5PINning around*

On Monday, after the crappest birthday ever, I bit the bullet and quit my job.

On Tuesday, I realised that entries for the ANCA Gallery 5PIN exhibition closed tonight, and that maybe I have the head space and time to put something together for it after all.

Today I'm hoping that they'll accept a proposal outline rather than a finished piece in the application.

Wish me luck!

(* The perfect soundtrack)

Birthday weekend

It's my birthday tomorrow* and I'm having a very quiet weekend away at Margell to mark the occasion and recover from a crazy few months.

 Last night I finished** the tea cosy I started last time I visited. It goes well with my new second-hand rug, don't you think?

The other new item to be added to the lounge is a TV, something I never thought I'd have down here.

It's only temporary though: it's Eurovision weekend, and Australia is competing for the first time ever***. How could I miss seeing it?

(*50: part one. I've decided that 49 is a nasty number so am going straight to 50 for a two-year stretch How did that happen? 50?!)
(** Actually, Judy Foster sold it to me at the May Show, after I realised that I'd just bought the matching knitting pattern in miniature...)
(***Yes, I know Australia isn't in Europe. It's a long story...)

Quite the comic

There have been a few changes to Wertheim's Comics since we saw it at last year's show (and in September).

 Lewis took it to the February Australian Miniature Enthusiasts Association meeting and sold it to Elizabeth, our President.

And she's spent the last couple of months working hard to fill it with stock,

which is arranged on lust-worthy shelves designed by Lewis and cut by Warren:

I made Lewis promise to tell me the minute they go into production for sale, and Warren is getting back to me with a price for the diner kit this shop is based on. Not that I have room for another building if I still want to use my dining table!

Minis for Margell

I had two items on my shopping list for this year's Sydney show: a crocheted granny square afghan rug (the one I bought in Melbourne last year is too out of scale to work) and a mixer tap.

I found neither, but did find a lot of other bits and pieces to add to Margell. On Friday night my co editor presented me with this beautiful cashmere scarf she knitted for me:

(The yellow one underneath came from a lucky dip box that I was allowed to rummage through. Twenty cents got me a set with not only the scarf, but hand-knitted mittens and a hat as well!)

In the same box (and for the same price) was the rug on the middle shelf of the storage cupboard. On the bottom shelf of the bookcase you can see my new fly swat ($1) and spare candles ($1.80 for four)

I bought dark chocolate Tim Tams and a bag of chips from The Miniature Supermarket ($2.50 each), plus a pair of salt and pepper grinders ($4.50: can't remember the name of the stall)

(As an aside: look! A kitchen sink! I have a whole back story that involves a friend's husband who is a plumber who is swapping a couple of weeks' use of the place for installing plumbing. The sink was free because his mate is a builder who often pulls out old kitchens. This is why I need a mixer tap...)

New from the show: dishwashing liquid ($2), dish mop, towel and bar of soap (another find from the twenty cent box), Ferrero Rocher chocolates (50 cents) and handwoven vintage kitchen rug ($5 from Nambucca’s Liittle Shoppe).

I bought music for the piano ($5 from Michelle's Miniatures),

and more bits for the games shelf (crossword book also $5 from Michelle's Miniatures, cat jigsaw puzzle $5 and tangram puzzle $2 from stalls I've forgotten the names of).

Finally, new cushions for the sofa ($1 each) and a knitting set ($5). Because you can never have too much knitting...

Crate expectations

'I was sweeping up my studio' he said.

'I found these and thought you might like them'

'But there are better versions happening in the very near future'

'You'll be the first to know...'

Sydney Show 2015: The Saturday report

Here's the 'live-from-the-hotel-no-alt-text-no-brain-space-to-explain-and-besides-I-wasn't-planning-to-photograph-the-displays-until-tomorrow' photo dump.

 I was super-excited to see this miniature version of a Venturo, created by Felicity Moy. I almost missed it as she only had the house on display today...

Marilyn has finished her Hut on Tyrannosaur's Legs (I'm not actually sure I shared the photos I took of this last year with you...)

 Her partner Lewis had a street of workshops on display:

 (Mmmm.... milk crates...)

 (Me? obsessed?)

(Lewis said, in the May tiny Times, that he 'really want to do a scene with three monkeys typing the complete works of Shakespeare, one on an Underwood, one on an Olivetti and one on a Commodore 64'. So that is what he's done...)

Warren Barnard had told me about this this helical art gallery he'd designed for West End Miniatures when I'd visited him last year, so I was keen to see the end result.

It didn't disappoint.

Finally, I dropped in to see Div, who had created Lily Love's house.

(And announced that she's abandoning 1:12 scale for 1:24 and 1:48)