As yet unnamed!

Not enough hours in a day!

First, photos from yesterday of Noemie playing with her favorite toy of the moment. Beans. I read a long time ago about kids playing (supervised of course lest a bean ends up in their nose or something) with beans and containers. They make noise, they are fun to pick up and put back in the container, etc. I got one action shot of her shaking the container and the beans in mid air. The other photo is just my latest fav of Noemie... 

Had a full day today and got a lot done. Our nanny worked today so we all went to the corner pub for lunch. Noemie was a good little girl and sat in the chair and ate with us. Charlie was great as well. Luckily no one misbehaved. Nothing worse than kids screaming and running around in a restaurant (our pub is more of a gastro pub). 

Afterwards the kids took a nap and I did the first coat of paint on the main kitchen wall. Did another coat after the kids went to bed tonight. Will work on another wall tomorrow. I also fixed all the lights in my dollhouse and put in the new ones I got at Kensington. I've then started dusting the rooms and all the contents and am going to get everything properly set up and displayed. That way I know if I need anything more for the house or if it's just a case of making curtains and stuff to finish it off. I've fallen in love with it all over again. 

Tomorrow I will paint the other side of the airing cupboard door so I can be done with it. I have to do it at night though to allow for it to dry without little fingers getting in the way! Ranette, you asked what an airing cupboard is. It's usually a cupboard that houses your hot water tank and then has a bunch of shelves so you can put your laundry folded up inside (not totally bone dry) and it will dry it off and keep it a little bit warm. I use ours for our towels and sheets (and our cleaner has her stash of cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaner in there as well). For us it's more storage than the true purpose.

Kensington May 2009 purchases

Finally managed to unpack all my purchases and take photos. Sorry about the quality of some of the photos. Limited time and not the greatest lighting. I passed out last night before 11pm. Who would've thought mini shopping was SO tiring?!? I've started an album of many photos (look to the left) but thought I'd highlight a few of the items that I really like.  

House sign by Clive Brooker. I think this is going to be the name of my Victorian house. In the past I had plans to make a crazy cat lady house but as I don't have the time or the space for it anymore, I am going to add all the cats I have been collecting so far into my Vic house so the name seemed suiting. 

Sterling Silver ink well and plumes for the desk in the gentleman's room. I purchased this from Simply Silver who I seem to visit each year. They have some lovely items, many of which I own so now it's a case of asking them "so, what don't I own yet?" 

Purchased from Country Treasures. I am so glad I get to the show early on as many of these sellers only have one of something for sale. As I already own so much, it's getting harder to find things I don't own/need/have a home for so it's become a challenge to find things that catch my eye. This will go in my Victorian scullery where the help will be preparing the food that then gets carried across to the kitchen where the cook will cook and add final touches. I have such a huge scullery space that I need quite a bit to fill it up!

 

Parrots from Miss Sally World. For my gentleman's room (which is fast running out of space). She is the person I took my class from on Thursday. I also bought a black cat from her at Miniatura this past March.

 

Hall light from Ray Storey. He tends to sell out of stuff very quickly so I went to his stand first this time. I needed 4 replacement hall lights for my Victorian as I had bought cheap imports as a space holder until I found the lights I wanted. Well find them I did! I got frosted ones for the main hallways and the lower servants' hallway will have the unfrosted version. I am going to measure my kitchen ceiling height and order a kitchen light that he didn't have in stock but that I really liked the photo of and he can make it to the right drop to fit my room. Will be great to have all my lighting finalized at long last. Ray was telling me about how popular the hall light was at the Chicago show he just attended... he sold 97 of them in the 2 days! Amazing? Can't say I am surprised though!

 

Last but not least... my favorite purchase from the show. While I love all that I buy, I always have one item that really makes me excited and happy! This time around it's this adorable frog quartet by Veronique Cornish. I have bought so many teapots from her along with the cute mice she makes so I was thrilled to find something new to buy this time. I have the perfect spot for these little fellas as well, just need to clear out my house, dust it all and put everything in place. 

It almost seems cheeky to add these next two photos right after you've seen the gorgeous artisan made minis... but as promised, here are the doggies made during my workshop on Thursday. The first one we did the legs, body, ears and tail. Sally provided the head ready made. The next one I did all of it and you can tell... the face barely resembles a dog and he is so skinny. He is going to be my outdoor mutt who has been starving but has been taken in by the dollhouse cook and is getting table scraps and being loved. Even though he is ugly at least I have a cute story for it, lol! 

    

Friday already

Hard to believe how fast the day went but I guess time flies when you're having fun. I wasn't totally convinced my day was going to go too well based on how it started. Charlie woke up happy as usual and I went to him today. He even slept until nearly 7am so that was nice. He tends to leak through his diaper so we put plastic pants on him on top of his diaper to try and contain stuff and so far it's worked really well. You can usually tell if there is anything that has come out of the diaper and into the pants and can work accordingly to get him cleaned up. (If you're easily grossed out, stop reading now). This morning I couldn't see any leaks so I reached into the front waist area of his pants to take them off to get to his diaper. I feel this warm squishy feeling on my fingers, pull them back quickly and see lots of poo all over my fingers. So I do what comes naturally to me... I flip out and shake my hands which results in poo ending up on the walls behind his changing table. Meanwhile he is squirming around, grabbing his legs (and some poo that is rapidly squishing out everywhere) with his hands. I quickly grab his hands, wipe my hands, wipe his hands and then decide I should wipe the wall before anything stains. While I'm doing that he is grabbing his legs and getting messier. It took a while and a lot of wipes but I finally got him all cleaned up and put a new sleepsuit on him. Ugh. So gross. Noemie NEVER had blowouts like this but then she is a little lady. Charlie is definitely a boy. I give him his bottle, he guzzles it then spits up down his front (remember, fresh clean sleepsuit) when I burp him at the end. Nice huh? Nanny shows up and gives him his breakfast and then some pureed raisins. He didn't think much of the mouthful he got so he spits it out, starts gagging while grimacing and his entire breakfast reappears. We waited 10 minutes and gave him fresh breakfast which went down fine. Of course HE is smiling and cooing through ALL of this. 

Fortunately the day got better. Noemie was feeling much better today and her runny nose was all but gone. Charlie was fine as well and doesn't appear to have caught a cold just yet. I had a blast at the show, spent way too much as always but got some lovely things and ran into some people I know. I will take photos of my purchases as I know some of my mini friends like to see what I get each time I go to Kensington. I'll have to spend some time in the next few weeks getting my Victorian house in order. I even bought a new dedicated table for it earlier this week which arrived yesterday. I'll build it this weekend and get it painted. Just need a quick trip to Homebase for some paints! Hoping to get lots done this weekend. Have a busy week next week again!

Someone give me back my days!

I have these good intentions of blogging daily but then a few days go by and I realize I haven't blogged again. I just seem to be on the go all the time lately to meet up with people and then to rush home to spend some time with the kids as well. I love it though and wouldn't have it any other way. I can't believe how much I used to sit around at home. 

Here are some photos from today of the kids. Poor Noemie has caught a cold and her nose is just streaming non stop. She hates it when she has a runny nose and each time it drips she asks someone to wipe it for her. Our nanny taught her to wipe her nose herself today so she tried very hard but sometimes we just sorta had to step in and wipe it for her. Despite being unwell she was so happy and cheerful and being extra cute. I hope she feels better soon and sleeps better tonight. She was up about 7 times or so last night, just struggling to settle. So far tonight she seems to be doing a bit better. With any luck Charlie won't get it either. Noemie is wearing her matching rain coat and boots that Nana got for her as a gift. Charlie is kicking back in his stroller while enjoying a bottle of milk partially propped by a blanket and partially held by himself. He is so laid back and learning things so quickly. His latest trick for the past week or so is that he waves at you. When you say bye bye and nite nite he waves at you in response. It's so cute at night time as he goes to bed while Noemie is still in the bath and she'll say "nite nite" and he'll wave at her. 

As for me, I went to my stitch group on Tuesday and then went on to lunch with a few of the girls. We went to a yummy Thai place in a pub that I used to go there from time to time when we lived in the area but it had been years since I went back and now that I've been reminded of it, I'll have to go more often. I had a quiet day at home yesterday and then today I went to take a workshop and learned how to make a 1" scale sausage dog from fimo clay. He just came out of the oven moments ago so I'll try and get a photo of him tomorrow to share. The class was by Sally of Miss Sally World. It was a lot of fun and now I'd love to try sculpting a cat. Like I needed any more interests! Time to get some sleep as I am going to the Kensington Dollhouse Show tomorrow afternoon. Hope to find some great minis though my Victorian house is already quite full so there isn't much that I need at this point!

Birmingham Miniatura

These photos are for my dollhouse folks. Each year after a show, I share photos of my purchases as requested! This was the first time I went to this show in 5 years. It seems crazy that the last time I went I wasn't yet married and didn't have kids! It was great to meet up with my friend Bren who I last saw 5 years ago. I also got to chat with some of the artists that I hadn't seen in ages. A few also go to the Kensington show in May so I see them each year and will see them again soon! Anyway, here are my purchases:  

 

This is a one of a kind hand sculpted doll by Bella Belle Dolls. She had three witches and one other had a face that really appealed to me but her dress wasn't quite to my tastes. I quite like the raised eyebrow on this ones face. She will be the witch in my halloween vignette that I have been collecting bits for over the past 8 years or so. 

This is just a facade which came in kit form that I purchased for my halloween vignette. It's by Bromley Crafts. I like that I don't have to do any internal decorating. Just have the witch peeking out of the door, curtains to cover the window from the inside and then 2 little kids trick or treating outside. 

A few new kits from my fav designer, Nicola Mascall. The kit on the far right is designed for a chair by a furniture designer called David Booth. 

 

Luckily for me, David Booth (no website) was at the show and of course I bought the chair to go with the stitchery kit! Now I just need to find several hundred hours to work on the stitchery as it's 48ct silk gauze. I also bought a Regency armchair to match the sofa that is in my Victorian house. I was lucky to have got this one as it was the last one they had today (and I bought it 10 minutes after the show opened), and it's the last one in this fabric as they can't find more of it. Considering my sofa is in this particular fabric, I would've been so disappointed not to be able to get the matching arm chair. I got the sofa about 7 years ago when I worked at a mini shop. The chair is courtesy of my Dad who gave me some spending money when I saw my folks this morning. So, thanks Dad!

Next up is a telescope which I can also angle upwards, made by Chris Sturgess-Lief. I have several of his items in my Victorian house and when I saw this I thought it would belong in the gentleman's study. This telescope is courtesy of my Mom. 

The black cat is from Miss Sally World and I believe it is sculpted from polymer clay. She has some whimsical designs which wouldn't quite work in my Vic house but are perfect for non period items. This kitty will belong in my halloween scene. The mouse is by someone else but I have to admit to having no recollection of who I bought it from.

   

When I saw these dolls I thought they would be perfect as the drunkards in my pub scene. Many years ago (ok, like 7 years ago) I commissioned a pub counter which has just been sitting and collecting dust. I have all the bottles and bits for the pub, but was awaiting the structure and a few dolls to bring it all to life. I get so bored of all the rigidly posed period dolls so it was great fun getting a few character dolls instead. I figure they can start out in the pub and later on when Noemie and Charlie have both outgrown the grabbing everything they can reach stage, I can have them be the outside the pub drunkards. They were purchased from Dream'in'Miniature.

Here is the pub bartender. He has no idea yet what his work environment is going to be like! This is another one of a kind handcrafted doll, by Nicky Bott. 

 

Last but not least, a corner roombox by Harlands of Hedon. The top lifts off and I think the box will be big enough for my pub counter. Here's hoping! 

I did get a few other things but they weren't "worth" photographing. Mainly supplies, odds and ends, etc. All in all it was a good day. I don't plan on going again for a while as I still love the Kensington show the best. I better start saving as it's in around 2 months time!

Woo! It's the weekend

It might look like Noemie is pooping but she was actually about to sit down and I snapped the photo hoping to get a standing shot but missed. She has taken to wearing everyones' shoes at every given opportunity and this evening it was my Ugg boots. They are a tad big on her so she was clomping around in the kitchen and it looked so funny that I had hoped to capture it on film. My photo taking skills seem to be failing me lately though. Maybe I can practice some more this weekend. 

Charlie had his 4 month jabs today and was a bit grumpy this afternoon. He was very shouty at one point and we were all like "awww he has found his voice and is testing it out". We soon realized that this wasn't the case and that he was actually upset as he started howling and then sobbing a few minutes later. Another dose of Calpol and he fell asleep and was okay again. Poor guy cried a lot before he fell asleep tonight so I cuddled him and put him in his bed fast asleep. Usually he goes to sleep on his own but tonight was an exception as he wasn't very happy. Hope he is okay tomorrow. So glad there are no more jabs until he is 12 months old. 

Today I booked my ticket for a dollhouse show in March up in Birmingham. It's on Saturday the 21st and it's a show I used to go to twice a year and in fact was the very first show I ever attended. I remember it was right after Kirk and I had moved into a rented flat in Notting Hill (the first of two flats we rented there) and Kirk took off for a month to the US for business school type training. I didn't have a car back then so I took the train up from London and sat in this compartment with some people who had clearly been partying all night long. I can't believe I actually sat there the entire time. Now I would get up and move as they were so noisy. Anyway, last time I went to the show was March of 2004 I believe, or it might even have been October of 2003. I decided it would be fun to go again as there are some new sellers and some who don't go to the only show I've been going to the past few years (Kensington show). Bren and I are meeting up for the day which will be great as it's been way too long since we've seen each other. We chat often on yahoo IM so it'll be nice to chat in person. As I didn't feel right about leaving Kirk to deal with both kids all day on one of his days off, I've asked our nanny to work that weekend. So he'll have help on the Saturday and on the Sunday him and I can go out for a nice relaxing lunch. We haven't been out without the kid(s) since Noemie was born so it'll make a nice change. It'll be a rare treat to have help on the weekend so we want to make the most of it. I'll spend the rest of my day scrapping/mini-ing and doing my own thing. During the week even though I have full time help, I don't disappear or anything. I spend lots of time doing things with the kids so this particular weekend will be my totally selfish time off! I am SO excited! Better start saving some money now. Might even sell off some stuff that I don't use and raise some funds. Need to get my act together next week! 

I nearly forgot!!! Noemie's word for today is ball, pronounced bal.

A little bit of everything

I spent another several hours working on the teapot shop yesterday. It's amazing how long things take and yet there isn't a ton to show for it all. I hinged the shop door, laid the tiles for the walkway (need to grout), glued on the roof tiles and displayed as many teapots as I could. I need to still paint the 2 cabinets for a second time, do the lighting and paint the windows. I'm done with it for now I think, I've lost interest/burned out. 

Today I spent hours decluttering. I went through all the kitchen cupboards and got rid of 3 large trash bags of stuff. Expired foods that were long forgotten, spices and stuff that had expired, old cereal that I think was mostly stale, etc. I cleared so much space in the cupboards that I managed to put away almost everything that has been taking up space on the countertops so the kitchen looks a lot neater in general. Then I cleared out a shelf unit in our hallway and last but not least, got my closet done. Two large trash bags gone which meant space for my maternity clothes that were residing in the spare cot in our bedroom. It's now all ready for Peanut (but hopefully not for a few more weeks). I'll keep plodding along on my craftroom every weekend and hopefully it will be done by the time he arrives! My parents are coming over tomorrow for lunch and have kindly agreed to remove all the stuff for charity. Good job my Dad's car has good trunk space. Or boot as they call it here. We also threw out 8 bags of recycling and 7 bags of normal trash today. The trash guys will be busy tomorrow. It feels so good to get organized, I wish we lived like this regularly as I know I will never be pregnant again so can't count on nesting! 

Back to reality tomorrow as Kirk goes back to work. It's been nice having him at home so I can spend time with him and Noemie and also have more time to get stuff done in general. It's also been great having some adult company during the day. Luckily it's only 3 days until the weekend and a bank holiday weekend at that! So, he'll be home on Monday again :) Then 6 weeks after that he'll be on paternity leave then Christmas not long after that. I'm guessing January will be a shock to the system.

Bedtime. Must get my rest so I can chase after Noemie all day. At least it's kept me from gaining too much weight this pregnancy!

Christmas in August/Sept and other stuff

Noemie looked very confused this morning when she came downstairs for her morning milk. She kept staring at her toy shelf and could barely focus on her milk! It's her first day today on whole milk all day as well. She's been having follow on formula milk but we ran out and decided not to get anymore as she loves real milk better anyway. We're also down to sippy cups and just one bottle at night right before bedtime. We'll drop that bottle pretty soon as well. It should've been done sooner to be honest but we were being lazy. Anyway, once she finished her milk and got done from her chair she rushed over to her toys and spent quite a while playing. I think she forgot what she had when it was all crammed into a basket and now it's like a marketstall of toys for her to choose from!  

I finally finished the striped hooded cardigan I started a while back for Peanut. Here is Pooh modeling it for us. It's to fit Peanut from 0-3 months so should be good for the early days before it's really winter. Not sure you can see in the photo but the buttons are little trains! Very cute though not the most practical shape for buttons on a cardigan. I used a new yarn by Rowan for this called Milk Cotton and though it's nice and soft, it unravels so easily. It's like 8 strands of thin cotton twisted together but not twisted very well. I have more of the same yarn to make a vest but doubt I will buy any more of it. I started on the seams of another cardigan I had finished knitting so once that's put together it's just a case of doing the button holes, buttons and adding on the collar. Maybe I'll get that done next weekend. I also started a sweater for Noemie but that's going very slowly. I am on a mission to finish it before Peanut arrives though or else I'll never get it done by the winter time. 

  

Lastly, I started a "Christmas in August/September" challenge over on the Petitpointers yahoo group. The challenge is just about stitching anything winter holiday related during August and September and for each project completed, the stitcher's name goes in a hat and at the end of it Noemie will pull a name out of a hat and that person gets a prize from me. I figured that as I'm hosting it I should really take part in it as well. So, today I pulled out my roombox and a bunch of other Christmas stuff I found in my stash and did a dry run to see what all I could fit into the box before I go nuts with my stitching. Eventually I will commission custom sculpted dolls of the kids and perhaps of Kirk and I. In terms of stitching, I'm going to do a french knot rug, 5 stockings (with names so I'll need to adjust the patterns a bit), and then each year I'd like to do a new sampler to go on the wall with the current year. I figure this box can come out each year as our Christmas display. I am going to put a couch together from a kit and might stitch another few pillows as well. I emailed a company today called Acclaim Miniatures who makes the sterling silver stocking holders that you can see in the photo. I have 3 so far and need 2 more. They are the cutest little things! Anyway, now that I've worked out what will fit, I can start stitching this week. I will start with a stocking. I've taken the box apart again and put everything away as I'm not going to work on this scene until at least my 5 stockings are done. 

OK, time for bed. The tree surgeons are due in between 8-8:30 so I have to be up, showered and dressed before then. Hope it's not pouring with rain as I think they'll postpone if it is. I'll try and take before photos as they have major work to do so the difference will be amazing!

Productive Day I think

Slight change of pace today and I decided to work a bit more on my teapot shop. I added a bunch of my pots to the display cabinets that I have painted so far. I need to paint 7 more and I'm not looking forward to it. It'll be great once it's done. I have displayed 49 teapots so far in the ground floor, have 10 more that will fit in the cabinet once painted, then the same number will fit upstairs as well. I'll have about 20 "homeless" pots but they will go in the bow windows downstairs and then a few display units in the middle of the shop floors. I need to do a second coat of paint to the false door and add a doorknob as well. It always bothers me when a structure doesn't have stairs but false doors solves the problem for me, giving the illusion that there might be a stairway in the back. 

Other than the teapot shop, I made enough spaghetti meat sauce for 5 dinners (they go in the freezer and make a good easy dinner during the week), then chopped and steamed some vegetable portions for Noemie for her daily meals as well. It's easy enough to make her the main portion of her meals each day but I'm not about to steam a tiny portion of veggies daily! I did some laundry as well and put stuff away in general. Then I decided to make a start on Peanut's birth announcements though I know it's still 3 months away. I was 2 months late sending out Noemie's last time around and I figure I'll be even busier this time with 2 kids so I'm getting them all done except of course the time of arrival, his height and his weight and possibly the date of arrival if he comes earlier on his own! I'd say I'm about halfway done so that's not too bad. I didn't get around to my page of the day but have printed a photo for it so will try and work on that during morning nap time. My folks are coming over for lunch though and the tree surgeon is coming in the morning as well so we'll see how much time I end up having. 

No photos of Noemie today mainly as she spent most of her day with her Daddy. They did a lot of going up stairs, we added two more stairgates which will take some getting used to (I already nearly tripped once), and then she did some fussing and crying as she's about to cut a tooth or two on the top row. She's pretty good with teething as she doesn't fuss in the lead up to the tooth/teeth appearing, only when they are about to cut through the gums. I'd bet she has new teeth poking through in the morning. It's about time as she's still only got four! 

OK, time for sleep. Have a somewhat early morning tomorrow compared to today when WE had to wake Noemie up at 8:45am as she was snoozing away! Yep, we've got a good sleeper and we know how lucky we are. 13 hours of straight sleep from her then a solid 2-1/2 hour nap as well! Pretty normal!

Kensington 2008

I went to the Kensington Show today and am exhausted!!! I think I totally overdid it as I was there for nearly 5 hours and though I sat down for lunch for about an hour or so, I was on my feet and walking around, up and down stairs the rest of the time. I'm so thankful that K stayed worked from home today and took care of N so I could go and have fun. I bought quite a few things but nothing that I didn't have an immediate home for (well, other than perhaps the stitchery items and the quilt template). I also got a roombox for a Christmas scene I want to do. I thought it would be nice to have a decoration that comes out each year at Christmas so I decided a mini scene would be fun. My roombox is from The Dolls House Builder and is display box 3. I know Lisa was curious about it but as it's flat packed I figured a photo of it built would be more interesting. I like it as it has a curved base and top and the perspex slides into place.

I have a few out of stock items that are being sent to me in the next few weeks. Still to come: a sterling silver teapot from Simply Silver, an overmantle (mirror) from Sue Cook (the photo is in the Kensington album as I borrowed it from her website but mine will be gold rather than mahogany), and then some fiberglass roof tiles from Richard Stacey. I am so glad I go on the Friday as things sell out so fast. I can't imagine Saturday being much good unless you're new to the hobby and still don't own much. Many things were out of stock by the time I got to some of the dealers. I make sure to go to my favorite dealers first so I get first dibs on things!

All the photos of the things I bought are in the Kensington Album for anyone who would like to take a look! I had a great time, met up with a dear friend (Jackey and her husband) and somehow even managed to come home with a fair amount of money. That is unheard of. I even had one year when I spent ALL my money and didn't have cab fare left so had to walk home. Luckily it was only about a 20 minute walk! I cabbed home today. Not sure I could've walked home this time as it's about a 45 minute walk now!