A Cabinet Meeting....

 I got the wood cut and part of the cabinet put together before Nellie showed up.  She wanted to criticize help.  And she did...

She really didn't find a lot to complain about. I made the cabinet taller, by a half a foot in her size...

I ended up using half scale molding for the trim on the frame and filled in the corners with cove.

I made it so that it will fit flat against the wall.  The nice thing about this house is it doesn't have any bottom molding around the walls, so it will truly fit against the wall.

I did make the door in three strips, so I braced it on the inside.

I cut a bottom and middle shelf.  I know the bottom one is not straight...It's not glued in yet.  Only the case itself is glued so far.

I will stain the whole thing before finishing the gluing process.

When I get to the hinges, I will tell you how to do it, without metal... and with if you want to get picky.

Today is Wednesday and there will be a meeting of witches, so I don't think that I will be doing much more.  I can't take this with me to the meeting.  Stain stinks...

Witches don't like that.

Nellie is in there muttering about a writing slant for her design work...I don't think that she considers the house finished yet....Unfortunately...

See you tomorrow.

My Vote Doesn't Count...

I did do a little mini-ing this morning...Under duress...

It was decided that Nellie would be needing a place to put her personal belongings in the new cottage....And I should be the one to build it.

It's not enough that Tessie and Zar have to gang up on me.  Now Tessie and Nellie are forming a tag team too.

At least the cabinet can't be very big.  The only place to put it is next to the fireplace on the second floor.

After I drew up the plans, the three of them decided that it should be a bit taller and have a shelf inside.  Never satisfied.

Since when did this become the Terrible Trio?

Somehow, Nellie seems to be able to garner sympathy from everyone....Poor, put upon Nellie....

I used my books on medieval furniture to get the dimensions and the style right.  Then adjusted everything to fit the space.  Feel free to use the pattern, just not for profit or resale.  It is original.

At least Zar was nice enough to volunteer to help...The other two refuse to learn how to use a hammer, saw or anything else resembling a tool of any sort. Remember Tessie nailed herself to a roof a couple of years ago.  Maybe she is wise not to try.

I am hoping to work on some Christmas knitting in the evenings.  I wonder if I can con the two of them into helping with that?  Probably not...I would probably have better luck teaching Zar to knit.

Anyway, I promised to get back to minis today and I did. Not a lot, but enough to claim that I did.

I am going now and do the chest.  Maybe that will get me back in their good graces.

See you tomorrow.

The Buddy System...

OK.  I found out why Nellie let Tessie and Zar in her abode yesterday.

It seems that Nellie was not without food, drink or for that matter a chamber pot, night before last.  Tessie let her use the bathroom in the townhouse. 

I fear that Tessie is creating a monster.

Now Nellie is talking larger structure with separate bath and kitchen...

To keep their minds off of larger houses, I showed them both where Tessie used to live and threatened to put both of them back in there permanently.

The first photo is Tessie's first home.  She doesn't want it back....That's the one structure that she religiously avoids.  At all costs.

The point of the story?  Someone on the Greenleaf forum posed this question a couple of weeks ago and I thought you might like an answer...There were lots of them, but this is mine.

"How do you display miniatures that are waiting to be put in a dollhouse or room box?"

Having been in minis for around 30 years, they accumulate.  They are stuffed in drawers and boxes in the workroom, but when I get new furniture and other goodies, I sometimes like to be able to see what is new.

When Tessie vacated the Cortland Doan display case, she took all of her belongings with her.  Including Friskie the Alligator.  Actually, I was happy to see him leave.  He gets testy and snaps at people when in a bad mood.

Someone spelled his name wrong on his food bowl...I got it at a garage sale and Tessie decided she wanted the bowl.  So she changed the gator's name to match the misspelled name.  He used to be Albert....I don't know which is worse.

Anyway, the display box became a great place to showcase a few pieces of furniture.

When it gets messy, I simply take off the back and change everything inside.  I have permanent wallpaper and rug in it that are left from Tessie's time, but they are very neutral and go with just about anything.

I also have the lantern that is next to it.  The rug and wallpaper are not quite as neutral.  They are colors that I like a lot and I know that they will go with a lot of the things that I buy or have in the drawers. I just opened the door, took out the chair.  Swept the floor and cleaned the windows and it was ready for a new chair, table and cat....Maybe the cat wasn't such a good idea.  He may have mini fleas.  He scratches his left ear a lot.

Tessie and Nellie volunteered to pose in her old home....On the condition that Tessie got to hold the screws that keep the back on.  She's not taking any chances.  She hated being confined in that pretty little case. To quote her, "There's not enough room to swing an alligator in there!" 

Now I know why Friskie is in a bad mood most of the time...

Another piece that gets changed often is this three tiered shelf.  I got it at a going out of business sale at a local craft store....Very cheap.

I simply put a panel of wallpaper in the back of each of the shelves.  I made a template of poster board for each one.  Now I can change the wallpaper in a flash.

All I have to do is cut another piece of poster board from the template, cut out a piece of wallpaper to match and wedge it in the back.  They aren't even glued in.

I don't have to put down flooring, the wood of the shelf is very nice, with not a lot of grain running through it.

This one gets changed more often.  It is open and easy to pull stuff in and out of.  And besides, it does need dusting every once in a while...

Maybe I should go do that now.  It hasn't been tended to for a while.

So now you know what to do with all of that leftover furniture.  There are a lot of other ways to do it.  Look around.  Lots of empty containers and boxes, just waiting to be filled.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Scooterpies ARE Too Food!

"A few anomalies can't hurt! In fact, I have grown to love them...You will too, Nellie."  This was Tessie, talking her way into Nellie's place this morning...

"We knew you didn't want a housewarming party, so we took up a collection and brought you a care package instead." That was Zar.

As I looked on, the Terrible Two invaded Nellie's new home.

I couldn't say for sure, but I do believe that she was grateful. After all, she spent the night with only one pear and no chamber pot. I think that Widget showed her his litter box....Hey!  It's better than the floor!

With the arrival of Tessie and Zar, she now has food, a chamber pot and a puppy to keep her company.  She doesn't understand why they named the puppy "Winston", but she agreed to keep the name if she could keep the bulldog.  Then she asked if they knew where she could purchase a large oak table and more dogs....She neglected to mention that these were to protect her from invasion.

As Tessie unloaded the gifts, she explained..."We went around and took up a collection."(that should read, pilfered a collection). 

As I watched in amazement this morning, The Terrible Two went from house to house and shelf to shelf and "borrowed" things that they thought that Nellie might need...

To be fair, they did take things from their own houses...For instance, the Scooterpies and Beer were from Zar's  Steampunk Tudor Trailer. 

Tessie gave up a case of Pepsi and some Chocolate Covered Cherries.

Elsewhere, people are missing a load of can goods and a can opener, other boxes of modern food and a chamber pot that was in one of my drawers...

I am going to have to send them back out for dog food.   If you give someone a dog, it is only fair that you supply some food to get them started.

Walter helped me move the house this morning.  Unfortunately where it was sitting before, in the family room, has no place to plug in the transformer. 

So I moved it to the top of the sewing/embroidery chest in the bedroom.  There, it will have lights and be at eye level besides.

I didn't plan it, but it is the perfect size for the top of the chest.

The chest it is sitting on has never been used for jewelry.  I got it at Walmart at an after Christmas sale, years ago. 

It was a tool chest for a while.  When that didn't work out anymore, I moved all of the unfinished mini embroidery and thread into it.  It works well for that...The only trouble is, it holds too many unfinished projects...

Maybe I should move this stuff to a smaller place.  I might get more finished, instead of starting new stuff.

This is what I did yesterday afternoon.  A break from minis was in order...  Its a copper wire and goldstone ring. I am still practicing.  Sooner or later I will get it right.  I need to learn to wrap the small wires tighter.  I am getting there a little bit at a time.

Now I have to go figure out what to do next....Should I finish something or start something?  Don't bother to answer that question.... I will just wander around and find something that catches my interest...Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

No Trespassing!!!

Good Morning.  My name is Nellie and I will be your tour guide today. 

I refused to have a housewarming, because I know what those people do to a house here.

This is MY house and I intend to keep it well. 

Here you see it with the front wall open...Why anybody would want a front wall that swung away from the house is beyond me.  It will be closed and plastered later this morning.(Casey here.  She doesn't know I am looking on.  It will NOT be plastered.)

As you can see, I have pleasant accommodations fit for only one person. Me. 

Here's a little closer view of the whole house.  I do see one thing that Casey forgot to put in....I need a chamber pot!

She has thought of most other things though. Oh!  I could use some more food and a spoon.  Eating without utensils  could lead to crumbs and I certainly don't approve of crumbs...It leads to mice and other vermin, you know.

On to the everyday configurations of the little house....Did I mention that it is serious need of repair?  It tips to one side greatly!  I fear that it may fall down around my head at any minute.

This is how it looks in the evenings.  After a twelve hour day of stitchery, I am ready for a rest.

So far, all there is on the shelves is one pear..."Casey!  I need food!!!"

This is where I work.  I set up the frame by the front window.  It has the most light in the house.  Candlelight just doesn't work for fine stitchery as a primary source of light.

I am working on a coverlet in crewel work.

This is where I draft my patterns.  Here, I must work by candle light.  The windows aren't accessible  for light here. 

I tried all kinds of arrangements of the furniture and all of the other ways were impossible.

I believe that I will be happy here, as long as I can keep the riff raff away from my door.

Several times whilst Casey was working on the house, I found myself unable to get out of the house.  Someone put a large oak table in front of the door and stationed some dogs and even a tiger there.  I suppose that they were to keep me in, but I looked at it as a way to keep the riff raff out.  It worked well...Maybe I will find out where the table and animals came from and hire them out to stand guard over my front door all of the time.  It could be a boon.

Anyway,  I fear that I have picked up a few vulgar phrases from the people around here.  I do apologise if any of my language has been inappropriate during the tour.

Thank you for joining me.  Now get out!  I want to be alone.

(Casey here again....Sorry for the curtness of Nellie.  Now you see what I had to put up with while working on the cottage. The candle light is much less glairing than it was.  I painted the bulbs with a wash of yellow ochre.  They still look a bit bright in the photos, but not in real life.  I hear Nellie shouting.  What's wrong now?)

See you tomorrow.

Cheaters Always Prosper....

 I confess.  Sometimes I cheat.  I rewired the pewter candlestick and when I did, I had to use American wiring, instead of English....Only one problem.

Our wiring is much thicker than the English kind. 

The candlestick wouldn't sit flat on the table...

This one was an easy one to cheat on.  The table is a cheap one, so I simply drilled a hole where I wanted the candle to sit and ran the line through and out the back....Which was formerly the front, but I didn't want drawers, so I turned it around.  Did you get all that?

I put a candlestick on the mantle downstairs. Oops. I forgot to add the mantle.  OK.  I will put that on my list.  I ran the wire down the back of that candlestick.  It is one of those metal miniatures that I painted brass. I then ran the cord to the back edge of the fireplace and down to the bottom.  It comes back into the back of the fireplace and out the back wall.  Well hidden.

I think that I am going to dim the candle light by painting the bulbs.  They are way brighter than the other ones were. 

Did I mention that I took the wire out upstairs?  It was simply a piece of heavier dollhouse lighting...One long piece.

No patching to do.  The hole for it was in the ceiling, behind a beam...

That piece of wire is now my lead wire from the house to the transformer.

See what I mean about the bright candles?  They drown out anything in the immediate area. 

I cut the spools apart and put them in one of the drawers that were in the table. 

We are essentially done with this except for a bit of landscaping to cover the bottom of the chimney where it floats above the ground.  Lots of bushes.  That should do it.  Maybe a few weeds.

Anyway, Nellie requested that I not tell anybody that her home was done....She saw what they did to the Witches' Warehouse yesterday....And they are still at it. 

I am NOT cleaning that up.  The witches will have to do it themselves.

 She, who shall remain nameless is still hanging from the broom landing pad.  Everybody flies in over her head and lands inside the door.. It's just a good thing that she had her share of bug juice before the party.  She seems to be hanging in there well.

See you tomorrow.

No Problem....

The piece of paper is not the hearth.  It is to protect the floor while I make a mess.  And I will.

I plastered the fireplace this morning.

Last night, I found the solution to my problem with the frame in Saint-Aubins.   It has been a long time since I read it.  I went back to the part where they set up the frames for work.

It was a "duh" moment.  I had forgotten about their set up.  Of course this would be in a workshop with lots of people working on the same piece of embroidery, but if it works for them...You know how the saying goes.

It worked for Nellie too.  The glue wasn't dry so I cheated and took the photo quickly, so as not to knock the shelf off of the wall.

It seems that all of their frames were mounted with a shelf on the wall and a saw horse.

Problem solved.  I cut down the cross bars on the frame.  It's not likely that Nellie is going to embroider anything that won't fit on this frame.

She was a bit miffed about it though.  I had forgotten how her temper runs hot and cold.  Right now she is haranguing me for a larger house, instead of the smaller frame. 

I think that is just an excuse.  Remember?  I have been through this with Tessie a number of times.

It also dawned on me that she probably wouldn't leave the frame up when she was done for the day.

So now it is arranged so that the frame can sit in the corner by the fireplace on the other side and the sawhorse simply slides back against the shelf.

Now that I have that done, full speed ahead.

I can wire today.

I finished 22 spools of thread yesterday and promptly lost them. Thank goodness, I had not cut them apart yet.

It took a while, but I finally found them in the channel that is at the back of the plastic thread box.  I looked through the box several times and never thought to look "outside the box".

Anyway, Nellie hung up some of her embroidery patterns behind the table in the bedroom....Those old square nails make horrible holes.  I do hope that she doesn't cover the whole wall.

I added a 40 count rug to the bedside and a candlestick to the table....I just glued the candle in and didn't notice until now that it didn't stay where it was supposed to.  Oops.

Nellie is following me around nagging for me to finish.  At one point she grabbed the stick of spools and threatened to beat me around the ankles....I sure am glad that she can't reach any higher. 

The advantages with her is she doesn't know any of Tessie's tricks.  She has to walk, not zap.  No spells.  Just a lot of commotion and yelling.  She is easy enough  to contain.  I can just slam the front door of her house.  Put the big oak table in front of it and station a couple of dogs and a tiger on it to keep her in.  Yup.  Definitely a lot easier to handle than Tessie....

Speaking of Tessie, I haven't seen her all morning....Quiet is not good, where Tessie is concerned...

I had better go see what she is up to now.

See you tomorrow.

A Little More to the Left....

I realized this morning that I have to build up the fireplace on the ground floor, before I can wire the place.

I found a scrap of ceiling tile and cut out the same size and shape as the original fireplace.

I thought that the 1/2" would do it, but when I put it in, I was not so sure...

It still looks very shallow.  This would be Nellie's cooking fireplace.  I think that it should be a bit deeper...

The problem is....When I put in the surround, I have to make Nellie shift to the left a bit.

Even that far to the left takes her out of the window and sunlight...It's hard to embroider when there isn't enough light.  I speak from experience on that count.

She's in there.  She's just behind the wall now.

When I added a thickness of foam core, it made it even worse.  Not a lot of room to walk around. 

I know that's silly, but I have to have enough room to move around the room.  It's like I live there  and I don't like it when I have to climb over things.

With her in this position, the door doesn't open far enough to comfortably walk into the room.  She would have to shimmy around the edge of the door.

I am going to have to think about furniture placement and walkways for a bit.

While I am waiting for a solution to pop into my head, I wound spools of thread....Yes that is correct.  I went and checked.  Saint Aubins was winding spools with embroidery thread with a fancy thread winder in 1770, so I am guessing that the spools had been used before that.  It may not be totally correct, but in a lot of things about embroidery, practices have not changed since the middle ages. I think that the spools would be the logical way to store threads.  Skeins of short pieces of gold thread were stored wrapped in paper. 

I don't know where Tessie is, but Nellie seems to be taking lessons from her on how to annoy people.  She has been rummaging through my silk fabric.  She is ordering by the yard...It's just a good thing that a yard in her world is 1/12 of a yard in my world. 

Between that, cutting fabric and pricking patterns, I should be keeping busy until I solve the positioning problem...Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

Up Against a Brick Wall....

Or....How NOT to wire a house....

Believe it or not.  What Tessie is holding in her hand is the whole wiring system for the Crooked Cottage! It is one wire and only leads to the attic. I will have to attach an exterior transformer

I cut a splice in right behind the second floor chimney so that I will be able to put a fire in that fireplace if Nellie wants one.

The white thing to the left is the chimney.  There is a channel down the center back as a place for the wire.  Thank goodness, it is large enough to run several wires.

I have seldom seen a Tudor chimney that was not bare brick. A lot of them had patterns running through the brickwork.  I am tempted to redo the whole thing in brick.  I hate to ruin the integrity of the dollhouse, but it just doesn't look right to me.  What do you think?

Next problem?   That one and only wire comes out of the center beam of the ceiling inside the second floor.

In doing research, I am not finding any ceiling lights in small cottage Tudors.  Oops.

I am going to have to run the wire down the back and put a candle or rush light on the table.

The fireplace on this floor is just deep enough to put a small grate in.

I was a good witch.  I didn't try testing the wiring whilst Tessie was holding both ends of the wire.

Now to the real problem...The bottom floor has a fireplace that is only about 1/2" deep and there is no hearth at all.  Just wood floor.

I am debating cutting a hole in the wall there.  That would give me another 1/2".  Then I would have one about the same size as the one on the second floor.

I will also have to run some wires through there if we want any kind of candle or rush lights on the ground floor.

Problems.  Problems. Problems....What to do?  I think that I will work on solving them before rushing headlong into doing the job. 

Meanwhile, Joan is having Wednesday Witches mini group at one.  We haven't had it for three weeks.  I need a Witch Fix.

See you tomorrow.

Heat and Light Before Winter Sets In....

Yup.  The six year old is at it again.

This time it is back to the Crooked House.

Nellie is ecstatic.  Tessie? Not so much...

I decided that I wanted the cottage finished.  I put off the foundation and electrical long enough.  I dislike the way the electrical was put in by the builder, so I kept putting it off.  I have to take the chimney off of the house, to get at the wiring.  It is completely closed, but for the hole where the wire comes out.

I decided to work up to the wiring by finishing the foundation first.  I did the stone work months ago.  I just didn't score it or paint it.

This morning I did that part. First I went over all of the cracks with gray paint.  Trying to get it down in between.  If I find that I have missed a spot, I can always hit it with a fine brush or fine tipped pen later, but I would prefer to have it done first. The scoring was done with a Susan Bates, #0 crochet hook and my stylus.  The hook is handy because it is semi pointed at the end and can get into the cracks further than the stylus.  I do that part whilst the cracks are still wet from the paint.

Then with the pallet that you see in the top photo, I did my usual paint job in the stones.  Remember my motto?  Never clean the brush between colors.  It works. 

I do see a couple of spots that I got too dark in the photo and an area that is too all one color.

While I was on a break, Nellie and Tessie took up a spot on the roof of the little bay window.  They couldn't find a ladder and Tessie's zapper was out of juice.  You see, I made her zap the house from the family room to the bedroom so that I could work on it. 

So...They used one of Nellie's saw horses and a joint stool to get up there...

I am going to have to shoo both of them off if I want to get to the electrical part today.

I do think that there is a need for more accessories in the house too.  Hopefully, this will be done shortly.  Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

And the Beat Goes On.....

That is Tessie's beat for petition signing...

In the middle of last night, about 3AM, I heard noise in the living room and went to investigate.

The fan light was on and Tessie was trying to get Cordelia and Eskiaga to sign the paper.  The trouble with this was....neither of them had any complaints.

She is trying to make me think that I am way behind on upkeep....It's not working.

This morning I did repair Nellie's front foundation.  Now all I have to do is paint it.

Tessie's nose was out of joint the whole time.  First she hung over the edge of Nellie's bed and complained.  That lasted until Nellie kicked her out for making too much noise.

It's hard to concentrate on stitchery when someone is shouting.

It was much better when I used the old "white washing the fence" trick.  I kept telling Nellie how much fun I was having and she agreed that it really looked like a fun job.

The next think I knew, Tessie was handing me the stones to put in the space.  As soon as it dries, I will paint it...I wonder if the whitewash trick will work twice in one day?

I still need to take the chimney off and see to the wiring in this one too...  Did I mention that I don't like wiring?  I don't.  I can do it.  I just don't like it.

Only a few more rows on the top end of the remote.  Actually, that's the bottom end.  The end that does the work is his chin.  So close.  Yet so far...

Back to work of one kind or another.

See you tomorrow.

A Revolting Sunday....

Tessie inspected the potion pots in her workroom and deduced what Zar had been up to for the past week....

With a little of this, a pinch of that and a smidgen of the other thing, he made a potion to spray on the Clockwork Cottage.  He wanted it facing outward so that he could get inside to work on it himself... It did work.  The front of the cottage now faces the wall...

Thank goodness, it wasn't a potion to make me work on it!  Ha!  He just made more work for himself. 

We caught him trying to get into the house...Evidently, he's not smart enough to do a zapping spell to transport himself up there...

Somehow it sparked the germ of an idea in Tessie's mind....Darn!

I tried to ignore her when she started scribbling on a scrap of paper...That worked for a little while.

I couldn't help but notice when she started carrying it from place to place and had intense conversations with the owners of said houses....

I caught her first in the embroiderer's Crooked House.  She was holding up the petition for Nellie to read, whilst embroidering. 

Nellie signed it, without hesitation, in her spidery Elizabethan script.

I was beginning to wonder what Tessie had on the page....

Next she hit the Witch's Warehouse.  Of course she started at the top of the house.  That's where the eldest of her sisters hangs out.  It was important to get her signature first.  All others would follow...

Still wondering, here.

She hit several other buildings.  I didn't bother to photograph each one.  It's pointless. 

The last person she would go to is me.  I am the worker bee.

When she was finished making the rounds, I noticed that she had not approached Zar.  It seems that whatever it is she is doing, he is not on her "friends" list right now.

I finally caught up with her in my very own Craft Cottage/Castle.

I worked up the courage to ask what she was doing...

She chewed on the corner of the VIP(Very Important Paper) and then finally handed it to me...

It said...."We, the undersigned demand that you finish, repair, remodel, fix and do whatever needs to be done to our buildings!"  At the top of the list was Tessie's name in triplicate...

I asked why.  She replied, "My hand got tired after I signed it three times.  It should have been fourteen and a half, but I will do that later.  The important part is...I am first!!!!"

Everyone else only got to sign it once. 

"Of course, I expect you to do mine ASAP.  I will give you a list in a couple of days.  This starts next Monday.  ME FIRST!"

Oh goodie!  I have a week to finish the three boxes, if I follow her rules.  Anybody got any suggestions on how I can get out of this one!

I think that I will work on the rug for MY craft cottage for the rest of the day. Or maybe I should work on a forgetful potion to pour over Tessie's head.

See you tomorrow.

Somewhere to Lay Her Weary Head.....

 This is going to be short.  The stupid allignment button will not let the text go to the left, even though I have it set that way and yes, I did  do the "remove formatting" thing and tried to move the text to the left.  Frustrating!!!  Oops! Never mind.  It finally decided to play nice....For the time being.

OK.  This is as far as I am going today. Nellie now has a place to sleep. 

 I put in some lavender and blue flowers and blanket stitched the top edge of the coverlet over two threads.

By the way, If you decide to do something like that, remember to do it on the wrong side, if you are going to turn the top back.

It's very annoying when you get part of it done and realize that it's the wrong side.  No....I didn't do that this time, but I have done it a few times before.  That's how I know.

Here it is up close.  The color on both of these photos isn't great.  One is too white and the other too yellow.  It's another cloudy day.  I can never get them right when the light is like this.

Anyway.  I quit.  I am going to go play some other game for the rest of the day...Something fun.

See you tomorrow.