Countess's Bedroom, holiday projects and Christmas presents

Hello my dear friends!

I hope everyone had happy holidays and that 2014 is off to a new start. After a year of stress and worry, my motto for 2014 is if no one else will laugh with me, then I will laugh alone!

My holidays were lovely. I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. We were busier then expected, but I did manage to work on the Manor. I still had a few big construction projects to tackle, but since we were busy I spent my Christmas vacation working on projects that were not so dusty. Today I share the countess's bedroom which I finished today.

I made the curtains and the bedding for the room thinking they would be short projects...HA! You saw the chandelier in my last post in the Dining Room. After I looked at the pictures I decided it was too small for that room, but perfect for the bedroom. The longest project was the bedding.

Here is a picture of the bed without any bedding I posted before Christmas:

My main tool was an article in a magazine I purchased years ago written by Williamson Walton Marble. I studied their instruction many times before I finally decided to give it a try.

The first step was making the pattern for the quilt that would fit the bed. In the next picture you can see the pattern on a piece of graph paper which shows where every stitch will go. I put the mattress on the graph paper and then calculated how low I wanted the sides to hang

In the above picture you see the paper pattern  on the bottom left, the back cotton fabric on the bottom right with the stitches marked in pen, the piece of foam I used for the stuffing of the quilt on the top left, and at the top right is a piece of raw silk I used for the top of the quilt.

I layered the pieces to make the quilt: cotton fabric on the bottom with the pen marks side down, then the foam and finally the silk fabric right side up. I then made a simple basting stich with black thread on the main lines just to keep the pieces from moving:

back of the quilt.

I then hand sewed all of the dotted lines. I pulled the thread through the 3 layers, made a very, very small stitch on the silk fabric, then came back through the 3 layers.

back of the quilt. The important thing is to push the needle through the center of each dot.

top of the quilt: I chose a thread that matched the silk. If you look closer you will see the stitches on the top are very, very small to create the quilt effect.
 

This took quite a while to do. When it was over I sewed the edges of the bed with a sewing machine following the pattern on the back side of the quilt. I then cut about 1/4 of an in around the edge.

The 1/4 inch extra is there for the lace to be glued on. The next step was to gather the lace. I cut a piece of lace twice the length of the 3 sides of the bed (no lace against the headboard. I only had nylon lace so I could not pull on a thread to gather it. I hand sewed a 1/8 in stitch the entire length and then gathered it gently.

Once it was gathered to the right length I pined it down on some foamcore board with silk pins. To make the lace hang realistically I had to also pin the bottom of the lace into proper folds, then I hair sprayed it to death and let it dry.

The next step was to pin the quilt down on some foamcore, right side up, and using tacky glue and silk pins I put the lace into place

When the glue was dry I hand sewed the lace over the glue line. I did this for 2 reasons: 1- the glue had not taken perfectly in some areas and I was worried I might accidentally pull it off. 2- the gathered lace was not lying flat on the quilt and it did not look realistic. I thought of covering the edge with ribbon, but I thought it was busy enough and that would be overkill.

When the quilt construction was done I hand sewed the pillows the same way.

I used the same 1/8 inch foam I used for the quilt to make the decorative pillows and a 1/2 inch foam for the big pillow. The bolster is a plastic tube covered with fabric. Again I measured lace for each pillow twice as long as the 4 sides of the pillows, gathered it, pined it down, sprayed it, glued it, and finally sewed it.

I wanted to add a little detail to the bedding with French knots in lilac colored embroidery cotton string. I grouped the knots in 3 so it looked like little bunches of roses. At first I wanted red string to match the curtains, but the silk for the quilt was so pale I thought a softer color would look more elegant.

 There is no way I can explain a French knot. I learned how to make them watching youtube videos. This was the most helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bezNWJgBe0o . For my embroidery "roses" I wrapped the thread around my needle 2 times. The thread I used was made of 6 thick cotton strings. It was very difficult to get it through the needle head but well worth the effort.

 Each rose was knotted in the back of the quilt but I noticed the knots kept coming undone so I covered each one with tacky glue. The 3 accent pillows looked a bit flat, so I tufted them with smaller French knots made with a thread that matched the silk.

With the top elements done I worked on the skirt. It is made using the same fabric as the back of the quilt with lace sewed on. First I machine sewed the lace to the bottom of the fabric wich was twice as long as the three sides of the bed base. I then hand sewed another gathering stitch to the top of the fabric, gathered it, pined it down, pined down the folds, and hair sprayed. Yes, a very repetitive demented process. I glued it using tacky glue to the underside of the bed

Because I had a very little height to glue the fabric to the bed base I put another line of glue on the skirt and added a strip of wood which was also glued to the cross beams of the bed to make sure the skirt did not come undone. I hope that is clear? You can see it in the above picture.

When that was dry it was time to assemble. The quilt sides must be glued to the sides of the bed to hang properly.  I did not want to glue the quilt directly to the satin fabric that came on the mattress or onto the sides of the bed. I was afraid I might decided to remove it one day and damage the mahogany finish . I covered the mattress in the same fabric as the skirt and the back of the bed and I added would strips on the side of the mattress to which I glued the quilt

I added the wood strips because if I glued the quilt to the sides of the mattress it would not lie flat because the sides of the bed. The wood strips are the same width as the bed sides so the quilt could hang correctly. After all that down went the quilt

I just put a line of tacky glue and a few dots of super glue onto the wood strips and glued the quilt down. After that was dry I put the pillows in place...just put, not glued

And back the bed went into the bedroom. I think the countess will approve. I hope she does because the bedding took just under 30 hours to make.

The other finishing project for this room was the curtains over the windows. Here is what it looked like in a past post

Being a bear for punishment I decided I wanted Austrian shades for this room. I could not find any instructions on how to make them in miniature so I had to figure it out myself. I think I spent about 8 hours of trial time before I finally got to work on them.

In the above picture on the left you can see I pleated the red fabric with the Pretty Pleater and as per usual I cut and glued an illustration board backing for each pane to keep the folds perfectly in place. On the right side of the picture you see the start of the Austrian shade. I machine sewed a zigzag stich on the edges of the sheer fabric because the threads kept coming undone and caught in the gathering stitches. I then machine sewed 3 simple stitches for gathering the pane. I set my machine for a 1/8 inch stitch and lowered the tension.

In the above picture you see the gathered piece. I pulled on the 3 threads very gently. When they were the right length I knotted the ends of the strings and cut them off. I then took the red curtains, put them upside down on my work table and glued the Austrian shade down:

I was so careful gathering them, but one of the strings broke. That is why one is longer then the other. At this point I decided to live with it . I tried several alternatives, but in the end having the gathered line in the middle of the window is what looked best because I could shape the folds and glue them into place behind the red panels. I then took some illustration board and cut out boxes to go over the top of the curtains which I covered in fabric and gold trim.

 I had some applique's from Unique Miniatures I painted white and gold which I wanted to glue over the tops of the window dressing. I used them to help shape the tops of the window boxes. And here they are installed

I also added some applique's to the over mantel to make the room look a bit more feminine. The original over mantel was too square and boxy.

And voila, my ladies bedroom is ready

Here is a close up of the amazing Delicate Daisy dresser set I commissioned from Julie dewar in place. I just love it

As always both families got together and bought me miniatures for Christmas. This year I got 2 Metropolitan chandeliers in antique bronze finish from the Getzan's to go in the Great Room

I think they are just perfect for the room. I mentioned that over the holidays I worked on smaller projects. Another one was the curtains for the Great Room.

The curtains for the nook went very well, except that the upholstery fabric I used was not natural fibers and fought me every step of the way. It did not stay down in the pleater, the glue did not stick on easily...but finally I got it done.

The curtains over the back door went the same, however I had one small obstacle to conquer. When they were in place I noticed the back structure showing on the side

I did not want to do anything fancy with the difficult fabric so I just built a simple box to cover it with faux finished lumber and molding trim

I made sure it just covered the exposed area. Thank you all so much for your great compliments on my last post. The dining room was indeed the Manor's dining room, not my real life one.

 

A while ago I talked about the pictures I cut out of books and covered with mod Podge to simulate real paintings. I wanted to make more frames over the holidays but I realized cutting the picture frame molding and getting perfect corners takes longer then I expected. I posted this picture of the dining room because you can see the detail created by the mod podge where the light is reflected ont he paintings. Soooo many more to do! As I mentioned this chandelier is now in the countess's bedroom where it is much better scaled for the room.

I just wanted to mention a good friend of mine and a wonderful artist has finally started her own blog. It is the one and only Julie Dewar who made the Delicate Daisy dresser set for the countess's bedroom, the Imperial Cherry Blossom dinner set for my Chinese Tea Room and several other sets I have. You can see her blog at http://www.westwindsminiatures.blogspot.ca/ . She only has 2 posts, but believe me her artwork will amaze you!

And that is all for now my friends. I am not sure what I will tackle next...though work on the hell Ceiling will commence shortly. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing all of your future posts. you are always such an amazing source of ideas, inspiration and kindness.

A big hug to all,

Giac

Happiness and joy to all!!

Hello everyone,

Happy holidays! I just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a wonderful holiday season. I don't care what you celebrate, who you celebrate or if you celebrate , I just care that you enjoy every minute of every day.

 

Every Christmas I put up an updated picture of the dining room because it really represents what the holidays mean to me: my family sitting around the dinner table, eating, laughing, my mom yelling at my sibling and me to stop misbehaving, opening presents, watching Garfield's Christmas special...just one happy moment after another.

I wish you all the happiness in the world my dear friends and more joy then you think you can handle! I have always believed life is about living through terrible lows, and celebrating mind numbing highs. Thank you for being there through the sadness and the euphoria!

The past week has been busy, but once again I will catch up with your blogs over the holidays. I have not worked much on my miniatures, but the kitchen chairs are done

 

and while I LOVED the jade green marble dining table top I made, it looked wrong in the dining room. As you could see in the first picture, I started it over and made a green marble that compliments the room rather then overpower it

Last week I started experimenting on another project for the manor, but you will have to wait until 2014 to see it.
I send you all the biggest hug I can manage and as always I wish you all the best.
Love to all and happy holidays,

Giac

Back to work on miniatures, my mom and real life kitchen renovations!

Hello my dear friends!

I hope you are all doing well. It is so nice to finally post again. Renovations are almost over and I was finally able to get beck to work on my miniatures last Sunday

and the changes continue

But before I go into miniatures, I have to thank you all from the bottom of my heart because all the prayers and thoughts you sent for my mother worked. She was operated last week and it was not cancer. Aside from a little pain she is recovering well and fast. We went to see her Wednesday night and I told her "mom, you are walking slowly, cannot go down stairs, using a walker, and wearing a shall over your shoulders to keep warm...you are turning into an old lady before my eyes!" Her vulgar answer was "Giac, go f*** yourself" Yes, she is back to her old self and will be just fine.

Now back to miniatures. A warning to all my friends: if you are kept away from your miniature project you will eventually break down and go shopping.
Last post you saw the Alhambra Piano I ordered for the Dining room. My next purchase was a commission from my good friend Julie Dewar who made the Imperial Cherry Blossom Dinner set for my Chinese tea room. I sent her a picture of a black jar with daisies on it and asked her to interpret the pattern in miniature. Once again, her artwork blows me away

Delicate daisy dresser set for the countess

 Julie, thank you so much! I cannot tell you how much I love the set. It is really a work of art and I will cherish it always. You can see more of Julie's incredible work at http://westwindsminiatures.com

My next big purchase was inspired by our trip in October. The cruise was wonderful, but I must say my favorite day was in Newport. We spent the day with my "big brother" and his wonderful partner. We had so much fun and of course the mansions were superb. I will put pictures of the trip in a pinterest page one day soon, but we could not take pictures in the mansions.

I got a lot of ideas, but the main one was how to rearrange the dressing room. It was the one room I did not really like. I think the space was just too big for a dressing room and did not work. When I saw the Newport mansions the answer came to me...separate adjoining bedrooms for the earl and countess.

Before as a dressing room

after as the countess's bedroom

I had the Bespaq "Madam's Suite" vanity, cheval mirror and chaise...

...and I purchased the bed, night table, bed steps and armoire

I got rid of the 2 older model wardrobes, removed the pier mirror, and reworked the office area. I think the room works much better and now I love it. I have a red pattern fabric and some rococo appliques for the window treatments and I am still looking for the bedding fabrics.

I also purchased my first plastic furniture kits.

some of the pieces were a bit twisted, but I think proper placement around the table can camouflage that

 

 I ordered 6 chairs for the kitchen. I will use the same technique to faux walnut them that I used on the scullery and butler's pantry. If they do not turn out right they only cost me $2,60 each. They are pretty accurate and well scaled so I think they may just do. Another project I was able to tackle Tuesday night was stone tops on tables.

I saw a lot of stone top tables in a book of mine and I just love the look

The big table is the Dining table. When I bought it the top finish was damaged as you can see in the next picture...

I was going to just cover it with a tablecloth, but I decided to try and faux marble it. I sanded the top smooth, covered the sides I did not want to paint with painters tape, painted the surface blag and then sponged on 2 shade of green. I then used the lighter green to make the veins

Green marble is one of my favorite stones

I am really happy with the effect. The second table is a coffee table for the Great room. It arrived in the mail in pieces (Bespaq glue tends to come undone in the mail) so I took the top and tried to make a faux malachite finish. I used a white base coat, covered it with a jade green and went over it many times with an old dry brush

Malachite is another favorite

Malachite is a natural stone that can come in gorgeous crazy patterns, but I based mine on a linear tabletop I saw online. I am happy with the experiment and plan on redoing the tops of the Library desk and coffee table as well as the entrance table.

Thursday night I decided to take on a small project...Will I never learn...when your house is as big as the Manor there is no such thing as a small project! For a long time I have been trying to find the right artwork for the Manor. After months of looking I was enjoying one of my favourite books

It is about Chatsworth, one of my favorite building in the world. As I was going over the pages I realized there were tons of family portraits and other paintings that I could cut and use. I went onto Amazon and purchased a used copy of the book for $8,00. I have mentioned before I always buy a second used copy of a book to cut up for miniatures...but even then it hurts me to cut books. Dewell Manor is big, so that meant a lot of artwork

I went over all of these with glossy modpodge and an old brush, a trick I learned from Ray Whitledge and I think John used it as well for Merriman Park. If you kind of follow the lines and shapes  it really makes them look like real paintings...it took me over 2 1/2 hours to go ever them and I am not sure if I have enough...now I have to paint and build the picture frames.

And that is it for now...not much miniature work, but It has only been 6 days since I got back into it. Prior to that all my time, and workspace, was dedicated to the kitchen renovation. Aside from a black frame around the window over the sink, my real life kitchen is done:

we have to finish caulking behind the stove which is why we left a towel under it...I do not want to scratch the floor

It was hard work, took up all my time and an extra source of stress, but in the end Jo and I are really happy with the outcome. Now I can concentrate on putting up the old cabinets in my workroom, and most importantly...get ready for Christmas. This weekend I hope to decorate the house, but we still have many projects to finish.

And that is all my friends. Thank you once again for your patience and your great kindness. Your good wishes really helped me through a difficult time and I appreciate all your support more then I can put into words. My blog friends are the best! I also want to welcome the new followers who have joined my adventures. It is important to me to follow you so please let me know if I overlooked anyone.

Have a great week everyone and I will be in touch before Christmas.

Huge hugs,

Giac

Just a quick update... unfortunately not about miniatures yet...

Hello My dear friends,

I hope you are all doing well and happy. You have been waiting a while for Dewell Manor updates...and you will have to wait a bit more. Because of the renovations I have not been able to work on my miniatures for weeks. I am suffering serious mini withdrawal! I have been saving up for chandeliers, but last week the withdrawal was so bad I broke down and purchased a piano for the Dining Room.

The Alhambra piano and stool. I have wanted this piece for over a long time

My real life kitchen renovations are almost over so I will be able to work on minis again soon. I hope to post at the end of the month or by the beginning of November. I am happy with the way the kitchen is coming along, but I hate renovations with a passion!

The most difficult was not having a sink and stove...very difficult for someone who loves to cook

Thank you all for your caring comments about my mother. She is doing well but her operation was pushed back to November. She is not suffering thanks to the morphine, but the thought that what she has might be cancerous is constantly on our mind. We were having supper at her home a few weeks back and I had the most wonderful tea party for 2 ever

She has more intelligent conversation then many adults I know

 I have kept up with your incredible posts but I would like to apologize to some of you. About three weeks ago I did not post any comments for a week. I read your posts but I had a strong allergic reaction to something (syrup or medicated throat lozenges I think). My hands were swollen and I was covered in hives, and the medication I was taking made me incredibly sleepy.  I could just not bring myself to comment. 18 days later I am still having the reaction, but it is very mild and under control. One who has been feeling much better the past 2 weeks is Ozzy. He looked pitiful during the renovations but now that most of it is finished he is back to his old self

This is an older picture but he has not changed

And that is my update! Sorry that there is no miniature work to show...it is driving me nuts! Next week I will not be leaving comments on any of your blogs. This was a big year for Jo and I. The last week of August we celebrated 8 years together, and the first week of September we celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. We do not give each other anniversary presents, but this year, being 5 years, we decided to take a little Maritime and New England cruise that will take us from Halifax to Newport...yes, I get to see the Vanderbilt Mansions!!!

The Breakers

So my friends, I will be back commenting and making miniatures as soon as we get back from our trip. Thank god I had your blogs to follow...can you die if you are away from miniatures too long???

I wish you all the best and send you all a giant Giac-size hug

Giac