It is such a long time since I wrote anything in my blog.

I have been catching up with all sorts of RL stuff.   Also trying to get workshops done in step by step photos which take time and I really need to be in the mood to do it. Thankfully I have until October, but watch this space as I will be on the last minute to finish.

The juniors at Burscough dolls house club, three finished my project which was supposed to take 10 months but in actual fact took 16 months due to my having had keyhole surgery ( had to be mini) and recovering afterwards;  Lucy, Catherine and Chloe did  it and they have done me proud, all are 12 years old.    The photos can be seen on my blog at   www.hazel-dowd.co.uk  

Still a couple more to finish but exams got in the way so maybe during the holidays this can be done.

 I have also finished my articles for the DHMS shop window display and hope to get started on more with fitting the shop out and adding customers and shop assistants.  Also to be done in step by step photos, again no time limit just to send in as and when they are ready.   Lovely to know your work will be accepted for publishing.

Friend Jane Harrop has just published her third How To book and it is fabulous.   www.janeharrop.co.uk    Jane visited the clubs at Hindley Nr. Leigh and Burscough doing workshops both of which I belong to.

Another friend Babs came last Sunday and w2e had a doll dressing day.   Babs managed to finish the doll including the draping which actually makes a huge difference but not the wigging.   She assured me that she could do that at home.   A lovely day and it makes you really enjoy the time together as miniature making can be a lonely experience and until you get to a club or have a friend come for the day this really makes you appreciate the friends you do make in the mini world.

Not enough hours in the day...why do I always leave things to the last minute? then rush to finish....because I have so many other things on the go I need to be two people! then I would have two pairs of hands....LOL.

I would hate to be sat in front of the TV doing nothing all day long.  I would hate to be sat in a chair doing nothing..so I count myself very lucky to be doing what I do -do     and try my best to do it well.  :oops:  It's going to be one of those days.I can tell.

I have been filling racks of silk ribbons, braids, hat straw, laces...etc...etc... a mindless task but has to be done.   I take rest inbetween and do other things.  Luckily I had quite a lot of stock precut, packed and labeled so the task was easyer than I expected.

I also have some new chil manniquins and have been designing your bridesmaid and flower girl dresses to fit.  Still have to produce the patterns for a workshop I am going to do on-line in Oct.

It;'s the club meeting to-night , have to get little boxes ready for those doing my Elegance in Red & Black, the juniors are going to design their own gowns and I hope to be able to convert them into patterns...might take some explaining how to do this and why something won't work.

Still should be fun.

With getting articles finished for the DHMS mag and making sure all the text and photos correspond, nothing worse than a photo in the wrong place or text doesn't go with the correct photo.

Now working on my workshop of Elegance in Red and Black, doing step by step photos, hopefully will be finished this week.

We had a dolls house club meeting last Wednesday and at the end of Feb the juniors are or were going to do the gown of the above workshop.    They have managed everything else  but the gown will be a little too advanced for them.   I suddenly had a thought in the middle of the night, what about them designing their own gowns  as all young girls try to be dress designers at one time or another....that way each scene would be individual and it also gets the juniors learning about patterns and fabrics.   I have done an outline of a mannequin and then it's up to them....I just hope I can do justice to their designs although I will have stipulations as some fabrics I can't get . and some designs might be too hard for the  junior club members to achieve!

Watch this space!

I call it a play day because if you are with friends making miniatures or even discusing miniatures it's a day of play.  Chill out time.   I had friends Jane Harrop ( author of several How to Books) and Bob who produces all the kits for her designs, here at home learning how to 'drape' fabric.

We had  half an hour of chatting what she wanted to do...half an hour  doing the easy bits, then creating the patterns she wanted and learning  how to manipulate the fabric into looking real  adding that all exclusive illusion to the scene.

Loved the day, loved the company.

Considering this is 'supposed' to be the most depressing day of the year according to statistics...

The sun  is shining, I have  taken some  photos and have managed to get quite a lot done this morning and started getting my things ready sort of 'Blue Peter' style for another go at step by  step photos.

The preparation of doing articles is a lot of background work.  The same as when doing workshops, all the preparation has to be done well in advance and checked before the actual workshop takes place.  Often there is that 'one' little item missing out of a packet so, check and check again is my motto.