The Cleaning Never Ends....

I now have a clean hall closet. I took everything out and sorted through it on the bed.  Kota supervised. 

When he doesn't approve of what I am doing, he turns his back.  All I saw was his tail, most of the morning.

Then I went back to sprucing up minis.  Spike's doghouse is pretty much spotless now...

I think that I showed the pit bull property laws once before.

They are posted on the back of Spike's house.  He takes them very seriously. Beware!!! You might have to poke the photo to read them.

Be sure to memorize them all!

I cleaned out the greenhouse... Now all I have to do is make more plants.  This is where the plants all live until I need them in a scene or room box.

Lastly, I spruced up Hubert's Haberdashery. It is another building that is pretty air tight and doesn't collect a lot of dust.  It does need going over and straightening now and then though.

Anyway, that's all of the cleaning I am going to do for today. 

Back to work. See you tomorrow.

What to Do....???

I went in the workroom and started looking around this morning...

On the top of one of the bookshelves is the weaver's cottage and Zar's Clockwork Cottage...

As I looked at them, I was wondering which to work on first... Then a horrible thought came to mind... When I get them done, where am I going to display them?  I realized that I have no place in the house to put them but back up on this shelf. What a waste!  So much for thinking!  It always gets me into more trouble than it gets me out of...

I then looked at the cute little cage that I made for Tessie.

No Tessie inside!  I am now wondering where she zapped herself and Spike.  I haven't heard a peep out of her all day... I think that she is messing with me.  Trying to find out how long it will take me to find her... I am just going to ignore her for the rest of the day and see if she comes out of hiding.

I then made the mistake of looking high on the shelves on the other side of the room....Bad mistake!

I saw the Russian cottage... I am not going to finish that for a while.  April doesn't have any room for it in the small house that they live in now. I think that it will stay where it is until they find a larger house. 


My biggest mistake was looking a little higher up in the corner...

Yup! A third one of those boxes.  This one even got a roof before I lost interest.

I think that I am just going back to cleaning out.  I need more room.  I have too many books that I haven't opened for years and years.  Too many supplies that I probably won't ever use.  Maybe the witches can take some of them off my hands.

Too many things are just standing in the way of progress.

I did get a bit of cleaning done before I sat down and wrote this. 

I have to look at these two buildings every day as I blog...

The dust was about a foot deep on the shingles of  Hubert's Haberdashery. The greenhouse was just about as bad. 

I am making more room as fast as I can.  I hope that you will stick with me until I get things all cleaned out. I am making progress.  Honest, I am. I keep getting another idea on how to make things better and redoing areas that I have already done... That doesn't help.

In case you can't tell, I am enjoying the process and I will enjoy it even more when I am finally satisfied with the finished project.  Back to work.

See you tomorrow. 

Not a Lot of Minis...

I didn't do a lot of minis today... Maybe I should say I didn't do any minis today...

So when I looked above my head, sitting at the desk, I decided to put up some photos of what I see when I sit here...

On my left is my greenhouse.

This was a life sized terrarium from way back in the early 90s. 

It is more or less a storage unit for plants that will go in other buildings.  Every once in a while, when it starts looking bare... I sit myself down and do a bunch of plants to restock... It is getting that way now.  I may just have to do some more plants... One of these days.  Meanwhile, Tessie and Zar inhabit it and drink tea from time to time... Plants or no plants...

To the right is Hubert's Haberdashery.  I think that you all watched this go together, early on.

If you go look in the labels, under haberdashery, you will get all kinds of information on it and how it was made if you are interested.

You had better do a search quickly.  Tessie moved in and is trying to talk me into to changing it to a ladies' dress shop... Never mind that she already owns a hat shop with a dressmaker's workroom upstairs... She wants to own everything in site.

I do believe that Zar will keep her in line.  He needs a place to buy his fancy ties.

I wondered where that rug was.  I put things in place and then forget they are there... Am I the only one that does that with minis?  I hope not.

Anyway, I will try to get back in the mood and make up for the lack of mini-making tomorrow.

See you then.

That Darned Cat......

Mookie has been a very busy cat this holiday season! I am going to be very busy fixing what he had a great deal of fun doing......

His first adventure was right in front of my eyes and so quick that I couldn't stop him. See those cute little double doors on the front of the Haberdashery? I was sitting at the computer about 3 feet in front of it. Mookie was wandering around on top of the roll top desk where it sits. The first thing I knew, I looked up and saw his backside and the end of his tail disappearing through those little doors. Have you ever had a feeling of total panic about one of your creations? I did right then! Luckily, my husband was home and we managed to lift the building down and get the top off of it. Mookie calmly hopped out and went on his merry way. He only moved one table out of place. You will notice that now it sits even with the front edge of the roll top so that he doesn't have anyplace to walk. It is pretty much cat proof now. He still sleeps on top. I think he is hoping that the ceiling will collapse so that he can get inside once again. It's NOT going to happen!

You know how cats are. They are nothing, if not persistent. Mookie is especially so. I put the basket shop on the Chinese chest in the living room and decorated it with snow and other winter things for Christmas. I pushed it all the way to the back of the chest so that the back couldn't be seen. Again, in my presence, Mookie nonchalantly strolled over to the chest, jumped up and by the time I could get to him he had jumped over the roof and in through the opening. My luck wasn't so good that time. It just all has to be put back in place. It looks worse than it is. It will just take a little time. I think that some things are going to be glued down this time. I wanted to do some final placement before I did that. It is now time to get it done. The opening wasn't even visible, but he watched every step of the build and knew the ins and outs. Pardon the pun!

The next "accident" was partially my own fault. I moved the greenhouse into the computer room and sat it on the edge of the table with the Mystery House.......Yup. You guessed it. Mookie thought that would be a dandy place to land from his cat tree....Oops. Thank goodness the windows are plexi. Nothing was broken. I don't have things glued down in there because I am constantly stealing plants and wicker from the greenhouse to put in other minis. Again, it will just need straightening.

Yesterday I turned the Mystery House around to take the party photos.(Please notice that the photo is a close up.) That house is three feet high and I have it in a corner so that the only way a certain cat could get in it would be over the top and into the back.........You guessed it. Mookie has evidently been having parties of his own in there when I wasn't around to chaperon. I keep saying I am going to work on that one and finish it one of these days. Do you suppose that he is trying to tell me something?

Anyway, you can guess what I will be doing today for the rest of the day.

See you tomorrow.

Laid to Rest....

Hubert's Haberdashery has found a home.

It is living on top of my computer desk. It seems very happy there. It somehow goes with the roll top desk. Mookie especially likes it. He is asleep on the roof. You can't see him because he is behind the false front where the sign is. He has spent quite a bit of time there since I put the building up there yesterday. I hazarded a trip into the workroom to find a rug. I didn't like any of the ones I had on hand. Soooooooo......You get to watch me make a braided rug this morning. It is worse than watching paint dry.

The first thing you do is find some embroidery floss that goes together. I used some Weeks Dyeworks and Needle Necessities over dyed that I make baskets with. It doesn't have to be that fancy. Plain old DMC will do. Then I braided, and braided, and braided. Then I braided some more. The Weeks Dyeworks thread is already cut into about 18" lengths. I guess they are saving you from yourself when you are doing embroidery with this brand. You shouldn't use a length any longer than that. Them's the rules. It will start to get thin if you use longer pieces from pulling it repeatedly through the fabric. So they save you the trouble of cutting it.

Anyway, You need to tie the three pieces together with an overhand knot and put a dab of white glue just below the knot. When you get to the end put a dab of glue on the last part of the braid. I ended up with two 14" braids for the lighter center part, One length for the two rounds of the rust, then 3 light braids for the wider band and 2 for the dark edge. When you think you have enough, you probably don't, but you can braid more and add as you go along if you like. Also, you can mix colors in the six strands of each hank of the braid for a different effect. Experiment. It is fun! Just be sure to stick to 6 strands in each leg of the braid.

I use pellon for the backing. I like it because it doesn't ravel. You could use regular cotton fabric if you wanted to. I clip the pellon to the clip board that I was using to hold the braid while working on it. Spread a thin line of glue down the center of the piece of pellon that is about an inch bigger all around than you want the rug to be when you are finished. You start with a long center to make the rug an oval. If you wanted a round rug you just spiral. Cut the end of one of the braids straight across. This is the only one that is cut across. It makes an easier turn the first time around. I did the center about 2" long then you make a U turn and go back the way that you came. When you get back where you started, you have completed one row. Make a U turn again and go down the other side. Always cut a row off at the same place. It will make for a nicer looking rug. When you finish with a piece at that point, cut the thread at a slant towards the center of the rug. Add the next braid that you have cut at a slant and keep going. When you finish let the glue dry. Trim the pellon as close to the braids as you can with a small, sharp pair of scissors. If any of the pellon shows it can be colored with a pen to match the last row of braid.

I put it outside the front door so that you could see it. It will go inside as soon as I am done here. Otherwise the Widget(other cat)may carry it away. That's his speciality.

That's it for today. I may have to break down and go back to cleaning my room so that I can find some other project to work on tomorrow.

See you then.

Hubert's Haberdashery Grand Opening!

There are still a few things to do, but I think that I'm close enough for a Grand Opening Now! I finished all of the signage this morning. I put all of the fixtures in place. There are still a few things that I would like to fill the two vacant shelves with, but I'm not going to wait another day to say it's done. Here it is in all it's glory!

First I will guide you to the photography section. I still want to modify the camera. It needs a walnut box and a brass lens. I can do that anytime. At least there is a camera there.

You can get a pretty clear view of the socks in this one. The advertisement for shoes with the sour looking man is one that I have had for years. It came on a sheet of black and white mini adverts in the early 80s.

I think I may have told you that the shoe boxes came from one of the printie sites that I sent you to one time. To give them some variety, I printed them out on cream colored card stock and folded some of them inside out. The darker ones are the printed side.

Next we have the center section of the store. The main counter still needs a cash register. I refuse to steal one from one of the other stores. I NEED another cash register and I am going to get one. This is what you see coming through the front door. Looking at the photo, I think that it needs a mat or rug in front of the counter. I have lots of those. As soon as I finish here, I am going get brave and go into the darkest reaches of my workroom and look for one.

Sometimes I can figure out what's missing better by looking at a photo than with the naked eye.

I am thinking that the signs could stand to be a bit smaller. I may change those.

I'm not sure that the stove isn't a fire hazard where it is setting. Oh well. Everyone will be warm while shopping if the place doesn't burn down.

Here's another photo of that area. I found the poster on the back wall in a Smithsonian magazine years ago. In case you can't tell, I'm a hoarder of things that may come in useful. I only do it with things that will fit in a house or store that I have plans to make. The only trouble is, I want to make one of everything......

I can't wait to start on the next thing. That's why I am always jumping around on projects. They all eventually get done. I just don't know which one is going to get done first.

The last photo is of the shirt cupboard. I have a feeling that it is going to be a mistake putting it by the dressing room. Men are going to be trying them all on and not folding them back up. Maybe I should put a basket next to the door with a sign "Deposit unfolded shirts here.". Otherwise they will be all over the place!

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please don't forget to stop back at Mr. Geil's photo studio and have your complimentary tintype taken.

See you tomorrow.

It's Only an Illusion......

Denise asked about tutorials on some of the items in the haberdashery. I modified someone elses' pattern for the vest and wouldn't feel right about doing that one. Granted it's not exactly the same, but it is still someone elses' original pattern. It was from one of the Susan Sirkis books.


If you want a really good book on making and dressing dollhouse dolls, go find "Making and Dressing Dolls'House Dolls, in 1/12 scale" by Sue Atkinson. The last time I looked it was available on Alibris.com. You might be able to find it on another used book site more inexpensively. It is the best book that I know of on the subject and it covers many different eras of style.


As for the bow ties, I explained that when I was doing it. I just tied a simple bow(just the bow itself) around my fingers then glued it to another piece of ribbon for the neck part. Sock secret......Extremely simple. I cut the shape of a sock out of a piece of suede. They aren't wearable. They are single thickness. The gloves are done from a lady's thin leather glove. The leather is folded and glued together before cutting. Then you just cut a rectangle about 1/3" wide by 3/4" long. You then cut triangles from the corners on one end to make them hand shaped. Make three cuts for the fingers. Round the ends of the fingers with a small pair of scissors. If you want a thumb just cut a single thickness of leather into a strip and put it on the palm. If you need to know where to put it, find a pair of real gloves and copy those. I didn't bother with thumbs on the gloves on the shelf. They are glued down and no one is ever going to know that they aren't there.A lot of the things are illusions.

I made you a pattern for the nightshirt. I didn't have one. I just cut it out in rectangles. The body was about 4 1/4" long by 2" wide. That gives you about the size pieces that would be in a real nightshirt. I am lucky. I have one of my great grandfather's nightshirts to measure. I rounded the bottom edges into shirt tails bu tracing around a coin and covered the edge with "FrayCheck". I cut out sleeves. They were pieces of fabric cut into rectangles about 1 1/4" by 3". I glued them into a tube shape and a pleat was glued in before putting on the cuff. I turned under the side seams and front shoulders of the body and glued this to the back piece covering the raw edges of the back. It gives the illusion of a sewn seam. The sleeves were glued inside the top of these pieces as I went. The yoke is just a rectangle with the edges turned under and glued on before finishing. The rest of the trims were done just like the folded shirt directions that I did earlier.

I didn't need another nightshirt so I decided to show you a hanging shirt from another scene. They are basically made the same way. The shirt is just shorter.

Here you can see the collar, cuffs, button placket and the shirt pockets were all made of folded and glued strips of various sizes and some were lengthwise and others cut across the stripes.

The buttons are card stock and the holes were put in with a Pigma permanent .005 pen.

I have been doing this sort of thing for many years and seldom use a pattern. I just start cutting away what doesn't look like a night shirt and gluing it into shape.


Katie, I'm glad you liked the long johns. I did them the same way that I do the folded sweaters and shirts. This time the rectangle was 7/8" by twice the depth of the shelf. In this case it was about 1 1/2"long. When folded it was 3/4" long. I followed the sweater instructions, covering the index card piece with a bit of t-shirt fabric. After I folded it and glued it into shape, I cut a flap a little smaller than the width of the main part, glued it around the body of the piece and just put a couple of card stock buttons on the corners of the flap. Remember that you only have to decorate the top one. The rest won't be seen.

My motto is "If it can't be seen, it doesn't have to be made." In other words, "Fake it if you can." I feel that when you are doing multiples of something like the shirts, sweaters and long johns, all you really need is something that people can recognize as the object you are representing.

The watches are simply pieces of metal findings and scraps of chain on a black suede board.

OK.....Now that you know most of my secrets, I am going to go hide in a corner and think of some more. That's half of the fun of minis, making up things as you go along. See you tomorrow.

Grand Opening on Saturday!

I am going to have the grand opening of Hubert's Haberdashery Saturday if it kills me! I worked all yesterday afternoon and this morning and I still don't quite have the wall shelf filled. I made red long johns, white union suits, beige union suits, scarves, leather gloves, and pocket watches on chains. There are still two empty shelves.

I left the 1908 Sears Catalog that I was working from at a friend's house yesterday so I am basically flying blind today.

It's like I have said before, estimate the time that you think it will take you to complete a miniature scene and then multiply that time by 10. Today I am thinking that the multiplication should be by 12. After all, I am working in 1:12 scale. It would only make sense that it takes you not 10, but 12 times as long to do.

The other thing that I finished was the fake tree in the photography corner. In the tintype it is rather sparse and kind of beat up looking, so I did it that way. I went out in the back yard and found a piece of Nandina(AKA Heavenly Bamboo). When the seed pods dry out the limbs that they grow on turn brown and get really tough. I knocked the seed balls off and replaced them with punched out and sculpted leaves of paper. I just glued one leaf onto each place that held a seed ball. I used some of these by the Witch's Warehouse and left the seed balls on and no leaves. They make really great spooky trees. The seed balls are naturally red/orange and turn a kind of dark brown when they are completely dry. Incidentally, I use dark green Cason drawing paper from Michael's for punching the leaves. It comes in huge sheets and one will last you just about forever. It's a little heavier than regular paper and works well for cupping. I do that on a doubled piece of leather. If you use the back side(rawhide) the leaves won't bounce all over the place when you are using a ball stylus to cup them.

Well.........I still have shelves to fill and signs to hang. Time is flying and I'm not having that much fun. Must finish! I want to play a different game now. See you tomorrow.

Almost Home.....

I am estimating two or three days until grand opening. I still need to make a tree for the photo studio. I need to fill the shelves on the wall behind the counter and hang them. Then there is a suit sample. I need to make some signs and then all I have to do is glue everything in. Yay!!!

Here's the photo studio corner. I decided it would be logical to put the shoes there too so that the guys could sit down on the chairs to try on the shoes.

This is the shelf that I still have to fill.........

Next we have the counter for shirts and pants. I think I am going to put the nightshirt/trunk display in front. I decided that it doesn't block as much of the view as I thought it would.

The name has been decided. I named the haberdashery after my car....I have a Chevy HHR The HH stands for Hubert Horatio. You don't name your cars? I thought everybody did. The sign will go across the top of the store on the green. The only problem is, I have to piece it. LONG sign.

Anyway, I can't wait to finish. Back to something else of onward to something else.....

Today is Wednesday Witches. I will probably take the shelf along and try to fill it.

See you tomorrow.

Keeping Up.

My pace isn't too fast but I am making progress. Today I did men's pants and nightshirts. I tore out the stuff that was in the trunk and decided to make it a display for the nightshirts and slippers.

If you look at the page under the trunk you will see that the price on these nightshirts were 67 cents. Actually they were on sale for 43 cents! The Flannel ones were two cents more. The prices boggle the mind!

I made the nightshirt basically with rectangles. It is all glued and the buttons are, once again, the punched cardstock. The slippers are made of brown suede. I forgot to try to find the price for those. I don't imagine they were very expensive. The cost on the trunk would have been about 5.oo according to this catalog. I am useing these prices even though they might be a few cents higher than the time that I wanted for this.

The pants were made with two pieces of cardstock cut in the shape that I wanted and covered with fabric. The waistbands were simply folded over, glued and cut to size.

I finished 4 pair of those. As you can see from the page, they were a little more pricey than nightshirts. They started at 68 cents and went up from there. These were sold as "Young Men's Long Pants". I guess that after you reached adulthood you weren't supposed to go around without a suit jacket. There were no men's pants for sale seperately, at least not in this edition of the catalog.

I put the trunk and counter into the haberdashery to see how they look. Not bad. It is really hard to get decent photos through the plexi windows. I am going to have to work on that.

I also need to start working on some signs and labels for the different kinds of clothing and their prices. I am stalling on that task. The printer is almost out of black ink. I want to wait until there is new ink so that I will get a good print.

I think I have had enough of this for today. I am going to go knit socks for real feet for a while. See you tomorrow.

Starting Over........

Today I accomplished not much, but a lot. After working on my real house for a while, I decided that I needed to start from scratch on the table where I was working.


You saw it the other day after the gremlins dragged everything out of my workroom. This is what it looks like this afternoon.


I even cleaned out my tool bag! That part in itself is amazing.


After I did that I took all of the stuff that I had been working on for the haberdashery and started sorting. I have started filling the hutches and shelves. One hutch will be for shoes and the other one for shirts. BTW. None of the piles of shirts have sleeves or collars except on the top one. That way they fit in neater.

I did a display in the trunk and made socks to hang over the edge. I filled one of the other counters with fabric bolts for suits and sweaters. I think that I am most happy with the tie displays. I am definitely going to make more of the long ones to hang on the door of the shirt hutch. Those are the most fun to make.

Yes, I still have a ways to go, but now I feel like I will be able to get there soon. Now I can find what I need to finish. I need hats, a suit or two, long johns and some night shirts among other things.

Keep your fingers crossed. Maybe I can beat the gremlins and finish before they wake up and figure out what I have done.

See you tomorrow.

Ruining A Perfectly Good Nap.

That was my mission in life today. At least that's what Mookie thought that I was doing.

As you can see, Mookie was not a happy camper. If looks could kill.......

By the way, the gremlins have now expanded their stomping grounds to the bedroom. Mookie tried to defend the place, but he kept falling asleep and the gremlins moved stuff in!

I couldn't help it. I wanted to watch Ninja Warrior while I worked. There's something about that show that is perfect for working on minis. Don't ask me what it is. All of the Japanese voices that are so excited about what is happening is kind of like having someone cheering on the mini making. I don't have to pay close attention. I look up when my favorites are competing. The rest of the time I just listen. No, I don't understand Japanese. There is an American translator that jumps in when something important is happening.

Anyway, here you see the sum total of today's work. I am filling one of the hutches with shirts. I made 22 shirts today. I think that's a pretty good total, what with cats and gremlins helping. I plan to put some collars and men's jewelry/pocket watches in here too. I started hanging ties on the mullions of the doors. I need to make more of those.

I may have to take the doors off of the hinges and open them wider so that the ties can be seen. I'm not sure about how I am going to place the hutches in the store tho. It may or may not be necessary.

Meanwhile, I think that Mookie has slept long enough now. Time to go annoy the cat. See you tomorrow.

With a Rope Tied to My Ankle.....

I made a big mistake this morning. I got brave. I tied one end of a rope to the door handle of my workroom. Then I tied the other end to my ankle, thinking that it would make it safe to venture inside to find the Chrysenbon kits for the 3 Victorian chairs. The rope came loose on my end. Granny knots are never good........ I sat down in my desk chair. It was like one of those science fiction movies where the chair grabs you and won't let you get up again.

I decided, since I was trapped anyway, that I should do some sorting. First I went through the piles on my worktable. Huh! Who knew that there was really a table under there. I even cleaned up the cutting mat that I made to fit it. (Here's a hint for you. If you have one of those old green, self healing mats that they sell for sewing, they also make great cutting boards for minis. They can be cut with utility scissors to any shape or size you want. This one started out as a large square. It was too beat up to use for sewing any more so it's now a heavy duty cutting mat for minis. It works great.)

Things were going good. Here's proof that I do indeed have a worktable. I have a small place to work....Things were also going bad. I didn't find the chair kits.

I found the bottom of my magnifier. Now I can move it to work on things other than on the desk. I also found more work to do. The cover on the base is needlepoint that I did about 10 years ago. It is really beat up. I need to make a new one.

I also found the ivory button bracelet that I made a couple of months ago and put somewhere for safekeeping.....It's on the neck of the magnifier. Progress....

I swiveled the chair. There was the desktop. Mind you, the chair still wouldn't release me.

I proceeded to clear that off. I had to do surgery on Charlie(the skeleton). His knee was broken. He is healing nicely now. I left the pyramid beside him just in case the superstition about their healing power works.

I also found my Exacto L square. I have been looking for that for a couple of months.

Here you see a leftover piece of the mat laying on top of the desk. The smaller one is from Micro-Mark and is handy to carry around with you when you need one for workshops, etc..

Now for the bad news. Still no chair kits.

I sat chained to the chair just looking from shelf to shelf for a while. I finally spotted them. It was great. I had the kits AND a place to work on them!

Strangely enough, after I finished the chair kits, the desk chair released me. I found the end of the rope to get away. I managed to sneak back in the room to take photos. I made sure I didn't sit down. Anyway, here are the chairs in the photo studio.

Now on to bigger and better things. I need a tree for the corner. Oh No! That means another trip into the workroom. Well, the side with the plant materials isn't as big of a mess as the desk and worktable. Maybe I will chance that trek tomorrow......See you then if I can get in and get back out......Stay tuned to see what happens.

All Tied Up

Here's the pattern for the folded tie that I promised you yesterday. These are very easy to make and I'll bet you can't make just one! Just remember to use natural fabrics. If you use poly or other synthetic you will be tearing your hair out by the time you finish one. Remember the glue factor? The first photo is the one that you want to copy to your computer. Then you can re size it to 4 1/2" long. I took the measurements off of one of my husband's ties. They haven't changed much in measurements for many years. You can change the width if you want, but this one measures about 3" across in real life and I wouldn't make it much wider than that. I cut the form out of regular index card.

The next photo shows the tie form glued to the fabric. Please note that I have put it on the diagonal(bias) on this one. You can do it either bias or straight. It makes no difference since it is glued right to the card stock. You will want to trim the fabric about 1/8" from the edge. It should be narrower than the tie form itself. I cut out notches in the corners and on the tip of the tie. You don't have to notch the sides. The fabric is so narrow there that there won't be a problem getting it to lie down right on the back of the tie.

When you finish gluing the edges to the back side, the front should look like this.

The last step is to fold the tie in half with glue on the back. Then fold it in half again. Either lay it somewhere for display or hang it over a rack or chair. Put some glue on it to keep it folded.

I did this one out of regular cotton shirting material. If you want to get fancy, find some old silk ties with a small pattern at a thrift shop (or in your husband's closet).

A couple of the ties on the rack in previous entries are from silk ties. The rest are straight out of my cotton stash.

I hope you have fun with these. I know I did.

See you tomorrow.

Getting Better....

Stupid runny nose! It interferes with doing minis, among other things. I did get the gingerbread painted and put in place and the bottom on the bow tie stand.

You can see the gingerbread up under the porch roof. It turned out pretty good. I put a teak wood bead on the bottom of the bow tie display.

That's about all I did today. I forgot to tell you that I made the bow ties from 1/8" silk ribbon. Synthetics won't do. It's the glue factor again. I made the bows separately first by tying them around my fingers. It's little fiddly work but it turns out better bows that way. You can also tie them around pins placed in your pinboard. I used the ends that I cut off after tying for the neck part. I will try to do directions for both kinds of ties as soon as I am finished with all of the sneezing and blowing my nose. For now you will just have to be satisfied with this photo. Sorry about that.

See you tomorrow. Hopefully I will be back to normal, whatever that is........