"Grab the Yes Glue...."

"And follow me!" That was Tessie this morning. I heard her rooting around in the mini fabric stash. Then she showed up carrying this fabric from my Mother's Day present.

She decided that the bathroom needed to get done so that she could use it. The fabric that she picked out for the walls really doesn't belong in the bathroom.....It is an RJR fabric and I noticed that the name of the design, written on the edge, is "Everything but the kitchen sink!"

That made no difference. She insisted that it looked psychedelic and would make a great place for a bubble bath.

Remember the original floor of the workroom? I talked her out of the large checkerboard. Guess what? She found a smaller version and now insists that the bathroom will be tiled in it.

Actually, after looking at it, I think that it will work out well. She wants a black and white bathroom, with dashes of colors here and there. She keeps mentioning Peter Max.....I keep forgetting that she is older than I am and still remembers him....and Mucha posters. She goes way back....professes to have met Van Gogh....Poor man....No wonder he went mad.
Anyway, I went to work and made some progress. This is somewhat like the bathroom is going to look. I have the wallpaper up. The floor is not glued down. I still have to do the moldings. None of the fixtures are finished yet, so they are just propped in place for the photo.

Tessie is getting antsy and wants me to get back to work, so that's all for today.

See you tomorrow.

A New Bad Habit.....

I seem to be developing a craving for Sunday morning stops at the Dollar Tree. I am not sure if this is good or bad. I always seem to find something silly that may or may not apply to miniature making.

When I got home this morning, I pulled all of the goodies out of the bag and Tessie pounced. She was trying to figure out what she could make from two of the four for a dollar fancy emery boards that I purchased. Yup. Zebra stripes.

I have the feeling that the townhouse is going to be afloat in animal skin patterns. She is pushing me to finish the zebra rug also....

Anyway, the other things that I found were a couple of bookmarks that each had two really nice miniature resin frames on them. There was no question about getting them unstuck from the backing....Two of the four had already fallen off in the package. Two fancy frames for a buck is not a bad deal.

Did I mention that Dollar Tree is now carrying sheets of 1/4" foam core that is 20X30 inches? They are. It seems that maybe the outer surface is less thick than some of the other brands. I grabbed a couple of pieces to play with. We shall see how they work.

Lastly, I got a package of two cupcake presentation boxes that I thought would make cute 1/4" scale room boxes. There is a window that covers part of two sides. They will have to be reinforced a little. I think that they have possibilities as simple gifts.

Remember all of the needle holes in my fingers a few days ago, that I told you not to ask about? Well....The experiment was a success.

The plastic edge of my fuzzy steering wheel cover was crumbling. Last week Walter bought me a new one.

Unfortunately, the manufacturers must have changed the formula for the rubber from which they are made. The new one smelled to high heaven of burnt rubber. I left the windows down on the car for a couple of days, hoping that the odor would dissipate....No such luck.

Walter took that one back. Fortunately, I kept the old one. I brought it into the house and went to work. I cut some bias binding from some checked fabric. I made it about 2 1/2" wide and doubled it lengthwise.

Here's where the holes in my fingers came into play. In order to get it sewn into the inside edge of the cover, I used doubled thread, a strong needle and a pair of needle nosed pliers. That was the tough part. It took me two days to get around the back and front.

The easy part was pulling the loose, folded edge around to the outside and blind stitching it to the soft outer skin of the cover.

As soon as Tessie spotted it, she insisted on posing with it. Then she wanted to take a ride to try it out....That didn't really work out too well. Every time I turned a corner, she either fell off or was hanging by her fingernails.

I think that she will be going back to riding on the dashboard. She seems to do much better there and there is room for Spike too.

I am off to see what other trouble I can get into without poking holes in my fingers.

See you tomorrow.

So Much For Gold Leafing.....

Tessie won't be having gold leaf tables in the townhouse....She found out that it wasn't real gold.

We went to see "Ironman 2" this morning. When we got back, she was in a snit. She informed me, "I looked at the package and there is no mention of real gold anywhere on it! This stuff is about as gold as candy wrappers! I don't think that they are appropriate for my townhouse. I only want the real thing. It is, after all, supposed to be a high class abode."

I hate it when she gets all uppity. I took my tables and left. I will find somewhere else to put them.....They didn't really go with sixties style anyway. I am actually relieved that she didn't like them. Now I can go back to the Nakashima tables that I liked in the first place.

Since I didn't have a chance to do any minis this morning, I decided to play a bit with the rug patterns for the modern one and the zebra. I threw them both into the cross stitch program(PC Stitch Pro) that I have.

This is what came out. If you poke them, you can see them clearer. Unfortunately, the program picks up every color variation in photos. I did the zebra in just plain black and white. It is done in finer stitches that this. I would suggest printing it out and adjusting the extra colors to black and white. At least you have a stepping off point with this.

With the modern one, It made each area three or four colors. I did each section in just one color, using five colors in all. Again, my rug had more stitches per inch, giving more definition to the sections. ***ADD ON***I came back and re did the whole modern rug with PC Stitch. It is now a five color rug. I eliminated the extra colors. This rug is smaller than mine, but I did mine free hand. It will still be a pretty good size, depending on what size canvas you use. This pattern is for personal use only. Note the copyright at the bottom of the page. Thank you.

I may come back and re do the zebra one after I finish stitching mine.

I thought that these would be good graphs for someone just starting out.

Tomorrow I will be back to the townhouse, if Tessie will let me in. She is still in a snit.


See you then.

Ohhhh.....Shiny!!!

This isn't a great photo. I looked down while getting the blog entry started and this is what I saw.....My index and middle finger have many, many jab marks in from sewing needles.....No. Not from the rug. Those jab marks are on the other hand, ring finger. These are from an experiment that I am doing to remodel the steering wheel cover of my car. Don't ask. Just another harebrained scheme. (It's working so far...)

Then there is the red iron oxide paint and even a piece of gold leaf, stuck to my little finger....There will be a slight pause while I go get cleaned up. This photo was not staged in any way. This is the normal state of my hands.

"This is NOT gold! It's ugly red!" That was Tessie in complaint mode this morning. She wouldn't let the gold leaf thing go.

I grabbed a House of Miniatures kit for a couple of tiny tables/candle stands and put them together this morning. They were the simplest things that I could find upon which to use the Midas Touch.

I had to do the whole process with Tessie looking over my shoulder, arguing with every step. "Where's the gold?"

First you have to put an undercoat on the piece. It's usually red iron oxide or something similar.

Next, you have to put the size on. That's the glue that holds the gold leaf in place. It has to be on there for at least an hour before you can start leafing.....Somehow I question that part. The stupid gold won't stick to it until it has dried for an hour. It will stick to my hand if I get a bit of adhesive on my little finger. But on the table? No way. No how.

The table on the left is one that I had just sized. The one on the right is dry and ready for leafing.
To do the leafing, I pick up pieces of the leaf with a small stiff brush. I lay the leaf on the table and pounce it down into the size with the brush. Where the leaf overlaps, it won't stick and it is easily brushed away.

Sometimes you will have spots that absolutely won't take the leaf on the first try. Then you have to go back, brush with size, wait an hour and do it again.

These tables are not as fancy as the one that Judy did. The process was fairly fast to this point.

I will let them sit for twenty four hours. Then I will do a bit of antiquing and a protective coat over the top.

I am hoping that these two tables will be enough to satisfy Tessie. If not, she gets to do the next batch. She went through the process completely unscathed. Not one bit of gold on her when I finished. I, on the other hand, was picking tiny pieces of gold out of my hair and from between my toes.

The two tables only took about half a sheet of gold leaf. At least the stuff goes a long way.

I am going to go in with tweezers and clean up now. Remind me not to breath.....

See you tomorrow.

You Call This Thing a Rug???

"It looks more like a cocoon. It's all curly and crooked!"

Yes, I finished it. After the last stitch, Tessie was not all that impressed.....

"It just needs blocking." I told her.

I took it to the ironing board. I laid it face down and used a sprayer filled with water on the back.

Then I stretched it and pulled it until it was squared and ironed it again until it was dry. It is helpful if you have a quilter's ironing mat with a one inch grid to do this.

I never iron the front. It flattens the stitches.

I made sure that it was the way that I wanted it to look on the front and then on the back I put white glue in a line around the edges. On the sides, it let it run over the edge and smeared it with my finger. On the ends, I carefully went just to the edge. I wanted fringe on those two edges.

Then I waited for the glue to dry. When it was thoroughly dry, I cut carefully along the two long edges just next to the last line of stitches.... On the ends, I cut three cords away from the edge.

Then I unraveled the three cords. I took a needle and ran it through the fringe to make it softer and less cord like.

That's all that is needed to finish a rug and make it look in scale. I find that binding them makes them too thick and there is no way that you can sit a chair on the edge without wobbling.

Tessie is now happy with it and as soon as she tested it out, she turned, looked at me with a scowl, and asked, "OK....Now where'd you put the gold leaf stuff???"

So much for out of site, out of mind....

See you tomorrow. I will be the one with gold leaf stuck in odd patches all over my body.

Wednesday With Witches....

The Wednesday Witches met here today....

Yes. I did get some work done on the rug.

No. I didn't get much done in the workroom.

Here's proof of work. I only have the top right corner to do yet. It should be done sometime tomorrow.

I am very pleased with the way it is turning out. Tessie is getting anxious for the finish. I think it is just because she wants me to get on to the next project.

Here's the "With Witches" part. My friend Judy just started experimenting with gold leaf. She is doing a Bespaq table. She is braver than I am. My first gold leaf was a plain picture frame. And I thought I was doing good at the time....

Take a look at this! Keep in mind that she is still going to antique the finish and put a sealer on it. She is trying to decide what she wants to do to the top.

I am so proud of what she has done so far. We are calling it a million dollar table. The gold leaf is going to be in every nook and cranny. It has taken her several weeks to get this far, but it is going to be outstanding when she finishes.....

There is only one problem......She keeps having to wipe the drool off of it.

All of the witches, including Tessie, are jealous....Now do you see why Tessie wants the rug finished? I have the feeling that she is going to want something really outlandish leafed.....

"No, Tessie! I am not Gold leafing the pod chair or the Nakashima coffee table. Think of something else!"

Judy had to play tug of war with Tessie. It took about 7 minutes to get it out of her strangle hold. While Judy was doing that, I ran into the workroom and hid my supply of gold leaf. I think that I am safe for the moment......Hopefully, by tomorrow, she will move onto something else.

See you then.

Son In Laws Can Be Fun......

Seth was closely inspecting the townhouse when he and April were here the other night. I didn't realize that he was into gardening until I saw this. Yup. He taught Rocky how to use the hoe. I am going to have to inspect the premises to see what else he was up to.

He was also trying to talk me into making a people sized pod chair. I don't think that is going to happen. I did however agree to make him a George Nakashema coffee table if he can find the wood in real size and buy me the tools needed to finish it.....That may not have been such a good idea. He already has some of the tools needed......

Today I had to go to Joanne's Fabric and Crafts to get more of #3064 DMC to finish the rug, so that cut some work time out of the day.

Here's proof that I am still going strong on finishing it.

When I took the photo of Tessie and Zar, I realized that the beanbag chair is going to have to go somewhere else. It just doesn't go with the rest of the living room furniture. It may go back up to the workroom if I put in a rest area. Otherwise, it will have to go in another house.

I am going to be brave and leave you with a shot of my workroom......If I do this, I will have to clean it. You will nag me until I do it and show proof that it is done. Please do.

It really isn't too bad. Lots of big things that just have to be put back on shelves where they belong, but if I let it go any further it is going to take a bulldozer to clear a path.

The way it is right now, Mookie won't even follow me in there like he usually does. I guess it's time to dig in. Gotta go.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day.....

OK. So it wasn't mom's day for most of you....Mine was late this year. Remember the dreaded cold that I had? The kids came over yesterday afternoon with pizza and a DVD.

April brought me a bouquet. Much better than roses.

The mom of one of her friends owns Cactus Quilt Shop here in town. It is way on the northwest side of town so I have never been there. I am ashamed to say.

April has been taking some quilting classes there for the past year or so. I got her to make her first quilt a few years ago. She vowed to never make another. I just sat back and waited. She is now on her third or fourth one and she is even trying hand quilting now.

Anyway, she brought me a bouquet of fat quarters. All of them are suitable for miniatures! Tiny prints are few and far between even in quilt shops these days. These are wonderful.

As you can see, Tessie immediately fell in love. It was, "I'll have an apron from this one and this one and this one." No "May I haves?". All "I'll haves."

First she got the ribbon untied and laid them all out on the table. Her comment was, "Mine!" and "I want them all!"

Then she made me peel all of the tape off of them and lay them out on the table so that she could really see them. Poke the photo for a better view.

I do believe that there is going to be a disagreement over whom gets what. I especially like the first one in the second row that is printed on the diagonal. Very unusual.

April used the black with white polka dots in her last quilt. She knew I would like that one because I kept reminding her to save me the scraps.

Good daughter that she is, she remembers things like that.

I am now going to go do housework, with drooling breaks. I must remember to be careful not to lean over the fabric whilst drooling. It's very hard to do laundry and cleaning when there is so much new fabric waiting to be used.

Even though it was a bit late, it was a good Mother's Day.

See you tomorrow.

Welcome and an Award

I am being a good blogger....I am not letting the welcomes get away from me this time.

Welcome to the party!

First there is Julie. I have no info on her. Julie, if you have a blog, please let me know so that I can adjust this.

Second is Carol of True2Scale http://true2scale.blogspot.com/ Lots of neat stuff to look at and she has some great book covers to use.

Third is Rapunzel. Again, I have no info on her. Please tell me if you have a blog. I will add it.

Now for the award....It is the Trendy Treehouse Award. A big thanks to Lena of Miniatyrmama http://miniatyrmama.blogspot.com/ This is one that should be sent on to ten other trendy blogs.....I can't really pick just ten. I am giving this to all of the people that put up with my nonsense every day. You know who you are. So here you go. Pass it on.

Thanks again Lena!

Fourteen Thousand, One Hundred and Sixty Eight Stitches...

And one baby squirrel. I couldn't resist showing you this little guy. He is the first baby of the season. I now have a lawn trimmer for the back yard. Actually, we have a bunch of them, but this is the first new one for the year.

Obsessive/compulsive that I am about rugs, I couldn't resist counting the stitches in the brown one this morning. The above number is correct....14,168 stitches in that measley little rug.... I probably have between six and seven thousand done so far.

Tessie is back watching like a hawk. It's another one of those cases where she doesn't care what I am working on, as long as it is for her benefit.

The colors seem to be coming out pretty true to the original....Actually, there are only five colors in the whole rug so it's going pretty fast. Boring but fast. I will be running out of the pinkish tan color on the left side very shortly. Tomorrow will call for a run to Michael's or Joanne's.

"Oh! Look! A zebra skin rug. I want one of those too!"......I knew I should have hidden that one.

OK. I couldn't resist going back and getting it from the Peerless site..... Then I couldn't resist tracing it on congress cloth..... Then I couldn't resist trying out a few stitches in one corner......

Rugs are like cupcakes.... You can't make just one....

At least there are a lot of rooms in the townhouse that need them. I have resolved to finish these two or three before starting more. Honest. I have.....

Back to work.

Six thousand, four hundred & twenty one..... Six thousand, four hundred & twenty two..... Six thousand, four hundred & twenty three......

This is like counting sheep....

See you tomorrow....Six thousand, four hundred & twenty four...........

Got a Light?

OK. I bit the bullet this morning and got to work on more of the wiring.

The hallway, you have already looked at, got a coat of varnish on the floor and I painted the light cord the same color as the wall. It will be glued into the corner that it is next to, so that it will never be seen from either the front or back of the house. Then from there, It will go down the stairwell.

The light looks very harsh in the photo. It needed to be fairly strong to show up when the bathroom wall is in place. It's a small spotlight.

The next logical step was the ceiling light in the workroom. Well. Maybe not logical, but it was one of the fixtures that I had on hand.

I cut a piece of illustration board the size of the ceiling. Then I drew a diagonal both ways from corner to corner to find the center and drilled a hole with my pin vise.

Next I wired up the light I was going to use and strung it through the hole. Three times.

The first two bulbs were some that I have had for a long time and they didn't work. GRRRRRRR...

When I finally found one that worked, I hooked it into the fixture and strung the whole thing together.

I think that I am going to have to fancy up the fixture somewhat. It is just too plain for Tessie's taste.

Zar is already complaining that it is too dim to read by. Thank goodness, Tessie had enough sense to tell him, "Take your books and go somewhere else to read. I like the light."

Hey! She actually said that she likes something that I did! Anyway....Two rooms down. I either have to make some new light fixtures or buy some.

Let's see....At two rooms a day, I will be done in approximately 2 months.....I have to rest between rooms.....Wiring is soooooo boring and it tires me out.

I am going to go work on the brown rug that Tessie forgot about. That will take less time than wiring....

See you tomorrow.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions......

Never give either Tessie or me more than one thing to choose from at a time. We are both pondering over which of the two rugs we like better in the living room.

She is leaning towards the red one, "Because it matches my apron." I know that, if I finish this one, she will immediately want a new apron that doesn't match....Thus, another rug will have to be made.

I am leaning towards the brown one because of the more complicated geometric design.

I explained how I did the rug yesterday, but I forgot to give you the website that I borrowed them from. I have been doing mini rugs from the real ones on this site for many years. Before they were on the net, they had a wonderful catalog from which to get designs. They still do. The name of the company is Peerless Rugs.http://www.peerlessrugs.com/ If you go down on the page just a little, you will see the alphabet in little squares....Each square has a number of rug companies represented that starts with that letter(except for x and y). Within each company page, there are different rugs represented.... Hundreds and hundreds of rugs. Most of them are shown in a flat format so that they can be copied and used.That's where I got these two. So many choices!

Of course, as you know, I can never just start one project and go straight through to the finish. You saw the red one that I started Wednesday. By Thursday I couldn't stand it anymore. I started the brown one.

Tessie is holding it hostage. She says I can show it to you, but if I attempt to do another stitch, she will stab me with the needle.

I don't want to get stabbed, but I do want to work on a rug. Hmmmmm......There was another rug on Peerless that I liked. It is a zebra print. It might be too much with the ribbon chair. I am going to go look at that one again. Maybe I can get Tessie interested in browsing the site. Whilst she is looking, I can sneak away with the brown rug. I am liking that one for somewhere in the house. I really want to work on it some more.

Oh! I forgot to say that I have done a lot of oriental rugs printed on fabric from this site also. So many rugs, so little time......

See you tomorrow.

Various and Sundry Things.....

Brae over at Otterine.com blog has lots of wonderful ideas. One of her latest was printing out a rug that she wanted to make in the size that she wanted to make it, to try it out in her dollhouse. http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/2010/05/16/from-photo-to-needlepoint If you go over there, you sell find information on a site that can print out a design for needlepoint or cross stitching the rug.

Impatient person that I am, I tried the idea of printing out the design in the size I wanted. I used my greeting card program that has rulers on two sides to do it. Very simple.

Rather than figuring out stitches to the inch and messing with all of the in between steps, I cheated. I took some congress cloth, #24 and held it up to the window and traced it with a permanent Sharpie, fine tipped pen. Here you see the traced pattern and the thread that was chosen. Since it was a really simple pattern, I didn't need a printed pattern.

There were two that I liked. This one was even simpler. No straight lines to mess with. I started this one yesterday. It is done in basket weave stitch and goes fairly fast.

I like Brae's way of doing things. If you have a chance, do go look through her blog. Lots of neat work and she has many good ideas there.

Now. About the sundry part....I stopped at Dollar Tree on my way home from town this morning. I hit the jackpot. Tessie was thrilled. I found a TV for the townhouse, a mini, 12 piece, screwdriver set, a couple of tote bags and some clear stick on protectors that I think that I can use as glass and bottle bottoms. They are round and come in various sizes. They are hard to see in the photo, but there are quite a few of them.

I don't know about you, but I hate cutting circles that I can't cut with a punch and gluing them is even more irritating. I am thinking that these will come in handy.

Anyway, now that I have shown you the stash, I have to go open the packages and see what they all can do. Tessie is waiting.

See you tomorrow.

Back to Normal.....Maybe.....

It all depends on what you think of as normal.....This morning when I got out of bed, I heard crashes and bangs coming from the family room. When I went to investigate, I found Zar hanging over the edge of the third floor. He was dropping, piece by piece, all of the various and sundry scraps that had accumulated in the workroom.

I heard him mumbling something about a rat's nest and then a pig's sty.....Did I mention that he is obsessive compulsive about neatness?

He finally couldn't stand Tessie's mess and decided to do something about it.

When he finished dumping everything from the third floor to the second, I think he realized the crux of the problem....The second floor was now a bigger mess than it had been to start....

He took a LONG break. He was satisfied to sit on the floor and rest his elbow on a tub of mini wax.....He looked at me and said, "OK. Now it's your turn."

I didn't really want a turn. As you can see, if you look closely, Mookie made a nest under the table and was fast asleep behind my tool bag.

Not waking up Mookie was not much of an excuse for not cleaning up the corner, so I went to work.....

Strangely, Zar disappeared after I started working....I heard him whistling a happy tune from the workroom.

After I got everything out of the house, I put the partitions in place. Then I put what furniture I have in some of the room....Then I sat back and thought...."Hmmmmmm.....It's a long way to the finish."

I hate wiring. I don't think that anybody likes it, but it has to be done. I guess it is another "Bite the bullet" thing to do.

I have an excuse for not getting it done today. I have a Wednesday Witches mini meeting to go to this afternoon. That will give me time to think of an excuse for not doing it tomorrow.

I am still undecided about the brass bed. It is very 60s, but I keep seeing, in my head, a hanging bed that was in one of the books that I had back then. It had a heavy chain on each corner of a platform and the whole thing hung from the ceiling. I think that I first saw that when I was in high school and always thought it would be fun to have one.....Maybe now is the time. I am sure that Tessie would love it. After all, you can't swing on brass beds....

BTW. Poke the last photo. you will see that Tessie is back in traditional dress. She whinged and whined until I gave in. She is now wearing a dress made of antique silk and lace, and is happily relaxing with her feet up.

Wait a minute! Why does she get to relax? I am the one that sewed her clothes and cleaned her whole house. How is it, that she shows up after all the work is finished. What's wrong with this picture?

I am going to go to the mini meeting now and I am NOT taking her along! I'll show her!

See you tomorrow.

Thank You, Giorgio Armani.....

This morning I was going stir crazy. I needed to do a bit of real shopping and then I decided that I needed to stretch it to include a half hour run through the antique mall.

That was a good thing. I found a box....Not just any box....A Giorgio Armani box.

As soon as I saw it, I knew that I could put it to good use. I coerced Tessie into "modeling" inside. Then I threw that darned electric guitar and amp in after her. It would have worked, if I had been seconds faster. As it was, she managed to get one foot in the door and her fingers in front of the plexi window. Rats! So much for soundproofing.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board on that one. It will be perfect for a closet or some other kind of vignette.

When I got home and was unloading the car, I spotted something else. Last week, Walter replaced the wall light in the hall by the laundry closet. The one he took out was the one that was put in when the house was built and I was just plain tired of it.


Somehow, now that it isn't a necessary light fixture, I don't mind it so much. Suddenly it isn't a light fixture...I took out the two candle light sconces that were inside and now it seems to have changed to a display case for minis....

I tried again. I talked Tessie into trying it on for size. Yup. It will work. All I have to do is turn it upside down and use the bottom opening to drop things into it. I can make a top to fit and maybe even hang a chandelier from it. That might be fun. A light in the light....

This time I was smart. I dropped the fixture over Tessie, grabbed the guitar and amp and ran. You should have heard her...No. On second thought, I don't think you should. No nice words came out of her mouth.

After I hid the guitar, I let her out.

Later, when I went to look, she was pouting. She had zapped the pod chair to the roof, made herself some kind of fizzy drink and refused to acknowledge my presence.

I heard her muttering...."Stupid stiff jeans....I can't even cross my legs. The idiotic tie dye tee is running. I want a refund!!"

Refund? I don't remember any money changing hands. I think that I know what I am going to be doing this afternoon. First I am going to hide the Giorgio Armani label on the box. I am not going to start doing designer clothes for her!

It used to be so easy, before she found out that she could have new clothes anytime she complained loudly and stomped her feet.

I need to go get started, if I don't want the next photos to be of her running around in her pantaloons

See you tomorrow, fully clothed, I hope......

To Dye For.......

My friend Jo is one of the bravest women that I know. When her daughter had her twelfth or thirteenth birthday(I can't remember which) Jo threw her a tie dye tee shirt party. Each girl got to tie dye her own shirt. You would think that she would never want to hear those words again, let alone write them.

I was searching for things 60s and Jo wrote and said that Tessie had to have a tie dyed tee with the peace symbol on the front......Great Idea Jo....Then she said that Tessie needed bell bottom Levis to go with it....OK. Sounds like a good idea to me.

I got out a bunch of Sharpie pens. I seem to have bought almost every color known to mankind.

I didn't have any white tee shirt material and I didn't think that Walter would appreciate having one of his go missing, so I went and hunted down some lightweight cotton.

The first try was not wonderful. I laid down the colors and then realized that the peace sign was not going to stand out.

The second one, I put the peace sign in first. Then I just started scribbling in circles to get the tie dyed effect.

I used the same turquoise Sharpie and scribbled a piece for the back and two smaller ones for the sleeves. I let them dry whilst I made Levis.

I didn't wear that pair much anyway....


With a bit of sewing and lots of gluing, Tessie had her Bell bottoms and tie dye tee.

I cut all of the pieces right on Tessie so there isn't a pattern.

You could do the pants with any pattern, simply flaring the bottoms from the knee out.

The shirt is basically four rectangles. Two are the same size for the body front and back. Two are smaller for the sleeves. I glued the sleeves on, making sure that they extended up over the shoulder. Then I glued on the back, folding in the sleeve area to fit over the sleeve. I wrapped the sides around to the front.

Last I turned under edges on the front and glued that in place.

Almost instant Hippie clothes. Tessie likes them because she is still not required to put on shoes.

She has taken up playing the electric guitar and is attempting to learn all of the Stones early work.....Does anybody have an extra set of ear plugs that they aren't using? I need them NOW! Please have mercy!!!

See you tomorrow.

Biting The Bullet!

I Have Been very, very bad about welcoming new people to the party for the past three weeks or so ....

HAVING the cold did not help .... I still Have the cough. Enough excuses.

There are over 20 people waiting at the door. Bad Me!

Are you ready? Here we go!

I am going to theser by number in the order That They arrived.

1. Thumbnails of Sylvia Natasylvia http://miniaturasnatasylvia.blogspot.com/ Beautiful photography and thumbnails to see here.

2. The Old Maid Of The Hours a sunny, 12 Miniatures http://thesunnyhours112miniatures.blogspot.com/ An interesting miniature castle to view.

3.Alienora of Dolls and Miniatures Alienory http://alienora.blox.pl/html Really neat mini ideas.

4. Elis Minis One of Second Life http://minis-onesecondlife.blogspot.com/ Incredible mini knitting here!

5. Flower of Flower and FF http://florff.blogspot.com/ Bunnies and Other Really cute minis!

6.Eva Krog, another mystery lady. In the blog listed.

7.Amberyder from Welcome to my Dollhousehttp://mypinpeoples.blogspot.com/ Her husband built her dollhouse. Pretty in pink.

8. Allie Lakin of Mini Eats http://minieatsalpal.blogspot.com/ Lots of kids yummy food!

9. risa Risata of Sari Sarin's Stuffhttp://sarinrisat.blogspot.com/ Lots of interesting to see minis.

10. Wioletta Sz. of Illustracje wiola http://ladyloreena.blogspot.com/ Beautiful art work here.

11.Mrs Cravitz of A Day in the Life of Mrs. Cravitz http://mrscravitz.blogspot.com/ Beautiful horses ... Real ones.

12. Christine is another mystery lady.

13. Klara of Maison Du Bonheur http://maisonklarameijer.blogspot.com/ Food, flowers and a beautiful townhouse.

14. Marion of The Witch's Cottage http://marion-thewitchscottage.blogspot.com/ Of course, Tessie likes this one .....

15. Of Lola Lola and Miniatures http://lolaysusminiaturas.blogspot.com/ Wonderful crochet in miniature.

16. Lene Abrahamsen mystry lady is # 4.

17. Glenda of Peppercorn Minishttp://peppercornminis.blogspot.com/ Lots of Different minis here.

18. suksaranke of Lietuvos meskiukai go ju draugaihttp://lietuvos-meskiai.blogspot.com/ Adorable teddy bears!

19. Romina with a blog of the same name.http://romiminis.blogspot.com/Beautiful pastery shop.

20. LifeAdorned blog http://lifeadorned.blogspot.com/ Lots of interesting thoughts.

21. Mystery Ladycobblestone ..... ....

22. Jody Jody's of Miniwereld http://jodysminiwereld.blogspot.com/ So many minis! Very nice.

Wow! I did it. I will not wait so long next time. Honest!

Welcome to all of you! Everybody go see What They Have. There are some really nice sites.

Have a cuppa and stay a while!

A Big Mac and Some Little Macs

First of all, I thought that I should show you the new macrame that I finished for Tessie....It still has overtones of owl. I am not crazy about it. She doesn't object to the owly part. It's just me.

While I was at it, I dug out a couple of older pieces. This first one with the green beads is the one that I call the "accidental" teddy bear. I didn't intend to make him. He just appeared in the center while I was tending to other things. His face is just above the three groups of beads in the center. After I had finished, I looked at the piece and there he was, with his arms wrapped around the beads. Sometimes inattention turns out to be fun. At least he isn't as blatant as the 70s owls were. He was done around the same time. The whole piece measures about 11" long.


This last piece was done in the early 80s. Someone gave me the medallion that is in the center. It is a link from an Egyptian bracelet. It is copper and brass and engraved with the head of a female Egyptian in full head dress.

It hangs in my archeologist's office. For a long time it didn't have a home. I finally made this room box so that it wouldn't be all alone in the world. Don't forget to poke the photos to make them bigger.

Anyway, it's Sunday and I am taking the rest of the day off, now that I finished the un owl. Tessie still hasn't moved from the pod chair.....Zar is missing.....I think that he tried to get his turn and Tessie zapped him. I have no idea if she changed him into something weird or just locked him away for the day.....I'll think about that tomorrow....

See you then.