Miniatura revisited

 DH kindly drove me to Miniatura today, one of the biggest dollshouse and miniatures shows in the UK.  I hadn't been since, I think, 2017.  It has moved to a new venue in the meantime and is now at Stoneleigh National Agricultural exhibition centre in a vast metal roofed hanger.

It felt very strange to be back at a minis show.  Despite currently building a dollshouse, miniatures has not been a very active hobby for me for probably 12 years now, since before we moved up to Northamptonshire. I feel quite out of touch with the minis world and who is doing what.  I saw a handful of traders that I recognised from back in the day, but there are so many new traders.  The smaller scales were heavily represented, especially 1:48 scale.  Laser cut miniatures were also very prevalent, I heard one furniture trader assuring a customer that he still cuts things out the old fashioned way with a fretsaw etc.  which made me smile.  I had a short chat with a trader couple that I knew from the past, they said the hobby has changed and in particular a lot of younger people are coming in to it - they attributed this to the TV miniatures shows that have been screened, and of course social media.  

However, the supplies I was particularly looking for were not to be found: roof shingles, plain stripwood, fretwork roof trim and some finials for the roof points - there was a very limited amount of DIY stuff available at the show.  I was also on the lookout for Arts & Crafts style furniture and again saw very little apart from a Jane Harrop kit for two chairs, and a £300 desk which was beautiful but out of my price range.  I wanted a bed for the master bedroom - there were no kits or undressed beds that I saw.  There were plenty of dressed beds, some of which I liked the frame but none of the bedlinen dressing appealed to me.  It was the 100th show so several traders were doing special gifts: I got a souvenir sanding board with the Jane Harrop kit, and a cute paper suitcase box for the handbag I bought (because it reminded me of Vendula handbags which I have collected in the past). I also did a charity mini-make to glue together a 100th anniversary mini totebag.  Art of Mini had a lovely 3D printed chair which looked like wicker in the painted sample, and will look nice in the tower alcove of my current dollshouse.  And I got some more Tacky Wax from Deluxe Materials.

I felt a bit depressed walking around the show.  I think it's a mixture of my own standards for scale and perfection having risen above my actual skills; and the thought of all the money I have tied up in minis I've bought over the years which I will eventually have to downsize and they are very hard to sell, much less get your money back, especially since most of mine are not expensive collector pieces.  A job for the future, I have so much else to de-hoard first.  Anyway, I saw lots of nice things and the weather was lovely so it was a nice morning out of the house.

This week I finished knitting the hat in New Zealand wool that I started in Iceland and continued in Wales.  Unfortunately it would probably fit a seven-year-old.

It fits around my head, quite snugly but I'm hoping it will relax when it's washed. But it was way too short, it was more like a skull cap.  So I pulled it back to the start of the decreases, knit an extra row of motifs, and I've started decreasing again - this time with extra rows so the top is wider.  Hopefully second time lucky.

I've finished stitching the Welsh quilted cushion and given it a wash to get the pencil lines out.  It looks ok, although not very intricate as it's a beginner design.  When it dries, I will iron it lightly and make it up into a cushion - possibly with piping although I'm not very good at piping.

On my way back from Wales, I had some time in Aberystwyth where I found this comprehensive book on Ribbon crafting for only £3.  I'm picturing adding some vintage style flower trims to some of my makes.  Although most of my ribbons are polyester craft ribbons, and they won't work as well, the book says you need soft natural ribbons such as silk.

As part of my ongoing decluttering, I pulled out the contents of my dollshouse room haberdashery cupboard which has been a disaster zone for several years, particularly since I inherited a friend's stash.  It was all alarmingly damp as well, I think I need to drill some airholes in that cupboard, the perils of having a room in the basement.  I went through the boxes to sort everything into categories: dozens of mini trims, ribbons, ricrac, laces, velvet cord, feathers, fringes; various packets of fabric; a bunch of leather pieces and scraps; material for bed linen and towels; carpet fabrics and all kinds of other stuff.  I threw out a bunch of stuff from my friend's stash that wasn't in scale, or was too thick, too stiff etc  This is all my hoard of stuff for doll dressmaking, upholstery, mini textiles etc.  All stuff that 30 years ago I thought I would be using to make things with and in fact almost never do.  I'm still trying to unravel the spaghetti junction of ribbons and trims - I've ordered some more small ziploc bags so I can separate them all so that they will be easier to use if I ever actually make things with them.

Cat update

Very sadly, this week we had to say goodbye to our cat Oreo.  The steroid tablets she was on for her cancer became ineffective, which the vet said is typical for that type of cancer.  There was nothing more to be done and she was becoming very unwell, so the kind thing to do was to let her go.  The house seems very empty without her and I keep thinking that I hear her moving about.  I don't think we will get another cat, it's just too painful when their time comes.