And Now For Something Completely Different....

Well, not completely....Remember that checkerboard floor that was making me dizzy? I finally won. It is now going to be a walnut floor and all one color. I still have to glue it down and put a finish on it. It took a lot of talking to get Tessie to agree.....

Foolish person that I am, I compromised with her by telling her that she could "help" pick out the bathroom floor instead....Oops....

This is what she is now trying to get me to install in the bathroom. And I quote, "It has to coordinate with the workroom. No clashing please."

Well, it does coordinate and it doesn't clash with the workroom. Loopholes. I need to find some loopholes in her argument....

Meanwhile, Walter and I went to pick up his new automobile this morning. I have had a Chevrolet HHR since 2006. I finally talked him into one. We are now a two HHR family. I had to drive one of them home. Mine, naturally. It automatically turns into the Miniature Memories parking lot whenever it is on Grant Road and usually refuses to move for at least 45 minutes. Mind you, I'm not complaining.

I got a bribe for Tessie. Maybe she will soften up with this additional temptation. She fell in love as soon as she saw him and named him Monty....What else would you name a baby python??? She already has him wrapped around her little finger, as well as both of her arms....

Here's the rest of the stash that I bought. A lot of it is little bags of lace and such from an estate sale in the shop.

I will unveil it as I go through it. You will just have to be happy with Monty for today. Tomorrow I will dig deeper.....

See you then.

Getting a Bath......

Walter went out on the front porch this morning and lo and behold, there was a box from HBS behind the post. We don't know when it arrived. Probably yesterday when we were both gone.

Tessie took one look at it and said, "This is my bathroom? Yuck!!"

I had to explain that I had plans for the pieces. "They won't look like that when I am finished, Tessie. Honest!"

I love the Chrysenbon as a jumping off point. They can be fancied up in all kinds of ways. Just wait and see.

Meanwhile, back in the family room, my junk for flowers was still sitting out, waiting to be used.

This one is a fast and easy plant if you have one of the tiny flower punches. Grab a pot, bend a wire. Glue it in the pot and start covering the top half with the tiny flowers that have been cupped. I just smear glue on it and start picking up the flowers with tweezers and filling the top up as much as possible.

Then cut about five long blade shaped green leaves. Curl them with your scissors. Stick them around the stem with white glue. Sprinkle a bit of dirt to cover the glue.and you are done.... Hyacinth in a jiffy. You can make them in whatever color you want. I just happened to have purple.

The other two flowers in the photo are another very old, very faded Hyacinth and a generic daisy type flower that I whipped up with one of the flower punches. Three layers were pierced in the center and strung on a piece of wire. The top end was painted brown and leaves stuck on.

More instant flowers. All you need is the right punches.

See you tomorrow.

I Promised You a Rose Garden....

Remember the tissue paper streamer that Tessie dragged back from Vegas? She insisted that it would make lots of roses. I made 12 in the last hour. Not even a dent was made in the streamer......Rose garden anyone?
I haven't seen this particular method of rose making posted anywhere yet, but it is quick and easy in real life with crepe paper, so it should be semi-easy in mini.

I first learned to do this in sixth grade.....Long, long ago. The school that I went to had a "Rose Prom" for the eighth graders every year, just before graduation. It was up to the sixth, seventh and eighth graders to make thousands of roses from crepe paper to decorate the ugly gym. I am not kidding about the number. It was tradition.

Anyway, there were two ways to make them. The first was the traditional, single petal method. The second was this. By the time we had made so many, it got really tiresome and we just wanted to get them finished. One of the teachers came up with this method. It is like the gigantic Mexican paper flowers are done and much faster than the other method. The petals are done in one long strip.

For the mini version, I used my scalloped pinking shears. You could use any scalloped edge scrap booking scissors as well. I cut one edge of the tissue paper in a straight line with the pinking shears and then cut a straight side about a quarter inch away. I cut the scallops in groups of ten to a strip.

Then I put glue on the bottom half of three of the petals and folded that part back on itself over a piece of wire. Next I rolled the wire back on the glued part until I had what you see here.

The rest of the scallops get glue across the bottom and then you kind of scrunch that up as you wrap it around the wire.

It should look something like this when you run out of scallops. After it is dry, you can fluff it up and make the petal edges curve out naturally.

Next, I used a little sunburst punch for the part at the base of the rose. I cupped it and cut out about 1/4 of the piece and then twirled the 3/4 part around the base.

I punched out some leaves and cupped them. Then I stuck two to each stem on opposite sides. You can do more if you want to make it into a bush. I only used a few because Tessie wants them for a bouquet for her townhouse.

If I were doing bushes, I would use a lot more.

This method gets the job done in a flash and they look pretty good when finished. I hope you will have a go at it.

I may just have to make a few more at the Wednesday Witches mini meeting today. Got to go get ready now.

See you tomorrow.

Preventative Measures....

We're home!!! I confiscated the laptop from Tessie. It wasn't without a great deal of difficulty. She opted to ride home with us on the plane. I talked her into hiding in my purse so we wouldn't have to buy an extra ticket....Can we say "Indignant!"? Yup. She didn't like that one little bit.

A couple of times she poked her nose out, but it was a bumpy ride all the way home, so I don't think she minded as much as she let on. She stayed in her own cozy place along with the new sock yarn that I purchased from a neat knit shop called Wooly Wonders in Vegas.

Here's the stash. She used the top of the sock that I started yesterday to hide in.

That and the orange/brown stuff is nylon yarn. I have never tried that before. I usually use wool or wool blends. I really like knitting with it so far. It is very soft and smooth.The yellow and pink are both hand painted wool. I am anxious to start those, but the skeins will have to be wound into balls before I can.

I also treated myself to a new set of #2 Hiya Hiya bamboo needles. Another first. I usually use Clover bamboo or some other odd ones that I have.

I almost lost one on the plane. Just as we were taking off, the working needle slipped out of my hand and between the seat and wall of the plane. I thought that it was a goner. When the pilot tipped the nose down to land in Tucson, he did it just right so that the needle slipped forward right by my foot. That's what I call excellent flying!

Luckily the needles were a set of 5 and I only needed 4 for the sock that I was working on, so I still managed to get to part of the heel before we arrived home. Did I mention that I love the new needles? They are fast!
As soon as we got in the house, Tessie headed for the rooftop for a much needed rest. She sat with Zar and chatted. I think that she was doing one of those "Look what I got to do and you didn't..." things. Trying to make him jealous for not getting to see the wonders of Las Vegas. It worked. Now he wants a tattoo.....

I also heard her imitating Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...."There's no place like home. There's no place like home......"

About the "Preventative Measures".....She then proceeded to enlist Mookie's help to insure that we stay here for a while....Witness...
Suitcase as bed...

Widget couldn't care less if we leave, as long as there is food and water....Mookie, on the other hand, is right there with Tessie when it comes to having people around to wait on him and entertain him. They are a pair.

I have to finish unpacking and trying to get a couple of creatures out of the suitcase, so that we can put it away until they forget what it's for and we can use it again.... Back to the grindstone.

See you tomorrow.

Eruption!!!

OK, no falling out the window and no tattoos.....No fun at all.... well, to be fair, Love was fun! They won't let you take photos, so I had to find one on the net. This is the finale. It is hard to describe the show. It is theatre in the round and there are so many things going on at once. There are trapeze artists, roller blades, dancers, tumblers, and others. There is never a dull moment!

At the end, they throw streamers and lots of flower petals, as you can see. I managed to get Walter to grab me one of the streamers. They are red tissue paper. When I get home, we are going to make LOTS of mini roses.

See my treasure?

After the show, Walter went out to play and Casey and I stayed in the room with sore feet.

I made Casey stand by the window for hours waiting for a good photo op of the volcano....This is the best that she could do from 21 stories above.

The thing went off about every fifteen minutes or so. The clock in the room was wrong, so we missed it a couple of times.

The thing is humongous! All of those pin dots of light that you see around it are car headlights. People drive up and down Las Vegas Blvd. just to see this and the other things in front of the hotels. There is a spectacular water fountain kind of display in front of one. There is a fully loaded pirate ship shooting off cannons in front of Treasure Island. By New York New York, there is a huge roller coaster that is way up in the air that goes around the hotel. On and on they go. Every major hotel has something to attract.

Personally, I was just happy to stay inside and not fall out of the window. I guess I won't be coming home with a tattoo. The Tattoo King was a chicken. He claimed that he didn't have a needle that was small enough.....I think that was just an excuse and I think that Casey put him up to it! I know, for a fact, that Casey tattooed a spider on the back of my sister's hand a few years back. She's the one that has a black leather jacket and rides the Harley. Unfair! So Unfair.

See you tomorrow. There's no place like home......

They Finally Arrived.....

Casey finally found me in the lobby of the Mirage with my nose pressed against the giant aquarium. It is huge and amazing. I will try to get photos tomorrow morning when there aren't so many people around. We are talking about an aquarium that is about 50 feet long and 15 or 20 feet high! Lots and lots of fish....It made me hungry....I don't think that they serve any of these in the restaurants around here though....I can't imagine chomping on a Sapphire blue fish. It would just be mean.
This is where we are going tonight. Yup. "LOVE" the Beatles,Cirque du Soleil show. Nobody told me that there would be roller blading on ramps. I would have brought my skates! It looks like fun.

The big people have seen it before. This will be my first time. They have been holding out on me.

Before they arrived, I had a look around and found that the hotel has it's own tattoo shop /bar.... Do you think that they think that if you drink enough, you will be an easy target for the needle? This guy is Mario Barth, the tattooist. Is that a word?

I am very jealous of all of the lovely colors on this chick's arm, but I'm not going to have even a bug beer whilst here. Who knows what I would end up with? Probably spiders and snakes to match my new apron.....

I talked the front desk into a high room so that I could see what was going on, on the strip. We are on the 21st floor, directly above the volcano out front....This could get scary. The windows don't
open wide enough for big people to get out, but I am going to have to be careful. They do open wide enough for me.....I am going to make sure that they are locked at all times!

I will try to get photos of the volcano in action tonight after dark.

I will NOT get a tattoo....I will NOT get a tattoo. I will NOT get a tattoo!!!

I have to say that the keys on the laptop are much easier to jump up and down on than on the desktop one at home. I am going to have to see if Casey will leave it open at home so that I can use it once in a while. Probably not......

Gotta go. Big people coming back now. See you tomorrow.

Ready for Take Off.......

This is Tessie, your roving reporter. Casey and Walter are taking the long way to Las Vegas. I am leaving now by dragon. I will meet them there. Jets are way too slow.

It took a lot of finagling, trying to get them to let me go. They didn't really agree, so I am going to do it my way. All I need are a few suitcases full of potions and my largest crystal ball.

I saw Casey pack the laptop, so I will be able to keep in touch. I heard Walter say that the hotel has wi fi or wireless or something.....I think that means that.....

I will see you tomorrow, all the way from sunny Las Vegas. Gotta run!

The Case of the Disappearing Hallway......

Tessie got her way..... How she is ever going to concentrate on anything she does in the workroom is beyond me. I still haven't done the ceiling, but the floor and the moldings are finished. She is more generous than Zar. She is happy to let him into hers. No secrets here..... Well....Maybe a couple. She isn't saying.

By the way, the floor is also fabric. I simply wrapped it around a piece of illustration board, cut to size. It is glued all over the top and the edges wrapped around to the back for neatness.

It makes me dizzy to look at that room now. I am thinking that I may just border the ceiling with bubbles and leave the center of it white. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I finished the upper hallway. Walnut floors, Midnight Blue with Light Ivory trim. I made a Roman shade to match the border in the workroom.

This is the room that is, for all intents and purposes, going to disappear. It will be seen from the outside and through the bathroom door. Other than that, no more. I am going to have to waste a light in there if I want the work to show at all.

I put the wall temporarily in place to illustrate. The door where Tessie is standing is the only view of the hallway. It doesn't really bother me that it can't be seen. It's boring.

Tessie has plans to put a few things in there as a surprise for people that get too nosy and peek through the window. She says, "If they are nosy enough to look, they deserve what they get....."

I didn't ask what she meant by that statement. I have heard her talk about a sightlessness spell. If you look at something that you shouldn't, you stop seeing anything at all for 3 minutes.

After I finish the hall and close it off, I am not ever, never, going to peek in the window again....You can. If you want to take the chance......Think about it...

See you tomorrow.

Psychedelic Workroom Ceiling.....

Yesterday at the mini meeting I did the boring stuff. I painted doors and molding light ivory....There is a bunch of molding in this house. The meeting was fun. The painting, not so much. I probably will have to paint more baseboard still.

Yesterday morning Tessie came in with some of her favorite material and announced, "This is going to be the ceiling in my workroom and we are going to run it down the side of the walls part way, so that I don't have to lie on the floor to look up at it."

Good thinking on Tessie's part. Two of the walls in the work room are slanted in about a fifteen degree angle. I really wasn't looking forward to cutting crown molding for that.

I got to work and measured and trimmed strips of the fabric to fit around the top of the room. Then on one edge, I trimmed it around the contours of the circles.

When I finished that, I painted the backside of the contoured edge with white glue, let it dry and trimmed again.

I had already painted the walls Midnight Blue to match the hallway, so I could just coat the back of the fabric with watered down white glue and lay it in place.

I did that part before I left for the witch's mini meeting. This morning, with a small brush, I edged the trim with gold. You would think that I had learned by now. Never leave Tessie alone in a room with an open bottle of gold paint......And a wand(AKA toothpick). This is what happens.

She decided that it needed a little something extra. She wouldn't admit that she dipped the wand in the paint. She kept insisting, "I simply waved the wand and the dots appeared. Magic....Honest."

As you can see, I haven't done the actual ceiling yet. I am going to make that a false ceiling so that I can add a light. Tessie insists that it needs a chandelier....I am wondering how she is going to get any potions made in a workroom that is so distracting. I may just sneak in later and paint over the "vine like" dots with blue...The alternative is lots of shelves in front of them. We shall see what happens.

Back to work. Ceiling and floor come next.

See you tomorrow.

It Doesn't Hang Right.....

Yesterday afternoon, my delivery from HBS came. As usual, the Fed X guy pushed the doorbell and ran. Someday I would like to thank him for doing his job well. He always hides packages behind the porch pillar so that it can't be seen from the street. Good man.

This morning, Tessie started sorting and assessing what we could do with the new stuff. Between the lumber from HBS and what I bought at the mini store yesterday, I think that we have plenty to finish the interior of the house.

I also ordered doors for the interior. I could build them myself, but I don't think that they will be noticed in this house anyway. They are all perpendicular to the front and back of the house, with the exception of the bathroom.


I did find that the doors opened the wrong way for where they were to go. I wanted them to open towards the front of the house, so that they wouldn't block the view into the room when open.

I imagine that a lot of you know how to change the swing of the door from one side to the other, but if you don't, here's how.

Houseworks doors are on a simple pin hinge. All you need to do is pull the bottom pin out and remove the door.

Measure the location of the pin holes from the side and edge of the frame. Then go to the opposite side of the frame and drill a hole at the top and bottom at the same distance.

Here you see the hole where the door used to be hung and Tessie is pointing at the new hole with the door in place and the pin pushed up through the bottom.....

With that one little adjustment, that took all of five minutes, the door now swings in the proper direction.

I have two more to do.

I have no more excuses for not working on the interior, so I guess I should get to work.

See you tomorrow.

Healing the Black and Blue.....

I finally figured out why I never liked the ribbon chair....Black and blue just don't do it for me. I decided to give painting it a go. You saw the "before" yesterday. Blah.....

Tessie took one look at the pattern and said, "Zebra". I figured it couldn't hurt. Anything would be better than the original. After several hours of painting, here it is. At least we will be able to see it now. It's no longer dull.

I simply got out my light ivory and painted all of the blue parts white, but it did take a very small brush and lots of patience.

With a bright colored pillow in it, I think it will be a show stopper, however, Tessie keeps pointing to the seam in the center of the seat and mumbling something that sounds like, "Zebra's butt...." Then she starts giggling hysterically.... We may be painting it again.....

I had to make a run over to "Miniature Memories" this morning for some wood that I ordered a couple of weeks ago. Some of it was back ordered....I did get a few pieces of something else that I think will work for what I have in mind.

On the way back, I stopped at one of the thrift shops and look what I found for one dollar and fifty cents! It is a silk mesh embroidery kit for a pin/necklace. There is enough #40 silk mesh for about four pins. There is also an ornate frame, silk thread, a chain to make it into a necklace and patterns.

Someone had started one of the roses. Other than that, the kit was like new. I imagine it was way more than $1.50 when new.

Tessie volunteered to pose with the frame.....Now I can't get it back. She grabbed my favorite pliers and has been struggling with the pin back, trying to remove it.

I don't think that she will be successful, but if she is, more power to her. I probably would never wear it as a pin and if she really wants to hang it somewhere in the townhouse, she can. Besides, it will probably keep her entertained for hours just trying to get it off....I just heard her yelling at Zar to come help her....Her and Zar with a large pair of pliers? Not a good idea. The phrase "More harm than good" comes to mind....I had better go see what's happening.

See you tomorrow.

"I've Got One of Those!!!"

As usual, when I let Tessie have her head, she finds things that I didn't even know were missing.
Yesterday, she found a "Take a Seat" chair that I had pretty much forgotten about. I don't normally do modern, so it was stashed.

When I went back into the room to finish cleaning, she was hugging this chair. She said, "This has to be 60s! It is groovy!" She is beginning to speak the language now. I think I am in deep trouble.

This is what she found. It is a Ribbon Chair that was designed by Pierre Paulin in 1966.

I was curious about the history, so I went searching. Artifort in the Netherlands, that made it, is still making them over 50 years later. That's pretty remarkable. They are still selling the real chairs.

I was surprised at the number of chairs that I am familiar with, but didn't know where they came from, are still in production from Artifort. Artifort was named by combining Art and Comfort. I like it.

If you are at all interested in "modern" furniture, you should have a look. http://www.artifort.com/default.aspx I am thinking that I may have to make a few more of their pieces for the house. If you go, you will probably have to have google translate it from the Dutch for you.....Unfortunately, it doesn't translate everything. Just go to the "collectie" section and wander down the sub categories. Fauteuils is the chair section.

I had never seen the ribbon chair in a print fabric. That gives me ideas....

Another site that I stumbled onto the other day is a Flickr group. This one is huge. It's called the 1960's Interior Design and Residential Architecture
Group. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1960houselovers/pool/ There are some great ideas here for anybody interested in the period. The collection is so large that I still haven't gotten through the whole thing.

I don't have time to sit and look today. Laundry to do and house to clean. Too bad that Tessie refuses to zap any of that out of the way. She is searching for more 60s. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Playing Dress Up.....

I made a trip back to Dollar Tree this morning. I couldn't afford to pass up a few more of the little shadow boxes. There are so many ways to dress them up.

I took one of the nine section ones and proceeded to fancy it up a bit. I used crown molding, half inch scale door and window casing and four little bun feet made from the biscuits, that people fill screw holes in real furniture with.

First I stained all of the pieces with Minwax Red Mahogany. Then I mitered three pieces of the crown molding to fit around the top of the shelf.

Then I proceeded to the bottom and cut pieces of the half scale door and window molding to fit around the bottom.

Then I cut four pieces of the same stuff to the length of the sides and stretchers from top to bottom, to fit between the crown molding and the bottom molding.

I glued everything together and let it dry.

The original gluing job was not bad, but there is a bit of white showing in the corners. That can be easily fixed with a little brown acrylic stain.

By the time I had finished, Tessie had laid claim to it, with Mookie a close second. I think he wanted it for a chew toy.

Here's what it looks like against the wall of the bedroom. The proportions are just about perfect. I only have to spray it with Deft Satin finish and it will be done. How simple was that?

I now have seven more in my stash. If I went out and bought finished miniature bookcases, just think what it would have cost me!

I am thinking that one done up in white or black would look good if Tessie still wants 60s. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow she will be back to "Restoration Victorian".

I have the feeling that this is going to be a project with lots of twists and turns......

See you tomorrow.

Did You Ever Wonder?

It's coming up on a new season. We are all tempted to go out shopping to buy a few new clothes and home accessories. This summer we will be seeing a LOT of turquoise.....Did you know that it has been deemed "2010 Color of the Year"? Why am I mentioning this and where did I get the information? One word. Pantone.

When I was in college, I found out about this company. That was many years ago....What do they do? They make predictions about what colors you are going to "like". I am offering their website because I think that it is interesting that we don't really pick out the colors that we like. Someone else does! http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx If you hunt around their site, you can find all kinds of information.

For one thing, it is handy when you are trying to decide what colors go with what other colors for your latest dollhouse. Yes. They not only pick the colors that are going to be popular for clothing. They also advise paint companies among others.

Anyway, I thought you might like to have some fun with the people that tell you what you are going to like, color wise. It is fascinating.

Now about minis. I am cleaning out the workroom once again, so not much in the way of tutorials today.(You will be too busy with Pantone anyway.) I do have an alert for people that have Dollar Tree stores in their areas. I was in one a few days ago and found some really cool, raw wood, shadow boxes.

They are all the same shape, but with two different styles of dividers.and they already have hangers on the back.

Tessie has grabbed one of each style. She is thinking that they would make good "built in" bookcases. Maybe. We shall see. If not, they will be just fine hanging somewhere in the house with individual minis inside.

In answer to your question. Yes. They were $1.00 each!

No decision has been made about where to use them. I purchased four....I may have to go back and grab a couple more.

OK. I have stalled long enough. The workroom awaits. Tessie is back in there digging through drawers. She has started her usual pile to use for the townhouse. I need to go back and get things under control. With what we dig out, maybe we will get back to building tomorrow.

See you then.

Not Really a Tutorial.....

I have said it before and I will say it again. I don't believe that wicker can be taught properly via the net. I feel strongly that the teacher has to be present to guide the hands. I will, however, show you the steps that I go through to do it. Maybe you will pick up a couple of hints here and there.

This morning Tessie pestered me until I gave in and said that I would make her another planter for the rooftop garden.

It took me about an hour and a half and a lot of cleaning in the workroom to even start.

I needed to drill 49 holes around the edge of the top and 4 more around the bottom shelf.....Of course, I needed a drill to do it. I couldn't, for the life of me, find either my Dremel Mini Mite or even my pin vise hand drill anywhere. I looked high and low.

After I was sure that neither of them was in the workroom, I expanded the search to various drawers, tool bags and cupboards in the family room.

Would you believe that I put them away in a book shelf in the family room, behind some books. Please don't ask me why I put them there....I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time....Anyway, I did get some cleaning done, so I don't think that the time was waisted.

Thank goodness for Mini Mite. He has been around for 20 years and is still going strong. Fingers crossed. When you need to drill 53 holes fast, that's the ticket.

The next step was cutting 49 pieces of cloth covered wire and shoving them in the holes and gluing them in at the correct length. Proper spacing, on the legs especially, at this point is very important if you don't want a wobbly plant stand, table, chair or anything else.

I then wrapped the portion of the leg that goes between the top and bottom of the stand with #20 Cebella crochet thread. I wax it as I go. I prefer this to linen thread. Just a personal preference.

As I start, I glue the end of the thread to the bottom of the top board. I find it easier to do the bottom first and then the top. That goes for most any wicker. I have tried it top first and don't like it because usually the top is the part that is going to be seen the most and I don't like handling it after it is finished. So it is last.

I glue the thread to the back side of the wire and then cut the wires close to the edge after it dries.

Then I do the top section of weaving, glue and trim the same way. Here you see it with a partial trim. I wrap the bottom section of the feet with thread and glue them.

The last step is the most boring. I take six strands, a couple of yards each of the thread. I knot them together at one end and start braiding, keeping the threads flat at all times. This takes forever......

When I have enough to wrap around the planter four times, I know that there is enough to finish.

I am now trying to talk Tessie out of growing cucumbers, for pickles, in the planter. I don't want to make cucumbers, or for that matter, pickles either. I know how her mind works. One thing leads to another.

I wonder if I could talk her into beansprouts? Small. Two leaves each. Easy to make.....
I know it will never happen.....I can dream, can't I?

See you tomorrow.

Some New People and an Award...

Good Morning! We have five new people at the party today and two of them sent me an award!

The first one is Rosy at Rosy Miniaturas http://rosyminiaturas.blogspot.com/
She was new to blog world in January of this year. Lots of new minis to look at.

Next is Nina at The Tudor-Mediaeval-Jaclbean-Queen Anne Dollhouse Project. http://tudordollhouse.blogspot.com/ She has several other sites, but this one is with a group that are doing miniatures together. Beautiful. She goes by Dangerous Mezzo and is one of the new people that presented me with the award.

Then there is Ana Maria. I don't know much about her. No blog listing.

Then we have Margaret of My Petit Patrerre http://petit-parterre.blogspot.com/ She has been blogging since Fegruary an already has lots of interesting minis to look at. She is the other one that gave me the award.

Lastly there is Oma Makroma. She is another mystery guest.

Welcome to you all. Come on in and joint the party.

Now about the award....I don't seem to see any set rules on how to pass this one on. No specific number anyway.

I am going to take the liberty of sending it along to all of the great people that have signed up to follow this blog. I think that the photo of the award says it all!

Thanks to all of you for joining the party!!!

A Bad Case of the "I Want"s.....

April and I met for coffee and antiquing this morning.....This afternoon I am trying to outrun Tessie. She is following me everywhere with the book that I found at the mall. It is a Wicker price guide from 1982. It is only 52 pages, but it is crammed full of photos of things to make.

Tessie keeps telling me that she saw this piece and that in houses in the sixties. First it was mushroom stools(top row). Then it was the saddle back(F) on the same page. I had to agree. I had seen lots of both of those back then.

I had to take a red pencil away from her. She wanted to put an X by the pieces that she wanted made.

I finally calmed her down enough to agree to wicker mostly in the garden and maybe a few accessory pieces in the house.

She does like the sewing boxes on legs.....I didn't tell her that I already have one of those around here someplace. I made it about 20 years ago....She doesn't have to know it isn't a new one. I won't tell, if you don't.

Most of the pieces that are in the book are from the later, less ornate styles from the 20s and 30s. At least, if I don't show her the pieces with the curlicues, I won't have to make pieces with curlicues.

Her problem is, she likes it all....She is just like me.....I wonder why that is?

She disappeared for a while and when she came back, she had both drawers of wicker supplies. She zapped them to the family room and demanded, "Clean these out and find what you need to make two chairs, a table, some plant stands and......Oh! I found an already made plant stand. Dibs on the plant stand!!!"

That worked out well. When she discovered the ready made plant stand, she lost her train of thought. Now I only have two chairs and a table on my list. Hey! When she stops talking, I stop making lists. It's only fair.

Maybe if I leak a few other pieces that are already made, one at a time, I can keep her distracted enough to not think of more pieces that she wants made. And maybe, just maybe, by that time the rest of the house supplies will arrive. Then I can keep her distracted with all of the new things for the house itself......Only one problem. How excited can a person get about baseboards and flooring?

Excuse me now. I have to go hide the wicker book, before she gets any more harebrained ideas.

See you tomorrow.