wednesday was a lovely celebration of her life.

 

Because all four of us girls were together in Mum's home town we decided to start sorting through Mum's things. I bought home her miniatures. In the 1990s Mum and I both did miniatures. Mum hadn't done any since then but she had kept some items in case she got back into it.

 

There was a selection of knitted, crocheted and embroidered items and some doilies. The little yellow piece in the centre is my one and only attempt at miniature knitting. Mum made the lovely little bedspread in the top right hand corner. Unfortunately some of these items have age spots so I will have to see if I can do something about that.

There were some dolls:

Some animals:

A few pieces of furniture:

Some 1/4 inch scale items. I think I will enjoy experimenting with some 1/4 scale miniature scenes.

These are a few of the miniature accessories and some crystal pieces:

This bride and groom was a cake topper I used when I made and decorated a 40th wedding anniversary cake for Mum and Dad in 1988. They are the perfect size for the vintage cardboard church I have which was a vintage game piece.

 

This is an exquisite pop up card which one of my sisters gave Mum a few years ago. I want to eventually try to create a miniature scene around it.

The miniature fimo items were made by a lady who used to do miniature fimo items in the 1990s who has since sadly passed away. I am pleased to be able to add more of her items to my miniature collection. Three of her cats are also included in the animal photo above.

I found a few little gold angels and some little soldiers to add to my Christmas scene:

 

I now have a cook for my Victorian nursery. Unfortunately she has her work cut out for her. It seems that while I was away over the last few weeks one of the kittens must have ventured into my dolls house and has raided the kitchen shelves!

 

This lovely cross stitch was made by my friend Lyn for Mum some years ago. It will look lovely amongst my dolls houses.

 

 I made the bear in the picture below, Lachie, for my Dad when he was very ill with cancer approximately 17 years ago. The doll is one I made for Mum. They have both come back home to live with me.

 

I also brought home some other miniature accessories, ribbons, laces, braids, beads, cottons and embroidery fabric, etc.

I think I will need to have another sort out of my craft room!

I've made a start today on items for my Christmas swap. I will hopefully get the parcels posted by the end of the week. Unfortunately it will be too late to reach swap participants before Christmas. Once again I apologise.

Absent

I have been absent from my blog again and I also find once again I am weeks behind with reading all of your blogs.

Sadly my mother passed away on Friday night after a fairly short illness and I have been away from my home and computer for most of the last two or three weeks. Add to that my husband's father had a severe stroke on Sunday night and we are working through the implications of this and supporting his mother who also lives out of town.

I have to say it has not been a great year for us.

To my Christmas Swap partners I will be back home this weekend and I will get your swap gifts finished and posted. I really apologise that your gifts are likely to arrive a little late for Christmas but these were unexpected circumstances.

My Mum was also a miniaturist back in the 1990s and had some lovely miniatures tucked away which I have inherited. I look forward to showing you some of these in future posts.