Poor Dandelion!!!

First of all, I have had a large container of silica gel in the back of the cupboard for about ten years and never even opened it. Why? I just keep forgetting it's there and never have anything that I want to dry anymore. It doesn't spoil, as far as I know.

This morning I saw some interesting weeds in the back yard. They are small enough that they should make good vines if the great silica gel experiment works....Should. It will take a couple of days or so. I will let you know if it works.

Backtracking to yesterday. While in the workroom, I spotted some patterned scissors that were a small scallop....Not only backtracking....Sidetracked too. I decided to try them out for making dandelions. I put a reverse scallop in the edge of a piece of green paper in a wavy pattern and then turned the paper over and cut again, creating kind of dandelion shaped leaves. I used a small piece of wire and arranged five of the leaves in a circle, in a puddle of glue on a piece of card stock. I stuck the wire in the center and then put a tiny piece of cotton batting on the end of the stem.

I think I need to put some gloss on the leaves. Although, they must look pretty good. They fooled the frog.... I will make a pattern and put it up tomorrow. No time just now.

Today is Wednesday and I have a bunch of witches coming here for a mini meeting at 1:00PM.

Of course, as soon as I planted the dandelion the frog tried to eat it and that attracted the mad pickle fork wielder to come running. I had to forcibly take the pickle fork away from her. I can't have Tessie digging up my dandelions! The frog was smart enough to hop behind her and out of the way. I think that he would be safer if he went away altogether. He is still under foot and liable to be stepped upon.

The last thing that I want to show you today is my very first finished piece of Kumihimo. I used macrame to make a loop at the back on one end and a plain not to slip through it on the other end. The pendant is one that I made with Fimo. I don't think that it is bad for a first attempt. Now to finish the four others that I have in the works.

Gotta run now. I have cooking and cleaning still to do before the witches arrive.

See you tomorrow.

I Didn't Say Pickle Fork!!!

I finished painting the stone work all around the property this morning. When it was dry, I decided to go ahead and get started on a bit of landscaping.

I grabbed a bottle of good old Elmer's white glue and some landscaping materials.


As I started working, Tessie showed up lugging the glue syringe....She was in one of those moods...

"You know you're going to need this. You leave holes and don't get in the corners without it." she announced.

"I like a few holes here and there. Not all grass is perfect." I answered.

For those of you that have asked how I put on tiny trim and fill holes...This is it! It is called a "Monoject 412". If you put that in a search engine, you will find dozens of people selling them. The most inexpensive I have found are on "Pet supplies" websites. I guess that there are several different styles of Monojects. Some of them are as high as 12.00!

These are listed as disposable. I found them on one pet site this morning for 89 cents a piece....The shipping and handling was five dollars and change! I suggest that you look around to get the best deal. I got mine at a mini show for a dollar fifty a piece. I bought four, because I am messy and always have one or two that are clogged when I need them.

They can easily be taken apart and cleaned out. The syringe part comes out and then simply put them in hot water and poke inside with whatever implement of destruction you can find that isn't too sharp. I find a small crochet hook and a straight pin work wonders.

Anyway, back to gardening. I do about a 3" square at a time. That way the glue doesn't dry out before I spread the grass. I am using fine grass stuff from the model train store. I don't have the package any more. You will just have to go pick out a bag that you like. Sorry to not be of much help on that count. There are lots of different ones, from very fine powdery ones to some that they call underbrush. That's pretty large. I am using one somewhere in between.

Here you see the start of a flower bed. I have put the glue down and am about to add the dirt....Yes. I said dirt! I always have a bag of potting soil around and I just go out in the back yard and sift some through a fine, wire mesh strainer. I don't use tea or coffee or other spices....I am not crazy about bugs that like tea, coffee or other spices. Dirt is cheap and it is less bug prone....And it looks just like....Dirt!

After I spread the glue, I looked up and there was Tessie, waiting to do the raking.

"Tessie, that is an antique silver pickle fork! Stop. I said rake!".....

She looked at me with a frown and said, "You did not! You said pitch fork! And this was the closest thing that I could find. It looks like a pitch fork to me." Then she proceeded to make nice long grooves in the dirt with it.

Well....I did find it at a garage sale for a quarter and I did buy two at that price, just alike. I guess it won't hurt to share. After all, she is doing a good job. What more could I ask?

Then she shouted, "Hey! Where are the petunias? I need petunias!"

I answered with, "Tessie, I do believe that it would only be polite to ask Zar what he wants planted there, don't you?"

"I like petunias! I want petunias! You never plant anything for me....I don't have any petunias on the roof garden. Oh! Woe is me! Nobody loves me.....I am going out in the garden and eat worms...."she whimpered....

I let her whimper for a while and then said, "Leave a few. They are beneficial to the soil." and walked away.

She then proceeded to scrounge through last years seed packets that went un-planted...No petunias, but she found a packet of birdhouse gourds. I heard her start whispering to herself and as she got louder,she went back to digging, Then I heard,"I'll show her...I am going to plant these and grow a house of my own. Then I will plant all the petunias that I want around it. So there!!!"

I tip toed away at that point....Boy! Is Zar going to be surprised when gourd vines envelope his dwelling!

See you tomorrow.

Minis? What Minis?

I know it's not nice to say that you hate something....So I am just going to say that I greatly dislike and despise Mondays. Laundry and housekeeping get hugely in the way of miniature making.

I keep sneaking in and taking mini breaks every once in a while.

At one point this morning, I stuffed stuff in the washer and ran to the trailer. Something was missing from the plan...I realized that I had done all of the stone work, but forgotten the front steps.

I marked around the trailer and marked where the front steps should be. Then I took the trailer off of the board and got to work with some egg cartons.

Note to self....Three egg carton tops left....Eat MORE eggs!!!

I finished the paving. Officially, again....Now all I have to do is run the ball stylus over the cracks and paint everything. Where I started painting before turned out to be too dark....Here I go again...

Time to change the laundry from washer to dryer and clean the bathrooms. Bah Humbug.

No minis to show you, so I will show you the cut up flip flops from yesterday. I have got to stop doing kumihimo and get serious about finishing the trailer. But it was so much easier to sit and braid yesterday, because I tripped over a brick and sat down hard in the back yard Saturday.

Sunday was a day for ease taking, so I kumihimo-ed.

I haven't touched it today. Honest!

Tessie took one look at the latest braid and said, in a huff, "This will never do. I think that you need to try tatting or sewing thread. I can't wear a belt made from this one. It will make me look really fat!"

I wasn't making that one for her anyway. I am now wondering if I can do mini on the big discs or will I have to make a tiny disk to do it?

Before I do anything else, I need to do this again....

I can barely get into the workroom, once again and it is getting deeper by the minute. Hey! Just a minute! There are minis in there. Sorting through minis qualifies as cleaning...Right?

If I stay in there long enough, maybe someone will invent self cleaning houses. They did it for ovens. Why not the whole house?

I am going back in there now. String tied to ankle? Check! Someone call me when they make the announcement about self cleaning houses. Slip a pizza under the door once in a while....

"Zar? I have an invention that I want you to work on!"

See you tomorrow.....If I can find my way out of the mess.

Tufting 101

I made Zar a couple of leopard skin pillows this morning. Then I decided to go back to tufting a foot stool. If Tessie is going to sit on the sofa at all, she will need a foot rest. I know about that. It's a "being short" thing.

As for the pillows, I simply turned under a hem, sewed two side seams, trimmed the corners. Then I turned them right side out. Then I blind stitched about half way across, shoved a funnel in the hole and poured in some salt.

Here in the desert, low humidity, if you don't have sand, you use salt. It works great and gives the pillows a soft, well used look.

I will probably make more, but for now, that's enough for Zar to be comfortable. Tessie wasn't too happy. Zar immediately grabbed both of them and, sounding like Tessie herself, hissed, "Mine!" That settled that....

Now for the foot stool. I grabbed a toilet tissue tube and cut it down to 1". Then I cut two circles of card to fit the top and bottom.

I used the same fabric as the sofa. Boring, but a good backdrop if I want to make some more patterned pillows.

I cut one piece to fit the bottom and over lap on the sides. One piece is long enough to fit around the outer ring and over lap about a half inch....Make sure that you cut this piece after you have a thin layer of batting on the sides. The last piece is the size of the top +1/2" to 3/4" all around. I cut a band of low loft batting that just fits around the ring and is about 1/8" narrower, top to bottom.

I glued one of the circles of card to one end of the 1" tube. then I covered that with the first circle, cutting V shapes in the excess all around so that there were no overlaps on the sides as I pulled the points up. Then I glued the strip of batting over that, leaving a bit uncovered on the bottom edge.

I then put a hem in one long side and one short side of the long fabric with glue. Starting with the raw short edge, I glued this piece around the tube, matching the hemmed long edge with the bottom edge of the covered end of the tube. This will be a bit narrower looking than the part that is padded. I wanted it to look like there was a toe kick on the bottom.

I then put dots and punctured three spots on the card circle meant for the top. I glued two layers of the batting lightly to that. You don't want to mat it down or squash it.

Over that, I centered the circle of fabric and, holding it together, starting at the back, I put a stitch in the first hole. When I went back through, I moved the needle over a few threads so that it wouldn't just slip back through all of the layers without catching.

Pulling tightly, I repeated the process with the other two holes. If you have difficulty hitting the same hole coming back, stick a pin through from the bottom and then you can guide your needle back by following the pin down through the layers. Make sure that all of the stitches are pulled up tightly and then fasten the thread off with a few knots around previous stitches.

When I am doing more tufting like the back and seat of the couch, I do a series of knots between every second or third tuft. That keeps them from pulling out whilst you are doing the next knots.

When you are satisfied with the tufting that you have done and fastened off, do a basting stitch around the edge of the circle and pull it up. Make sure that the fabric is evenly distributed around the edge and fasten off.

When you are doing a rectangle like the seat of the couch or a curve like the back you can simply pull the fabric to the back and glue it down. The only problem with that is you have to constantly check to see if everything is even and not pulled to tight. Be careful with your clipping in this case. It is very easy for the beginner to over clip and wind up with a cut that shows on the front.

Oh! And if you are working with stripes, always be sure that they match someplace on the piece.... The last step is to put trim on if you so wish.

Zar got to the sofa first this time! Sorry about that, Tessie!

See you tomorrow.

"Get Off of My Sofa!!!"

OK. I am back to mini normal....Kind of... I did Zar's sofa this morning.

This is an easy build. Since it was all going to be upholstered, I did it with illustration board.

I cut pieces for a box that would end up being seat height and the length of the living room wall.

Then I cut a piece for the back and cut a shape for 1/2 the top on an index card. I traced that on illustration board also.

I cut all of the pieces out and fitted the bottom box together. The piece labeled seat and the back will be tufted.

I marked out where I wanted the tufting to be on the pieces and set Zar to work poking holes with a needle tool. This board is tough, about the same as mat board, so you really need to have holes where you are going to sew.
After that was finished, I put a thin coat of batting to the front of the sofa and covered that with fabric. No tufting there. On the seat and back, I used the higher loft light batting and did two thicknesses.

I didn't bother with the sides or back as the sofa will be built in and not moved.

Starting in the center of each piece and working out to the edges, I used a doubled thread to go through all thicknesses of the board, stuffing and fabric. I went through the same hole both ways in the cardboard, but a few threads away from the original hole on the fabric side.

After finishing the tufting. I wrapped the edges of the fabric around to the back and glued them in place.

The seat part could be hinged, but I didn't. Zar has a way of getting into things that are closed to all but himself.

I put the pieces in place to make sure that the would fit. They still need to be trimmed out and glued.

Tessie also has a way of getting into places that are supposed to be closed to her.

By the time that Zar entered the trailer to see it, Tessie was sitting comfortably on on end with her bag of chips and some cupcakes. Now you know why the title is what it is. Zar has yet to try out his own new sofa.

I do believe that I will tip toe quietly away and let them settle it.

See you tomorrow, with finished sofa and a few comfy pillows.

Couldn't Make Just One....

Well. I did make just one of these, but it was flimsy and needed reinforcing. This is the underside of the lot for the trailer. I spent the morning cutting slats and pieces of packing foam to strengthen the board. The problem is, it was so long that it went a sidewise when I picked it up with the trailer on it. Now it won't do that.

I do have to cover the styrofoam with something. It squeaks when I slide it on the table...Nails on a blackboard come to mind...

I finished the first Kumihimo cord after writing yesterday and it was plain to see that the little loom that I made wasn't going to stand up long.

It was about done for when I finished the first rope.

This morning I made two more looms. I had one of those "aha" moments in the middle of the night last night and this morning I went looking for flip flops at Walmart. I found a pair of gigantic, men's black flip-flops on sale for 1.98.

I stopped next at K Mart and found a couple of solid cork hot pads. Another brainstorm. I am on a roll this morning!

I took a pair of utility shears to the flip flops and cut the widest part into a circle. I pulled out the thong that goes between the toes and cut it off from the bottom. I shaped the piece into a circle. Then I poked a hole and cut a one inch circle out of the center. I marked of 32 evenly spaced places around the outer edge and slashed them with the scissors. Then I got fancy. The commercial looms have a v shape cut where the slits are. If they can do it, so can I.

For the cork one, I simply poked a hole in the center and sanded it, cut slashes on the edge and glued four dowels between the two cork rounds. Oh! I did reinforce the legs with small brads too.

Needless to say, I trashed the first loom. Tessie and I have had several discussions about the 25 pennies that I am using to weight down the cord in the larger loom. She wants to spend it....

I have two cords for pendants finished and a third one started. This is great for when I have to wait for glue to dry. Much more fun than housework!

Another "aha" moment last night. I have decided that this lady is going to live in the radio. I have had her for several years. She came assembled and for some reason the person that did it made her close to six feet tall(in mini).

She really looked strange with other mini people. I think, since the radio is a 20s style re pro, she may just have to let her hair grow out to the natural gray and be an older woman living in the past. She has the "pouter pigeon" bust line of an earlier era.

Don't worry. I am not stopping work on Zar's place for her. I just thought that you might like a look at what's happening.

I have to go back and take the pennyweight bag away from Tessie once more. Maybe I should just give her the pennies and go collect some rocks from the back yard to weight it down instead.

See you tomorrow. Back to minis, I promise!

A Rose and Kumihimo.....

OK.....I am sidetracked once more....

First, after the five drops or so of rain that we had last night, Tessie and I found this on the back patio this morning....Her very own rose. People brag about growing roses as big as their heads. Pure exaggeration....Tessie brags and it's true! She is complaining that it's too big. The heat is getting to the leaves, unfortunately.
Now about the other subject of the title...Yesterday at Wednesday Witches, Joan was doing something that I have wanted to try for a long time. Kumihimo. It is a Japanese way of making braided cords. As I watched her try it for the first time, I decided that I had to have a go at it myself.

She had a circular loom that she had purchased at the Gem and Mineral Show in January. She has much more willpower and a lot less free time than I do. I wouldn't have been able to wait all those months to try it.

When I got home, I started searching the net for information and photos of work. It is really fascinating what people can do with this. I put the word in flickr search and got hundreds of photos of jewelry and other applications that people are using the cords for. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kumihimo If you go here, be sure to grab a cup of coffee and a couple of muffins to sustain you whilst you look...I never did get through the whole thing.

I won't explain how it is done. There are websites all over the place with information and instructions.

Since I didn't want to go out looking for some place to buy a loom, I made one. There are also all kinds of instructions on how to make them. Some people even make them from round stools, by drilling a large hole in the center of the seat....I didn't go that far....Yet....

I made mine from a layer of cardboard for stiffness and two outer layers of fun foam glued together with white glue. It probably won't hold up long, but it will hold up until I get a real one.


Here is what I produced so far. I just used some old over dyed Perle cotton that I had lying around. It really didn't take long to do it and the learning curve is very fast. By watching Joan and then watching a woman on You Tube instructing, I got it right away. At least the simple 8 cord version. It can get much more complicated by adding more cords.

Tessie grabbed the end and started whining...."Can't you make it smaller?" I want some."

The learning curve will have to extend to smaller and smaller....For now I am going to practice some more in big.

This is like potato chips....Never just one...

See you tomorrow.

Very Old Ferns......

When I first started making minis....long ago....someone taught me to make plants from floral tape. I don't even remember who it was now. It was a good way to make plants that were fairly fast and in scale, back when commercial plants were few and far between. I decided to do a few for Zar's trailer landscaping.

I thought I would pass the process on to you. All you need is a roll of green floral tape, some #32 gage green wire and glue....And a good pair of scissors.

I don't measure, because I don't want the fronds to be all the same size and alike. Lets just say that I cut the floral tape between 2 and 2 1/2" long and the wire about 1 1/2".

I lay the tape flat and smear the white glue on 1/2 of the length. Then I fold it over on itself and press it down firmly, so that the wire acts as a center vein in the leaf. Let it dry.

I do the process assembly line style. You will need anywhere from eight to twelve fronds for a fern this size. You can do some painting on these if you wish. I usually use a lighter green tape if I can find it.

After they are dry, go back to the first one and cut it into an arrowhead shape.(see photo) Then cut into both sides of the leaf, close together, to the center wire.

When you get a bunch of them done, shape them and put them in a circular pattern in a pot(or the landscaping) I am going to use these in the landscaping, so I will leave the formation of the plants until I am ready to put them in the ground. I will build up the bed with a layer of dry floral foam. I will cover it with dirt or greenery and then form the ferns in the beds.

I do tulip leaves in the same manner. You can do all kinds of leaves this way. The tulip leaves are done the same way up to the cutting. Then I simply make a long pointed cut on either side of the center vein.

For the tulips, I use green cloth covered wire and put a bend in the end, so that the petals will have something to hang on to when I glue them.

I use six petals. Glue on three close together around the stem. Then glue the second three to cover the seams of the first layer. Very simple.

I a also going to plant these in the dirt, so I stuck them in a pot with floral foam temporarily, so that you can see how they look.

Tessie really likes these and I am going to have to figure out how to break it to her that they are for Zar's garden....Not right now.....

I let her have the pot for now. Next to her, stuck in the floral foam, you can see what the fern looks like. Did I mention that I curl up some short pieces of the green cloth covered wire to put in the center. These are the new leaves coming out.

Anyway, this is Wednesday and as usual, I have to run.

Um.....Tessie...Those flowers aren't yours....

Running now!

See you tomorrow.

Stairs and Stones....

This may look strange, but it works... I finished the staircase this morning.

The chain that I used was very heavy. I was having trouble threading it through all of the holes and getting it to hang right. I would get it through a bunch and the weight of the chain would pull it right back out if I wasn't careful.

After about the third try, I came up with the ball headed pins as a solution. I put one on each side of each ring as I went. This also allowed me to space the swags of chain just right. Yes...I know the one on the end needs to be shortened. The photo was taken before I made everything permanent.

The solution was Gorilla super glue. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I pulled out the first pin and put a drop of super glue in the ring, over the chain. I pulled out the pin on the other side and the chain wasn't going anywhere. I did this to each ring, making sure that the chain was untwisted and hanging exactly where I wanted it, before moving on to the next one.


The staircase is officially finished and safe. Tessie has been running up and down it, grasping at the chain, for the past hour. If it doesn't break now, it never will...

Zar barred her way to the roof. That still isn't fastened down and he didn't want a lawsuit if she fell through.

After I finished with that, I painted the top stones on the shower tower. Then the step to the shower tower.

I did the walkway to the tower and started the rock work around the edge of the property. I still have a ways to go on that.

Where Zar is standing, we will plant flowers. There will probably be more plants around the yard. That will be the next step after I finish the rock work....Speaking of which, I should get back to doing it now...

See you tomorrow.

Stairway to Heaven....

Well, maybe it's not that high.... At least it reaches the roof garden. I am almost done with the railing...The usual excuse. I am waiting for the glue to dry.

I didn't want a solid railing so I cheated a lot. It's more fun that way.

I made the posts with bamboo skewers, a little thicker than the porch posts, painted black and cut to the same length as the ones on the roof garden railing.

Thanks to Jill, I had just the right rings for the top of the posts. They are of flat metal and about 1/16" wide. I pulled the rings apart. They were just a scrap of a necklace or some other piece of jewelry. I fastened them to the top of the posts in three steps.

I cut some metallic gold tape into 1/8" wide strips. I fastened about half of the strip to one side of the post. Then I strung on one of the rings and pulled the strip down tight to the other side of the post, leaving the ring tight in an upright position on the top. The last step was to wrap a piece of the tape around the top of the post underneath the ring. The fourth post in the photo is what it looked like when I was done.

The next problem was how to fasten them to the steps. I already had that one figured out. I took some small metal eyelets and glued them to the steps with the wide end on the bottom. The opening just happens to be the same diameter as the posts.

When those were fairly dry, I put glue in each hole and fitted a post into them.

In answer to your next question...No. I have not gone mad and started building mini stairways to get from one level to the next in the cat tree. That was just a convenient place to put it until it dries.

It is still not completely dry. I will probably wait until tomorrow to string the copper chain through the holes. The chain is pretty heavy and by the time I got two threaded and started on the third, the first one was tilted sideways and not too happy to be holding the chain. If you enlarge the photo, you can see it through two rings to Zar's right, your left.

I took it out right after taking the photo. It needs to dry a lot more.

That is as far as I am going to get today, what with laundry and housekeeping. Real life sometimes gets in the way...

See you tomorrow.

Everyhthing Old is New Again....

I forgot to show you the new apple tree yesterday...So now it's old. Yes, it is unusual to see an apple tree growing in a jug, but in Zar's world anything can happen and usually does. He says that he is feeding it special plant food that keeps the roots small and not too many leaves, but produces an abundance of juicy fruit. Sounds good to me.

April and I met for coffee this morning. After we were finished we headed to Bookman's used book store just a few doors down from Beyond Bread, where we usually meet.

She had credit and I found a couple of books that I couldn't resist. I told her if she let me use her credit, I would supply her with a bunch of books to take back and get more credit.

The first one is one that I drooled over back in the late 60s. At the time it was a very expensive book for the size. It is a book on early textiles and the reason that it was so expensive back then was, it is all color. Not one black and white photo in the whole thing. I am thrilled to find it again. I wore out the Tucson library's copy at the time. I was probably the only person that checked it out for a few years....I loved the photos for ideas for needlepoint designs.
The other book is from 1944 and is called "Square Knot, Tatting, Fringe and Needlework"....They could have saved a lot of printing costs if they would have just called it Mostly Macrame and A Few Pages of Related Work... OK. So they wouldn't have saved any money, but the description fits better.

Tessie and I were rolling on the floor laughing at it before we passed the first few pages and the merriment didn't stop until the last page.

Take a good look at the diagrams on the first page....What's wrong with this diagram? The knots are done right, but....Look again. The tier of knots is a man wearing a dress shirt and suit jacket! I don't think that I have ever seen that before....Who wears a suit to do macrame???

Mind you, in the front of this book there is a book plate and several pages are embossed with "Harvard Library"! Poor Harvard probably discarded it so that they wouldn't be a laughingstock if anyone found it in their stacks! Maybe that's why there is a suit and dress shirt pictured. Could it possibly be that the only person that they could find to pose for the artist was a lawyer? Or maybe this is what they teach lawyers to do in their spare time at Harvard....It's possible!

There are patterns for dog harnesses and leashes, cigarette cases, many belts, lots of purses/bags, and bath slippers. There is even a bathrobe cord, described as a wampum belt....OK. Enough about lawyers doing macrame...

April had a surprise for me. It was a box from Seth's mom. She finds wonderful things in Phoenix thrift shops. She sends boxes of goodies every once in a while....This one has been hiding with Seth's photography equipment for about a year. April just found it yesterday when she was cleaning.

You may have to poke the photo to see everything. She sent Tessie a tiny silver witch on a broomstick and Zar immediately grabbed a square finding and a stud earring and made the flask that is in his lap. He also found a tiny silver frog. It is in his left hand, but very hard to see.

Anyway, thanks Jill for all the goodies! Tessie and Zar loved the selection of beads, chains, shells and other items. They are now divvying them up. No fights so far....

Last but not least, all of those macrame recipes got me in the mood to tie knots....That is, if I can stop reading that thing and laughing. I stopped long enough to string up the beading loom for a door mat for the trailer....Maybe....Or maybe I will just keep reading and giggling a lot.

See you tomorrow.

Before and After Day....

On the way home from town this morning, I stopped at a garage sale as they were putting things out to sell. I lucked out! I found this radio case for $3.00.

Nope. There's nothing inside, but there will be. Zar and Tessie are both vying for it. Zar wants a laboratory and just plain wants it.

Scott's Liquid Gold is my friend...I relegated Zar and Tessie to the other side of the table and went to work.

After less than five minutes, this is what the case looked like. That stuff is amazing. It looks even better up close and personal...

I got the back off and there is lots of room inside. The only problem is the front is glued as well as nailed in place. This might be a tough one.

I am playing hooky from the trailer this morning. I was looking at lap desks at Walmart this morning. The ones that they have this year aren't as big as they have been in the past and twice as expensive.

Being a cheapskate, I decided to go with the old one and fix it up.

Another before photo. As you can see, lots of paint and glue stuck to the surface, not to mention cuts from Exacto blades.

This one is just the right size and I use it a lot. So.....Here goes. I purchased some sticky backed cork drawer liner. That's all....I had glue, fabric and everything else to do what I had in mind.

This desk has the soft pillow underneath attached with Velcro. I pulled that off and went to work.

I cut strips of fabric about 3" wide, long enough to go around the edge of the desk and over lap just a little. I had to do it in two strips cut crosswise of the fabric.

Starting at one side, I glued the strip to the back, even with the edge of the Velcro and turned up to the side in one pass. I clipped the corners so that the bottom would be wrapped neatly.

Then I flipped it over and trimmed the edge of the fabric all around so that there was no more than an inch to wrap to the front and glue. In this particular case, I had to cover an indentation meant for pencils. I didn't want to lose that feature or I would have just ignored this step. I cut a piece of fabric long enough to glue inside and come out over the edge of the indentation about a half inch, making sure that all of the edges were glued down securely.

Next, I cut a paper pattern for the cork piece to go on top, with a hole where the indentation was.

The tough part was getting the paper off and this piece on evenly. I started with the corner where the pencil well is and worked to the opposite diagonal corner. The cork has a tough backing on it, so I was able to lift and reposition it a couple of times, here and there. (If you try this, save the scraps for minis. I make soles for espadrilles with this stuff.)

When that was straight, I glued a small self-healing mat to the left corner. Then I decided that I needed a pincushion to match. I used an 6" circle of matching fabric to make a yo-yo and stuffed it with batting. I then used green pearl cotton to section it off like a red tomato type pincushion, with a green button in the center to match the cutting board. Poke the picture, if you want to see it closer.

I now have a brand new, better than store bought, lap desk. I guess that there is no longer an excuse not to go work on minis. No. Wait. There is. I don't want to get my new lap desk messed up!

See you tomorrow.

"It Needs a Bigger Tree!"

I heard no "Thank you for the safety rails!" No "Nice work, Casey!". After spending the morning building the wrought iron...(wood) railings to go around the top of the trailer, all I got was the title of this entry...

I managed to find just enough channel molding to make the railings. I had about a quarter of an inch left over....Don't tell anybody, but I had to make the garden portion a bit smaller than I was going to. But now that I have it done, I kind of like it.As you can see, I cut the channel molding to the length that I needed for each si

de. One top and one bottom piece for each. Then I tore apart one of those handy dandy bamboo place mats. I cut those in two and a half inch pieces.

I then marked the channel at one inch intervals. I glued the uprights between the top and bottom rails. The corner posts were cut at 3" so that I would have a bit of room underneath the bottom rail to sweep the dirt off of the roof.

When I had it all glued together, I painted it black and put it in place.

I put the plants in place and the Terrible Two came to look.

They completely ignored me. Zar perched on the corner of the fence and Tessie ventured out a couple of steps.

They had the poor little apple tree in the center of the garden area. I hate to admit it, but they were right. It needs a bigger tree. The little one is hard to see.

I went and borrowed the orange tree out of the mid century modern room.

Zar put it in the corner....They were right for once. Much better....In fact, perhaps even a bit larger would look good.

That only means that I will be stuck(pardon the pun)gluing on foliage, leaf by leaf, for hours. I don't trust them with the glue. If they did it, they would attempt to glue one another to the side of the trailer or something even worse. And I am sure that they could come up with something even worse.

I still have to do the railing up the stairs on the other end of the trailer....No more channel molding. I will have to think on this problem whilst sticking on leaves.

See you tomorrow.

Getting Potted....Plants

Thanks to all of you that commented on my missing blog problem. Susan, thanks for telling me where I put the question on Google...

I decided to do something non threatening for the rest of the morning....Getting potted sounded good....No not that kind of potted. I made plants for Zar....Very easy plants to more complicated, in that order.

First, I pulled out this cute little topiary plant that I spotted at Walmart the other day. I had no intention of using it in real life. As soon as I saw it, I had visions of mini plants. It works great.

The little sprigs are forced into a styrofoam ball, painted black. Each one makes a passable house plant. They are different sizes, so the plants derived from it are not identical. In fact, the two in the pots on the floor are about 3/4" different.

I couldn't find my floral foam block(yes I know I should clean my workroom when I can't find something that large). I spotted the moss covered forms that I purchased a while ago. They would do in a pinch. I grabbed a steak knife and started sawing on one. Hey! All of the plants are now in pots with moss growing on top of the soil. Whatever works!

Nest I did a small Apple tree in a pot. That called for one sprig of dried Nandina and a bunch of punched out apple leaves. The red"apples" are the seed pods for the plant. You have to love a plant that provides mini apples! All I had to do is add a few leaves.

The third project was a bed of pumpkins. I found the terracotta tray in my stash....I added some of the moss covered rock. Hey. This is fantasy. Zar can have moss covered dirt in his pumpkin patch if he wants it!

Next I twisted some green covered floral wire together to form stems and branches, glued those and some pumpkin pods onto the moss. Strangly, all of Zar's pumpkins ripen at the same time. With this one, I coiled the ends of the stems and added leaves to complete the crop.

I still have to do the wrought iron railing for the roof, so nobody falls off. Zar is dangerously close to the edge...Just behind him is the curved part of the roof.

Anyway, that's my mini-ing for the day. The afternoon will be spent finishing laundry and swamping out the workroom. I guess I should get started.

See you tomorrow.