Penny Widdison Stitchery & other stuff

Originally, Lizzie and Julius had a very small house on one shelf in Hoomum's sewing room, comprising a small sitting/study room and her own little sewing room. Then a small kitchen and a very small garden were added. Read on for how Hoomum developed the different rooms in the MouseHouse, or use the links above to find each room in the house...

During the long, long, months of Covid during 2020 & 2021, all travelling and other grand adventures were put on hold. Hoomum was often very poorly coping with Long Covid. However, Julius and Lizzie had ideas for some DIY to extend and improve their small home. Hoomum would need lots of new skills in miniature furniture making. She was sent to the library to find interesting books and set to researching on YouTube....

Lizzie and Julius knew the twins Pip and Squeak, would have to live with them while their mummy was away (seconded to the British Antarctic Mouse Survey for a two year tour of duty).

Anyway... The existing Mouse House was far too small for the whole family; they definitely needed more rooms. Lizzie and Julius helped find a larger space in Hoomum's sewing room by rearranging boxes and shelves of books. Eventually, the long process of making each shelf into a floor of their new home began. Julie Warren's YouTube tutorials and other books, were most helpful. Hoomum became more confident in making mini furniture and room design! The first rooms to be renovated in the new house were the Master bedroom with en suite bathroom and a playroom/bedroom for the twins. Hoomum explains how the rooms were created below.

The master bedroom was the first room in the Mouse House re-vamp. It started with a bed! Hoomum wanted to make a 1/12 sized super king luxurious four poster using some remnants of Laura Ashley fabrics from her stash. It was the first construction with lots of trial and error in the structure of the bed and not much knowledge of structural materials to use. Eventually the four poster idea was abandoned. Instead, a new floor to ceiling padded headboard was created with the original base. The base and headboard are made of double layered artist's mount board on a lattice structure for stability. The mattress is part of a large bathroom sponge. The end board, duvet, bolster and bedside rugs use Laura Ashley teal coloured silk. The headboard and pillows are the Chrysanthemum pattern.

Hoomum couldn't find a ready made wardrobe that suited Lizzie, so this one is cut from mount board to fit the side of the room. The chests, drawers, dressing table and bedside tables are coloured card folded and stuck to shape. The mirror was a foil food tray thoroughly washed and recycled. The bedside lamps are from a Julie Warren tutorial using silver beads and a button. The bottles on the dressing table were purchased from Julie Warren's Etsy shop. The bedside rugs are padded silk fabric. There is an en-suite bathroom with fittings from Minimum World. Clever Hoomum made pictures for the bathroom walls using tiny pieces of sea glass and shells collected from Seaham Beach. Pictures on the bedroom walls are from the Rabbie Burns celebration UK stamps, and a small Christmas card.

The Children's room with en-suite bathroom was added to the house in 2022 ready for the arrival of Pip & Squeak. My word doesn't it look tidy. More accessories are added from time to time to make sure all the mouselets have everything they need. The walls are foam core board covered with gift wrapping paper, decorations are cake toppers from a high street card shop, and the chalk board from The Range all £1 each. The window frame, bunk beds with integrated workspace, chairs and stools were the first pieces of 'wooden' furniture made by Hoomum. She used lollipop sticks and coffee stirrers for the frames, then painted them with acrylic. All the bedding, cushions, curtains and padded play mat are from scraps in the stash.... We started with a chest of drawers of folded card, but that has been relegated to the attic now. Mama Sue (Susan Ashford @wool.i.am) very kindly sent a beautiful toy chest with Pip and Squeak when they arrived. The rocking horse was bought from Minimum World. The ceiling lights are washers stuck to the paper lining with double sided tape. The tiled floor in the bathroom is a pattern resized, printed onto card stock then covered with clear sticky backed plastic. The ceramic bathroom suite was purchased from Minimum World. Hoomum did try making taps and a shower but her wire bending and manipulation skills are not good enough yet.

Our twins love their playroom/bedroom. Here are some more images of our twins at play (click on the first image to see a larger version).

With the arrival of baby Cam in 2023, and Little Finn in 2024, another high-rise bed, the bassinet, plus more toys and books were added to this room. It looked quite tidy at one time.... Just wait until there is a rainy day when those dinosaurs can't get out... All they want to do is play football, and ride the scooter round and round the playroom.

The twins have been granted their wish for a big TV, Julius has a wonderful chair for his study, and Great Aunt Agatha's clock has made an appearance... The decorators did make a start, but definitely need a prod to finish the work. The carpenter also needs a very, very big prod to get on with the desk and chair as well as another comfy chair for Peter or Phillipa to use the study. Julius thinks they may need to put a wall up between the study and sitting room so the grown ups can work quietly, especially if there has to be a secure MI-ce connection installed...

Well things moved on... Baby Cam arrived, Philly has not gone back to work and Peter is staying nearer to home (he still works for MI-ce) but the family need somewhere to be with the children to make sure they have time together after school. Things seem to be going quite well while Lizzie and Julius are on holiday, there is plenty of space for our little family, and for friends to come and play.

When Julius and Lizzie came back from their holiday in France, he found that the twins and their friends had taken over HIS study and left it awfully untidy!!!! He was quietly furious! He declared a wall must be put up between HIS study and the TV room and there must be a LOCK & KEY for the door. Amazing what can be done when someone makes up his mind... Miss Lizzie and Julius now use the study as their sitting room, so they can have some quiet evenings sipping wine and nibbling cheese... Philly, Peter and the children use the sitting room during the day. There's a piano for that all important practise as well as a little bit of TV watching. Then of course Penny Mouse arrived, and she needed a sitting room... Excuse me Penny Mouse, Is that a well dressed cat in your sitting room? How long is she going to be staying here?

By the way Hoomum, those walls definitely need some more pictures, in fact there seems to be quite a lot of decorating required all over the MouseHouse.!

Miss Lizzie is upset that the extension for the dining room is taking far too long to be completed!

The decorators and carpenters made a start, but disappeared... Poor Lizzie has dreams of an elegant dining room and country style kitchen... Hoomum know exactly how Lizzie feels, she is still waiting too....

Hooray, the builder and decorator came back. They have finished putting up the wall with door between the kitchen and dining room and finished decorating the walls... Just in time for ChrissyMouse 2023. Now Miss Lizzie can enjoy her dinner parties without having to look at the mess in the kitchen.

Lizzie liked her sewing room in the old house. It was spacious and had everything she needed. Her new room needs a jolly good makeover.

Miss Lizzie's life does seem to mirror that of poor hoomum. Hoomum's sewing room is always untidy too, so much stash, so many projects to complete... Hoomum would love to have someone come in and make her ideas for a really good workspace a reality. Until then...

Lizzie used to be able to step out into the garden room to enjoy the plants and flowers while enjoying a glass of prosecco with Philly or other friends that just happen to drop in for a stitch and chat session.

Oh dear poor Lizzie, yet more of the extended family have joined the MouseHouse living arrangements. Yet another room has been purloined. Penny Mouse suggested some minor alterations to the ground floor. The garden room has become an extended sewing/laundry room and the sewing room is now Penny Mouse's sitting room. Did you notice Lizzie was a bit crafty too, she persuaded the builders to move the wall so her her sewing room is bigger than the older one...

Poor Julius, always the last to get what he wants. They had a garden, then they didn't have a garden.... Once again Lizzie and Julius are hoping for a new garden. Maybe this time there will be room for a fire pit and space for growing more things in it... We don't think this is going to happen for a very long time. Time for some dreaming: Hoomum would like a new patio and seating area in her garden too... She likes afternoon tea outside in the warmer months.... and it would be so nice for the grandchildren to have a big space to play in.... and plenty of space for the car they bought recently.... Oh dear Poor Meeces, they're not going to get their garden. Thee just isn't any room for more building... Oh well we will just have to go out more often to enjoy gardens at Historic Houses, or National Trust properties. "Will that include tea and cake?" said Miss Lizzie and Penny Mouse in unison...

Come back soon to read more adventures of Lizzie, Julius, Philly & Peter, the twins, baby Cam, little Finn and Penny Mouse.

But please remember this is a story, it's not really real and is nothing like the real hoomins in Durham!