"Move Over! I'm Coming Through!"

I was in the living room putting up new curtain rods in the "big people house", as Tessie calls it, when I heard the above, title words..... When you hear Tessie yelling some thing like that and her cottage whooshes past your ear, you know there is going to be trouble.

I was at the top of the step ladder and by the time I got the rod fastened in place several other small houses whizzed by! I went down the ladder as quickly as I could and followed the Basketmaker's Cottage. It was like watching a house shaped helicopter. It spun around back to front and settled gently atop the bookcase in the family room.

That's when I realized that three shops that had been up there, weren't. There was the Buttercup Bookshop, right where it should be. Nestled next to it sat Tessie's cottage, not where it is supposed to be. Beside that was the basket shop, settling nicely on it's foundation. As I watched in amazement, the Spiritus Frumenti , a gentleman's bar, perched on the end of the shelf.

Logic would dictate that whatever had been there was shifted to the chest in the living room where Tessie's Cottage and the basket shop had been before. I went in there and the quilt shop, the teddy bear shop and the miniature shop were sitting, as nice as you please, on the chest.

I guess that my rearranging furniture is catching. I went back and looked in the family room again and asked, "Tessie. Are you quit finished now?" She and Zar were in front of her house. He didn't look at all comfortable. It's a long drop to the floor and he can't fly!

Tessie disappeared for a minute and then she was back. She said, in a snide tone"Yes. I am quit finished now." I went in the bedroom to see what else she had disturbed. A room box that had been in the living room in a corner was now sitting on top of the tall chest. It was positioned so that a small person.... witch.... Tessie could watch TV.

She zapped Zar back to his workspace. Then she motioned for me to come into the bedroom where he couldn't hear.

"There is an explanation for the moves. I wanted my house where I could keep an eye on his doings. Where it was, I couldn't see around the corner. Where it is now, I will be able to see everything that goes on down there!"

I said "But Tessie, that's spying and infringing on his privacy."

She stomped her foot and said" I don't care! He is not going to get away with hypnotizing me and keeping me out of the workroom again! I don't trust him one bit. And besides, it makes shopping at the book store so much easier. Next door is a good place for it."

I bit my tongue and didn't mention the castle just the other side of the bookstore......I caught her eyeing it a few days ago. Sorry Tessie. It's already occupied.

For now, I am going to leave things where they are. I don't feel like getting up on a stepladder to move everything back. I don't have the mad skills to zap things around like she does.

I may just have to move the one room that she put in the bedroom to watch TV though. She is one of those people that has to comment on everything that is happening. And when she's not commenting, she's asking questions. I keep having to shush her. It is most annoying.

Anyone know a good, non witchy moving company? See you tomorrow.

Another Door Opened......

This morning my friend Debi wanted more information about the new workbench. Luckily it still had it's original tag on the bottom. It is from a company by the name of FIGI out of San Diego CA. The copyright on it is 1999. It is in pretty good shape for probably being ten years old. I didn't show you the other two sides yesterday because one has a permanently open drawer and the other had a very boring door......Today I discovered that the boring door opens to a lot more tools. Saws, hammers, and chisels abound! Not so boring after all.

Zar refused to let me put it in the workshop until I put a top on it, so I went to work. It was pretty straightforward. I cut two pieces of foam core that were 1/8" shorter than the top. I glued them to two the inside on opposite walls. Then I cut a top to fit the hole out of 1/8" bass wood. Here you see it as I am ready to glue the top into the hole.

After the glue dried I took a stylus and scribed the lines of the wood pieces to match the ends and did other scratching to match the grain of the wood in the other pieces. I put a bit of spackle in the cracks at the end of the board and then I painted it to match the rest of the top.

Zar is very happy with the new work surface.....I have a feeling that he secretly wants to keep the large work bench set up as a bar. I am going to have to start hiding bottles or he won't get a lick of work done.

Tessie, for some reason, is becoming a tool aficionado. Perhaps she thinks pitching in and helping finish the Clockwork Cottage will bring about the beginning of Spiderwort Manor more quickly.

I will let her keep thinking that. Six hands are better than four, not that Balthazar is all that enthusiastic about helping. I have to twist his arm. He would rather invent than work on his own home. Right now he is working on the Steam computer once again. He says that he can't seem to get the pressure high enough to get it running. I wonder if he has ever stopped to think that my big computer works without steam.....

Anyway, I can now officially put the new workstation in place and he won't have any excuse not to work on the house. I don't think I am going to hold my breath until he starts. It could be hazardous to my health. Back to the grindstone!

See you tomorrow.

Garage Sale Jackpot!

This morning I hit the garage sales on the way home from town. I actually only left the car at two and only one was really worthwhile.

These were my finds. The first was this stool. It was sitting beside another just like it but obviously very old. The lady told me that she had had this copy made of the old one in hopes that she could salvage the other one and have a pair. The other one was not really salvageable. This one is perfect. It needs stain and finish and I will have a beautiful copy. I paid a whole TWO dollars for it!

I got the book on top for a dollar. It is full color and lots of neat ideas for mini rooms and even some real size how to's that have possibilities.

I pitched in another doller for this. I thought it might be too big, but I got it home and made Zar stand next to it for size. He is soooooo excited! Look at all of the tools. I am going to have to fill in the top of the bench, but other than that it is perfect for the mad scientist that builds things. He is planning on making the drill steam powered.....Most of the other tools will only work if he works them.

It was actually a pencil cup for a desk. It sure saves me a lot of work. I won't have to hunt for tools for the workshop. They are all right there. The scale is perfect!

Tessie broke up the party, but couldn't manage to talk Zar out of his drink. We may have to send him to rehab if he doesn't cut it out.

When Tessie saw the vice on the corner of the bench, she got a gleam in her eye and said to Zar, "See, if you put your finger in here, and I turn this handle, we can see if it works....." Zar may be a little tipsy, but he's not all that stupid. He told her, "You can put your own finger in there! I'm not doing it!" Maybe there's hope for him yet.....

We are going out to lunch and a movie. I have to go get ready. You can stay and witness the argument if you want. I am leaving now.

See you tomorrow.

The Day After, The Day After....

It's two days later and the party is still going strong. The only livable room in the Clockwork Cottage is the workroom, but the house is still neater than my real one.....Just kidding.

The crew is still singing old English drinking songs and don't show signs of slowing down.

This morning I decided to travel out to the boonies to the quilt store. I did it for nothing. I was trying to find more fabric for the courses that I'm teaching. Those darned quilters are making quilts with three inch roses all over them. Not many tiny prints like they used to use. I do have fabric for the class. I just wanted to see if there was anything else to offer.Not much, as far as I could see.

When I got back I started working on prototypes once more. I already had the bassinet finished. Tessie is NOT pregnant. Get real! She is just shy of 200 years old. I really was just showing the wall behind her. That is another part of the class. And of course she loves having her photo taken so she posed in the scene. No. I can't show you the rest yet. I still have some changes to make.

Tessie has announced that she is going to be my guinea pig
for the classes. Here you see her trying her hand at wicker. Actually, if she would put her mind to it, she wouldn't be half bad.

As it is, she keeps making bad jokes about being tied up or being behind bars. You know. She grabs the wires and starts yelling "Let me out of here! I didn't do it!" and other silly things like that. Maybe it's not so silly. I wonder what it is that she is supposed to have done.......

She keeps experimenting with "new and exciting ways to tie the thread". Then I have to untangle the "new and exciting ways to tie the thread". I keep telling her there aren't supposed to be any knots in wicker. That's macrame she is thinking of . I have to go take the piece away from her that she's working on or it will never be finished.

I am sending her in to break up the party now. I think that we both need a big shot of good luck in our endeavours.

See you tomorrow.

The Day After.......

The party at the museum was wonderful. We had champagne and toasts to the opening. Then we strolled at leisure, looking at all of the treasures as a harpist played. This is my second time and even with hoards of people, I saw new things that I missed before.

That happened every time I went to the old museum too though. I worked there two days a week for several years and still didn't see everything. And that building was much smaller than the present one.

I know that you are wanting to find out what happened here while I was away. There was a party. It was comparatively tame as mini parties go.

I heard noise coming from three fronts. The main party was in Zar's workroom. Strangely, Zar was the only man present. He said that the basket maker got mad and left. I asked "Why?". Balthzar was gauche enough to tell me that he had all of the girls eating out of the palm of his hand and it made the straw man, as Zar calls him, annoyed.

Zar did look like he was getting a lot of attention and loving every minute of it.

Tessie wasn't there, but I thought it was best not to ask about her at that point. The life of the party wanted to go back to his guests.

I heard Eskiaga's voice. I know he's not a party animal and pretty much stays at home. That made me wonder if he had taken to talking to himself. I looked in and there he was surrounded by cats, dogs, a tiger, and an alligator. He was telling them Apache folk tales.

As they listened attentively, I noticed that Spike and Theo were both present. I don't know where Spike has been hiding for the past few days. Maybe he was just not sure about living with a tiger.

Did I mention that there was a small black cat, that wandered in with the rest, that I had never seen before? Hmmmmmmm....Katie, count your stray cats and let me know if there is a half grown black one missing!

When Eskiaga was finished with the story I asked why all the animals. He told me that he had kindly given them sanctuary while the wildest part of the party was happening. He also told me to look for cold pizza under the table where the Clockwork Cottage sits. He said that there was a delivery earlier of way more pizzas than Zar and the gang could stuff down in one night.

I then asked if he knew where Tessie was. He simply said "Turn on the magnifying lamp by the Clockwork Cottage."

There was Tessie. I thought at first that she was alone, with a cranberry margarita in her hand and depressed. Then she got a wicked grin on her face. I asked what was going on. She replied, "See the camera that I set up behind the secret bookcase? Now I can't forget how to get into the workshop. I recorded the combination on the touch pad that gets him in. I WIN!!!"

I don't think that she has won anything yet. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of another war. Zar better get rid of the party girls change the numbers fast!

See you tomorrow.

100,000 and a Table....

Well....The blog hit 100,000 last night. I wish I knew who was the 100,000 viewer. I would do it like the grocery stores do it with the 1,000,000th customer. They would get a prize. There is no way to tell so I guess I will have to come up with another way. I can see it now. People are going to start commenting that they were the one. I will let you know when I figure out how to do it.

Meantime, right after it hit 100,000 Walter walked in and handed me this! My very own Casey's Minis tee shirt. Then he handed me a second one. Maybe that is so I can be wearing one while the other one is in the laundry......

The photo in the center is not to clear in the picture. It is Tessie holding the beaded needle nosed pliers that she uses to pinch people that annoy her. I have to take them away from her quite regularly, but somehow she always manages to get them back. Under the photo it gives the blog addy and then it says 100,000 and counting.

Now to the table. I finished it this morning. Remember the raw table from yesterday? Today it has aged about 100 years. Be sure to poke the picture.

I used Golden Pecan Minwax stain on it first then to give it depth, I went over it with Early American before the other one dried. That way it sunk in some places more than others. I wiped it as I went to achieve the effect that I wanted.

After that, I took an emery board and and Exacto knife to it and knocked down the edges and corners. Then I went back in with the Early American and re stained places. I put a coat of satin poly on it and rubbed it in with my finger That gave it protection, but no shine.

I used some of the rub in stuff that I found at Michael's several years ago in the scrapbooking department. It no longer has a label and I don't think that they carry it anymore anyway. It is kind of like rub'n'buff, but less oily. It is almost like a combination of powder and cream eye shadow. Anyway, I put that in all of the corners and cracks (dark gray and a bit of bronze) to make it look old and used. The last step was to drill a hole and glue in one of the bars from a bracelet fastener. I coated that with the grease and grime too. It was shiny silver before I got to it.

As soon as I put it in the workshop, Zar set up a bar on it. He says that he is just following the directions in the photo where I found the table. Tessie brought cheese and bread. They are there now. I think that they planned this because they knew I was going to the museum tonight. Everywhere I go I keep hearing whispers about the party tonight and the mini people aren't talking about the one at the museum. They weren't invited. I hate it when they do this kind of thing. I will be cleaning mini party food out of the rug and wiping wine stains out of the curtains.

Remember how the house in "Weird Science" looked the morning after the big party, with the missile coming through the roof? That was my house after the last shindig that those two threw!

There is still no sign of Spike and Theo is following Tessie around like a puppy dog. We are going to have to have a talk about re purposing pets!

See you tomorrow with a party report.

Welcome!

I have been lax in greeting new followers for the past few days. We are up to 199 at the party now!

The new ones are,

minire71 her blog is Appunti di vaiggio

http://appuntidiviaggio-minire71.blogspot.com/

nicolas of Prietenii sportului

http://prieteniisportului.blogspot.com/

PAKY of Paquicheli's Blog http://paquicheli.blogspot.com/

Julie Old Crow of Yummy Miniature Foods from the Crow http://yummyminiaturefoods.blogspot.com/

and last but not least, Doll mum from Doll Mum's Blog http://dollmum.blogspot.com/

Welcome to the party! Everybody go visit their blogs and make them welcome please.

Liar, Liar!

I went over to the museum this morning and set up a bunch of classes, now through March. That took up most of the morning.

I am going to be teaching a class on getting started in miniature making and choosing tools to get started. Then there will be three basket classes on the different ways to make them.

The Wicker Bassinet class that I proposed turned into a vignette with a few other pieces to go with it. That one will wind up being a 6 part class since I opted to teach it once a week for three hours at a time instead of trying to cram it all into one or two sessions.

The last one we planned will be an intermediate wicker chair. That one will be a three part class. It will be more complicated than the bassinet.

I chose to teach in small spurts rather than one long class because I believe that you retain more if you do it for a couple of hours and then go home and think about the things that you did before you start trying to cram more stuff in your head. I feel that if you stuff all of the information in your brain in one session a lot of it falls out and you lose it. I know that works better for me.

Anyway, about the table that I started yesterday. I lied. I didn't get it done today. After the morning at the museum, I came home and waited for the TV repair man and cleaned up the kitchen. It was a complete disaster area after the past few days with Luxie. You should see the sawdust.....No.....Strike that. You shouldn't see the sawdust. Anyway, now that I have the class schedule settled maybe things will get back to normal. I still have to do some planning, but now I know what I am planning for.

I did put the table in place so that Zar could see if it was going to work, size wise. He was pleased.

Tessie showed up. She hopped up and sat on the table. Theo was trailing her. I think that, for the time being, Zar has resigned himself to having Tessie in the secret workshop. After all, there really isn't anything that she can get into right now. It probably won't be long before she is banned again, because he is talking about setting up shop as soon as the windows are installed.

I am still looking for Spike. Funny thing. When I was wandering around calling his name Theo showed up a couple of different times. It makes one wonder........

See you tomorrow and I promise to finish the table. Progress, I must make progress.....

Zar's the Star...

I have been sadly neglecting Zar and the Clockwork Cottage lately, but I ran across a photo on the Steampunk Home blog http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/ that changed that.

I found this workbench that had been changed into a bar. It seemed perfect for Zar's workshop. There were no measurements, so I decided to make them up as I went along. It wound up being 2X4 feet and about 3 feet high in mini.

I made it from scraps of wood that I had around and just guessed at sizes.

Luxie had it cut out in no time.

I put the top and legs together in one corner of the gluing jig and the bottom shelf and sides together in another corner. After they dried, I slipped the shelf in place and then put the bottom runner on the legs.

It is looking pretty good so far. The legs are a bit narrower than the original, but It's pretty close otherwise. Zar put his seal of approval on it.

I still need to rough it up a bit, add stain and hardware. That is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I need to get my house in order and do more of the work on the prototypes.

See you tomorrow with the finished table.

A New Pet for Tessie.....

The feud still continues between Tessie and Zar. She will do anything she can to get his goat.....No pun intended. She seems to have figured out how to zap into being, a baby tiger. I guess she couldn't manage a grown one.

I found her in the computer room playing with him this morning. She has named him Theo, after Vincent Van Gogh's brother. He is really cute, but I fear that this is not good news for Balthazar. He is allergic to cats. I think that Theo is in that category, even tho he's not a house cat.

Unfortunately, Tessie knows about the allergy. She played with him for a while until he got bored with the yo yo. Then when Zar came in she tried to get Theo to go into attack mode. He would have nothing to do with the man carrying the big stick.

Tessie got him to take three steps forward then he ran and hid. He took up residence in Spike's bed.....Hmmm...That reminds me. I haven't seen Spike for a couple of days. I wonder if there is a spell to change a pit bull into a tiger?

While I am here, I want to show you my new toy. You probably already have one of these, but it is new to me. I found it in the scrapbooking department of Target this morning. It is made by Fiscars, the same company that makes all of the great scissors. It is an ergonomically correct craft knife. The barrel is kind of triangular in shape and "fits the hand". I am going to try it out for a few days and then I will let you know how it works. We shall see....

Only one other thing. Right this minute I have counted 99,312 hits on the blog! When it hits 100, 000 I am going to have to come up with a way to celebrate. I never in a million years would have thought that I would make that mark!

See you tomorrow.

What's New?

Last night the nice UPS man brought me a present.....Not exactly, but it felt like Christmas.

I ordered a new Micro Lux scroll saw from Micro Mark on Sunday. My old Dremel(almost 30 years) was just hanging on by the skin of it's teeth and I felt like they were falling out one by one.

Walter has been telling me to order a new one for months now. I did a bit of research and didn't like anything about the new, heavier Dremels with the round table. I wanted one that could still be used with a fence to cut straight lines. I have been drooling over this one for a few years now. I asked around and only had one negative comment on it. They said that it ran too slow. It is a variable speed and the high speed is fast enough for what I want to do. It goes around corners far better than the old Dremel. I do a lot of intricate curves when I do hand carved headboards. I do a lot of straight lines on other furniture, so I need a fence. This little guy does both.

I took him out of the box this morning and put him together. Yup. He came in pieces. Only two plus putting in the saw blade and putting the table clamp, that I ordered separately, on the bottom. It was very easy to do.

I fired him up and cut some wood for the class that I am going to teach. He cuts like butter. I was cutting cherry and he made quick work of it.

Tessie showed up right after I finished cutting the pieces. She insisted on a demo. I kept having to tell her to watch her toes.

Her first question was "Why?" I assumed that she meant why the new saw.

I told her, "Because it will be easier to cut wood for new furniture."

She thought about it for a minute then, as I new it would be, the next question was "What are you going to build for me first?" I didn't answer. I just kept sawing.

She climbed up to the top of the saw and took control of the adjustable clamp that holds the wood in place while cutting. It unscrews with the little black knob that she has a hold of. You can set it for the thickness of the wood that you are using and unlike the old Dremel, you don't have to keep lifting the clamp to get the wood under it. I like that feature. It makes cutting a lot of the same thickness so much faster.

I also like the fact that the on/off switch and the variable speed control are in front. On the old Dremel I had to reach around to the right all the way to the back of the bow to turn it on and off. a couple of times I scraped my fingers on the sanding disk at the side of that saw.....I don't think that part was well thought out.

I quit sawing and came in here to tell you about it. It was very quiet in the kitchen.....I had left Tessie with the saw plugged in. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. I went out to check.

There was Tessie. She was sitting with her back against the saw. She had the Micro Mark catalog in her lap. I heard her say...."If we get one of these the sanding will go faster. We need one of these to hold things together while the glue dries. Yes! Lots of extra saw blade, in case they break."

The last I saw of her and the catalog, she was happily turning back corners of pages to mark things that she thinks will help make new furniture for Spiderwort Manor faster. She had just about every other page bent.

I am a bit concerned....Some of the things that she has marked look suspiciously like mini torture devices to use on Zar. I am NOT buying her the "Heavy Duty Chopper II- Made for Serious Craftsman" Can anyone say Guillotine? And I am not telling her that I have Chopper I hiding in a drawer somewhere!

Anyway, I am a very happy camper today and I am going to leave you now to go play with my new friend Lux.

See you tomorrow.

Don't Triffle with Tessie!

I grabbed the camera and went after Zar and Tessie after you left yesterday. Zar threw Tessie on the handlebars of the Steampunk bike. That part, she seemed to like. She thought that all was forgiven and it was fun......Then......Zar bypassed her cottage, his half finished house, and headed straight to the basket that carried them to the museum.

He unceremoniously dumped her in the lounge that she had insisted on taking to the museum. He said "This is where you belong, Tessie! You are a basket case!" Then he picked up the Mesmerizing Machine, but she was to quick for him. She poofed his racing form into her hand and shielded her eyes. The crystal spun to no avail. It doesn't work unless you can get the subject to stare at it....Come on! You can't seriously believe that Tessie would stare at it, now that she knows what it can do to her memory banks.

She quickly summoned the Black Dragon. He came swooping down into the basket and picked her up.

Poor unfortunate Balthazar was snagged at the same time. Now they are flying madly around the family room. Zar is hanging on for dear life and Tessie is trying to poke his right eye out with her thumb to make him let go.

Please excuse me now. I think that I shall have to go separate the two of them and put each in a different room to cool off. I don't want to have to wrap both of them in bandages like tiny mummies. I already have a mummy in the Archeologist's Office. I don't need two more.

Where did I put that fly swatter?

See you tomorrow.

I Want That.....

And that, and that, and one of those and two of those.......The list went on and on this morning. Tessie was incessant in her "I wants". I knew that the peace and quiet couldn't last 24 hours after the outing to the Mini Time Machine.

I found her having Zar help with getting her from place to place on the net, picking things out. First she went to Pat and Noel Thomas' website to pick out a house. She liked the last one, but I think it's a little out of her price range. If you want to see the house, go to http://www.thomasopenhouse.com/about.html

Next thing I knew she had found John Davenport's book on furniture making. She couldn't find a website with his pieces.....She announced that I could make some of that.....Dream on Tessie, my girl. If you want to look, here's where she found that. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Miniature-Furniture-John-Davenport/dp/0713483105/

The last thing that Zar helped her with was Aquisto Silver Co. http://www.acquistosilver.com/ She zeroed in on his magnificent silver chandelier.

That was all I could stand of her shopping for one day. I was afraid that her next step was to learn how to use my credit card.....Remind me to hide it in a safe place when I go to bed at night.

She was hanging over the top of the computer, gazing at the chandelier and Zar tried to get her down. When he couldn't, I succeeded and told him to deal with her.......He did.......

As they left the room I heard, "Watch the hands, buddy! Put me down!!! This is outrageous!!!" I am now quietly leaving the computer room and dead-bolting the doorto keep Tessie out.

See you tomorrow.

Fee Fi Fo Fum.............

Today was the day!!! You will have to come to Tucson and see the museum for yourself. This is the front entrance of the Mini Time Machine. See that little door beside the front door? That is the fairy entrance. See the front door? The bottom half is the regular people entrance....don't ask what comes in through the whole door. I didn't..... Maybe it was the overlarge tree with three faces in the Fantasy Room..... After all, it has numerous knotholes in it and houses many many mini mice. No....Not Minnie Mouse. I didn't count the number, but there is enough room for at least a hundred or so.

Step inside the front door and look up and to your left and you see the entrance of Caitlin's fairy museum. As you come in you hear the sound of the fairies flying. You know that tinkly sound that they make, and the little door actually moves!

I didn't ask to take a lot of photos. I felt privileged to take the few that I did. It is a rarity for anyone to get permission. Cameras aren't usually allowed.

I did get some of Caitlin, Tessie and later Zar. We spotted Caitlin in different parts of the museum. She flits from place to place and plays hide and seek. She's kind of like
the "Where's Waldo?" of the mini world. We actually spotted her six different times as we were touring the museum. She really gets around!

It is a fantastic place and we were so excited to be the first group to tour. It is hard to see everything. Personally, I am purchasing a membership and will go back again and again. Mind you, I worked at the old museum for several years and never tired of wandering around there whenever I could. The new one is a-maze-ing! We kept getting lost. Everywhere you look there are glorious miniatures, so you don't mind not knowing where you are or where you are going.

After we wandered here and there for a couple of hours, we went into the "Ape Room". No. I'm not joking. That's the name of the room. It is named for one of the characters that lives in the museum. We had refreshments and talked for a while. We never did get around to really doing any projects.

Tessie climbed out of the basket that I carried her in, grabbed the pot of spiderwort that she brought as a housewarming gift for Caitlin and disappeared. She left Zar on his own. Pat and I went searching for her......There's no way I would let Tessie loose in the museum alone. As Debbie said yesterday, her every word would be "Mine! Mine! Mine!" We had to find her fast. If we didn't she would probably demand asylum in the Bishop's house and refuse to go home!

We finally found her on the steps of one of the houses presenting Caitlin with the spiderwort. I don't think that fairies are as crazy about spiderwort as witches are, in general. Caitlin has much better manners than Tessie though. She graciously accepted the gift.

The step that Caitlin is sitting on is the front section of an English house that sits in the next cabinet over. It is set up that way so that you can view the inside of the house and the outside at the same time. That arrangement is wonderful, because that way you don't have to make a choice of what is going to be seen.

Zar finally got there. I managed to get a photo as he headed up the stairs.

They all seemed to be enjoying the visit, so we left them for a bit.

Here you can see more of the front panel and a couple of other room boxes that hang in the same display case.

As I said at the beginning, you will just have to come and see it for yourself. Here's all of the information on how to get there. Http://www.visittucson.org/articles/index.cfm?action=view&articleID=464&menuID=39 Also the website for the museum is up now, but there is not a lot there so far. http://www.theminitimemachine.com/ I imagine that they will be adding to it as they go along.

I am so proud of Tessie. She was very polite. I didn't have to drag her out kicking and screaming. On the way back I heard her whispering to herself in the basket....."There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.". If she wore ruby slippers, or any kind of shoes, I have the feeling that she would have been clicking her heels together three times. I think it's called miniature overload. I am off to dream of wondrous things now.

See you tomorrow.

Welcome!

There are two new followers this morning. They are Marviganonet and Ozce Yagli. I have no further information on either of them. Welcome to the party! Happy to have you here.

Daydreaming Girl.....

This is the only photo that you are getting today. Tessie is in a trance.

The Wednesday Witches mini group has been invited over to the Mini Time Machine tomorrow for our weekly meeting. We have an in, since Pat has been a member of our group for about as long as I have.

After reading yesterday's entry, Pat told Caitlin(the resident fairy at the museum) about Tessie. Caitlin was kind enough to send an e mail and invite Tessie and Zar to come to the mini meeting. Caitlin has her own mini museum inside the big people museum and can be seen flitting around in various areas of the larger museum. The way that Pat describes her, I think that she and Tessie are two of a kind. It seems that she moved in of her own accord whilst the museum was being built, demanded a smaller museum be built for her pleasure and basically took over. Does that sound like anybody else that you know???

Anyway, I do believe that Tessie will be happy with that and won't want to invade the opening. After all, Caitlin is giving her and Zar a private showing.

I have been working on the prototypes again today with Tessie's assistance.....I need to get back to work.....As usual I put it off until the last minute. Now I am running as fast as my little legs will carry me while Tessie sits and daydreams about Wednesday.

Back to work. See you tomorrow.

Making Amends.....

That's what Tessie has been doing ever since I forced her to put Zar back in his own skin.

I was asked to teach at the new Mini Time Machine(Museum). I have been working on a prototype all day. Tessie is hovering around handing me supplies and tools. I appreciate the help, but I fear that she and Zar both have ulterior motives.

They volunteered to pose with this. It is the official invitation to the museum opening. They seem to be under the impression that I am going to take them along. After all, it is a mini museum. I keep trying to tell them that it is for big people to view miniatures. Then she said." That is just absurd. I don't go around viewing big people's things without their permission!" I reminded her that she does it every day, "That's completely different. I have a right to look. I live here." I guess she has a point. I really don't have a good argument for that one.

Anyway, I have to get the prototypes done, so I am cutting this short. No. You don't get to see them yet. Someday soon though.

See you tomorrow.

Before and After......

I just thought you might like to see what happened after the last photo yesterday.

There were a couple of people that thought that Tessie stole a penguin.....Not so. She couldn't find the armadillo spell, so she substituted the penguin one. Then she started feeding the penguin Oreo cookies to keep it quiet. It was chattering a blue streak when I found them.

When I forced her to reverse the spell, this was the result. There was Zar in her arms, complete with Oreo cookies, yelling "Put me down! I hate Oreos!"

Tessie didn't understand the last part. She loves Oreos, so she just assumed it was a fit diet for penguins.

She then dropped Zar on the floor and huffed off, mumbling under her breath,"Ungrateful lout....I give him cookies and he doesn't even say thank you." It's the usual Tessie logic. She wasn't worried about Zar being turned into a penguin. She was just irritated that he didn't like the cookies.

I'll be back later... I have to go sweep up the cookie crumbs and ruffled feathers.

And Still Cleaning........

This morning I pulled all of my fabric and accouterments for needlework from the workroom and other places in the house. I think that I got most of it, but I am sure that I will find more here and there. I am trying to get everything of one kind, in one place......Notice I used the word "trying".

I set up the ironing board where I could see the TV for distraction and went to work.

As soon as I started emptying the first basket, Mookie filled it. He can't resist anything that even slightly resembles a bed. The next think I knew, Tessie was right in there with him. They are two of a kind.

I don't think that Mookie was too happy with the company. She disturbed his cat nap. She whispered something in his ear and that's when I snapped the photo....I would love to know what she said. He was looking straight at me and didn't look happy.

Anyway, the two of them took over the basket so I went on to another one. All in all, I had two baskets and one large drawer full.....Now I have three baskets and one drawer full.....That just doesn't make sense! I did put some frames and other accessories in the drawer from another location.....That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. There is space elsewhere to fill now.

Basically, I didn't really toss anything, I just reorganized what was there.

I did find a piece of #40 silk gauze that I have been looking for. That made the clean out worth while.

In the photo to the left Tessie is counting pins and needles that I took out of different pieces. No wonder I can never seem to find a needle when I need one!

They are all stuffed in my favorite pincushion. It is a chunk of balsa wood wrapped in contact paper. I have had it for about 30 years and it is the most useful in my pincushion collection. That's because the needles can't get lost in it like they can in the stuffed ones.

When my Grandma Daisy passed on, I inherited her crocheted pincushion. It didn't look like it had any needles in it.....I took it apart to clean it and re stuff it. Mind you, it is about four inches square and maybe an inch and a half high....It had over 100 needles inside! I don't think that anyone had ever taken it apart before. It hangs on the wall in my workroom now. I don't put needles in it because I know that it eats needles for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

BTW, the plastic tube in her hand is a 60s needle case. She says that she is keeping that. Big needles are almost as good as wands. To quote her, "I can wave one of these babies around and Zar won't dare bother me!" She could be right. There are a couple of darning needles in there that just barely fit.

Hmmmmmm........Come to think of it, I haven't seen Zar since early yesterday morning....Let's see....It was about the time that Tessie disappeared with one of the wands.

"Tessie!!!! What did you do to Zar?".........Total and complete silence reigns. "Tessie! Answer me!"

"Zar likes Oreos!".

I have to go fix things again. See you tomorrow.