Moving Right Along........

This morning when I went in to look at the Clockwork Cottage, Zar was contemplating the secret door in the workroom. To my surprise, he has almost finished making the bookcase frame.

It seems to be working well so far. He has decided that he wants the majority of the shelf in the workroom with a flat, false wall in the bathroom. There will be woodwork trim in the bathroom to disguise the fact that the panel opens.

The dogs are worried about how they are going to get in and out of the room since they can't manage doors or dumbwaiters by themselves. I think that they are just going to have to be very careful.

While he was doing the upstairs, I was in the kitchen checking out what is done and what still has to be done. Zar and Tessie joined in with opinions. Zar's were welcome. Tessie's were tolerated.

Zar dragged the bookcase down from the workroom.(No. Tessie didn't see him do it.) He wants shelves in the front corner by the sink. Tessie immediately told him that they were too big. "Why did you build them so big? Didn't you measure? Hmmmm, maybe I should take these off of your hands since they don't fit.". That started another argument. Zar won. "It's my bookcase. You can't have it! Buzz off!"

For once Tessie kept her mouth shut. Maybe it's because she doesn't have enough spell books to fill it or maybe because she has run out of places in her cottage to store the things that she filches.

Anyway, the three of us went into the dining room and actually agreed on something! The window is not pleasing. It is off center and too small. We all thought that a bay would be nice there....... Remember, this was supposed to be the kitchen before I started bashing. In a kitchen a small off center window would be ok. Here, not so much.

Guess who has been volunteered to do the work? We discussed colors for the walls. Nothing was decided. As usual, Tessie suggested puce. Balthazar and I both voted against that, so Tessie got bored and left. Zar asked me nicely if I would undertake the reworking of the window. He pled that he would be very busy with the workroom. I said that I would do it.

Oh well. What's one more project?

See you tomorrow.

"For Me???"

Oh! I couldn't." That was Tessie this afternoon after I presented her with the chair that I put together. What she really meant was "Do another one and make it better!" I am not totally happy with the way that it turned out. There are a lot of flaws You probably can't see them, but I can. And besides, if I do it again, maybe I can come up with a pattern.

I was watching "The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency " and working on the chair at the same time and it was distracting. I love that series. I was also trying to hurry because it was my turn to get back in and sit on Mookie. Only a couple more days and he will be able to roam around again. I think that all of us will be relieved.

I did take a few photos of the first part of the process before I went off on a tangent watching TV.

These are the basic pieces. I did this one with balsa for Rosanna. I do use balsa for chairs and sofas. I don't for beds because it's not wide enough and would be more expensive than the ceiling tile.

I have an inner back and an outer back cut from poster board. The center part of the back sandwich is 1/4" foam core. I pad the inner back to the seat line that you see drawn on the bottom edge. That part I leave flat for gluing. I cover the edge of the center piece with a piece of muslin and then with the upholstery fabric. In this case, the upholstery fabric was some antique silk kimono fabric that I got at the gem show a couple of years ago. I do wish that man would come back. He had wonderful silks for very reasonable prices.

Back to work. I cover the front edge of the cushion piece, wrapping the fabric around to the top and bottom.

The base piece on the right gets beads glued on for feet. Then I used the skirting method that I used when I did the chase. The poster board was cut to the height of the piece from the floor to the top of the base. I cut it into four equal pieces and covered them with silk and then made the under pleat pieces. I glued those all on.

Then I glued the cushion piece onto the front edge of the base piece. That leaves room for the three back pieces to sit on the base.

Here's where I forgot to take photos. Oops!

When I do a second one, I will be sure to take more photos of the back part. I padded and covered the inner back and stuck it tight against the seat.(pinned to hold until the glue dried) Next the foam core piece, with it's edges covered was glued behind that. The outer back was covered and wrapped with fabric and glued on last. If you look at the photo of Tessie, you will see that I covered all of the gaps between the pieces with braid. And believe me there were a few of them.

When I get the chair perfected, I will do a proper tutorial. I don't think that it will happen until Mookie is free again. It is hard to work in here. He insists on sitting in the middle of wherever I am working. I am typing over his inert body at present.

As usual, Tessie's feet don't touch the floor. I am very aware of that. Sometimes mine don't either. I guess that I should go see if I have enough kimono silk left for a footstool.

See you tomorrow.

Welcome!

I have a new follower this morning. Her name is Lena and she is from Sweden. She has a blog called Miniatyrmama. http://miniatyrmama.blogspot.com/ There are many interesting minis to look at there. Please go welcome her to the party!

Come on in and join the fun Lena! And welcome!

A Summer Dacha

"For Me???" As usual, that's Tessie's first question when there is a new structure in sight. I am very carefully avoiding answering. I bought the kit for the Spring Fling that Greenleaf puts on every year. As usual, I didn't finish it when I should have. Tessie spotted it this morning. "I would love summers in Russia.". She was jumping up and down and dancing around the little house.

I had decided to turn it into a Russian dacha in honor of the time that April spent there when she was getting her master's degree in Russian.

I have always liked the rural architecture. The cottages are very unusual. Lots of wood. Lots of shingles and the onion shaped roofs.

I have saved articles from magazines and found more information on the web. The kit seemed to scream "Russian dacha". I put the kit together right after I got it. I added a point to the top of the round roof to make it the right shape. I will add a large chimney space to the left side. I have already cut an extra wide hole on that side. The Russians knew how to keep out the cold with walk in fireplaces. You can see the photo of the fireplace that I want to replicate under Tessie's feet in the last photo. She immediately latched onto the large samovar on the bench. "I need one of those!". What is it with her and coffee/tea making machines?

Since I had already started the shingling on one side, I decided to continue with that. I love the diamond patterns shingles that the Russians mix in with the regular ones. I think that it adds so much interest.

There will be three courses of diamond pattern and then back to the straight. I will probably put another three in when I get higher up towards the peak.

Shingling is something I can do quite easily whilst cat sitting. Mookie is doing great. Us, not so great. He still should be kept away from Widget until at least Sunday. He is not a happy camper. He wants out in the worst way......I am not sure which of us is going to go stir crazy first. At least, hopefully, it will only be until Sunday. Fingers crossed.

BTW, I did find Zar. He was confined to his workroom where I left him last. He just couldn't manage to get out of the stolen chair. I made Tessie release him and he is now relaxing in the chase in front of Tessie's house. I think it fits him better than Tessie. He's trying to figure out how to get it back to the Clockwork Cottage. Asking Tessie nicely doesn't seem to work.

Meanwhile, Tessie is happily looking through all of the photos and planning "her summer place". I just can't win!

See you tomorrow.

Where's Balthazar?

I finished the chase lounge for Zar's bedroom and he is nowhere to be found. I have my suspicions.....Tessie has been sticking to me like Aileen's Fast Grab Glue all morning. Here is some of the action of putting together the chase.

I cut two layers of ceiling tile that were 5"x 2" and rounded the corners. One, I left the way that it was and the other I slanted one end so that the back would be fit in a fan shape. I used the straight one for the foundation of the piece. I have a bunch of teak wood beads that are a quarter of an inch high. I used those for the feet as they will never be seen. They give a really stable base. I covered the ceiling tile piece with fabric and wrapped it around to the other side and glued.

Then I cut a strip of poster board 3/4" high. I used pieces of this covered with fabric and turned under on three sides(one long and two short) for the outer skirt. For the inside of the pleats I simply cut a small square of fabric and hemmed it with glue on one end. That piece got glued to the base so that the bottom edge was even with the floor.

Next the piece of covered poster board with mitered corners was glued on even with the floor on the bottom edge and the loose fabric on the fourth side was glued up over the top edge. I then put a strip of fabric around the second piece of ceiling tile,gluing the edges up over the top and under the bottom. That piece was then glued to the base.

The back was a curved piece of poster board that I covered with two thicknesses of quilt batting. I put channels in the back with thread and then curved it around the chair. The sewing for the channels doesn't have to be neat. It will all be covered and you want it as tight as you can get it. The piece that you see on the table in front of Tessie is the outer back piece. It was cut the same as the inner back but about a quarter inch shorter, so that the padded part would stick up over the edge of it.

As you can see, the next step was clipping and gluing fabric straight to the backboard. Then that was glued around the seat and pinned to dry.

The last piece was a piece of poster board cut to fit the seat. I marked it with a pin where I wanted to tuft it. Then I put on two layers of quilt batting and wrapped and glued fabric over it. Lastly, I tufted it through the holes and made french knots on the front in place of buttons.

I glued this piece to the seat base, pinning it down all around. Then I finished all of the edges with a small braid.

Strangely, Zar hasn't been by to look at it. Even more odd.......Tessie is "trying it out for size" and humming to herself......I keep hearing "New house and new cha-ase." and "Zar is stuck with a wing chair." These are both to the tune of the "Na-Na-Na-NaNa-Na" that we sang as kids when we got the better of someone. Then once in a while I hear a mad cackle that I didn't even know that Tessie had in her vocabulary.

My next project for the day is to try to find Zar. I have a feeling that he is tied to a wing chair somewhere in the house. Tessie is very good at tying knots with spells.........

See you tomorrow.

Surrounded By Slackers......

I am resigned to getting nothing done today. I have spent most of the day in this room and I understand why Mookie is going stir crazy.

I worked on the long rug this morning until I was cross eyed. I am getting there, but very slowly. I can't find the light blue that I started it with. I know it's around here somewhere...... I put two different shades in and neither of them was right. I am playing frogger a lot. Rippit. Rippit.

I took a break from minis a couple of days ago and fixed myself the workbasket that you see in the photo. I lined it with gold striped fabric and put antique crochet lace around the edge. It is small enough for just one project at a time. It was the container for a gift set of smelly stuff that I bought for $1.25 at Walmart after Christmas last year. I tossed the really bad,smelly stuff and kept the basket.

Tessie loves it in here. There is no regular TV. We use the mini one. Too bad it isn't going to work pretty soon....Yes, it's the one from the burglar's room box.

When I started writing this I was all alone. Two minutes later, this is what happened. I now have Tessie directing what I put in the blog. I have Mookie sleeping on the keyboard. I keep shifting it around. He just keeps following and looks disgusted when I try to move things around. It's about time for his next pain medicine. I am not sure that it helps. I think it just makes him spacey. They said that it would be calming.....Sure it is. He meows and tears around here like mad when he first gets it. I will certainly be happy when things get back to normal around here. Everything will be better in about a week. I have that to look forward to.

Walter is a great help. He is sleeping in here at night to keep Mookie in line. He has the hard part as far as I can see.

I am going to help Tessie give Mookie his next syringe now.

Hopefully I will get something constructive done by tomorrow. See you then.

Post Script.....I did get to start this, just this afternoon. It will be for Zar's bedroom, unless Tessie sees it.

A New Award

This morning I awakened to a new award from Eva over at Evilla Prunella's Creations. http://prunellascreations.blogspot.com/ It is One Lovely Blog Award, and I mean the award itself is lovely. Thank you very much Eva. There were no instructions that I could see, so I will just assume that I am to pass it on to others.

Does anybody know why blogger is suddenly not letting me copy and paste blog addys? I had to type Eva's URL by hand over a disgruntled cat. Needless to say this is a bit difficult. I think that the only way to solve the problem is to give the award to people that I follow. If you go over to the left side, there is a list of latest entries for the blogs that I follow. Please go over there and punch some buttons. Thank you again Eva!

Good For Something.......

A while ago someone asked why, being a witch, Tessie didn't own a cat. She likes Spike the pit bull, Friskie the gator, but no cats? I will let her answer that. No long winded statements, thank you very much, Tessie. "I don't need any more cats! Casey shares her two big ones with me. I have learned what a hassle they can be. If they were small enough for me to pick up, they would be twice as much trouble. As it is, I don't have to feed them or clean the litter box. I just get the fun of playing and petting without the cleaning up after them."

She has come in handy for the past few days with Mookie. She adjusts the collar when it slips. She makes sure that he is comfortable when he sleeps......Sometimes his comfort takes precedence over my blogging.

He had taken to sleeping in front of the keyboard. We had a long talk this morning and now he is sleeping behind the keyboard.....Most of the time...... Some of the time.....

I will say this for Tessie, she is very good at giving him his pain meds. They come in a small syringe and she sneaks up on him from the side and waits for him to say "Meow". Then she shoves the tiny end of the syringe in his mouth and pushes the plunger. It works rather well. He would see me coming. Not her. She's too fast for him.

She says that we have to save the little gadgets that the medicine is in so that we can use the parts for minis. I am not exactly sure what she has in mind. I will humor her and save them for the time being.

I am working on another six year old's rug. This one was a kit somewhere along the line. At least the pattern was. I think that it was originally supposed to be done on #18 canvas. I don't do that large, so I transferred it to #22 hardanger and am cross stitching it. I will either use it in the living room or the bed room of the Clockwork cottage. Anyway, it is not far enough along for Tessie to want it. She volunteered to show it, but since it's unfinished, she won't abscond with it.

I am going back to cat sitting now. I can do that and cross stitch at the same time.

See you tomorrow.

Zar and the Ice Box......

For those of you following Mookie's trials and tribulations, he is hiding under that big chair in here and groaning every once in a while to let me know he is there. He seems better than yesterday.....Only 6 to 9 more days to go.....

Now onto more important matters. As you know, the Clockwork Cottage is slowly being built from the ground up. I am doing pretty good for a six year old, but Zar sidetracks me sometimes with his latest ideas for inventions. After all, the stuff inside has to be built at the same time.

Today it was turning an ice box into an electric thing called an Extreme Chiller.......I think he needs to work on the name, but the idea seems good. Now if he can only get it to work.

With my help to carry things and glue cogs where he pointed, he went to work. I also had to drill holes because he can't manage lifting the drill.

We started out by finding an old Chrysnbon Ice Box. I had one in the "waiting room". That's the room in the family room bookcase where I put things that don't really belong anywhere, but generally in a kitchen.

Then I dragged out my tray that contains all of the cogs, wheels and miscellaneous drubs and drabs of leftovers. I think it is about time to clean that out. I even found a fimo hand that I overcooked in there! When I start finding detached body parts, I think that it is time to sort.

Anyway, we found the before mentioned cogs and wheels, a strange little spring, the back of a watch, the top of a dimensional paint bottle, some findings and a mini light bulb. Then I went and got the copper tubing that he needed for the water source to the ice.

Zar is getting very good at this new fangled electrical stuff. I don't understand it at all. I just know that the light goes on when you flip a switch.

He decided that a steam powered Extreme Chiller wouldn't be very practical, so he opted for the electrical kind. He went to work and I had very little to do but watch. He explained his theory. In his world, I am sure that it works. He has created a source of water to make the ice with the copper tubing and, in theory, he is running an electrical current straight into the ice. Don't ask me how he is doing this without getting shocked. As I said, it works in his world. He explained that the continuous feed of water directly into the ice block will keep freezing indefinitely. If he says so........It's kind of hard to see(poke the picture), but the copper tubing and the electrical wire actually go through the sides of the ice box and into the ice!

Of course Tessie had to have a look at it. Her only comment was "Good going Balthazar! Now I will always have ice for my brew!" I don't think that she was all that impressed that it could keep food from spoiling. She knows what is really important!

See you tomorrow.

And Away She Goes!

I spent the morning at the vet's with a sick cat. I won't go into details, but Mookie is now wearing one of those dreaded Elizabethan collars for 10 days. He is NOT amused!

I managed to finish the dutch tile rug last night. This morning I steam pressed it. That's the nice thing about cross stitch. It stays straight.

Here it is with just one pressing. I think that it will go well with Tessie's choice of paint in the Clockwork cottage.

When I finished pressing and was photographing it, Tessie wandered into the kitchen and volunteered to hold it up so that you could see it better......Tessie and volunteering do not belong in the same sentence.

You may ask why I was suspicious? Have you ever seen Tessie volunteer without some idea of self help in mind? I will answer for you. NO!

The last I saw of her, she had turned tail and was ready to run for it. Then POOF! Gone with the wind. I have come to expect this with everything I finish.

The rug will be where I can find it when I finish the kitchen. I just hope she doesn't drown it in cappuccino before I go to rescue it from her cottage. Oops! I see a couple of threads that need clipping if I ever get it back.

For the rest of the day I will be cat sitting. In this case, it may mean literally sitting on the cat. He can't abide the collar and we had to put him back in the cat carrier to keep him from going berserk. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

Here I Am Again!

Did you miss me? Actually, I didn't go anywhere. I was busy having withdrawal symptoms whilst the computer was being yanked out by its roots and a new one planted in it's place. Admittedly, the entries weren't very entertaining, but without a camera connection it couldn't be helped......Not that they will be any more entertaining with photos.... Yes. I did accomplish a little while the chaos was ensuing. Did I tell you that it is traumatic to suddenly be thrust into the world of Vista? I am coping....Kind of.

I worked on the kitchen rug. I only have about 2 square inches yet to do. That's about 600 stitches. It will take an hour or so.

While I was doing that Tessie started hassling me about painting Zar's kitchen muddy brown. I told her it was "Trail Tan", but she was having none of it. She insisted that it should be "Old Parchment" because that was more scholarly sounding. When I refused to stop stitching she did it herself. She did a pretty good job. What is irritating, I have to admit that I like that color better than the tan with the rug.

After she finished, she had to celebrate by breaking out the cappuccino machine. She spilled it all over the rug so steps will have to be taken quickly.

Meanwhile upstairs, I painted the walls Wedgewood Green just to see what it would look like. I think I like it. With a lot of woodwork it will be a good combination.

Zar stole a wing chair from the Burglar's Room Box. Somehow there is some poetic justice in that. I will let him keep it until I get one made for him. He is now ensconced upstairs with a cappuccino cup.....I don't think it's coffee though. The label on the bottle says Black and White.......The poor man is being driven to drink by Tessie.

I think that that Miss Dovestone is holding on to the Mystery House. She doesn't want to be a maid, since she seems to be able to afford her own home. I guess that Balthazar is going to have to hire a matronly lady to clean and cook. So much for the good looking one. That just means that I have to get serious and finish the Mystery House too.

It is nice to be back, even if I have inadvertently created an "Upstairs Downstairs" situation. I have maids refusing to work. Witches repainting kitchens without permission and Zar in his secret room on a drinking binge.......Yup. Everything is back to normal!

See you tomorrow!!!

Still Trying!

I am not going into all of the details, but this computer seriously sucks right now. Walter is in the middle of changing over to the new one. I am hopeful that later today I will be able to do a regular blog entry.

I have no minis to show you because I can't upload and resize them. So.....You are stuck with looking at some of my big needlework for the morning.

This first piece is blackwork. I got the pattern from a site on the net. It is done on about #18 hardanger. I am in the middle of doing a bedspread for mini in blackwork....Yes, another unfinished project. I will show you later.

Here's one that is finished. It is a biscorneau(French pincushion) done in Quaker red work. I set up this scene with some of the antique needlework tools that I collect. The braids on the cards at the back are for lace making. The glasses are my grandfather's and whats scary is....I can see through them now. Twenty years ago, everything was a blur when I tried. The thimbles belonged to my Grandma Daisy and my mother. The needle case is hand carved ivory.

Now about that braid for lace making. I will probably never use it because of it's antique status. I do needle made lace instead. Here is one of my other UFOs. It is a collar that I have been working on. Please don't ask how long. Let's just say......."For some years now." Remember the six year old? This stuff takes a long time and she gets distracted!

Like all of the other projects, it will be finished eventually. Hmmmmm.....Maybe I should work on that for a while.....Nope. I am going out with April this morning to play. We six year olds don't like to be tied down.(No pun intended.) Thrift shops and book stores are much more fun.

I hope to be back later today with a regular mini entry. If not.....

See you tomorrow.

A New Award

Last night Kat of http://minikatslittlethoughts.blogspot.com/ awarded me and Tessie this award. Since then I have been trying to get onto her site to accept it......I imagine that it is this stupid computer that wouldn't let me get there from here.... I finally got to it by going through the Blogger reader. I hope that it's just my computer or there are going to be a lot of disappointed people trying to read Kat's blog this morning. Anyway, thanks for the award Kat.

I am not feeling to spiritual this morning, what with this computer being so messed up. I am not even sure that I will be able to put any new photos in the blog entry today. For some reason my Paintshop Pro has disappeared!!! May I have permission to scream now? Please?

I think that I am going to wait to award this to other blogs. Everything but straight blogging is very difficult right now. Walter is planning on installing the new tower tonight. It will be wonderful to have a computer that doesn't act like it is BONKERS!!!

Can you tell that, as Queen Victoria would say, "We are not amused!"? Sorry to be a grouch. Thanks Kat! I really do appreciate it!

Could This Be a Subtle Hint?

When I started moving around this morning to start working on the rug for the gazebo, I found that the gazebo was missing! I know I am forgetful sometimes, but I distinctly remember putting the gazebo between the basket maker's cottage and Tessie's place a couple of days ago. It was right after I finished it.It wasn't too hard to locate. I almost tripped over it going into the workroom.

I keep the Magnolia kit behind that door. There was the gazebo, Tessie and Spike right next to it. I started to question Tessie.......She explained. "I just wanted to see what the gazebo would look like next to my new house." I said, as calmly as possible...."It's not your new house!"

She replied "Well, not yet. It still has to be built. Oh! I think it needs a basement. Is that possible?" Then she continued daydreaming aloud. "It could sit on a hill and the basement could be inside the hill and the gazebo could be at the foot of the hill and maybe there could be a lily pond for my frogs, eels and my babel fish. There has to be a Weeping Willow and because of the name of the house, some Spiderwort growing here and there. It's good for spells, you know. I also want a rock garden. I am very good at growing rocks!" On and on she went. I tuned out.

I went back and finished the rug for the gazebo. This is what it looked like when I finished. Not too lumpy or out of square. I steamed it once and this is what it looked like. Much better.


I did just a bit more steaming. Then I did the white glue around the edges and cut the excess canvas off. This is as close as I could get to the true colors.

I started back towards the gazebo to put it in place and call the project done.Then I had a brainstorm. I informed Tessie that if she ever wanted me to get to the Magnolia, she had to zap the gazebo back where it belongs. Notice, I did not say that I was going to make it for her. I am as good at loopholes as she is! Well, sometimes I am.

She immediately zapped it back to the spot where it belongs. I put the rug in place and took some photos.

For the time being I am ahead in the game. It probably won't last for long. Oh well......I can dream, can't I?

See you tomorrow.

Choosing Sides.......

I refuse to choose sides! That is the trouble. Both Tessie and Zar want me to work on their particular project. If they don't cut it out, I am going to take a three month vacation from both of them!

I worked on the rug for the gazebo last night and this morning. I have it all done except the border. That is all plain stitches, so it should be done today. That's not fast enough for Zar. He wants me back working on the hidden room in the cottage.

I am finished with the center and the inner border of the rug. It is turning out nice and square. It will only take a little steam to get the lumps and bumps out of it.

No, I don't use a frame. I have been doing this for about 30 years and by now I am so relaxed when I do it that I fall asleep with the needle stuck into the canvas and the TV going full blast.

Here's a close up of the front. You can see the pattern that I worked out as I went. There was no pre-planning.I just picked out the colors that would go with the gazebo and started doodling. This is what came out.

I may put a simple outer border on it to make it a little bigger. Maybe. I will have to try it in place to see how it looks first.

Here's the back. I got brave and took a photo of part of it too. I haven't trimmed off all of the little ends yet. Excuse the mess. Those are ALL Tessie's fault. Mine is the neat part.....The reason that I am showing you this view is the basketweave stitch. That is what keeps it on square better. Anytime that you have a plain area to work in needlepoint, switch to this stitch. It is worked on the diagonal and holds the canvas to square better than continental or tent. If you want to learn how to do it, go here. http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/98-03.php Or run to your nearest library or bookstore and look at the books on needlepoint. It is in almost every instructional book that I have ever picked up.

Now, the other part of the story. Balthazar has been around Tessie too long. He is picking up her traits. Earlier, I cut a piece of wallpaper that I am going to mess with and use for flooring. It looks like the old corrugated rubber flooring that they used to use in workshops for non skid surfaces.

After I did that, Zar pulled up a padded box that I made just for fun. He is using that as a seat, in his words, "Until you make something decent to sit upon in my workroom". He has been sitting there threatening to take over the making of the secret passage leading into the bathroom. I told him "Go to it!".

So far he just sits there, huffing and puffing, swinging the blasted wrench that Katie sent him. He gets up once in a while and peers through the opening as if something is going to happen if he does. I think that his Doberman shares my opinion that nothing is going to get done until I do it.--OH ! A cardinal is in my backyard stealing the squirrel's peanuts! Pretty!!!-- OK. I'm back now. Maybe I can talk Zar into working on the crank for the dumbwaiter. After all, he is the one with the wrench!

I'm going back to the rug now.

See you tomorrow.

Memory Lane......

As you may or may not know, this computer is slowly dieing..... We went and got a new HP this weekend, but Walter hasn't had time to install it yet. Maybe tonight. I am not much help with the installs, but I did go through all of our old floppy discs this morning......It took me THREE hours! Therefore I didn't get much done in the way of minis. Actually I didn't get anything done in the way of minis.

I am cross eyed from looking at photo after photo. Most were not worth saving, but I did run on to some mini photos that I didn't remember keeping.

The big prize that I found was two inventories that I carefully copied from an old book at the U of A library a few years ago. They were both from the late 1500s and English. I was thrilled to find them because they were estate inventories from when the two men passed away. I would like to do Tudor houses that have exactly what the inventories include.

The first man was a weaver that died in 1583. He had £4 1s when he died. He looked to be quite prosperous. They listed everything in his shop and in his home. It was a three page inventory.

The other man died in 1596 and was a joiner(woodworker). He worked out of his home. which appears to be a one room cottage. He had £ 3 19s 5d when he passed away. His was a one page inventory and they even listed "Certain timber and other trash around the house".

The point is, they never missed a thing in these lists. It made me think......How in the world would I even start a list of all of the things in this house???? Nearly impossible and ours is a small house. OK, that's enough about how over self-indulgent we all are now.

I also found a few mini photos that I didn't remember or thought I had lost. Here's a close up of the motorcycle witch that I made for Pat Arnell a few years back. She(the witch) actually made it into one of the mini mags in an article about unusual transportation. She is one of Tessie's cousins and the one that got Tessie into cycling.....

Please note the black widow spider tattooed on the back of her hand. Funny. This bike was actually puce. If I had used a different bike for Pat's witch, I wouldn't have had to paint the one for Tessie!

I found a really good close up of the 1/4" scale quilt shop in the big latte cup.

Here's a hint on quarter inch furniture. Did you know that you can carve on the quarter inch plastic furniture that comes on cards by room. These chairs were really clunky. I took an Exacto to them and narrowed all of the parts down and rounded the corners. They look so much more in scale. You can also cut the furniture apart to make new pieces just like people do with the Chrisenbon kits and the Michael's hutches. It's fun to chop them up and see what you can make.

This is a photo of Buffy and Spike in the Southwestern Room Box.....I absolutely don't remember for what reason, why or when I took this one. There were several. I am now wondering if Tessie escaped from her old glass box and used the old Mavica to take this one. Why would I even think of putting them in this particular room box?

I am just rambling now. I will leave you with one last photo. AfterTessie impolitely told everyone that the party was over at midnight, she sat up and tried working on the rug for the gazebo. Look at the tangles! She really wants that finished because she knows that I still am going to finish the Clockwork Cottage before I go on the the next project. She still thinks that should be her beloved Spiderwort Mansion........How many times now have I told her
"Don't hold your breath, Tessie!"?


I'll see you tomorrow, even if I have to write the entry on the infernal laptop keyboard......