This is the winning picture in my competition to find who has the most beautiful doll’s house! The room has been created by Debs W., who lives in Gosforth, in the North-East of England. It’s a fantastic room, full of wonderful miniature needlepoint, stitched to a very high standard.
From the left hand side at the back, you can see some ‘Summer Roses’ cushions and an ‘Elizabeth’ one on the sofa, an ‘Elizabeth’ footstool, an ‘Alice green’ firescreen, a ‘Barbara (small, green)’ carpet, a ‘Spring flowers’ pole screen, and then another ‘Summer Roses’ cushion on the armchair. On the walls are two samplers – the ‘Peacock’ one at the rear, and the ‘Cat’ one towards the front. In the foreground from the left there is an ‘Isobel’ carpet, a ‘Summer Roses’ tray cloth on the tray on the table, a ‘Shell pink’ handbag and a round ‘Elizabeth’ cushion (originally square!) on the foreground armchair, and a ‘Judith’ dining chair on the far right. Finally, right at the front is a ‘Strawberry Thief’ rectangular stool. Sixteen pieces in all!
When Debs sent in this picture, she said, ‘I have so enjoyed all the kits I have had from you. As I get older I think I am becoming even more of a doll’s house obsessive!’
When I emailed her to say she’d won, she said, ‘I am thrilled to have won your competition. I certainly didn’t expect to and it’s very exciting. I came to dolls houses rather late in life, in my late 50s and I’m now in my 70s and have 2 houses that I built myself. I love this hobby and have spent many happy hours stitching your kits to go in them. The designs are lovely and they are very adaptable. I am not good at design and I appreciate it being done for me and also the good instructions. I am looking forward to doing more, especially carpets, and I shall probably be able to make some presents for my two granddaughters, who also have houses. Christmas has come early for me! Thank you so much.’
Debs has certainly spent many, many hours on this room. Just look at it! I love the way she has adapted some of the kits to make them unique – such as making the ‘Elizabeth’ cushion into a round one, from a square one. And she has added a little braided edging (which she also made herself) to the ‘Judith’ dining chair, too.
When I was trying to decide who would be the competition winner, it was a really difficult choice, as there were so many good pictures to choose from. But I felt that the picture of Debs’ living room that she sent in to me was the best of all those I received. I loved the way she incorporated all the miniature needlepoint into the room to make it look so realistic. This is helped by the soft lighting, and the arrangement of the furniture.
I also liked the way that Debs used items from all across the range of kits – not necessarily using a selection from just one co-ordinating group of kits.
Debs’ prize is £200 in vouchers to spend on kits or charts from my website – so that should keep her busy for quite a while to come!
I also awarded runner-up prizes to two other people, and I’ll be featuring their pictures in the next couple of blog posts, so keep an eye out for those….
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Janet Granger's Blog 
This is indeed a really beautiful dollshouse room and I love the miniature needlework box too 🙂
Congratulations to Debs, a worthy winner of your competition. Her room looks lovely and very cosy too.
Congratulations Debs, your needlework is beautiful and the room looks lovely. I really like the way you have incorporated pieces from so many different ranges of designs. Your room looks very comfortable and ‘lived in’.