A miniature theatre

I'm so excited I can finally show this great new project I got. Yeah, I know, too many projects, so little time (a)
I got this lovely old fashioned theatre as a birthday gift! My friend Wil had seen it in a FB group - where I had admired it - and secretly had contacted the seller.

The theatre previously belonged to Jaschenka (from MythReal) and it had been handmade by her grandfather. She did the decorating and though it wasn't finished completely, and there was a little bit of damage, it still looked amazing :)
It has the same size as the Hogsmeade cottage, approx. 80 cm wide, 42 cm deep and 50 cm high.

I've started with dusting and cleaning everything, including
the drapes/curtains for the side wings and glued the little
angels back on the proscenium arch. I hope I'll get the
(theatre) therminology correct btw). 

I cleaned the red velours front curtains as good as possible,
since the sides are glued to the walls, so I couldn't get them off.

 

The left wing (bottom), with the curtains
hiding the openings to the stage.

The left wing (top) with another staircase.
The roof is open to get better light for the
photo's. It's nicely decorated and I love the
little ballet shoes hanging from the wall lamp.

That staircase leads to the roof, which makes it
possible to expand the building with dressings
rooms e.g. or maybe a roof top garden? ;)

The right wing goes al the way up to the top,
and has a stage door door, a prompt corner
and two lights.

This view form above in the right wing
shows the pulleys of the flying system. 

There are two drapes (painted canvas), suspended
from battens that are controlled by a fly system. 

One of the drapes.

You can see there's also a trap in the stage floor,
a prompter's box (souffleurshokje) and a cute
balcony for a Romeo and Juliette scene :)

Because of my other two big projects, the Hogsmeade cottage and the Italian project, I'll only plan to get the lights working and maybe make/paint a new drape. Maybe something snowy, so I have a little Christmas scene in the theatre in December :)

But, oh, think of all the possibilities; plays, musicals, fairytales and Disney movies. maybe even A Very Potter Musical can be performed one day ^^

Crafting together & birthday swaps for me :)

Yesterday I met Jolinda, Monique and Wil for the second-last crafting afternoon of this year. It was also the fourth and last time there would be a birthday swap this year, mine actually :)

They really spoiled me with awesome gifts <3 Btw I apologize in advance for the bad photo quality.

Wil made a 1:24 scale double bed for me.
Without any help from a tutorial or
measurement, she had that scale down
to a tee ;)

Jolinda made me - a rather Harry ^^ - a
replica of his wand and the box in which
mr Ollivander had kept it. She did a
really great job, escpecially with the handle.
Looks just like the original wand.

Last but certainly not least; this adorable Dobby
was made by Monique! She also felted a little
teddy bear for me (seen in de first photo), just
like she did for Wil and Jolinda.

After the swaps and the coffee with donuts we got started. Since Monique had bought some kits (Ria Odijk) for making dolls, we had decided to bring out the Fimo and have fun with those.
Monique worked on making a baby doll, Jolinda wanted to try a female doll, and Wil unfortunately had to leave early. I decided on focussing on heads since I was more confident that I could do bodies at home without a mould than heads ^^

The lady on the left was from another mould than the others
as you might've noticed. Her face is less detailed but maybe
that will make her a good choice when I want to make
Bianca, the witch who rents the Hogsmeade cottage :)

After I got home I've worked on the heads a little more. Give
the men eye balls and better necks, glued 'Bianca' together
after her neck broke (a) And made a half face/mask from the
last head, maybe for a paranormal portrait :)

I even gave them ears, though it probably is
better to cover them with hair lol

So, another miniature challenge to add to the list. But first I want to finish the couch, so hopefully I'll have another update soon.

Bits and bobs, or, what I've been up to in Oktober.

It has been a bit hectic the previous weeks. As well inside as outside of my head :')

I'd started on the first piece of furniture for the living room; the
bookcase from the first book of Julie Warren.
(Though I have my own crafting room with everything I could
need, I do most of my crafting here in the living room ^^)

After I was almost done with the base I needed
to take a break because unfortunately wood-
working is a bit to straining physically atm.

So, mainly, I've been cross stitching and made a couple of new cushions.

I wanted to make a couple of Halloween related cushion for my
Etsy store, but I started a bit too late and only got to finish this
one. Maybe next year I can do more to sell :)

Last year I've made a series of Santa cushions, and this year
I'm working on three snowmen :)

I also finished the three geometrical cushions I've scross
stitched in September. I need to make a few pretty pictures
and then they be listed in Etsy.

  

But, I didn't have a couch that I could use as a prop for taking those photo's, so needed to remedy that ;)

This tutorial got me started on a simple couch but I didn't like
the straight sides, so I carved and sanded untill the arms had
a rounded shape :)

I covered the back part and the arms (partly) with fiberfill,
and tried to figure out how to go from there.

I used flat head pins and texile glue to attach the fabric. They
easily went through the Balsa wood and I could snipe
them off before covering that part with fabric.

Three extra pins gave my couch the tufted look I wanted.

Hopefully I can finish the couch in the next couple of days, but I had to tidy my diner table this weekend because we had a little party last night. As soon as I'd put the half finished couch away, Harry claimed it to get very comfortable. Before the first guest arrived he had already started on a bottle of elf-made wine!
I guess I can wait another day before I continue with the couch ;)