Mini Rag Rugs

Here are two of the finished mini rag rugs that I made for a couple of swaps now.  They're time-consuming, but then what miniature isn't?  They're made out of braided varigated embroidery floss.  After the tedious braiding, I even more tediously sew them together using a single strand of floss.  These two rugs are one inch wide which in quarter inch terms makes them four feet wide in real life.  They're large enough to put a small table or chair on.

French Quarter Cafe: Interior possibility

I've found some Mardi Gras poster graphics and some gold crowns that I think will spiff up the interior of the cafe and have started to place the tables and chairs.  After I put some baked goods and merchandise packages in the window, I'll add a curtain rod and lace curtains.  There's still a bakery case with serving counter waiting in the wings, too.

French Quarter Cafe: Tables and Chairs

Someone else who is making the French Quarter cafe commented that the chairs were easy to make; in fact, they seemed to go together by themselves.  So I was expecting to sail through this part of the project.  Ha! on me.

The little bars in the front and back of the legs were really difficult to put in place.  None of my chairs wanted to go together.  In fact, they resisted every step from "painting" (with a Sharpie marker) to gluing.  The tables on the other hand?  Went together quickly and easily.  All I can think is the other woman really was talking about the tables and not the chairs.

Oh, yes, the two tall things on the left are the non-lighting street lamps.  I bought them at a hobby shop that specializes in model trains.

Beck's Bakery

For my daughter's 34th birthday, I wanted to make her something special.  Since I have a few craft skills under my belt like sewing and beading, I decided to branch out and do something I hadn't tried in a long, long while.  I saw this bakery kit online and since she's addicted to sweets, I knew this was perfect for her.

I'd never made quarter inch baked goods, so I new going in that they would be the challenge.  And they were!

Although wallpaper and another banner came with the kit, I decided to personalize the bakery to reflect my daughter.  The "now helping" sign reads "34" to remind her of which birthday she was celebrating.  There is a November 2010 calendar on the far right wall.  And the wallpaper is pink, a reminder of when we moved into our current house and were having it repainted and she begged for a pink bedroom.

All in all, I am very happy with the way the bakery turned out.  This kit came from Desert Minis.

French Quarter cafe: The interior

Hmmm, that looks like a BIG empty space.  Actually, it turns out it's a pretty small space when I start filling it up with stuff. 
I think if I had to make this over again, I'd probably use a color other than the coral/pink and green.  But since this was my first quarter inch structure in decades, I decided to stick with the kit instructions as much as possible which included the color scheme.

One thing I've learned with minis is that the "next time" ruminating happens after each project is finished.  One of these days, I hope to have a clearer picture of how a project will look at the end before I begin it.  But I guess this comes with time and practice.