Leftover Spare Parts and Oil Rags!

That's what Tessie says that the bed looks like now. She absolutely hates it, but being a good spokes model, she agreed to stand in the photos. I can't say that the muttering under her breath about people sleeping in rusty beds and using oil rags for comforters helped the atmosphere much.

This is a two against one fight. Zar and I like the cogs and oil rags. Tessie just doesn't like that it isn't a bed for her that is being made.

First of all, I should go back and show you how I attached the headboard. The backing for the Clockworks was a piece of 4 1/2" X4 1/2" Crescent Illustration Board. It can be had in large sheets at any store that carries art supplies. I get it at Michael's. They used to sell scraps of mat board left over from framing. They no longer do their framing on site. They farm it out, so no scraps to be had. The illustration board is about the same weight, just not as much texture on the right side.

After I finished gluing everything together on the front, I put it behind the head of the bed with Aleene's Fast Grab and then took five straight pins and drove them through the illustration board and the ceiling tile body of the bed. Both materials are soft enough to take the straight pins through if you are careful and don't try to push them in too fast. Putting them in a rickrack pattern makes the headboard more stable.

Then I decided that the plain beige linen was too plain. I took two strands of dark red embroidery floss and put a French knot over each of the quilting stitches that I had done in beige sewing thread before.

As you can see, I started out going zig-zag down each row.....Sometimes I got sidetracked with the movie I was watching out of the corner of my eye. Sci-Fi channel is not a good one to watch if you just want to listen to it in the background. Every time a monster(in this case a super-intelligent grizzly bear on a far off planet) jumped out of the bushes, I was forced to stick the needle in wherever it landed. It looks like the bear did the stitching! Oops! And I'm not lying about the grizzly bear! Honest!

It's kind of hard to see, but the sheets that Zar has chosen is a "manly" black and red plaid.

Tessie insisted that I do it with the pattern on the diagonal so that it wouldn't be so square looking. It's hard to see in the photo. If you poke the picture it will come up a little bigger. I will take better photos when the bed is done.

Right now the comforter is a bit stiff looking. That is a good thing. When I glue it to the bed it will be fine and it will be easier to manipulate than a floppy one would be.

I still need to fill the linen shams and make other pillows for the bed. You will get to see the finished bed tomorrow if Tessie doesn't use the sheets for dish towels. Zar is trying his darnedest to keep her away from the sheets. Wish him luck!

See you tomorrow.