Travelin' With Tessie........

"Well! You can't expect me to grab onto the strap of you purse and hang on when I want to go somewhere! You won't work on my travel trailer. The least you could do is provide me with somewhere comfortable to be when I want to tag along."

That was Tessie this morning. She disappeared after that little speech.

The next thing I knew, she had gathered supplies for what she considered a new mode of transportation.

There was one of the magnetic storage boxes from Michael's, one of the bamboo place mats, an old unused window and some foam core.

"Here's the plan! First you cut a hole in the bottom of the box and it becomes the side. We will put a window there, so that I can see where we are going. I am NOT flying blind!"

She had put quite a bit of thought into this project....I decided to take over. It would be faster than trying to side step her plan.

Next we cut a piece of foam core to fit around the window. It's thicker than the wall. I simply cut it to size, slid it into the box and traced around the window hole from outside.

Then I cut bamboo strips to the width of the box and glued them in for flooring. They will have to be sanded. They are a bit rounded on top, unlike the ones that I used to get. Then I will stain them.

I will need to do wall paper and curtains or a valance and flat trim around the edge of the window. I will probably do that with the bamboo too.

Then I will run baseboard around the bottom edges and put some kind of handle on the outside.

Not too bad for a fast project. By tomorrow, it should be finished.

Tessie is in the workroom looking for a chair with a seat belt now.....Yes, I said seat belt. She doesn't trust my driving. I think that she is going to have to improvise on that one.

She also announced that she will have to have someplace to put her beverages, snacks and maybe a few books......She does like traveling in comfort.....

This is getting more complicated by the minute. She wanted to call it the "Tardis". I talked her out of that. I told her that Doctor Who has a copyright on that one....Now she is referring to it as the "Magic Box". She explained it with, "You see, I get into the box, and it takes me where I want to go"......Dream on Tessie.....

I am going to have to go now. She needs to be restrained.....

See you tomorrow.

More Rocks.....

Continuing on from yesterday. First of all, thanks for all of the birthday wishes. I have orders from Walter to do no cooking or work today, so I guess I will just sit here and stare at the walls.....Or not. Minis aren't work, are they?

Anyway, this is one of the smaller tents outside that carries an assortment of gemstone beads. They are sold by the strand for making your own jewelry.
The next tent over has seed beads in all sizes and colors. Most are 3.oo a hank. Have bought from them for years. This year, I decided that I had enough. And besides, the actual bead show hasn't started yet.....

Walter took the rest of these photos. Seth took some too, but I couldn't get the zip files to open right. Maybe those will be seen another day.

This guy was about seven feet tall and his torso and head were quartz crystal. The rest of him was rusty metal.

This one was one of my favorites. That boulder weighs several hundred pounds. It was about four feet across. It is nested in a rusty stand that looks like tree branches.

April wanted this guy for her back yard. He didn't look like rock...I think some kind of ceramic maybe.

Last, but not least, this booth had nothing but meteorites! The smallest one, about the size of a baby's fist, was priced at $80.00 from there, the prices skyrocketed....No pun intended.

If you want to see some more of the things that are being displayed and sold, here is one of the official web pages with photos. If you search around in this website, there is more show info. I found out that there are 49 locations for the show this year. You have to realize that some of these are some of our largest hotels, literally taken over by dealers! It would be physically impossible to see it all in the time that it is here. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the tour. http://tucsongemandmineralshows.net/tucson-show-photographs.htm Be sure to poke the photos.

There may be more after the bead shows opens, if I go.

See you tomorrow. Tessie says, "Hi!"

Throwing Rocks.....

This is one place that it wouldn't be wise to start doing that. We had a great Mexican food lunch at our favorite place, Micha's and then hit Tucson Electric Park(baseball field for the Toros) for the first day of the gem show.

This is only one of many sites all over Tucson, but it has become the one that we always seem to like best for the first day.

Here goes with the photos..See the big wooden boxes at the right of this photo? Each one holds just one amethyst formation. This is how they are shipped in, by the hundreds.

This is just a small portion of what is displayed here. Multiply that by many times with all of the other sites that sell them during the next couple of weeks. I left the people in the edge of the photo for scale. These are not the only gems that they sell in these kind of geode formations. These are just how they come out of the ground.

Other minerals come in raw, by the crate and barrel, literally.

Some people sell by the piece and others sell by the pound.

This is one of four loosely staggered aisles of tents on the grounds,behind four larger tents at the front of the park. Way at the back of the photo you can see one of the big tents.

It's not only raw gems and minerals. Here we have a couple of carved lions for your front lawn. Want to buy a blue boulder? That's the natural color of the rocks.

Speaking of natural colors.... There were tables like this one scattered all over. This one was about 30 feet long!

Here they were selling huge pieces of petrified wood and that big blue thing is another gem stone of some kind!

For today, I will leave you with the Buddha that was for sale at one of the tents.

They not only sell rocks, they sell sculptures, lots of jewelry from all over the world and you can even get all kinds of exotic food if you get hungry.

It's definitely like no other place in the world for two weeks or so.

I will show you more tomorrow. Did I tell you that the bead shows start on Wednesday? I didn't buy anything today, but I am making no promises not to spend money when those open!

See you tomorrow.

Almost Here....

First of all, it's kind of difficult to type with a cat sitting on the keyboard...

I didn't get a lot of mini-ing done this morning. Walter is out playing golf and I wandered away from home to one of the antique malls that I don't often visit. Wandering around was all I did. I didn't buy one thing. It was a nice two hours, but not at all productive.
I did part of one basket this morning before I left. It is the same shape and coiling technique as ones that were found in King Tut's tomb. It needs to be bigger, so I will finish this one and start over...

I noticed that I have 600 followers as of last night...I am going to wait to have a drawing. Another momentous occasion is almost here. On Feburary 23, 2011 I will have been writing this blog for three years. Every day. Once in a while twice a day. Who would have thought that my six year old's brain could keep doing it over and over for that long? Not me. Would never have dreamed that I could stick to it that long. With this post, I will have written to you 1,227 times!

Another "Almost here" is my birthday on Sunday. I am not telling you how old I will be. You would probably dig a hole, insist I lie down in it, and start shoveling dirt over me! Well, maybe I'm not quite ready for that yet.....

Another "Almost here" is the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. It starts tomorrow. For the last couple of years, we have gone out, to celebrate my birthday, for lunch and to the show with Seth and April. I will have a report for you on it in tomorrow's blog.

Now for the last "Almost here...."

Guess what is on the agenda for the rest of the day? If I can manage to force the door open, I will be in the workroom cleaning if you need me.....I am off to find a piece of sturdy rope to tie between my ankle and the door handle.

See you tomorrow.

An Award...Twice

Last night I received this award from Maria Jose over at Mi Mini Rincon. http://elrincondemaluga.blogspot.com/ This morning I also received it from Kathi at Beautiful mini Blessings http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/

It originated from Arte y Picohttp://arteypico.blogspot.com/ My Spanish is not very good but I think that it is for creating great art. At least that's what Babel Fish tells me.

Thank you both so much. I am supposed to pass it on to five others, if I am understanding it right. It's not easy choosing just five, but here goes.

In no special order.

Iseecerulean http://iseeblue.typepad.com/iseecerulean/

Dollhouse Miniature Furniture/Tutorials/ 1 Inch Minis

http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/

Susan's Mini Homes http://susanshouses.blogspot.com/

A Beautiful World http://josje-bouwt.blogspot.com/

Genevieve's Miniacollection http://genevieveminiacollection.blogspot.com/

Go see these mini people. They are fun to visit.

One Basket More....

I finished the basket that Tessie is holding at the Wednesday Witches' meeting yesterday....That's about all I did.

I made her stand on the opposite end of the basket shop so that you could get a good look on that side.

This morning I went to the post office and when I came out, my car didn't want to go home. I went to Michael's and was very glad that I did. They have bins at the front of the store, filled with odds and ends for a dollar . If you live near a Michael's and need wood flooring, run, don't walk. I found these place mats for a dollar each. They are very nicely finished bamboo slats with unfinished dowels between the boards.

Here's a close up. All you have to do is cut the strings and pull them apart. They come in several colors and would be useful for a lot of things.

After Michael's, I hit Home Goods, that is just a few doors down in the same center. They are running a clearance of 60% off on some items. Christmas items were one of the categories....Tessie benefits, once again. I bought her a bird feeder.

To her, it's not a bird feeder. It is a one person, "I want to be alone." gazebo. The only thing Christmas-y about it is the three wreaths that hang on the sides. They are just hung on eye rings and can easily be removed. I may knock out one section of the railing, but nothing else really needs to be done to it.

You know that I can't leave well enough alone. It may not look the same the next time you see it.

All it really needs is a wicker chair and a small table for a drink and cookies.

She is back to making a list and checking it twice....I wonder if she is related to Santa Claus?

Anyway, she has lots for me to do on the list now.

See you tomorrow.

I Am Going to Be a Basket Case......

After much discussion, this morning Tessie and Zar installed a shelf across the front of the room. It spans the entire length of the wall....Just what I needed. A space for more baskets.

I didn't have to do the shelf, but the installation took a a worrisome turn when they propped it up with one of the baskets and another shelf board. Thank goodness they didn't have a place to install that one....Don't you dare tell them that it would fit high on the left hand wall! Hush!

Tessie didn't even wait until the glue was dry to start moving baskets up on the shelf. It is not full and there are holes on all of the other shelves. I begged her to wait. Thank goodness they used Aleene's Quick Drying glue. So far the shelf is holding...Fingers crossed.

This is the sum total of what I produced yesterday. Somebody shoo the squirrel out before he has a basket for lunch. Please?

The top one is a coiled tray basket with open weave in places.

The bottom row is a plain basket bottom. Next is a finished basket with an open weave row on the side and several open weave rows on the top. It is just an art piece. No utilitarian value. Next is the squirrel...After him is a half finished tray basket with two colors of Threadworx overdyed color. You saw the blue feather basket yesterday. And the last one is a partially finished similar to the blue feather one.(Actually, I only did a couple of rows on that one yesterday. It was already started.


I finally found a place for one of my favorite pieces. It is a wall hanging and seems to fit nicely over the top of the shelves on the left side. Hopefully, that will distract Tessie and Zar from putting a shelf on that side. As you can see, there are already holes to fill.

I really think that we have enough shelving to fill. I am now taking away the tools and banishing the two carpenters to the townhouse for the rest of the day.

I am off to Wednesday Witches mini meeting and I really don't want them building while I am away. I could wind up with a whole other room to fill with baskets. No more. Please!

See you tomorrow.

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop.....

I can't stand it....There is something going on with Tessie. The universe is tilting sideways and she is being nice two days in a row.....

I found out yesterday that I am going to be doing a talk and demo on basket weaving at the Mini Time Machine Museum next month. I decided that it would be a good idea to get some more baskets going today. I have a whole basket shop full, but there are never enough baskets.

People have been making them for thousands of years and will be making them for thousands of years after we are gone.

I have an accidental collection of baskets in real life. My prized possession is this one. It is hand made and over 100 years old. It was passed down from my great grandmother on my dad's side of the family and is a working farm basket. It sits by my bed with my current knitting project in it. It's one of Tessie's favorite spots to relax.

As I am looking at it, I am thinking that it needs to be copied.

Anyway, I finished a couple of baskets that I had started way before Christmas. See. Things do get done eventually....

Tessie even helped for a while. She is learning to weave, but loses interest after just a short time....I am a bad influence.

She is good at faking it though, so comes in handy for holding the baskets that I am working on, to be photographed.

This is one that I finished this morning. It has real feathers and real turquoise chips fastened to the top.

This one was twined up to the top and I couldn't decide how to finish it....This morning I discovered that the waxed linen thread that I used for spokes could be curled on a fine knitting needle. Tessie likes this one. She says."It tickles my nose and makes me sneeze!". Then she does a very loud, fake theatrical sneeze.

I do think that it gives the basket personality. And you don't have to put a bouquet inside.

After she tired of "helping", she asked for the keys to the basket workshop. I am going to take that along to the museum. I think that she is angling for a way to go with me. She went once before, when the museum first opened and made friends with Katlin, the resident fairy.


Maybe there is hope for her yet. When I went to check out the basket workshop, I found her sitting, with her feet up and a half woven basket in her lap.....Never mind that she didn't have any reed at hand to finish it. She looks like she is weaving and that is what is important.

At least she's not jumping around and begging me to take her with me.....Not yet..... It's coming...I can tell.....Shhhhh....Don't encourage her.

See you tomorrow.

A New Friend....

He won't be a friend when he grows up, but for now I won't chase him away. I looked out the kitchen window and saw this baby roadrunner. Right now he is about the size of the doves that hang around here. When he grows up, he will be about three times the size and have the doves for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Poor little guy. The doves were rolling on the floor laughing at him. Nothing ferocious about him.

I am being obstinate this morning. I got out this little hanging shelf unit and started messing with it. I was all ready for a big argument with Tessie. I assumed that she would want me working on the travel trailer, so I decided to face her if need be.

I started staining the front edges with a Minwax Early American stain pen. Love those things for tiny places that need stain.

She showed up after I finished staining and started pulling out quarter scale paper for the insides.

I braced myself for the fight.....Nothing happened. In fact, she started helping find papers for each room!

I held my breath and asked in surprise, "Tessie, you're helping me?"

She replied, "Of course. I don't have anything else to do until I decide what style I want in the new travel trailer."

I just about fell off of my chair.

Then she said, "I am going to take my time and not rush into it. I am making a list of changes and additions that I want." and then, "By the way, I kicked Zar out of the townhouse, so you had better find him a place to be."

Nice. Now poor Zar is without a place to sleep and I'll bet that she cuts off his cupcake supply, since she doesn't need to be nice to him anymore.

Actually, the bedroom bathroom and workroom in his Clockwork cottage is livable, so I guess he can go back there for now.

I am beginning to see a pattern here....I tend to start at the top and work down on dollhouses. Then I get bored and go on to something else. Everything gets finished eventually. It just takes time and regaining interest in a project.

I am working on the quarter inch thing just for today. I really don't have a specific plan for it, so I am not in a hurry to finish the wallpaper.

I am doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and specifically the refrigerator this morning, so I probably won't get much more done today.

While I am thinking about it though, I wanted to show you a handy tool to have if you are into quarter inch.

This is a plastic template made by Charvoz, a drafting company based in Germany. Evidently some of their stuff is made here in the states.

This piece is a template for different pieces of furniture in quarter inch scale. Decorators and architects use it to lay out floor plans.

It is great for us mini people, because we can instantly figure out what goes in a room, using a quad rule tablet to lay things out.

I quite often use it when doing quarter scale rooms to mark off the actual furniture. Beds, chairs, tables and even a baby grand piano are on the sheet.

I got this one many years ago at an art store that carried drafting supplies, but I imagine that they are still available....Anyway, if you are into quarter inch, this is an invaluable tool to have.

Since Tessie is happily picking out wallpaper and I can't even get a good argument out of her, I am going back to housework...Bah Humbug!

See you tomorrow.

Now Stop That!!!

"OK. You can do one thing on the cottage and then you have to work on my project." That was Tessie, at seven this morning.

I decided to finish the roof on the stove extension for the Russian cottage. It was just a vast hole before I started.

I dug through the Clockwork cottage drawer and found a "wall" that I knew that I wasn't using.....Amazing. It was exactly the right size for the roof. I did have to cut off its little ears, that would have fit in the slots in the house. Other than that, I just glued it on the house and started shingling.

About an hour later, Tessie volunteered to pose with it....I think that she was hopeful that it would end there. It didn't.

I then went on to finish the corner trim on the front and sides of the house.

When working with the calendar slats, the ends are usually pretty rough and have to be covered. I did this with strips of 1/16" by 1/4" stock. First I cut and put pieces on the side walls and then fitted the front pieces over those.

Again, when I was finished, Tessie jumped in and posed...Again, she thought that I would change projects....Nope.
I then saw that I had still not painted the brick foundation on three sides. I did the first side all the way to see how it was going to look and then the six year old part of my brain lost interest.

Now it is 10:00 and the foundation is done. I am going to have to go back and repaint some of the walls where I colored outside the lines.

Of course Tessie pointed out all of the spots that needed fixing. She's not too smart sometimes. If she hadn't said anything, I would probably have left the touch up until tomorrow. Now I am obligated to go back with brush in hand and go over all of the messy spots.

After she finished pointing out all of my mess ups with glee, she turned to me and said, "Now can we work on my trailer?

I answered, "Seriously? After three hours at this, I don't even get a break?"

"No! Trailer now!" she yelled.

I looked her straight in the eye and told her, "You're right Tessie. No trailer now." Then I walked away, grabbed a Dr.Pepper and my iPad, and locked her out of the bedroom. I am enjoying some me time....She is not.

I hear pounding and a lot of rattling. Do you suppose that she is building the trailer herself? Oops. My mistake. I think that she is using tools and trying to get the door open.

Please excuse me while I put a chair under the door knob. Let her bang and rattle. I have earphones! Score one for Casey!

See you tomorrow.

Oh No! Not Again!!!

Remember the teeny tiny travel trailer? Tessie kept telling me that she should have one like it, in which to travel.....I told her that I didn't need another project and she couldn't have one.

Evidently, Kathy over at "Beautiful Mini Blessings" http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/ was eavesdropping on our debate.....and decided to come down on Tessie's side of the argument...

Yesterday afternoon, when Walter brought in the mail, he was carrying a long, flat box. It was from Kathi. I suspected what the contents were, even before I opened it.

It was a Greenleaf travel trailer kit. Kathi, being a good friend of Tessie's sent the kit. However, it was addressed to me. Not Tessie. So I opened it. The note inside read.....Casey, One less project for me. One MORE for you! Blessings, Kathi. Have Fun!

Fool that I am, I opened it whilst Tessie was in the room....

She jumped right in, without invitation or hesitation. And the first words out of her mouth were...."MINE!!! All Mine!!!" She was practically purring.

She found the directions and immediately started making plans.

I tried to reason with her. "But Tessie, we still have to finish the townhouse and the Russian cottage."

She glowered at me and said through her teeth. "What townhouse? That is going to take months." Then she followed with, "The Russian cottage doesn't belong to me. You said so yourself. I am not responsible if it isn't finished. Maybe you can work on that on Thursdays."

The next thing I knew, she was gloating at Zar. It's not nice to gloat when a friend's Clockwork Cottage is sitting high on a shelf in the workroom, waiting to be finished.

I pulled her aside and told her to knock it off.

She did....Then I heard her, in her sweetest voice, "Zar, I need help convincing Casey to build this for me as a temporary home. She turned my cottage into a hat shop and sewing nook.(as if that was my idea) You can stay in the part of the townhouse that is finished if I can get this built." And then I heard, "Pretty please, and I will throw in all of the cupcakes and tea that you can devour...."

Now all she has to do is convince me to change horses in the middle of the stream, as they say....

Thanks Kathi! It was a wonderful gift. I have the feeling that you won't be alone in taking a stand on Tessie's side....

So far, I am resisting the urge....Wish me luck...

See you tomorrow.

Continuing Witches

You seemed to enjoy seeing some of the other witches I have done. So I decided to do one more day of "Old Witches"

This is Gertie. The poor woman has been hanging from the broom landing at the Witches Warehouse ever since it was built. Nobody seems to want to come to her rescue for fear of a retaliation spell.... She has reason to be irritated! Her broken broom is beneath her on the ground. She is Tessie's aunt.

You have all met Esmirelda before. I just never bothered with a close up. She is Tessie's sister and part owner of the warehouse. She solved the problem of keeping the hair out of her eyes by hiring a spider to weave hairnets around her, daily.

Unfortunately, the witches are not tidy. At one time we actually had some baby spiders (for real) living in the store. They spun the most perfect tiny webs. I had to release them to the wild after they grew a bit. The webs kind of disappeared after that.

Oops! Guess who just stormed into the computer room, demanding equal time. I knew that the quiet spell was not going to last. Yup. I have a few spells of my own.

She just bounced up onto the Webster's Universal College Dictionary. That's her favorite place for commanding my attention when I am writing. Eye level....

She had a jug of something questionable in her hand and she was glowering at me. I waited for the axe to fall.....She very quietly said, "I insist that you put me in this entry. After all, it's about witches and about my family." Then she hissed...."Or else....."

I didn't ask, "Or else what?" I am smarter than that. I grabbed the camera and snapped. She is now back to her normal(?) happy self, asking me sweetly to make her something new.... As for me, I am going to go make her something new to appease her now. I value my life......

See you tomorrow.

Old Witches......

Today, I thought that you might like to see some of my earlier witchy friends. One year the Tucson Miniature Society had a show that landed on Halloween....Our Wednesday group members were also all members of TMS at the time. It was decided that the theme of that year's show would be "Things That Go Bump in the Night". Our group all decided that we would wear pointy hats and black clothes. We didn't tell the rest of TMS that we were doing it....Upon seeing us, they immediately started calling us the Wednesday Witches....That's how we got the name of our group. It was at least ten years after we started meeting.

As usual, I am sidetracked. Back to the witches in the photos. Also as a group, we decided that each of the Wednesday group would do some kind of shop or house with a witch theme.

I apologise for the quality of the photos. They are some that I took way back then and this morning when I decided to do this, I couldn't get the scanner to work. So.....I took pics with my Canon and got them into the computer that way.

The first one is Carol Bergstrom's witchy beauty shop. Both of the witches are mine.

Its hard to see, but the redhead has rollers in her hair and the witch has hairpins sticking out of her mouth.


This one is a witchy exercise salon....Note the sweats and legwarmers on this one. Again, I am sorry that it is hard to see. Alicia Duncan used fabric on the walls of the bottom floor and carried it up to the pillows on the couch on the second floor.

I did the witch, the couch and the draped table in this one.

The next scene is a kitchen in a ten gallon aquarium. I taught it to the rest of the witches and this was the prototype. I no longer have it. After we finished building them, we donated the box to the NAME National convention as a raffle item. I contributed the box and the witches the rest of the furnishings were supplied by other members of the group.


Here's a closer look at the witch on the right.

I was into more witchy looking witches back then.

I no longer feel that you have to have a beak for a nose and a pointy chin to be a witch.

Now all you need is sharp fingernails with a different mini house painted on each one.....I spent an afternoon painting houses on false fingernails one year for the show.

Unfortunately in moving, I lost most of them and never talked myself into doing it again...Maybe some day I will waste another afternoon with a tiny paintbrush....Maybe.

For now, I am too busy to mess with false nails. I think that I will stick to arguing with Tessie. It's much more fun.

See you tomorrow.