In November 2024 I retired, so this page is now a ‘legacy archive’ only. I NO LONGER SELL THESE KITS, so please do not contact me asking where you can buy them! I plan to keep this page up until at least the end of 2026, so that people can still see these inspirational ideas.

During 2016, I ran a competition to find who has the most beautiful doll’s house. I asked my customers to send me pictures of their doll’s house rooms, containing at least four pieces of miniature needlepoint that they had stitched from designs of mine. The response was amazing, and it was really hard to choose just one winner!

THE WINNER

Finally, I decided that the winner has to be Debs W, who lives in Gosforth, in the North-East of England. Debs has created 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 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!

RUNNERS-UP

I awarded two prizes of £25 in vouchers to runners-up in my competition.

This room setting is just gorgeous isn’t it? It’s created by one of my customers called Marlene, who lives in the USA. She has used a limited colour palette of burgundy and gold to make this evocative Christmas scene.

The competition rules required every picture to show at least four pieces of miniature needlepoint, stitched from my kits. So, in this room, from the left, are: a ‘Candle’ Christmas stocking hanging on the fireplace, a ‘Sarah’ carpet, a ‘Summer Roses’ teacosy on the tea table at the back, a ‘Summer Roses’ footstool on the floor at the front, and finally a ‘Summer Roses’ cushion on the sofa.

The picture above is actually just one end of a large room setting. There’s lots of wonderful miniatures in this room!

They all add the personal touch to this wonderful room.

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Cinzia, who lives in Bari, Italy, was the second runner-up. She sent me this picture of a really pretty boudoir. My doll’s house needlepoint customers never cease to amaze me. Cinzia has created this fantastic room herself, and made all of the needlepoint items from miniature needlepoint kits of mine. She has her own website, with pictures of many other houses that she has decorated: Ludmillascreations.it

I felt that the pictures of her pink bedroom room that she sent me were really lovely – such beautiful colours. I love the way she incorporated the miniature needlepoint into the room. The lighting is good, as is the arrangement of the furniture, and the limited colour palette, which helps pull it all together, as well. And the little dog is so cute……

Here’s a close-up of the little girl doll, lying on a ‘Lilian (pink)’ Aubusson style carpet, along with a round ‘Lilian’ footstool, and surrounded by little cushions that are only 1 1/4 inches square. I adore the cat lying next to her, doing what cats do!

I don’t know what breed of dog this is (Shih tzu?), but he’s very cute! I’m sure he isn’t supposed to be under the bed, anyway.

There are dozens more inspirational pictures like these in the Customers’ Stitching section.