Giveaway...Bella-Mouse

I Have finally finished  Bella-mouse.  I knit her clothing out of both silk and cotton 100m threads on .000,000 knitting needles.  Her buttons are made out of Femo.  She is my first giveaway, so beware, I am not sure of what I am doing.  I have been given some advice on how to do this, so I will just follow it.
In order to be in the drawing for Bella-Mouse
First: you must be a follower of this blog.
Second: you must leave a comment with this posting.
Third: I would love for you to put a link on your blog to mine.

She comes with a little basket and a purse

Her coat is made of silk.  It has four buttons and button holes, two pockets, a collar and  is gathered at the back.

Close look at purse.  It is knit out of silk.  It opens and shuts with a bead and button hole...There is nothing inside it...I couldn't think of anything...more beads?

Bella-Mouse can be used as a half scale character or she fits nicely into the arms of a one inch scale  child.  Bella-Mouse is 1 1/2 inches tall.

She just loves the camera.

Bella-Mouse is knit in a very fine wool with pink cotton ears.

I forgot to take a picture of her without her coat...her dress is made out of Guttermen's  100m cotton with a lace pattern in pale green...I will post a picture latter.

On June 20, 2012 My daughter Annabelle will pick the winner out of a bowl of names, and we will say farewell to Bella-Mouse.  Here are some extra pictures of her...she seems to like being photographed.   They went above, oh well.

Good Luck,
Lucy

A Quick Hello

I wanted to show you some things that I have been working on.  First, I finished Posy's bed.  Here are a few pictures, I think she likes it.  The bed is a half scale Cassidy Creation's kit http://half-scale-miniatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=30, here is a link to shop.

She will need a night gown

Close up of top sheet for Posy's bed

Just a quick look

The second thing that I am finishing is the clothing for my Mama-bear--who clearly is a mouse--so Anna and I have named her Bella-Mouse.  She will need a few details before she is done...her coat needs buttons,a collar and pockets, she will also get a basket with tiny berries.  I am planning on finishing her this weekend.  She will be my first giveaway and is 1 1/2 inches tall.

I received a beautiful order of wall paper from Itsy Bitsy Mini, http://dollhouse-miniature-wallpaper.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index.  Here is a quick look, I will show the rest this weekend

Half scale  Parisian Floral Wreath

Half scale Song Bird

Half scale Rose Toile

Quarter scale Parisian Floral stripe.  Dolls are 3/4 inch tall

One inch scale Floral Moire

Have a great day,

Lucy

A Sure Sign of spring

A pair of robins are nesting in a bush right out side of my window.  I felt  a need to reproduce a nest for my miniature rose bush.  Unfortunately I burned the parents that I made to care for this little nest and will have to make a new pair this weekend.

A Big Thank You

Thank You

 My blog etiquette is evolving--I need to give a big thank you to the following three ladies for putting my blog on their blogs:
First to Sumaiya Mehreen of   http://theminifoodblog.blogspot.com/.  Sumaiya put my pictures on her blog for Easter when I first put my blog on line.  Thank you Sumaiya
Second to Elga Koster of http://elgakoster.blogspot.com/.  Elga put some of my pictures and a link to me, along with some very kind words, on her blog a few weeks ago--Thank you Elga.
Third to Gillian  of http://makeitsmall.blogspot.com/ who has just wrote a lovely comment about my blog---Thank you

I would also like to thank all of you who have left me such kind and encouraging comments, and to welcome all of my new followers.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Lucy

Thank you Degas

 Happy Mother's day From Posy Anna and Evalina Rose

Humble and Pie together at last

This week I made a new Pie.  Pie is Humble bear's side kick.  I had originally made Humble and Pie as a pair, but gave Pie to a friend.  Humble has been lonely, even with the friendship of Posy and Evalina.  Pie still needs clothes, and his ears are too big to be a bear...perhaps Pie will be a mouse.  Any way, he will have to wait to get dressed because I have decided to make a new bear and have her be my first GIVEAWAY on this blog.

     Please help me with advice about Giveaways...I am really new at this, but it looks like such fun.  I am now knitting a little white Mother Bear or Cat--depends on the ears.  She will have a pale pink silk coat and a bag, basket or pocket book, and I think a  white dress knit in a lace pattern.  Please tell me the best way to set up a giveaway!

     I finished my trellised rose.  It is meant to be like a David Austin rose that my mother has.  David Austin roses are old English roses and they bloom in large flushes of flowers that a tremendously fragrant. The multitude of roses became tedious to make, so I will stick to simple tea roses in the future.  My next floral project will be window boxes.  I am going to make every thing removable so that I can decorate for Christmas with seasonal greenery.

The roses are simple,  It is hard for me to get a more realistic rose at half scale.

Our resent vacation was to Washington DC, where I dragged my poor daughter through the National Gallery... assuring her all the time that some day she would appreciate it.  She loves to dance, and takes ballet, so the room full of Degas' sculptures was at least interesting to her.  To me, Degas' sculptures brought me to a major realization--real artist use armatures when they are sculpting figures.

She is my first standing project with an armature.  I hope she continues to stand.  I will add muscles and details in steps.  I plan on putting flowers in her hands and a  wreath of flowers in her hair.  I'm already in love with her and she looks like ET.

Happy Mother's Day,
Lucy

Grand Parents are Finished

Good morning,
     I added a Miniature knitting page for those of you interested in knitting.  Right now it just has a few links, but I plan on adding critiques of shops and fibers.  I would love for other knitters to add information to it :like links, tips and links to their own blogs.
     I got back in touch with IGMA this week and payed my dues, so I am now officially an Artisan again, I received this status in 2001 for needlework.
Here is what I did this week:
I finished the grand parents for a sea-side cottage that Annabelle and I will make this summer.

We have not named them yet, but they will  have two granddaughters who will be visting.

 the grandfather is re-sculpted from a mold.  His clothes were knit on .000,000 needles .  The color work on his sweater is Guttermann's 100/3 silk and the rest of the fibers are from my stash and are not commercially available 

The grandmother is also a re-sculpture from a Doreen Sinnett mold.  Her sweater is done on .000,000 needles with Guttermann's and a cotton thread.

I  do not sell dolls that I have re-worked from other peoples molds.   I have sold dolls made from other peoples molds with full credit to the artist.

Have a wonderful week,
Lucy
PS,
      I promised a mini hat tutorial, and that will show up on my tutorial- page.  It is really easy, but it adds a finishing touch to my tiny dolls.

let's talk about knitting!

It is nice to be home.   I am very happy to find so many new followers...welcome!  I am so impressed with all the beautiful blogs that I keep finding and am having a hard time keeping up.  At some point, I will add more blogs that I follow to my blog...please do not be offended if I have not put too many up.  I am making a small-silk-hat tutorial for this weekend.  look for it on my tutorial page.

Small silk hat

 I have had a couple of request for patterns...I never write things down, but I do have some advice that I could share.  I use 6/0 and 7/0 lace needles.  There are smaller needles, but I like  my knitting to have a nice drape, and am happy with my results using what I use.

 http://store.buttercupminiatures.co.uk/knitting-needles/cat_4.html  here is a link to a website where you can purchase needles.  There are different ways to size knitting needles, and this site has a nice chart to help you out.

I like to use fine sewing threads to knit with because they drape nicely.  There are also larger needles and if I were to use a wool, I would use a larger needle--to keep a nice drape.

this is a  #100 silk thread that I knit with 6/0 needles.  When I block it , I will add some drape to it by shaping it to the bed

this is a 130/2 silk thread that I knit on 6/0 needles.  Notice that this piece drapes with no coaxing from me...I love it.

same lace panel.

Some tiny garments knit on 7/0 needles

I don't know if you can see this but, the blue gutermann's silk thread is #100 and  feels like  it is two time larger than  the YLI #100 silk thread and the #80 Madera cotton.  Size of thread seems to be uncoordinated.  Not all fine threads knit well...I do not like Ping Ling # 100, I think, because it is too tightly spun.

Au Ver A Soie is my favorite silk to work with.  Until I started looking on-line, I did not think I could buy it anymore, but I have  found it. I will give the links under a new link list that I will make this week end.
I am going to put together a mini knitting resource list and put together some tutorials to help you start knitting yourself.  I will try to give each fiber that I use a separate posting so that you can choose what you would like to knit with   We can start with bigger needles and Needlepoint -wool...it will be good.

Thanks for looking ,
Lucy