Autumn doldrums

I couldn't settle to doing anything, and remembered Kim (here) mentioning oak leaves, so I've made some autumn leaves - birch and oak. The birches outside my window are just starting to turn yellow, which is rather unfair as we haven't really had any summer to speak of!
I used coffee filter papers (different brands have different textures - these are Melitta leaves), painted them with acrylic paints, (different colours back and front), then punched and punched and punched . . . To finish I put them on a soft mousepad and dragged an awl up the centre vein of each.
Loreena McKennitt helped me - lovely singer! I find that when I see my minis I can usually remember the music playing when I made them. I have to be careful not to watch anything exciting while doing needlework - one of my rugs was worked too tightly whle I was watching Alien 3.

Broom GPS

Here's an addition to one of Kat the Hat's brilliant witch brooms - a GPS add-on. I like to think that it has time travel functionality, it meows if another witch comes too close, and it guides her past the most interesting gossip points.

Shooting star

Woke at 5am with Sammie the cat sprawled on my pillow. Yesterday was 31 degrees, hot and dry, summer has arrived very late this year! This has dried up the sky - I just went outside and was gobsmacked by the clarity of the Milky Way. Hard to believe there are galaxies in that wave of soft white. Saw two satellites and a shooting star. Life is good.

Best thing to do to a watch!

This is a fantasy orrery I made for my daughter Sarah for Christmas. She comes over from Brisbane each summer for a couple of weeks to escape the muggy heat there. My family get minis as gifts whether they want them or not! She gave me two Shaun Tan books which I love - if I could make scenes like that in miniature I'd be very happy.
http://www.shauntan.net/
Inspiration for this orrery came from Ericka Van Horn's work - her minis are amazing!
http://evminiatures.tripod.com/evminiatures_index.htm

Rya wallhanging

I saw an artwork in Finland in the Joensuu public library which I loved on sight. It was a woven linen piece in greys and blues, and this is my mini version in different colours. Sadly, I don't know who the artist was, but her work was inspiring!

Sampling

Whenever I can't decide what to do, I sample/tidy/catalogue/sort my stuff. Having been away from my computer and workroom for a week, I've produced some colour samples for the rya rugs. Not really necessary, but fun. Colour therapy!

The dapper tudor gentleman

There's more to life than thread

Just so's you don't think I spend all my time with a needle in my hand, here's a pic of a leather jerkin and hat I made a wee while ago. The patterns are from a book by Janet Arnold 'Patterns of Fashion . . .c1560-1620' - it's fascinating. There's history, photos of actual garments, and (best of all) patterns taken from the clothes. I've just got her new book 'Patterns of Fashion 4' with ruffs, shirts and more. Ruffs in 1:12? There's a challenge!

Cross eyed

Here's my new baby - a swedish runner in 1:48 scale between her two 1:12 scale big sisters. She measures just 2 x 6.5cm (.75" x 2.5").
I have contact lenses to correct my severe short-sightedness, and I also have to wear reading glasses more and more often, and with this rug I also needed a 5x lens sometimes. It took me three times longer than one of the 1:12 ones!
I like being very short-sighted - without my lenses I can see close up in incredible detail, it's a pity though that I can't work with the needle and thread an inch or two from my eyes.

I'm off soon to visit my parents for a week - no internet, no emails :-0 I will get more handwork done though.

I'm not alone out here - yay!

I'm so pleased to welcome Nikki as my very first follower! I've enjoyed reading her blog so much, it's been a continuing inspiration.

Hmm, so this is blogland

Yes, I swore I'd never do this - Mrs Oldfashioned is oldfashioned! She'd better improve her camera skills and actually finish some projects now. Like the two dollhouse kits still languishing in their boxes - Mrs O is too enthusiastic about making the stuff to fill them.

The kits are intended as a Finnish lakehouse and a medieval tower.

Mini rya rugs have taken centre stage recently, I enjoyed a (southern hemisphere) winter making them, as well as my take on woven floor runners. Here's a pic of the two which will probably go in the lakehouse. The rya is a silk/linen mix.