Painting and Repainting.......

Tessie heard rumors that Zar was preparing to try out some colors on his bathroom wall this morning. By the time I got around to checking in, she had already started helping.... She is really good at making "suggestions". Meaning Zar should paint the room one of the trial color patches that she painted in big splotches on the wall. she managed to get some of the color on her right hand and the sleeve of her shirt. Guess who had to help her clean it all off?

It was a real chore because she doesn't care for getting wet. She's afraid that she might melt. I have told her over and over that it's a myth about the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" melting. No amount of explanation can convince her that that is fiction. She stomps her foot and says "I don't believe in fiction! Everything is true!"

Anyway, I shooed her out just in time. Zar came in and went into conniption fits over what she had brushed on the wall. He proceeded to paint over what she had done with Williamsburg Blue. He also put on the first coat of white on the ceiling.

About that time, Tessie reappeared. With hands on hips, she demanded to know why he hadn't painted the walls a nice shade of puce......That resulted in Zar going for her throat. I had to break it up.

I am not sure how Zar is going to put the second coat on, unless I loan him a brush. Tessie loaded her bottle of dark puce, as she calls it on her skateboard, picked up the brush and wisely started backing away towards the door. As she did, she pounded Zar's toe with the handle of the brush. There is a chance that this was not an accident, because she pulled back on the brush, grabbed the neck of the bottle and vanished in a puff of smoke.

I haven't seen her since. I think that she is laying low. She knows that Zar had taken control of a water bottle with a spray nozzle. He is stalking her. Or he would be if he knew where she was. I wonder if he will think to look in the top of the cat tree....... I certainly hope that there is nothing to the melting part of that story!

See you tomorrow.

Come On In!

There are three new followers this morning. We have Evelien of Eefmini's http://effminispunt.nl/ She is making a really neat curved staircase. Lots of minis.

Next is Pink and Green Mama with a blog of the same name http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/

The third is niknik. She is Russian and unfortunately I can't type Russian. But I can put in her blog URL. http://niknikm.blogspot.com/ She has some wonderful sculptures/dolls on her blog.

Welcome to the party!

What Do You Get?

For the witch that wants everything? I think that is what April was asking herself when she went looking at the Seattle Art Museum shop last week. Only she could find something like this in an art museum!

April and Seth took us to lunch at Red Lobster today to celebrate a late Father's day. When we got there April told me to hold out my hand and close my eyes........I am a trusting mother, so I did as I was told. When I opened my eyes I was holding a rubber chicken. Not just any ordinary rubber chicken like bad comedians and jugglers use. No! This one was an actual miniature rubber chicken. April assumed that I would pass it along to Tessie. I think that she reasoned that Tessie, in all probability, didn't yet own one.

Tessie is enchanted with it and every time she looks at it she starts giggling. Then she chants"I have my very own rubber chicken! Mine!" Then she starts cackling like one.....

Meanwhile, over at the Clockwork Cottage, Zar has started sorting the wheels and counting the cogs. He is almost as bad as Tessie. He picks up a wheel and twirls it around, fits it against a few other wheels to see how the cogs line up then chortles when he finds one that meshes with another. He is more or less in a world of his own. To use a terrible pun,(is there any other kind?) I can see the wheels in his head turning while he makes plans for the use of said cogs, wheels, mainsprings and other bits and pieces. I think he is one step closer to his "Time Machine".

Tessie pulled him away with promises of seeing something neat that she just received. It was supposedly much better than his old clock parts.

She lured him over to the table where she was watching me work and made him pose with her to commemorate the event. She wanted everybody to see her gift.

The book that she used as a backdrop makes a great seat. She most assuredly has never read it. It was written in 1881 and tells ladies and gentlemen how they should behave at all times. Since she never does, I am assuming that she likes it because it is just the right height for her to sit on and play with her chicken.

Since the two of them are entertaining each other with the showing of gifts, I think that I will go back to uninterrupted work for as long as I can. I am sure that the peaceful state will not last.

See you tomorrow.

An Award of Friendship

This morning, when I came to the computer, there were several positive comments about Tessie's choice of blog backgrounds. I guess I will let her keep it for a while.

There was also a very nice award from Lena of Miniatyrmama http://miniatyrmama.blogspot.com/ there for me. She sent it on to 8 people. I am going to cheat. Since it is a friendship award, I am sending it to all of you that read my blog. You all deserve it for putting up with Tessie's antics and you even come back for more! That is real friendship!

Have a wonderful day!

Lighten Up! (Extra)

I wanted a new more summery blog background and have been looking at websites for a couple of days now. I caught Tessie looking at new blog backgrounds. I carelessly left the website on that I was looking at earlier. She has picked one out. I am not sure if I am going to keep it. Don't tell her that. Just look at the sides and you can see why she grabbed this one!

There are lots of really neat choices at this site. Hot Bliggity Blog is the site. If you click on the little bar up in the left hand corner, it will take you there. Have fun!

Goodies From Tabitha!

Walter didn't bring in the mail until later in the day yesterday. There was a small cardboard box wrapped in lots of clear packaging tape in the pile. It was from Tabitha Corsica(AKA Susan). http://tabithacorsica.blogspot.com/ She warned me that Zar was going to receive a present....Then she wrote that she felt that Tessie should have something too so that her nose wouldn't be out of joint. Neither Tessie or Zar was around when it came. I got to open it in peace before they got there.

This is what I found in the box. It's a super Steampunk bedside clock for Zar and two puce perfume bottles for Tessie. You can see in the next photo that she also enclosed some extra supplies in puce to make Tessie more bottles.

Susan, you will be happy to hear the the perfume bottles saved the clock for Zar. It also helped that Zar arrived at the same time that she did. He threatened to wring her little puce neck if she touched the clock.....I think that helped a bit too.

Later Zar had to show off the tintype portrait that he found of his grandma. He is going to hang that in the living room in a place of honour, not the bathroom. He just happened to run into me on the way out of the secret workshop. Now I am wondering what else he has hidden around the house.

The last photo of the day is of the Night Blooming Cereus that resides in the corner of our back yard. I know this has absolutely nothing to do with miniatures, but it is really pretty this year and with the cloud cover there were still some blossoms open at 8 in the morning. It is really loaded this year so there will be more.

The wall that you see in the photo is six feet tall, so that gives you some idea how big the cactus really is. It is all one plant and taller than the fig tree that you see next to it. There are two little black spots above the two left side flowers. Those are bees. I think that my backyard is where all the missing honey bees congregate when they disappear from other places.

I am already picking figs off of the tree. They seem to be early this year. I am not complaining. Neither are the bees!

Anyway, that's about all of the news that is fit to print. Oh! Be warned. I am looking for a new background for the blog, so don't be surprised if you come in some morning and I have redecorated.

See you tomorrow.

Welcome!

There are two new people here this morning. We have Liza. There is no information about her. And we have Esperanza of Las Minis De Esperanza http://lasminisdeesperanza.blogspot.com/ She has lots of beautiful minis to look at. Go see.

Welcome to you both. Come on in and join the party!

Shiny Stuff From Kim!

Last week, when I was bemoaning the fact that I was running out of watch parts, Kim from Flowers and Art http://flowerkim.blogspot.com/ e mailed me and made arrangements to send me some watch parts. They arrived yesterday afternoon. They are wonderful.

As soon as I opened the package, Tessie was inside, throwing packing peanuts every which way. I pulled out the tissue that was holding the machine parts. Tessie grabbed a lens with a silver frame and little handle. And immediately started with "Mine! Mine!" For some reason she thinks it is a glass tennis racket....??? Don't ask me why. For the time being, it is hers. It will keep her busy whilst I take apart the watches and the larger travel clock cases.

I have to say thank you to Kim! These were a gold mine of small wheels, and other odd parts. Too bad I'm not doing quarter inch scale right now. There was even a piece that I swear would make a perfect electric guitar in that scale. I will have to save that for later.

After an hour of fighting with the tiny screws I got them mostly apart.

Tessie got bored with the "tennis racket" and opted for one of the watch parts that I left with the mainspring on it and another wheel attached by a smaller spring. She desperately wants something made from this piece for her place. She kept saying, in a low voice,"Don't show this one to Zar.... Please?" That's the second "Please?" that I have ever gotten from her. I am getting soft. When she says that I have to agree not to give the piece to Zar. I know it is something that she really wants. So far she hasn't mentioned Spiderwort Manor and the word please in the same sentence..... My fingers are crossed.

There is only one problem. Give Tessie an inch and she will take a mile. I went back to work and then I noticed that she was surreptitiously stuffing other parts in her apron pocket! Each time she shoved one in she whispered,"Shiny. Shiny." Then I would hear "Not shiny."and hear a thunk as she threw a wheel or knob back in the pile. She didn't even look at the white nylon wheels. Definitely not shiny.

Here you see what those four watches and a travel clock yielded. It is amazing how much stuff they can get into a tiny wrist watch!

I am in awe of everything that is in that pile.

Evidently, so is Tessie. I made her put the things that she had in her pocket back. I let her keep the first piece that she picked out. Now all I have to do is figure out what can be made with a mainspring that has already sprung......I am sure that Tessie already has something in mind....I don't think that I want to know what it is. I guess I should go find Zar and let him see the haul. He's going to love this!

See you tomorrow.

The Easy Way Out.....

Since twining wasn't as easy to explain and do as some of the other basket making techniques, I decided to do the easiest finish that I knew how for the bag. But first let me show you the raised stitch that you see on the side of the bag.

It is actually a wrap that I use when I am doing wicker. It is a single stranded wrap. You can either use one of the weavers that you are doing the twining with and come up short later on or you can add an extra length of thread for just the raised row. That is the method that I prefer because that way I don't run out of one thread before the other when I go back to twining.

It is basically two steps forward and one step back. You simply loop the thread around a spoke and come back to the front. Go to the next spoke and do it again. All the way around. If you are doing it right, you will be going in front of two threads and back between them each time. If you look carefully at the photo, you will see that the thread is looped around one spoke and I am about to go around the next one.

To finish the bag I cut all of the spokes about 1/4" from the edge. It looks like fringe at this point. I put Aileene's Fast grab inside the bag and pressed all of the fringes to the inside.

I had about ten inches of the two weavers left when I finished. I left them attached and stopped at one end of the opening on purpose, so that the handle would be in the right place.

I made cord with the two weavers by twisting and twisting tightly until the thread started to curl back on itself. You can see it in the middle and right at the edge of the purse. Hang on to the end so that it doesn't unwind. Pull it out and find the middle of the twisted piece. Grab that spot and, still hanging on to the end coax it to curl back on itself. It will make a nice cord. This technique comes in handy for making rope like cording for all sorts of trim.

After it was curled back on itself to make the cord, I put some glue on the end that I was holding and stuck that and the piece still attached to the bag to that side of the bag. Then I simply took the other end of the cord and stuck it inside the other end of the opening.

Tessie is very pleased with the outcome. She has decided to go green and use it for a shopping bag for the time being.

She is standing on the base of my brand new Ott Light. Last Wednesday at minis I had the chance to try out Joan's Ott light. I liked it so much that I got the urge to go shopping this morning. I had a 50% coupon for Michael's. You have to love those coupons! That one saved me about $40.00! It says on the tag that it prevents eye strain. I am starting to be a believer. I like it a lot.

I need to go back and test it some more. I still have to finish the cozies for the remotes.

See you tomorrow.

The Fourth Basket.....

I have done three other tutorials for baskets on this blog. Each one is a bit more difficult than the one before. The third one was a twined basket with a wood base. In that one I give basic instructions for twining, so I will just send you to those rather than repeating myself. If you haven't twined before, you probably would be better off trying one of those before you do this one just to get used to the technique.

The entry with the instructions is "Not So Easy Basket" at http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2008/04/not-so-easy-basket.html It will explain what is going on.

Here you see the simple supplies for the bag type basket. I used over dyed floss, all six threads. There is no need to separate them. When you get good at it, you can do it with less threads for a finer basket. The warp of the basket is linen thread that people use to do macrame jewelry. It can be purchased as craft store and bead stores.

If you want to make a stiffer basket you can use cloth covered wire. That will have to be painted or dyed to match the thread that you are using. It only comes in bright white and once in a while green in #32 gage. That's the size that you want to use.I prefer the linen thread because it is softer and easy to work with, especially for a bag. I started out making "Spirit bags" like this to hang around the neck. After that I made them smaller for minis.

You can make the bag any size that you want. I did this one with 20 pieces of linen cut about 6" long. There should be excess in the length.

The first thing that I do is lay it out on a work board and straighten it into one layer. I then tape it to the board with some blue tape for the first couple of rows of twining.

This is how it should look when you start. I doubled the floss and looped the center over the first spoke on the left. The piece of thread at the front goes over the back thread and under the next spoke and ends up in front again. See the other blog entry for further instructions.

Twine to the end of the row. Flip it over and go back to where you started. Now work around the end of the first row and do a row on the opposite side from the last row. That way you will be starting the bottom of the bag. Pull it tight every few stitches and try to keep them even. From here on you keep going round and round. No more back and forth.

After you have about five rows you can start bending the bottom so that the sides will come up. Be sure to pull tight on each end as you go around. This will force the sides of the bag upwards.

When you run out of thread simply flip both ends inside as if you were going to go behind the next stitch, but stay inside. Then simply start a new thread the same as the first. Double it and loop over the next spoke to continue weaving.

By the way, you can use regular floss You will end up with a bag that is all one color or striped. If you start behind with two different colors knotted together in place of the loop, you will have every other stitch one color and the ones between the other color. Experiment. Play. You might just invent something totally new.....

The Inspector General is making sure that everything is correctly done. She is not happy because I didn't finish the one that she found yesterday. I tried to tell her that you would have to learn from the beginning.....She dragged out the magnifying glass and is knit picking for all she's worth. Her main complaint is "If you had to start a new one Why didn't you do the one to match my hair?" I quickly shoved that skein under the box and told her I couldn't find it. I also made sure the puce wasn't in sight.

Next time I will show you a couple of fancy stitches and do a "how to finish" segment. For today I am quiting. I am going cross eyed from this and I am getting a headache. I am not sure if it is from the basket weaving or from Tessie's complaints. Either way, I have to do something else for a while.

See you tomorrow.

Tessie's a Basket Case......

It seems that Zar has banned Tessie from the house for the rest of the day. She has decided that, as second best person to bother, she will follow me around and annoy me.

Today is Wednesday so any minis that I get done will be at the Wednesday Witches' mini meeting. The most pressing subject at the moment is, what I should take to work on. I needed something portable and not too hard on the eyes.

While I was looking for something to do, Tessie spotted the container where I keep my coiled basket supplies. Her eyes lighted up when she found all of the thread. She loves color almost as much as I do.......She went rooting around in the box and, kind of, straightened the skeins so that she could see them all. "I want that one and that one and that one.......and that one way over there."(That was the puce.)

After messing everything up, she asked "OK. Which ones are the new ones? I want something made out of the new stuff." I think that she is in the mindset that newer is better today. I had to sort through the whole mess and find the ones that I just purchased. Thank goodness those still had their labels. I set them out on the table for her and she immediately choose one, saying "This one matches my hair! You could make me a bag to match!"

Off the subject, if any of you like using over-dyed thread and were sad when Needle Necessities went out of business, there is good news. There is another company called Threadworx. http://threadworx.com/ They have hired the lady that used to do NN's over-dying to do theirs now. The dye lots are very similar to the old NN.

Back on track. Tessie found these two twined baskets that I just need to do a bit of finishing on and latched onto them. She has decided that is what I will be working on this afternoon. she says that the square one would make a great work bag to keep her knitting stored. Who knew that she knits? I don't think that she really does. I suspect that she just wants the bag. The other one, she wants a lid for. She says it will be good for snakes........I am not even going to ask ....

Anyway, that's how I(we) figured out what to take to Wednesday Witches today. If I can get the finished baskets away from her, I will show you how to do it and you can look at the finished baskets tomorrow.

See you then.

Come On In!

Welcome to two new followers this morning.

The first is michelle. I don't seem to find a blog for her.

The second is Monikey of Monikey Minis http://monikeyminis.blogspot.com/ She has beautiful mini crochet on her blog among other things. Do go over and look around.

I am happy to have the two of you here. Make yourself at home!

In Hot Water!

I tackled the hot water reservoir for the bath this morning. I still have to do the plumbing. Maybe I will leave that part to Zar. After all, he is the one with the pipe wrench, not to mention more knowledge of Steampunk machinery. I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of pipes and fittings running around the bath after he gets finished. He mentioned an idea that he had for running hot water pipes under the floor too keep his feet warm in the morning. I don't think that he will be able to resist putting a few above the floor just because he likes the looks of them.

He stayed out of the way so that I could get a good photo of the tank.I think it turned out well, considering the pieces that I used. The tank walls are really copper sheeting. The top is where it gets tricky. I needed a perfect oval tank that would fit into the space at the end of the tub.

Yesterday I opened a new package of deodorant. The little plastic piece at the top that is meant to protect the unopened package was the perfect size and shape. I simply colored it with a Krylon gold leaf pen. I also cut two of the same shape from mat board and glued them back to back for the inside bottom. I glued all of this together and trimmed it with fancy gold stick on tape that I purchased at a mini show.

It is perched on a basket turned upside down in the photo just to see how high I want to make the stand for it.

With Beau's help, Zar laid tile on the floor of the bathroom. He put in the toilet just to see how it would look and where he wanted it to be. That isn't the permanent installation.

He also put up the back of the book case that leads to the workroom.....It's a good thing that he did. Again, this is just temporary to see how it is going to fit. The shelves haven't been glued to the other side quite yet. He got it in place just in the nick of time.

Right after he got it where he wanted it Tessie came barreling in to see what was going on. He has managed to erase her memory of the workroom, but she seems to have regained access to the rest of the house.

Unfortunately, Balthazar didn't get the molding installed to hide the seams and has not painted yet. She immediately spotted the seams. Zar had to cover by saying that he accidentally knocked a hole in the wall with his pipe wrench and had to repair the area. She seems to be satisfied with that explanation for the time being. I think he had better get the rest of it done fast so that she will drop her suspicions.

Maybe I had better go help him get it done now.....I think it's time for a tea and cookie break for Tessie. I gave Zar the high sign to drag her down to the kitchen so that I can get started. Gotta run.

See you tomorrow.

Cleaning House.....

Monday is my day for cleaning the real house, so I don't get a lot done in miniature. This morning I was doing my thing and when I got to the big bookcase in the family room, I realized that there was a mini in there that needed sprucing up badly.

I have two Ballhagen display boxes that are where I store a few minis that haven't found a home but need a place to live. One is set up as a kitchen and one as a bedroom or living room most of the time.

When I looked into the bookcase this is what I saw..... This is all that is left in the kitchen box! Xander and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a draped table left from New Year's Eve, a tray of cold cuts on the floor from the same time and various other odds and ends of kitchen ware. It's a lovely display to have in the family room....Not. I used everything else for the Mystery house and the Clockwork Cottage. OK.....Some of it went with Tessie.

I went into the workroom to see what the bedroom box looked like. It was better. At least it had a nice bed in it.

I quickly pulled a few things from around the house and put this together. Granted, it's not a full scene, but I stuck to the rules. Anything that goes into the box is something that doesn't really have an official home elsewhere.

The bed is one that I made for a miniature show display one year. I think that I have shown it before, but I get to show it again because it qualifies as homeless.

Here's a closeup of the headboard and pillows. It is my own design and hand carved walnut. If you poke the picture you can see it better. This bed is a real one with mattress and sheets , not ceiling tile like Zar's. I have kept Tessie away from it so far. Please don't tell her. She will want to test it. It is more fragile than the ones she is used to jumping on. She will also be tempted to pull all of the pink roses off and replace them with puce.....

There are stories with the swan bassinet in the corner. One year I found these swans as displays for some kind of perfume. I made this one and then put the other four swans in a drawer. Someday........ The base of it is good old ceiling tile and the curtains are on a wire frame that comes up from the rear of the base.

Anyway, to the rest of the story. We used to have a mini garage sale every year when I was in the Tucson Miniature Society. We would all bring goodies to sell. One of the first years that I participated Pat Arnell brought various items and in the mix there were some antique German porcelain babies. I stood glued to that spot of the table until the sale started as we couldn't pick out items before hand. I have never been much of a baby doll person, but the ones that Pat put on the table fascinated me. One was a pouty little girl. The other two that you see in the photo were cast together in one mold. It was love at first site. As soon as the sale started I grabbed those two pieces. They have been a couple of my favorite pieces since. I know, she had some other things at the sale, but the only two I remember are those. The twins are intertwined and motionless, but each has an outside arm wired so that it will move. I built the swan bed for them and they have been there since. The mother that I added later was a kit from a show. She takes very good care of them, so I think that she deserves the fancy bed.

I will tell you a secret. This is pointless. It's just something to keep you busy until I finish the drudgery of household chores. At least now I have something more pleasant to look at in place of the empty kitchen. That is going into the workroom for the time being.....I guess I will have to start replenishing that now. I have another chrysenbon woodstove that needs building. It's a vicious circle!

See you tomorrow with actual minis.

George Tagged Me.......

George the tall, miniguy http://tallminiguy.blogspot.com/ (He leaves out the tall part in his blog title) has tagged me. Personally, I like the concept of a tall miniguy. I think that he should have left that in.

I think that I was tagged with this same one before. The last time it was "Name six things" and then "Give it to six people". They just switched it around. When this happens I usually pass it on to Tessie to answer. This time it's Zar's turn.

First the six people with blogs That he finds interesting. Have at it Zar.

These are in no particular order. Of course, being a man, he would choose George if George hadn't choosen him first.

#1. Debbie of Tiny Treasures. http://debbiestinytreasures.blogspot.com/ What can I say? He likes all of those little horses and wishes he could get into Diagon Alley....

#2. Mad Uncle Cliff at Antipodean Steampunk Adventures. http://austeampunk.blogspot.com/ Mad Uncle Cliff is a big guy. He lives in Australia, thus the Antipodean. He does all kinds of real Steampunk experiments.

#3. Ara of the Addams Family Mansion. http://afminimansion.blogspot.com/ Hey! Ara's latest is shell casings for cups! He likes those. He thinks that he might have a lot in common with the people that live there......

#4.Katie of Katie's Clay Corner. http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/ How could you not like someone that feeds poor lonely little stray opossums? He also likes her surf shop. He wants to try that if he ever gets near an ocean.

#5. Kat of Little Thoughts From an Average Mind. http://minikatslittlethoughts.blogspot.com/
He thought it endearing that Kat would plant Spiderworts just for Tessie, even if she is an annoying pest.(Tessie, not Kat) He also likes following the rendezvous that she talks about.

#6.Rachel of Miniatures By Rachel. http://miniaturesbyrachel.blogspot.com/ This one is because all of the food makes him hungry. It looks good enough to eat!

OK. Now for six things that he likes. These also aren't in order of importance.
#1. Beau, my dog.
#2. The Clockwork Cottage if it ever gets done....
#3. My new bed. I slept well last night.
#4. The time machine that I am planning so that I can escape from Tessie when she is driving me bonkers.
#5. The secret room that I have, once again, erased from Tessie's mind.
#6. OK. Under duress, I will put Tessie on the list. She is fun, even though she is mostly annoying. If she doesn't stop using my bed for a trampoline, I am going to erase that room too!

I am going back to the secret room now. Send me up some lunch around eleven. No. You can't come in. I am working on something......Go away!

It seems that when he's done, he's done. I'll be back later. I have to go do minis for a while now.

Don't Jump On My BED!!!!!

I finished the bed this morning. There is a tutorial elsewhere on the blog.....Would you believe that I actually have that one labeled "bed tutorial"? I do! Anyway, I won't go over all of the bed making again. I did take one photo of how the pillows are done when people don't want to sew. You simply make two of the same shape with card stock or index card and padding under the fabric and glue them back to back. I did the linen pillows by sewing, but the round pillow and the plaid ones are the glued kind. What's nice about the glued kind is you can make any shape pillow that you want as long as you can cut two of the same shape.

As soon as I finished the bed I put it in the Clockwork cottage to see how it fit. I think it is pretty much near perfect for the space. I am amazed that there is only one place that you can put a bed in that bedroom. One wall is cut up with eaves and bays and the other one has a fireplace, stairs and a weird opening to the staircase. I am thinking seriously of closing that. It doesn't make sense and besides Zar needs more wall space for an armoire or chest of drawers for his clothes.

Tessie had to be the first to "test" the bed. That's where today's title came from. I could hear Zar yelling from the workroom, where I went to put some of the bed stuff away.

Tessie says that is the only sane way to see if a bed is going to last. "If you can't jump on it, what good is it anyway?" She was trying to get Beau up there with her, but he is too well trained for that.

I finally got her off of the bed by telling Zar to take her to the kitchen and make some cappuccino. I know. That's asking for a hyper-Tessie. By the time that they finish the cappuccino I will be long gone. Balthazar can handle her. At least I am hoping that he can.

Here's the finished bed. It isn't really very Victorian, but in the Steampunk world you have lots of leeway on what works and what doesn't. Generally anything with cogs, pipes, or steam will be OK. After all, it is science fiction. That's the key word.

Oh! While I am thinking about it, I haven't seen it yet, but I hear that my friend Ronnie Godfrey managed to get me and Tessie into the latest issue of Dollhouse World over in England! Ronnie is on vacation right now, so I am not sure if she even knows about it. I guess it is a letter about Tessie and the blog on the editorial page. If you get the magazine, go look at page 11 and tell me what it says. Ronnie writes wonderful do it yourself for that magazine and so does her sister Beryl.

Ronnie and I have been in an online mini group together for over ten years now. I got to spend a couple of days with her the last time I was in England. It was like meeting a long lost sister. We had great fun. Beryl joined our group only a couple of years ago, so I didn't get to meet her at the time. Anyway, I am just rambling on now. I will quit.

See you tomorrow.

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.

Welcome!

I hope that I don't miss anyone this morning! There are a whole bunch of new people here now.

We have Jeronimo of Mis Mini Vestidos http://minivestidos.blotspot.com/

Ma del Carmen of El Rincon Del Mary http://elrinconminidemary.blogspot.com/

Vane of Peketienda at http://peketienda.blogspot.com/

Sandra Masramon. I didn't find any inforamtion on her.

Amaya at Las Casitas deAmaya http://lascasitasdeamaya.blogspot.com/

Debby at Mystic Sherezade http://mysticsherezade.blogspot.com/

Ambarnard1888 I have no info on this one either.

Welcome to you all! Come on in and sit a spell!

Please go visit their websites. Lots to see on all of them.

The Strangest Headboard Alive.......

It is alive!!!! I finished the pleat part. Last night I glued down the top of them, getting ready for the mattress. I am very pleased with my idea for the box pleats. It worked out rather well. I will loosen some of them up when I get to the rest of the dressing.

I had to go over and feed April and Seth's cats this morning, so I made the most of it. I stopped at Lowe's (home center) on the way home. I found a treasure trove of what kind of looks like cog wheels and other small washers. You can see one by the foot of the bed. I am pretty much out of watch parts now and am having to improvise. They aren't quite as good as the others, but they will work for a few things that I have in mind.

Here's a photo of what I found. I know that some people use these washers for mini stove burners. With what I got, I will never run out. They were dirt cheap and came in plastic bags with a bunch in each one.

Isn't it strange what different things amuse us. I am perfectly happy wandering around in a hardware store/home center for hours. I bought the washers and then found a couple of plants to buy. If one of them works out, I will have my morning coffee right off of the tree......It's an Arabica Coffee plant. Hey! I can kill that just as easy as anything else. It's worth a try. The other one is an aralia. Those I can keep alive longer.

Now about the headboard. When last you saw it, it was in pieces and all shiny and new looking. It rusted overnight. My excuse is that it is raining this morning and all of the dampness got to it.

I still need to do some more to it, but I thought you would like to see it so far. Katie's cogs are working out pretty well. I had to cut a couple more out of cardboard. The two in the back are the hand cut ones.

I took black and copper paint and just mixed them on the brush to get the rust. Looking at the photo, I can see some places that I need to do more pouncing. That's how I got the textured look. I went straight up and down with a dry brush. The silver one on the right needs more. I am not sure I like the shiny copper wire coils and the brass washers. I think that they need to be toned down a bit more.

Tessie announced that she is the official spokes model for the blog now......She seems to think that gives her the right to say anything she wants. She's the one that came up with the title for today's blog......The first thing she did was try to spin the wheels. She was not at all happy when they didn't move. She thinks they should be like Wheel of Fortune and she should get the prize when it lands on her number. She mentioned that there should be a certain Manor House on one of the sections. Not gonna happen, Tessie. Personally, I think that she has been passing a petition around for people to sign if they want her to have the mansion. It seems like there are a lot of people asking about it in her behalf......

I think that I will sit in the rain and rust for the rest of the day now. Tessie won't follow me out to the back patio. Somewhere she got the idea that if she gets wet she will melt......

I'm free at last!

See you tomorrow.

Pleat After Pleat.....

I finished pleating the skirt of the bed. I worked out this system to make box pleats. I thought it would be faster than using pins or a regular pleater. It was somewhat. I don't think that there is any way to speed pleat. If you want to try it, this is how I went about it.

I measured from the floor to the top of the bed blocks. With the teak beads under it, it was 1 7/8" high. Then I proceeded to cut lots of little pieces of index card 1/2" X 1 7/8". Then, keeping it as straight as I could with the pattern on the fabric, I cut a strip about 3' wide all across the width of the 45" material. With silk that is 36" you need all of the width to do a standard bed, so I figured to save time, I would just do the whole width in pleats and then cut off what I didn't need. I did have some left over. Not a lot though.

Next I laid out the fabric face down. If I didn't have any experience I would have marked with a pencil all across 1/8" from the edge for the hem. I had to cheat on the first photo. I accidentally deleted it from the camera and the computer both. I had to take a photo of how the layout goes after I was done. Here you see the fabric with a ruler laid on top. Since I had half inch strips, I decided to put them a half inch apart. I simply put a light coating of white glue on the back of each strip and laid it 1/8" from the bottom edge. That part becomes the hem in the next step.

Glue up the hem all along the bottom. Then one at a time, run glue down the sides of two of the strips and push them together. The fabric will push up in between them. Then you can press them down on both sides to form a box pleat.

Since my bed is 4 1/2" wide I knew that the half inch pleats would fall right without any gaps. When I finished the pleating and let it dry a bit I started in the center of the pleats and stood that up in the center of the foot of the bed. It fit, so I put fast grab on the bed itself and put the skirt against it and pinned it in place. Then I proceeded to do each of the sides and wrapped about an inch around the top end and glued and pinned that in place.

At this point, the top end of the skirt should be standing straight up all around. Let it dry thoroughly before trying to miter the corners of the excess and gluing them down to the top. The next step will be the mattress. That will be tomorrow.

As I was finishing this part and getting ready to show you a photo. I heard mumbling on the other side of the bed. Tessie popped her head up over the edge and I knew she was up to no good. She said sweetly "May I pose with the pleats?". I said she could. What could it hurt?

Then I saw what she was up to. She had her pocket full of purple headed pins. She was quietly replacing all of the pins that I had put in the skirt with "puce" ones.

She hopped up in the bed edge and I thought she was pointing to the piece that I had left over...... I think that, in reality, she is pointing proudly to the puce pin that she just pushed into the side of the bed. Please note the white one laying on the board to your right. She is not terribly careful of where she discards the "icky white and yellow" pins. I noticed that they are going to have to be picked up after she finishes.....Her last suggestion was that I buy all new pins, pick out the pretty puce ones and throw out the rest.

I don't think that is going to happen.....Only about five puce pins to the package. By the time I finished buying pins and picking out the puce, I would probably have spent enough on pins to buy her a mansion! When I told her that, she started wandering around the board, sadly picking up the other pins.....Then she brightened up considerably, saying "Where's the puce paint left over from my bedroom? YOU could paint them!" She doesn't know how close she is to going back into the glass box!

See you tomorrow.