But is it Blog-worthy?

We’ve all worked on mini projects that don’t seem like they would make an interesting blog post, or for various reasons we are not going to post them. This happens to me when I say,

“yes”

I said yes to American Miniaturist and have devoted the past couple of weeks to some cute projects for the magazine. We are going to keep you in suspense until the projects are published, then I’ll be sure to tell you about them. One of them is simple and one is fairly complex and they use a variety of materials.

Mid Century Modern Lives

I’ve been having fun with the mid century-modern designs by Dilly Dally Dollhouse. I’ve made a couple chairs and the Ikea Kallax bookshelf. Remember when I made the cute MCM chair with cushions of purple checks from my daughter’s store? Well I had received another woven at that time and I just had to use for another chair.

A Hybrid System

Years ago my daughters and I decorated a farmhouse dollhouse. We were so proud of ourselves for creating many of our own furnishings and installing a copper tape electrical system — until someone tripped over the cord for the transformer. This happened too many times; sometimes the farmhouse came sliding off the table, sometimes it pulled the wires loose.

When I got the farmhouse out for my grandchildren, I wondered if after all these years, there might be another way. Yes! Batteries. During the farmhouse refurbishment, I began to purchase individual battery-operated lights. The kids loved to turn them on and off, but to me this was not a satisfactory solution.

The Fruity Girls enjoy their battery-operated lighting.

Field Trip!

Our state’s risk level allows us to be outside without a mask, restaurants are serving people inside and the weather is getting nice. Time to venture out.

I got brave and drove the 100 miles to see my daughter, Kristin, at Montavilla Sewing Center. Those shelves lined with rainbows! Those crisp patterns and colors! Kristin is the buyer for the fabrics and I just love her choices. But first things first. I brought some of the miniatures I made with their fabrics to share with the store personnel. We had fun taking photos of the chairs next to their bolts of origin.

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It’s an Open and Shut Case

This is the exciting conclusion of my atrium roof installation and other closures. I picked up some Plastruct at the hobby shop and experimented a bit with it on the scraps of Lexan. There should be a label that says “don’t try this at home” – I found it really hard to control.

The Plastruct penetrates the Lexan and allows the two edges to soften and fuse together. Unfortunately, I allowed too much to flow and it attacked more than just the edge. I tried polishing it out, but that was futile. I opted to call that a practice piece.

I set it aside to give it more thought. While thinking, I decided it was time to attach the shed roof over the sofa. That roof hides the wiring for the sconce lights and some recessed lights over the sofa, so I wanted it removable. I used magnets to secure the entry way and the chimney that covered some wiring for the Peachstone Cottage, and decided to use the same method here.