Let's Get This Party Started!!!

I am finished!!! This was a fun project. Thanks HBS for furnishing me with the kit! 

I felt like I could do anything with it.  I didn't have to win a contest.  I like that kind of project.  Just having fun.

Now I want to move into this place.

I like Tiny Houses... I look at all of the HGTV programs on building and buying those.  This is the one that I would like to live in.

About the roof.  This is what I did. 

I put a skylight in and painted the roof green.  Then I cut up, at random, some foam blocks that I got at Dollar Tree. 

I got the foliage at a train store.  Glued that over the blocks and made sure that they covered the edges of the roof as well as going down on some of the trees, part way.

This morning, when the party got underway, the witches took over the roof.  They are more at home up there.

Tessie is the only witch that feels comfy in small spaces.

The dogs took over the bathroom.  Private doggy party there.

The gang filled up the rest of the house. Not a lot of room left.

If you were wondering where Tessie went, she is in the kitchen. 

She is still adding things to the Bat Wing Stew.

More people keep arriving.  More bat wings have to be added.  There are mice running all around the house. 

I think that I told you once before.  Tessie puts a spell on the bats to turn them into mice and the wings fall off.  Painlessly.  No left over parts that way. Just a lot of confused mice trying to fly...

Anyway, dinner will be ready in just a little while... It will be served on trays.  The table just isn't big enough for this crowd!

I have to go now and dream up something new to work on.

See you tomorrow.

Move-In Ready.... Or Not...

 

Tessie decided it was time.  This morning I heard a disturbance coming from the Forest Fantasy Cottage...

Never mind that it doesn't yet have a roof.  Never mind that the kitchen isn't fully stocked.  Never mind that the fireplace doesn't have any equipment...

She moved in. Lock, stock and barrel...

She simply plonked down her suitcases in the bathroom and went to the kitchen.

She didn't stay there long.  I only had two cans of food on the shelves.  That didn't matter.  She whipped up a new batch of Bat Wing Stew and went merrily on her way to the living room...

I can't stay here much longer.  I left her there with a box of matches.  The fireplace is not ready to light. There are no fire dogs or other implements yet.

She only has three chocolate cupcakes to eat.  Then she is going to want to light the logs.

 I did leave Zar there with instructions to keep her from setting the cottage on fire... The only problem with that plan is, he has more treats to eat than she does...

He seems to be keeping his eye on her... The question is, will he stop eating when she opens the match box?

All of my work may go up in smoke.  I had better go  back in there and take the matches away from her myself.

Tomorrow, I will either have a finished cottage or a big pile of ashes... Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow with one or the other!

Happy Birthday Amare!!!

Today Amare is 4 years Old!  It seems like just yesterday he came into our lives.  He is a VIP around here!

I won't be seeing him today other than on the I Pad.  April has a cold and I am not supposed be around that kind of thing right now.

We are going to celebrate some more on Thanksgiving, so I won't miss out.

Now.  About the Forest Fantasy Cottage.  I have decided that the deadline for finishing this is Monday.  I have fooled around long enough. 

I have to get ready for Christmas and start something new in mini!

The top photo is floating shelves that will be installed in the kitchen later today.

The second photo is of the counter tops.  Closer to being finished.  The Bat Wing stew was back on the stove when I took photos of the counter... Tessie zapped it back... I am about to zap it out to the garbage pail.  Again.


I thought I would show you the start of a pin cushion that I am doing for a Christmas gift.  This is some of the thread that I bought at the thrift shop.  I just sat down with a #5 hook and thread last night and this is what came out. There was no pattern involved.  I just kept messing around until I liked what I had. 

Now all I have to do is make a pincushion to go beneath it.

Back to the shelves.

See you tomorrow.

Do You Smell Batwings???

OK.  I finished the counter top.  I installed the cupboards, appliances and the counter top...

These were my weapons of choice.  Minus the sponge... Forgot to include that.

The base paint is hiding under the brushes.  It is  Bamboo Ceramacoat.

Besides that, I used pewter gray, gold, yellow ochre and Van Dyke Brown. 

 Here you see the bamboo coated piece in the front.  In the back I am starting to add the other colors.  Slowly...

Then I went and got the sponge and went to work for serious...

Then I added a coat of gloss varnish.

Unfortunately, I then started merrily installing the pieces in the kitchen.  I forgot to take more photos...Oops.

You will have to wait until tomorrow to see them finished...

I got the cook top installed... No electricity yet. No handles or knobs yet...

But we do have Tessie's pot of bat wing stew right in the middle of the non working stove.  It is beginning to stink! 

She says that it's my imagination... I say it stinks!

She says that it will be fine... I say I don't think so... Zar agrees with me for once!

That's how things stand at present.  I am going back in there now and grab the stew and take it straight out to the garbage can!  She will just have to make a new batch when the stove works! 

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Progress???

Yup. That's what I am calling it.

I got the counter tops cut this morning and am still adjusting the center portion of the stove top counter.  Getting there slowly but surely...

I found this paper for the back splash this morning. It is some that I have had in my stash for a while. I think that it will go well with the walnut and the counter top.

This is the stone that I decided to use. no.  It's not shiny yet...

I found the paper whilst digging through the wallpaper drawer, looking for something to make canisters. 

Yes, those are the unmentionable Tampex tubes.  They are what they are.  They work great for making canisters that are opening and also non opening. 

The one that you see is a non opening kind that I made a few years ago to go in a kitchen box.  I simply added paper and red bunka to that one. 

I doubt that I will go to the trouble of making the opening kind, since I doubt that anybody is going to reach into the kitchen, drag one out and try to open it.

For the rest of the morning, I am going to be working on getting the kitchen done.  I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I have to make the morning count.

See you tomorrow.

Toe Kick!

OK.  I just spent the morning tearing apart the counters that I put together.

Tessie inspected and told me, "I can't work in a kitchen that doesn't have any place to put my toes!".

So... I started tearing apart what I had put together and cut out a toe kick on the counters. 

I just kind of pushed it into place to see how they would fit.  They will, so I am not messing with them.  I am just going to put together the real thing.  Enough already with the mock ups!


Please notice that I have the sink hole cut out and filled. 

It was smaller, but as luck would have it... Tessie came in just in time and told me, "I can't have a sink that isn't big enough for a baby tiger.  You know how Theo likes his baths!"

OK. The sink is large enough now.

While I am working around him, Zar  and the baby bull are sitting around eating cookies and drinking who knows what? 

Tessie keeps being nice to them... She needs someone to watch the house when she isn't around.  Zar seems to fit the bill most of the time. 

All she has to do is keep him in cookies and he is happy to house sit. 

Anyway, I am well on my way to the finish line.  Even if there are a few toe kick type set backs.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Needs a Second Coat...

No.  Not Tessie.  The walls of the kitchen and dining area...

As soon as I finished the first coat this morning... Tessie bounced in and asked when I was going to finish the cabinet for all of her extra stuff. 

I told her that it was finished.  That got her out of the kitchen where I needed to paint.

 She proceeded to fill the cupboard in question with anything and everything she could find... Cat food... To my knowledge, she doesn't even have a cat.  Canned goods, pots and pans, detergent, silver goblets and even cones for ice cream...

I think that she fears that, if she doesn't fill it, I will take it away...

Zar is the one that I feel sorry for.  Those pumpkin/Halloween cookies that she plonked down in front of him were in with the other kitchen stuff... I think that they were made at least two or three years ago...

She told him that she made them this morning.  I refuse to be Dr. Casey to his stomach ache!  It is Dr. Tessie's fault.  Let her be the one to administer the pills and tummy rubs!

I also got all of the boards for the kitchen stained this morning... We are moving right along! Only a couple more days and I can move on to the next project!  Yay!

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

The Council Has Decided....

If Tessie needs back up, she always calls Zar.   He is such a "Yes" man...

I was building shelves and she came in and dropped these two cabinets on me.

She explained that she didn't need more shelves for books.  She wanted storage for dishes and food.  Not enough in the kitchen.

I kind of was leaning towards the one that you see in the background.  More open space.

 Nope.  She had back up.  And they both said the tall cabinet.

I am wondering what she had to pay him to agree with her...

Mind you, I am not complaining.  It saves me some building time, but not very custom. 

I stained it with "Special Walnut" Minwax.  Tessie picked it out.  As long as she likes it, I am going to agree.  Don't tell her.  I just want to get this finished.

I have to search for some knobs.  Not sure what yet.  Maybe I will just have the Terrible two go look for some...

No.  That's not a good idea.  I got a bit further with the cleaning.  I don't want the workroom to go back to the way it looked a couple of days ago.

I will go look by myself and lock the two of them outside.  I am getting there.  Slowly but surely....

Back to the search.

See you tomorrow.

Foggy Day In Tucson Town....

Oops! I am probably going to have a missed day as far as blogger goes, but I am still saying it is October 23rd. 

My excuse is, I fell asleep after we got home from the treatment today!

I took my lace making along and did get a lot of outlining done.  But, that's no excuse for falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon!

Now I am up and ready to go! LOL  And there is nowhere to go... Except for bed.

While we were gone, I think that Tessie and Zar had a party of sorts.  I found them relaxing on the couch with cookies and their favorite unnamed beverage.

Not a lick of work was done on her cottage.  Not even half a lick!

Tomorrow I will have to work twice as hard and crack the whip to get the Terrible Two to help out.

I'm sure that there will be a lot of objections. 

I have next week off from the treatments, so a lot better get done.  The following week will be a busy one, but I won't let this happen again, if I can help it.

See you tomorrow with a lot more done and not so late.  Sorry about that!

Doggy Flying Lessons Are Here...

I figured out that the wood that I cut apart the other day was for a different style of window seat that I had imagined for Daisy's library... Never happened.  Thus I have shelves.

There will be shelves behind the table in the front of the house.

I also have enough to do some in the kitchen...

Tessie approves and is already making plans to fill them.

Here's an over all view of what's to come.

Meanwhile, Tessie has installed the Steampunk broom on the Roof of her townhouse. 

Now she is trying to get Spike used to it... He will fly behind her... I don't think that he can get it going by himself... At least I hope not!

The other flying lessons will go to the new dog.  Tessie gave him to Daisy.  She needed a dog of her own.  She kept eying Spike.  Tessie was having none of that!

Daisy has already named him... He's Winston.
What else would you name an English Bulldog? 

His flying lessons will be a bit more complicated... Time.  Space.  You know the drill...


Now that there is peace in the world, once again... I am going back to work. Then to Wednesday Witches...

See you tomorrow.

Moving Right Along....

I got one coat of paint on the bookshelves this morning... I like taking photos.  I can see where I missed a couple of spots and will repaint them. 

Of course, Tessie pointed them out to me several times as I was shooting.

Zar showed up after everything was done.  As per usual...  In time for breakfast... Too bad.  No kitchen...

I had to bribe both he and Tessie to get off of the couch, so that you could see all of the finished pillows. 

I talked Tessie out of the zebra  print... She is threatening to go get the zebra skin rug out of the town house now...

Here's a quick shot of the whole side.  As I said, as I take photos, I keep seeing spots for touch up.

I will go back and threaten the Terrible Two plus One with work and I will get the space to myself.  I have to figure out a way to get Monte Python out of the tree.  He will be completely brown if he stays there.  I still have some painting to do in that area. 

Here's hoping I can finish the living room today.  I need to do the fireplace and some more painting on the stonework. 

Wish me luck.  I will need it.  One thing leads to another(work wise).

See you tomorrow.

Pillow Fight!!!

 I think that I did this on another post a long time ago... It bears repeating...

I am in the middle of doing the pillows for the couch this morning.

About 30 years ago, I took a couple of classes from Judy Williamson.  This is one of the things that I took away from those classes and have used ever since. 

There is no easier or faster way to do a lot of mini pillows when you need a lot of them!  It is a strip of the fabric, plus a quarter inch on either long side.  You press it down the middle wrong side out.  Then you turn a quarter inch back on either long side.

In the first photo you can see that I cut a strip of fabric twice as wide plus a half inch, as  I want the height of the pillows for the back of the couch. The first photo will make semi square throw pillows.  No measuring.

The second one will make three pillows.  Two will be three inches long and one will be a little shorter. The width of the couch is six inches.

I then do a quarter inch seam on the right end of the strip/  I back stitch both top and bottom, so that they won't let any of the stuffing out.  I move to the other end of the pillow.  In this case, three inches.  I do a row of stitching to finish that pillow and a half inch away, I start the next pillow.  Measure that, if necessary and repeat.  You can do a bunch of pillows really fast with this method.  They can be marked before you sew if you need to.

In this case I simply followed the lines in the pattern.

I probably won't get them all finished this morning.  That's why I am telling you this part now. 

Walter and I are going to see "The Martian" this morning and will probably leave before I have the last part done.

Next I clip the corners and then turn them right side out.

The bag of sand is what I use to stuff them.  Some people use salt.  Some use beads.  Salt solidifies in some climates.  Beads make for tiny lumps in the pillow.  So sand is my weapon of choice now. I get this at Walmart in the floral section.

After the pillow is about 1/2 to 2/3 full of sand, I blind stitch the opening shut.  It is sometimes also referred to as a ladder stitch.  One stitch on one side and then one on the opposite all along the opening. You will find that you can shape them any way that you want to on the bed or couch. 

I will have them finished by tomorrow and maybe even more on the tree bookshelves.

See you then.

A Week to Find the Fabric...

I didn't tell you that I have been hunting for the couch fabric for a week.  I need to do the cushions for the back of the sofa. 

I couldn't, for the life of me, find the original fabric....

When I found it, I knew why.  See the lighter colored fabric behind and to the left of Tessie?

That's the back of the fabric on top... It doesn't look anything like the front!

Actually, I didn't find it.  I solved the problem by sending Tessie to look for it, with the admonishment of  "Find it or no sofa!" 

She was back with it in less than five minutes. 

I can't seem to talk her out of using the zebra striped fabric in every room  that she relaxes in.  She insists that it makes her calm and happy.  I have no idea why.

I went to work on the tree bookcase this morning and discovered that a couple of the places where I put the glue didn't hold.  Back to step one.

That was an excuse to clean and start working on the Girl's Bathroom.  Tessie insists on calling it that.  She says that it is only fair that if the boys in the family have one, we should too...

My question is... How long has she been using this bathroom?

I am thinking that the bath is going to be  somewhat Steampunk-ian with a bit of Gothic mixed in...

Tessie insisted on keeping her ride in there. and my soap dish is a dragon also...

I confess, I already had a bit of Steampunk.   I have two of the candlestick that you see in the corner.

I also have had the shells with barnacles on it for many years.  That's where I keep my rusty nails... Yup.  I am probably the only person that collects rust on purpose. 

I have no idea who lost one rusty chain link. The faucet handle beneath it is one of my favorites and I can't even remember where I found it.

I also have an old rusty railroad spike, a few rusty horseshoes and a wreath of rusty barbed wire on the back porch... There is also a wind chime that April made for me years ago.  She found the pieces when she and Seth were hiking. Any of the rusty stuff is fair game if I need it in the bathroom!

Don't ask me to explain.  I just like rusty things.  They were well used and then discarded. They have a great patina and color.  That's all I can say... I know.  I'm a little peculiar...

Tessie just interjected, "A LOT PECULIAR!".  Oh well.  So is she! That's why we work well together.

Back to the Steampunkian bath and the tree house. 

See you tomorrow.

A Place for Monte Python....

We worked on the tree/bookshelf this morning.

The layout is coming along just fine.

It will be covered with string and painted, like the other trees when finished...

Tessie specified that she had to have a place for Monte, the Python to live when he visited...

So I decided that he would live in the tree...

She did NOT approve.  She reasoned that he would not want to climb to get in.

I guess that she might be right.

I added more branches for the shelves and lowered the front of Monte's house.  He seems to be pleased with the arrangement now.

Sorry about all of the blue tape.  I had to do that until I got things right. 

Tessie is now in approval mode.  I had better run and finish, before she changes her mind or thinks of something else to put there.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.