Another rug, a key cupboard and a plant ladder

After I'd finished the rug for the bedroom last month I also made one as a birthday gift for my friend Kim.
Due to the Brexit, Corona and/or heavy snowfall it took twice as long for the parcel to arrive, but now I can finally show you ;)

Elizabeth Stitch with Venne cotton 34/2, nr. 3039,
nr. 6003 and nr. 6044.

I also made her this key cupboard from Balsa and a little piece of a carved bamboo hand fan.

I cut the top of four needle pins and used three as hooks for the keys and one as a little doorknob. They are painted black with nail varnish. The hinge is just a single staple :)

This is how the rug looked in daylight (a)

Last but not least; I hadn't showed this etagère or plant ladder yet.
I'd seen a tutorial in the Dutch P&M magazine nr. 170 and thought it would make a nice Christmas gift for Kim. 

I imagine she'll use it for plants and other garden related things, so I tried to give it a weathered look :')
It can just as well be used to display other items e.g. in a shop, so I might make another one for my Italian project :)

A crochet rug for the bedroom

Last week I happen to see some 'mug rug coasters' on Pinterest last week. Some done with macrame, some were crocheted. I like the look of them and thought it might be nice idea for the cottage bedroom.

So I put together three balls of yarn and looked for a new crochet stitch that would be fun to learn. My choice: the Elizabeth Stitch (also called the mini bean stitch). For a tutorial click: here.
I liked learning this stitch, it's easy to do (though it would be easier with a single thread instead of three ^^) and I like the criss cross look of it. 

Although I really liked the colours and the end result, I thought it was just a bit too coarse (I think) for a 1:12 scale rug, so I started another one with Venne cotton 34/2. Was worried a bit that it would be too thin, compared to the first one, at the start.

But it turned out to be perfect for a rug :)

Adding fringes or not, is the question. I wanted to do them with the turquoise Venne, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I might just leave it like this :')

Finished my third shawl

I had put some crochet project in my suitcase last week, and while I didn't spent much time on them, I was able to finish my third and latest miniature shawl. I began in February though it felt like I'd started last year :)
After I got home, I decided to add fringes on this shawl. It took me two days, it has 400 fringes and I think it was worth the effort ;)

Progress on the terracotta shawl

I thought I'd show you my progress on the new crochet shawl I started a week ago. Even though I've been busy working on the cottage doors (and I can't crochet for more than ten minutes at the time) I made progress :)
Still love the colour and the pattern a lot!

Last week

This weekend two dear friends came to visit me. It's a once a year visit and I had a great day. One of them gave me this marvelous little music box. The box is gorgeous, I think, and maybe I can place it somewhere in the cottage as a trunk. 

She'd also found me some spindels and stair-banisters. Very convenient since my cottage stairs still need those :)

And it plays 'Hedwig's theme' <3

Video by Invenio Crafts

Productive weeks, more or less.

"Now I'm going to stain the door and then glue the hinges and nails to the door. Keeping my fingers crossed in the mean time," I said a month ago. Well, that didn't help :')

I've tried and tried and tried but every time I got it wrong and I got so frustrated that I almost threw in the towel. But of course I didn't :')
In the end I decided to remove a part of the jamb, made a new one, and made a new (wider) door and a (sturdier) treshold.

No visible hinges anymore, but (needle) pins to open and close the doors :') Not as realistic as I would've liked, but ah well ... ;)
I've already done all four jambs yesterday, stained them too, and started on the other doors.

Besides my struggles with the doors. I was very productive these weeks :)
I sold my last macrame planthanger, made 4 new ones and already sold two of those as well.

I also sold the first shawl I crochetted, so I thought I'd start making a new one. For this one I will be using Venne Nm70/2 Terra Cotta (7-3010) and crochethook 0.60. 

There are also a few things I've made that I can't show you yet, since I made them as a birthday present for a good friend. And of course she's not supposed to see them before the parcel arrives by the end of the week ;)  Hope to show you then.

Last but not least; I've sorted out my craft supplies and tidied my craft room (again :P). I should probably call it my storeroom, since I'm always crafting in my living room ;)

Lot of unfinished, or nearly finished projects besides the cottage.

Fair in Rijswijk - fall edition :)

Today I went to the fair in Rijswijk again, for the fourth time in a row, and I'd had a wonderful time
Again I could get a ride with Jolinda, and we arrived at a quarter past nine. While Jolinda went through the back entrance to join the Minidoor team, I got in through the front of course and had to wait till the fair opened at ten o'clock.

In the train back I discovered that I'd forgotten to take photo's while at the fair, but I guessed that would have been the seen pictures I showed you in earlier blogs about Rijswijk ^^
So, let me just show you the many pretties I bought. I have to make new listings for my Etsy store soon because I'm totally broke lol

My precious xD

For new crochet projects

Very nice embroidery fabric and special needles

Already thinking about Christmas xD

Couldn't resist them. 1 euro each. Will find a purpose.

Never worked with a mold, so ... And more gorgeous fabric.

Christmas fabric and the black for new Halloween cushions?

 

Finally I can start making flowers (a) and some nice kits.

And last but not least, treasures from Georgia Marfels!

Very hard to choose but I love this Cornish Pixie <3

Besides looking at all those wonderful miniatures at the fair, it is always great to see familiair faces, met new people, either from (web)shops of from FB groups.
Today I enjoyed meeting Wendy, Stefan, Louise, Georgia, Thea, Anja and many more. And it was great getting to know Esther (All 4 dolls) in person after all the FB messages :)

So, I feel like a very happy, exhausted, but grateful person!

Crocheted potholders

I only did some small crochet projects *pun intended ^^ * the previous months. Due to Pinterest I got inspired by making tiny pot holders. Why? I don't know, they just looked so pretty (the 1:1 scale version) that I just wanted to try it ;)
I don't have a stove, don't have a finished kitchen, in fact, I don't even have a house yet (a)

Anyway, after a few attempts I ended up with these pretty things. I used a crochet hook 0.6 and a single strand of DMC embroidery floss.

Aren't they pretty? <3

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it ... :D

Today I have some exciting news to share :)
I told you yesterday when I showed the mannequin that I needed it to show some shawls, but that was just part of it. Though it was fun laying with miniature and make nice photo's, it actually had a purpose.

I've been working towards setting up an Etsy shop for some time now (and have done a lot of procrastinating ^^) and yesterday I was finally ready;

Very nerve wracking, but it also made me a bit proud (a)
I decided to wait a day before I would share it, so imagine my surprise when I found two orders already when I woke up today. 

I hope you'll visit my shop and let me know what you think of it <3

Here's the link: 

https://www.etsy.com/nl/shop/AvanasMiniWorld

Crochet shawl

I enjoyed learning the waffle stitch, which is great for cushions, blankets and throws. But I always want to learn something new and challenge myself just a bit.
So yesterday I found this (Dutch) pattern on Wolplein.nl for a 1:1 shawl and I decided to give it a try ;)
I assumed I needed to addapt the pattern a bit for a 1:12 version, but I didn't.
Using DMC Perle Cotton Thread Ball Size 8 no 781 and my 0.60 mm crochet needle it turned out to be the perfect size. Well, I only did 14 rows instead of 34 rows, but I followed the pattern itself.
Love making this one, so there probably will be more in the future :)