A large step into the unknown.

I suspect I have bitten off more than I can chew. The alternative is that I have just begun to create a monster. I was feeling so pleased with myself as slowly, slowly, my old skills were beginning to return. I am gaining confidence in creating and improving the blog. So that is a step in the right direction - keep the old grey cells churning over and use existing but buried skills gained in my former life as a librarian when I used blogs as routine. Amazing how quickly your skills vanish and with them your confidence.

So now I am taking a great leap into the unknown by going public so I shall feel even more committed to keeping myself on track and the posts up to date. Trouble is that the time spent on tweaking the blog means time away from the renovations. Next week there will be even less time because I go back to routines left off for the school holidays namely, Thursday mornings helping out at Mainly Music and Friday morning at Alliance Française for my French language class then Sunday morning taking the Sunday School class.

Today I have filled out the page giving details of all the residents of the house and added photos of them all. Having done this I then promised on the page right there for all to see that I will type up the patterns and post them on the site so they can be downloaded by anyone interested. See how I keep setting myself up for more tasks ? So I will have plenty to do to while away my retirement and hopefully provide other mini-knitters with something to knit up for their dolls. Actually starting to feel excited about it all. Another thought is that I really need to improve my photographic skills and up the quality of the illustrations on the site.

This morning I was on the hospital run as my beloved had to go in for a checkup CT scan and other tests. Fortunately it is not far to drive but it does eat into the morning as you can't settle to do other things.

However I heaved the house up on to four of my cat-enhanced dining room chairs so I can get inside it more easily for the next parts of the process. At present it is lying on the front verandah like a huge beached whale with the vacuum cleaner poised beside it. Soon I will clean it out ready to begin the painting tomorrow. Today I will see if it is possible to complete the blanket for the bed and read more of the French mystery I am enjoying. I plan to write up a review of it, Un lieu uncertain by Fred Vargas. That will serve as part of the report on my vacation I need to prepare for class next Friday. It is an excellent crime novel so I shall be seeking out more of  her works in the Alliance library. By the way there are translations in English of her novels should anyone like to read them.

As you can see not much room to manoeuvre here

Personal renovation

It seems to me that by the time I finish attempting to get my 10,000 steps for the day in there is not much left of the day. I suspect that I need to tweak a couple of things here. One - get up early and get the walk done and duster before showering and eating my breakfast.  Sorry Jessica, this means you get tossed of the bed earlier each day. Cats should be up and about also anyway. Secondly -  I hope I can walk faster. Does walking more actually help you to walk faster eventually? The other problem at the moment is that by the time I have walked I just don't seem to be able to settle down to the house renovations.

Time to create a schedule I think. So tomorrow I plan to attempt an earlier start and then commit to starting on the painting task.

I am also thinking of actually typing up some of my knitting designs and posting them here for others. This does of course mean that I will have to knit them up again one by one to "prove" the pattern. I want to redo this one in another colour for Serena, the mother doll in the house.

So once I have hunted out the original pattern I shall get to work and then put it up. In the meantime I am experimenting with an adaptation of a blanket pattern to knit up some blankets for all the small bed. I must also get to work assembling the beds for the girls' room. I think I should be able to assemble them first and then paint them after.

First step of all the Small Steps.

This is the Diary of a dollhouse renovation and is created as an incentive to keep me on track. Past experience has shown that project tend to stagnate and die a natural death without some incentives so this is the carrot to urge this particular donkey to the completion of the project. Not as exciting as Grand Designs but it  probably will not be without it's dramas either.

 Dad  built the house over 40 years ago when I returned from my first visit to the States with a collection of miniatures I had collected there. He and I spent many happy hours working on it, adding to it and as a result becoming totally immersed in the world of miniatures and were both there it the start of BMEA here in Brisbane. 

The house has been looking a little sad lately and it never was completely finished off. It was looking extremely sad and neglected and had been given some attention (with bad results) from a couple of Tonkinese cats. The first step was the gut it completely and get it ready for a new look. So at present it looks even sadder.

While I am working out a work schedule and purchasing and/or locating the necessary supplies I am getting myself in the correct frame of mind by returning to my favourite mini skills and knitting some clothes for the family and doing some new rugs to go in the refurbished house.

One of the twin girls, Allegra with the sailor outfit being made for her sister, Alexandra

The start of the rug for the twin's bedroom

I am looking forward to receiving the father of the house from the supplier in the UK. It is very hard to get male dollhouse dolls so I am hoping he will look as good as his pictures and then I can get to work making him some clothes. I need to seek out some material to make him a nice pair of jeans. So plenty to keep me going until I get myself into the right frame of mind to begin the actual renovations.

It has been fun so far and rather like Christmas as I have found I had some lovely wall papers stashed away and am having to make some choices among all on offer. I have also located many forgotten treasures and  lovely pieces of furniture for the refurbished house. I do have to make the beds for the twin's room and also one for the eldest boy. Still wavering on my options and I will keep you posted. For now back to the knitting.