Now that I have a decent amount of the prairie rug completed, I thought I'd give you a quick update.  This area took 3.5 hours to stitch, and at this point I am still going slowly to make sure I maintain good coverage on the background.  It's relatively easy to go back and add more loops in, but I figure it's worth taking it slower and not having to rework areas later on.

As you can see, it's much faster than French knot work or cross-stitch.  :]  And, the more you fill in, the better it looks.

I've been meaning to give punchneedle a try since I bought the fine rug for the Heritage from Katie Arthur of Dollhouse Littles.  I love doing cross-stitch but it does have its drawbacks for absolute realism in mini.  As noted previously, French knot rugs offer the best illusion of rugs in scale, but they are also time consuming.  Punchneedle seems to be a good compromise.  I am still working on the Bees and Trees French knot rug, but it will be finished relatively quickly since it's small.

For the Brownstone, I need two large area rugs.  These will be larger than any of the cross-stitch rugs I've made so far, so I figured they would be a good place to experiment with punchneedle.

I found this beautiful Prairie rug on Mitchell's Interiors and printed it out at 9" x 6" for the living room.  It would be gorgeous in French knots but that would take forever!  :O  Well, it would be in the Navajo rug range or higher, put it that way.  :D

I bought some poly/cotton fabric at Joann Fabrics and the extra small punchneedle from Punchneedle Marketplace.

I also picked up Aunt Martha's Tracing Paper and a Sulky Iron-On transfer pen in black.

The paper wasn't as sheer as it perhaps should be for tracing, so I made a high contrast printout for this part.  If I couldn't produce a good quality contrast print, I'd probably have to use a different paper.

I traced the rug using the transfer pen.  It has a relatively fine tip for details and works well.  Obviously, this was not an intricate design to trace, but I think it would manage well enough to get the basic details drawn in.  I can always stitch in more detail than the drawn pattern.

I did a small test sample first.  I was able to get four transfers, though the last was a little light.

I transferred the pattern to the fabric.  It shifted slightly so some of the lines are thicker...operator error.  Next time, I will tape it in place.

I threaded the needle with one strand of DMC floss.  Now, I'm ready to work!  :D  Actually, I need a slightly larger hoop...but this will get me started.

Now I just need to learn how to punchneedle!  :O  The page reads, "Never punch a row of stitches and give up!"  I completely agree!  I was not at all sold with my first few rows...so I did a box.

Love it!  :D

Awhile back, a Greenleaf member posted about some Hasegawa kits he saw on eBay.  I really liked the look of them and when I decided to go ahead with the HBS Creatin' Contest, I figured I would order the kits from tokyo-hobby on eBay.  Only one of these is planned for the contest build, but I ordered all three since I wanted to save on shipping and I liked the other kits, too.

They are molded in color, but I will likely spray paint them besides.  Even when plastic kits come molded in color, you can achieve even better results by painting them.  They look like good quality, but I'll know more once I put one together.

The school desk and chair kit contains three full sets and comes with a printed parquet floor (the other two did not have a flooring sheet).  The meeting table and chairs kit contains two full sets, and the grey desk and chair kit is single set.  So, which one is for the contest build you ask?  The one with the most parts, of course!  :D

While I didn't want to cover up all the lovely egg carton brickwork of the massive chimney, I did think some ivy was in order.  You know I don't shy away from cutting and shaping individual leaves, but I found something that not only looked realistic but made life easier.  :D  This is O-Scale (1:45) English Ivy from Scenic Express (Silflor Summer Ivy by Mininatur).

There are three sheets in the box.  The leaves might be small for direct 1:12 scale, but it worked very well.  You cut and stretch it to create long vines.

I thought this store was called Scenery Express since I first started buying their landscaping materials, and that's one of the web addresses that will get you there...but I just noticed that it is in fact Scenic Express.  Maybe I always had it wrong or they changed the name or they just have two domain names for the same place.  Regardless, they have a great selection of landscaping materials.

I didn't overdo it and used just under one sheet of the ivy for the project, using Aleene's clear gel glue to attach it to the house and chimney.

It disguises the awkward edge trim around the chimney.

Here's the back side of the chimney.

The chimney is now complete!  :D

I have a small amount of landscaping left to do, but I added a beautiful aged metal birdbath by Island Crafts & Miniatures to the front lawn.  The last time I made an aquarium, I used some leftover Acrylic Water resin to fill the bowl.  The birdbath is from Dejoux Miniatures.

I also planted the shepherd's hook on the side of the stairs to hang one of my birdfeeders.  :]

It amazes me how each little thing changes the look of the build.

I have three newly finished beds listed in my etsy shop.  Each measures 6 1/4" long x 3 1/2" wide x 5 3/4" tall (headboard).

The first is burnished copper with a modern autumn leaf bedspread.  You can see the hint of the crisp white sheets underneath on the mattress and the striped box spring.  It comes with a pillow in a pillowcase and a coordinating throw pillow.

The second bed is made in the same way but it is silver with a lavender bedspread with a leaf pattern.

The third bed is chocolate brown with a green and brown chevron bedspread. 

I have other pillows available in my shop in case you'd like a different coordinating throw pillow.  :]