Thursday 11 October 2012

I recently visited Traquair House in Innerleithen, Peebleshire. If you get the chance do go along to see it. It has been owned by the same family since the 12th Century and is the oldest occupied house in Scotland. It was used as a hunting lodge originally for the Royals and is reputed to having Mary Queen of Scots, her husband Lord Darnley and baby King James V1 staying as guests. The bed and cradle they slept in is on view in the house. Great day out was had by all and there are some outbuildings selling crafts etc. No I don't get commission for this advert lol!! I just loved the place!

It's very wet here today so I think this evening will be spent knitting a mini christening gown, a night for the fireside me thinks. I don't sell my miniatures but do give some away as gifts, I think it would take the fun out of it if I 'had' to knit to order.
 I have bought my Granddaughter a house and plan to paint and furnish it for Christmas for her, the only problem I have is that she must have everything pink lol! so need to look for 50 shades of pink to decorate it for her! Photos will be posted as soon as it's finished.

Bye for now!
http://www.traquair.co.uk/tour-house

Wednesday 10 October 2012

This is my first post on my new blog, welcome to all who visit.

I love nostalgia, infact it's my passion!  Old objects intrigue me and I love to think of the people who once owned them and the life styles that they led. I've been tracing my family tree for about 10 years now and to be honest haven't managed to get that far back because I keep getting waylaid by researching the areas my family lived in, their professions, and generally finding out how their lives would have been. In reality I'm just plain nosey!

I spend my summers visting stately homes, I like to see how the 'other half' lived. My family were mainly from mining backgrounds so a very different lifestyle to the houses I visit.

 Many years ago my Mum bought me a dollshouse, not your typical little girl's house but a miniature house. I spend a fair amount of time making items for the house, my other passion is crafts so it's been great fun stitching and knitting little things for it. I've decorated most of it (still have another 4 rooms to) I'll post some photos to let you see. The internet is an amazing place and I've learned from some great websites on how to make my own miniatures.

Here is the drawingroom in my miniature house, the carpet took me a year to stitch and I copied the design from the carpet centre to stitch the piano stool cover. The throw is knitted with thread and really thin needles. The photo on the piano is a miniaturised photo of my Grandad and the one on the side table was my Great Gran (in reality she was a laundry woman so there's no way she would ever have been in a house like this lol!) The flowers are made from paper. I've still loads to do in this room but it all takes time.

See ya later!