So many Unfinished...

I still haven't found all of the roof pieces and some missing stair pieces of the Clockwork Cottage.  Until I do, it is impossible to finish it.

I think that it is going back to the top of the bookcase in the workroom for the time being.

I do have everything but the kitchen and the library finished in Daisy's Cottage.

It is a much better candidate for finishing...

There is also the Weaver's Workshop. Pretty much finished but doors and windows. Oh! And the wrought iron brace for the chimney.

Easier to move around and work on...

Last but not least is the Russian Cottage.  It is small and the inside shouldn't take that long. 

Yup. I am thinking of changing horses in the middle of the stream, once again...

Any of these three will be pretty fast to finish. 

I didn't find the pieces of the Clockwork Cottage roof, when cleaning out the workroom.  I know that they are there.  I just don't know where.

I might as well get something done while searching for the missing pieces.

I am going to draw a name out of a hat and get to work. Maybe while finishing the workroom the missing pieces will magically appear.  Wish me luck!  See you tomorrow.

Now Open For Business...

Tessie and Zar put up the sign this morning... NOT ONE customer in sight.  I do believe that the neighbors were frightened away by the shop warming party yesterday.

Anyway, they had to borrow Reggie's ladder that he uses to get to the roof of the Forest Fantasy Cottage and the ladder that Daisy uses to get up to the Time Machine Station on her roof.

Between the two of them... They managed to do it without too much damage....

I made the sign in my "Print Shop" program and then put an edge on it with fancy gold paper tape.

They refused to get out of the way, so that you could see the sign.  It says, "Tessie's Weaving &Zar's Woodworking".  That's all I could talk them into. 

Here's a little better view of the workshop.  The chair that Tessie is sitting in is one of hers from the townhouse potions room... Zar got it glued and screwed back together where she tore off a leg, dragging it around...

She plopped down in it as soon as he was finished.  Glue is NOT dry. 

She proceeded to try to warp the inkle loom that I made for her... So far, she has included her head and both hands in the process.Before she started, she gave Spike the end of the yarn.  That was a precaution.  She figures that he can always run outside and down the street to untangle her...Always thinking ahead...

I do believe that the Terrible Two are going to be each other's best customers. 

Tessie is always in need of furniture repair.

Zar is always in need of a new shirt, pair of pants or just a blanket.

It was a wise decision on my part to finish this project.  The two of them will be keeping each other out of my hair for the next few weeks... Maybe... We shall see. 

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Movable Feast, er... I Mean Party!

In case you can't read... The sign says, "Free Stakes, One per Person"... I think that Zar is tired of carving them... Actually, I am short of two ended toothpicks. I suspect he saved some time by cutting them in two and throwing them in the basket. 

The Weaver's and Wood Worker's  Workshop is finished.  The only thing left to do is to make the sign for out front.

I finished the windows and door this morning.

 Then came the tough part.  I had to get the party out of Zar's trailer and into the new shop.

I finally, after a lot of arguing, sent the Terrible Two in to collect the crowd and move them.  It wasn't easy. 

The easiest part was getting the two Spikes from one place to the other.  I gave Big Spike a box of Scooterpies and sent him on his way.  Small Spike followed.  He loves scooterpies. and Big Spike likes to lead the parade.  Problem solved...

I still need to collect Zar's tools and some finished blankets and rugs that Tessie made on the loom, but basically, it is complete. 

On to other things now!

I need to go clean up the mess and then decide what is going to happen next...

See you tomorrow.

Three O'Clock in the Morning!!

There will be a party tomorrow morning.  Bright and early.

I have one wall of the workroom finished! And....

I woke up in the middle of the night and figured out why I haven't finished the weaver's workshop yet.

It's because of those two stupid windows on the floor.  Who needs to get down on their hands and knees to look out a second story window?  I don't think that I would.

The Terrible Two are only sitting on the floor to illustrate what a stupid idea it is to put windows on the floor.  And they had to move the loom out to accomplish sitting there.

There are NOT going to be windows there.  There is plenty of sunlight coming in through the skylight.

The Terrible Two illustrated what they would do if they really had to look out a window...

Yes.  They climbed the loom and sat on top.  I doubt that they could see much from there, but they made their point. 

Either look out of the back of the building or go outside and look.

Anyway.  By this time tomorrow the Weaver's Workshop and Woodworking  Company will be in business... Or should I say... The grand opening party will be going on.  Buffy and Spike will be there to sign autographs and pass out complimentary stakes... Hopefully, Spike will be the only vampire on the premises.  I do believe that Zar is wishing that someone else would take over the woodworking.  He is hoping to start building "Zar's Bizarre Bazaar". The Steampunk General Store that has been in the planning for several years now.

I spent a lot of the morning trimming bushes and trees in the back yard.  Brush and Bulky pick up is tomorrow. 

While I was doing that and the laundry... Kota found a pillow.  He will sleep anywhere that there is a space big enough... Not including his chin.

OK.  I am out of here.  See you tomorrow.

Another Sunny Sunday...

And another fairy house.  I found this one at Goodwill this morning... It is really an incense burner. I am sure that the fairies can do something to clean it out and furnish it.  It is about 5" high, not including the tower, and ready for someone to move in.  Hand made.  One of a kind as far as I can tell.  It has some initials on the bottom and no other identifying marks.

Anyway, I think that the fairies will be pleased.

Behind the curved wall on the right side in front of the tower, It is open to put the incense inside.  Other than that, it is enclosed and looks like a real cottage.

I found another rug to finish.  My friend, Judy wanted to borrow a book on Chinese rugs that I had... I opened it and found the rug on the right.  Oops.  It's not good to store rugs you are working on inside the book with the pattern.  They come as a big surprise if you haven't opened the book for a while...

I did some more on the Russian rug.  The border is almost finished.

Tessie came through her antics yesterday without a single scratch.  That's because I finally relieved her of the skateboard after and hour of listening to the zipping, clunking and banging of her trying to ruin my stove top.

She grabbed the skateboard back and demanded that I build her a rack in the weaving studio for her to store it on... Oh goody!  Another job to add to my list. 

She refuses to help me with anything else until she gets her storage unit... Hey!  Maybe it is going to take longer than I thought to get around to making one!  Let's see... First I add it to the very bottom of my list of things to do.  Then I just never get to the bottom of the list.

Yeah.  That will work.  Until she thinks of a way to get around it.

I am off to try one of the banana muffins I just made.  I found the recipe on Pinterest.  It was labeled Best Ever Banana Muffins.  So I had to try it. They must be pretty good.  This is the second batch I have made.

Back to the kitchen.

See you tomorrow.

Still Celebrating...

We almost stopped the party and then April and Amare arrived.  More celebrating.

Amare brought me a dragon to protect the fairy garden.  I will show you the piece that April brought me as soon as I decide where it is going to stay for good.  It is wandering from place to place right now. 

Meanwhile, the Terrible two are trying to get my attention.  They want me back on the job NOW!

They want the Weaver's Workshop finished.  But the problem there is they don't want to move out of the upstairs portion so that I can work on the downstairs.  The woodworking shop may have to wait.

They are also fussing about me not finishing Daisy's kitchen.  Daisy doesn't care.  She is still at the party at the Clockwork Trailer.  It still seems to be going strong.

Zar and Tessie were measuring in the kitchen the last time I looked.  I can't figure out why they are so interested... Maybe because Daisy refuses to take anybody for a ride in the time machine until I finish her house.

I think that Spike has the right idea.  He has his eye on Daisy's favorite sign.  That seems to me a better idea than the usual "Keep calm and carry on!"

Walter, April and Amare went to the park and to pick up lunch.  I guess I should get to work and do something before they get back... Maybe I will install a sink or stove. Or maybe, just for fun, I will "Freak Out and Throw Stuff!"

See you tomorrow.

Just Two More!

 We are down to the wire!  I have two more goes at radiation and I will be finished!

That means that I will be able to get serious about minis again!

I am almost done with the basket... Tessie thought it would make a great basket for a balloon, until I pointed out that it wouldn't get off of the ground with the heavy pot on the bottom... Oops.  So much for that idea.

Did I mention that she is wandering about pointing out that she has two feet?  Kota's attitude was who cares I need a bath...

She does have Zar on her side though.  They are planning their strategy on getting me to finish the weaver's cottage. 

They don't have to plan.  I was going to do that anyway.

It keeps them out of my hair if they are plotting and making plans, so I just let them. 

They still didn't put the wrong door back in the drawer where it belongs.

Someday I am going to have to figure out where that one belongs.

Meanwhile, I have to go get ready to take my next to the last blast of radiation.

See you tomorrow.

Look Before Leaping...

OK... I didn't check the door.  I just assumed that it was the one for this place...

One shouldn't assume.  It looked good from the angle I was looking at, but it fell over twice... with glue on the hinges!

Something was amiss.

So much for getting the door and windows in. I took the windows out.  I decided to change the style...Bad idea.

I stooped down the get the door back in place for the third time and then I knew... It wasn't the door for this building.

I could have sworn that the one that went with this was shaped and designed like this... Maybe there is a top piece missing for over the door... But no.  The door is also too wide!

Oops! 

Tessie and Zar found the predicament hilarious. 

One thing nice about being larger than the Terrible Two... I made them go searching for the right door.

They may not be out of that drawer until Thursday.  It's where I keep all of the leftovers from all of my builds. They are not arranged by house or even in alphabetical order... Oops!

I think that I will go get a piece of banana bread and watch TV until they find the right piece... I am out of the mood to replace doors and windows now.

Let the Terrible Two do the work for a bit. 

See you tomorrow.

Here's the Door...

Come on in!. 

I am doing the door the lazy way.  No muss. No fuss. No bother.

I grabbed two pieces of molding.  Some glue.  Some scissors. 

The first thing I did was cut three pieces of the wider molding the width of the door.

Then with the chair rail, I cut four.  They were jus a hair longer than the width between the wider molding.

The pieces will be sanded or shaved to fit.

 I have passed this tip on before, but I will keep doing it, because someone may have missed it.

When working with strip wood, I always use dots of glue, rather than glue all along the piece.  This keeps the piece straight and it doesn't warp.  Someone showed me this 30 years ago and I will never go back to using a long line of glue on any strip wood.

Here, you can see that I used clothespins for clamps.  These work especially well with rounded pieces like chair molding.  No crushing.

After all of this dries and I have sanded and trimmed, I will turn the whole thing over and start again for the inside finish.

I put Tessie and Zar in charge of watching the glue dry.  They couldn't wait to see how it looked on the front of the Weaver's Workshop.

They have it propped up in front of the door hole.

While they were holding the door up, I went and made banana bread.  It just came out of the oven and the whole house smells good.

The worst part of making banana bread is waiting ten minutes for it to cool, so it will come out of the pan. 

I am going to go watch it cool now.  As soon as it is touchable, it is out of the pan and cut.

See you tomorrow!

Findings...

It's official!  Tessie now has 20 aprons.  She found another one this morning...Sometimes it pays to help clean!

She immediately discarded the patchwork one that she was wearing yesterday and put this one on.  She plopped down on her favorite chair in the workroom and announced, "I'm finished for the day!"

Then she wrapped one of my beaded bracelets around her arms and asked, "Could you make this into two shorter bracelets for me?"

Not even a please.  Just do it!

I was sorting out the basket behind her... It was full of lots of lost treasures.

The main one was the front door for the Weaver's Workshop.  Now I don't have to waste time looking for it... Just a bit of fancying up with trims and stain should do it.

I also found two more wicker plant stands. More geraniums or something. 

I caught her!  She was filling her tree stump table with my jewelry.

I had forgotten all about that one.  It would look nice in the Forrest Fantasy Cottage... Now all I have to do is get it away from her. It needs oiling and polishing. I have a feeling that it is going to end up in her living room...

I also found this little coin purse that I made years ago. It has been missing for quite a while. I use it to carry my rings, that I wear every day.  It goes in my purse.  That way I don't have to hunt for them.

Anyway, please notice the basket is empty and gone!  On to more cleaning.  Who knows what I will find next?

Tessie keeps telling me that she hid a one hundred dollar bill in the room somewhere..
She seems to think that it will keep me cleaning. Only one problem... I know she doesn't have access to a real one hundred dollar bill... I suspect that it is one of hers.  About a half inch long... I don't think that I am going to keep cleaning just for that. 

I will keep cleaning for a while and then I am going to go make burritos and guacamole for lunch.  Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

A Little to the Left...

 First you move the Tessie TV.  Then you clean up the woodworking area and move Tessie out of the way.

Then you draw up plans...

Zar did this in about the easiest way possible. 

The roof was made from some leftover siding.  A piece 6" by 2" was all he needed.

The floor to keep the wood up off of the ground was 1 1/2" by 5 3/4".  The posts were 1/4" stock cut at an angle, so that the roof would slope... That way the rain and snow just fall off.

We used the little flat sticks that are sold by the bag at Walmart in the craft department for the side braces.

I simply added those after Zar had the rest put together.  They sit below the floor and are glued to it and the small 1/2" pieces that were used for legs.

This same structure can be closed in with screening and used for rabbit hutches and chicken pens. Different sized for whatever animal you choose.

Anyway, we made short work of the build.  Stained the whole thing and glued the back legs to the wall of the building.  It's not going anyplace for a while and the wood will be nice and dry.

I did get two more of the windows finished inside.  We are moving right along! 

See you tomorrow.

Now We Are Getting Somewhere!

This morning I went to look for more wood to finish the half timber.  I still need to frame some windows and do some more to the inside.

Not an easy task when the wood pile is in this state.  I pulled it all out and laid it on the bed.  Then I started sorting... This could take a while, since the Terrible Two insisted on helping.

They really want the Weaver's Workshop finished.

It took me a few hours to go through it all, but now if you ask me where something is, I can find it much more quickly than before the sorting.

Tessie even knows where some of it is!

I didn't label anything.  Once it is sorted, I can find it by sight.

I put most of it back.  I threw very little away.  Short pieces come in handy.

I sent Tessie in for the needed timber.  She did well.  We now have enough to finish the rest of the framing.

I am taking out the windows for do overs.  I didn't like the way some of them turned out.

This time I will do them right.

OH!  There was an added bonus! Remember me saying that the samovar for the Russian Cottage fell down from a top shelf?

I found it at the bottom of one of the waste baskets that I had the wood in.

It was simply made from a large wooden bead, painted with copper and a lot of jewelry findings.

Now we can complete the Russian Cottage, as well as the Weaver's Workshop.

Right after Tessie finishes making the tea.

I seriously need to get back to work!

See you tomorrow.  Hopefully with the windows replaced and the wood shed finished.

 

Hiding From Half Timber

At least the wood work for the half timber, on the outside is finished.

As soon as I started, the house got strangely quiet... No Tessie.  No Zar.  Not even a Spike!

They all detest half timbering and I don't really blame them.

I finished all three sides whilst listening to some guy on the travel channel looking for the lost city of gold. 

I was more successful than he was.  As far as I know, he is still wandering around Peru.

The next step is to make the rest of the panels look stained and messy, like the area around the chimney.

On this side of the building, I am going to put an area for excess wood.  Covered and off the ground.  I wouldn't want all of Zar's precious wood to get ruined.

Anyway, I am on a roll and should get back at it before the mood leaves me.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Two Steps Forward...

This is as far as I have gotten on the crocheted bag, so far... Not too bad for two days of work, when I'm not doing something else. 

It's just a good thing that I didn't make it a little bigger.  Kota would be sleeping in it by now...

 I had a Dr. appointment at 11:30, so that kind of put a hole in the middle of the day...

Before I left, I started taking apart the cover for the channel changer in the bedroom..

It has started coming apart at the seams.  And...

 I am just plain wearing it out in places.  See all of the holes in the stitching?  Plastic canvas is bare! 

All of that area was worn down to the point that when I rubbed my fingers across the inside of the tube, the thread just fell out!  The inside was completely worn through in places.

It looks like a new bunch of stitchery is in order.  If I don't do that, I can never find the changer.  It blends into the woodwork, so to speak...

This is the second one that I have worn to the bone.

As for the bottom of the Weaver's Workshop, It is one step back!  The window that I taped up yesterday, fell out...

I guess that I should go attempt to get more done in the woodworking section.

Back to doing what needs to be done. 

See you tomorrow.

Lazy Day...

One of those "Use it or loose it" bundles of yarn.

I grabbed two last night that had absolutely nothing to do with each other and started crocheting... It will be a storage bag or a shopping bag when I finish.  It all depends on how it turns out.  It is darker than it looks in the photo.  I like it so far.

I am using two different sock yarns and a size G hook.

I have another window and a half done in the Weaver's Workshop. 

I put the mini TV on the workbench..

Tessie keeps playing the same video over and over... It is of her of course...

I forgot to show you the pillow cases that April made me as a kind of get well soon thing.

She found this fabric that is printed with pages from an old dictionary... I don't know whether to read or to sleep...

Kota doesn't have that problem...

I have to decide if I am going to work or take a nap with Kota... Maybe he has the right idea...

I am going to go sit next to him, crochet, and think about it for a while...

See you tomorrow.