Outside the Box...

I escaped to the back porch this morning.  It was in dire need of cleaning. 

As usual, I couldn't just clean the porch.  I had to move things around... I am now done for the day... In every way...

 I think that I told you that I was going back to greenhouse in real life, instead of conservatory in miniature. Tessie isn't happy, but I am.  I will have a place to start new plants. She is just going to have to live with it! I still have to remove the rest of the clay from the top.  A little at a time is how it is going.  Any suggestions? I did some of it with a wet paper towel to soften.  Then I did some with an exacto knife and a hammer... Sooner or later, I will get it all off.

I did get a lot of the plants repotted.  Some were outgrowing the pots and some were just ready to give up the ghost.

The big pot at the bottom of this photo has several smaller pots inside now. 

That is the only thing I could do to keep the squirrels from burying and digging up nuts.  The pot was convenient for them... Not much fun for me though. I had to clean up after them every few days. Silly squirrels!

While I was cleaning and repotting, Tessie and Zar ordered another pizza and are watching Wynona Earp for the second time. I do wish that Netflix would get the second season.  Maybe I could talk them into watching that one, instead of the first season over and over.  This is only the second time, but I am sure that there will be a third and fourth if the second season doesn't come on soon.

Anyway, I think that I am going to maybe work on a Rya rug and watch with them... I am tuckered out.

See you tomorrow.

Is It Christmas Yet?

I hope not... This is all I have done of the Christmas socks for this year!  I have to get going on those or else make something else this year.

The conservatory is coming back to it's original style nicely.  I only have a little to take off of the top edge. 

I am going to go back to the original use.  I am going to put a bunch of small pots inside and get some seedlings going. 

As it was as a mini, was ok, but I think that I want it to be useful instead of just cute.

Now I have more stuff that I need to find new homes for. Can we say "Going around in circles."?

Tessie really doesn't care right now.  She is wandering from place to place looking for a new potions room.  She threw everything out of this room box(including two people) and made herself at home...

I took the day off and she took over the workroom.  She is tearing around and trying out everything that she can find that might suit her purposes for a potions lab.

You will notice that she has posted her favorite sign on my new label making tape...

She carries the broom (Or rides it).  She holds up the sign or sticks it to something and makes herself at home in which ever room box she is trying out.  So much for the She Shed!

I think that it is safer for me to just sit and knit for the rest of the day.

Back to the needles. 

See you tomorrow.

Rya Rug and Back to the Conservatory...

We got a new cat bed for Kota a few days ago... He was not adapting to it... The weather is too hot. 

This morning I washed the sheets and while that was going on, I put the bed on our bed and threw his favorite throw over it... That did the trick.  He has been in it all afternoon.

He kept me company whilst I worked on the Rya Rug. 

 It is coming along nicely.  I am up to the part where the other end design starts.  I am already on the third row or that.

I am starting to see the finish line on this one.

 I finally gave up on the dragon on the roof of the conservatory.  Every time I would lift the lid, something would break off of him and I would have to repair. 

So yesterday morning I took him off and re-did the ends of the roof. Now all I have to do is paint those and put a door on the interior side of the right wall and it will be pretty much finished. 

Granted, it still needs some paint and I have to clean up the windows, but I can see the finish coming.

I stopped into Mesquite Valley Growers here in town and picked up a several plants. 

I think that the pups off of this one are going in tiny pots and will be the first real plants for the conservatory.

I am going to put it out on the porch and see if I can get anything small to grow in there.

There are several small plants growing around the base of this one too, so I will have some starter plants. 

I would like to see if I can grow a lot of small plants in the Edwardian Case.

When Joan gave this thing to me, she started trouble.  I am determined to fill it with mini plants.

We shall see what happens.

Back to the rug.

See you tomorrow.

We Are Re-roofed!

They are finished.  The last painting was done today.  After they were finished, Walter had to touch up a few spots on the under side of the porch roof.  Other than that, they did a good job. 

We spent a good amount of time carrying everything back to the porch. Walter got to do the heavy lifting and I did a lot of running back and forth with the small stuff.

And Tessie?  She posed for all of the photos after we were finished.  Good luck finding her.

She seemed to be amused with the process, so I just ignored her and took the photos.

I have a LOT of plants.  I don't realize it until we have to unload them and then load them back onto the porch.

I still have to rearrange the plant stands and then put in the pots. We got rid of the two big tables that I had a lot of the plants on.

Yesterday Walter spent a long time trying to get the tables apart. They were bolted together.  Not a fun job.

Anyway, now all I have to do is get everything in some semblance of order.

After this photo was taken, Tessie disappeared.

I looked all over and finally found her in the conservatory.

I asked what she was doing... Her answer?

"Well, if you want anything done right, you have to do it yourself.  I am just going to rearrange everything in here and finish it MYSELF! Now go away and leave me to my work!"

I didn't argue.  I wonder how soon she will get bored with finishing the conservatory by herself?

Personally, I doubt that it will last until tomorrow. We shall see...

See you then.

All Minis, All the Time!

 I had a go at doing more painting on the dragon on the conservatory this morning... He is coming along and so is the inside, but nothing to show you up close and personal quite yet. 

I did notice that the windows are in need of a good washing though.

Did I mention that Tessie is the only one that isn't still partying as a part of my blog celebration... She is more interested in me making more minis for her.

Her only problem at present is finding a way to get out of the box that I just made for her yesterday... Yup.  Locked the door and hid the key...

This is the first day that I have been brave enough to mess with the cross stitch program on the new computer.  It took a while, but I managed to get it working...

This is more or less just a doodle.  If you want to use it for a pattern, feel free to blow it up and have at it.  You can use any four colors that you want to use.  I used two shades of green, a rusty brown and beige for a background.

Mind you, I didn't say it's the best rug that I ever designed, but hey!  It's a start! Next try I will do something more serious.

See you tomorrow.

Back to Work!

I got to work and cleaned out the conservatory.  It was a mess!

Tessie and Zar and even Spike refused to help.  They said that I made the mess, so I could clean it up.

So I did...

 As soon as I got it cleaned out, they moved right in. 

Did you notice that I have still another fountain at the center back.  This one is a planter. I did it years ago and it gets a new home every once in a while. 

I kind of like the fact that it adds some more green stuff inside the conservatory. Who knows where this will end?

I still need to do the inside of the door on the end that you can see inside, but at least I have all of the panels cut for the ends now.

This is where it is going to sit when it is done.  It needs to be where it gets some indirect lighting.

With all of the bad weather we have been having, it has a new friend.

I brought my oldest cacti in from outside.  It is just about as old as the house itself and I would hate to loose it.

Walter carried it inside and I think that it will stay for one more night.

It was under freezing here for the last three nights.

The theory is that, if you live in Arizona, that doesn't happen!  So much for that theory!

I would like to get some more done today.

Back to work.  Maybe I can finish the door at least.

See you tomorrow. 

Re-Moving...Again

I moved things around again today.  I put the needlework chest back on the wall that I had it on before. I like it better there and besides, I had to replace the conservatory with something.

I had to move some of the pictures to make a place for the house on top of the chest...

Therefore, I had to hang them somewhere else.

They went where the chest used to be.

The whole purpose of all of this moving was to get the conservatory into the family room, where the plants would have enough light... Now they do.

I still need to do some work on it, but I can do it in the family room. 

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon.  Checkup. That takes a big chunk out of the day, so not a lot of mini-ing.

I spent most of the morning trying to find more stuff to take out of the workroom.  I am going to pare down in there.  I need more room and a lot of the stuff that is in there, I haven't used in years or I will never use again... No more storeroom.  I want it so that I can get back in there to work. 

I know I have said that before, but this time I MEAN IT!

I need room to move!

See you tomorrow.

Excuse My Dust!

I guess that the dirt isn't too noticeable in these photos, but it is definitely there.  I spilled the dirt out of a couple of the potted plants...Oops!

 I cut the two end walls for the inside this morning.  I will have to put a door on the one in this photo.

I may still move the potting bench over to the opposite end.  Still planning...

 Meanwhile, I have about a sock and a quarter finished.  I am still loving the bowl.  I just wish that the people at the factory would be just a little more careful about winding the yarn.  Every once in a while I have to stop and remove tangles by hand. Most irritating.

I forgot to show you the other book that I got for Christmas.  It is full of colored photos of all kinds of plants.  I can make more minis with this one to look at. 

OK...You caught me.  I am going back to work on the second sock for a while.  I can't wait to wear these. Fun colors. 

Back to the needles. 

See you tomorrow. 

Busy Day!

This morning, Walter and I got our eyes checked.  Not much worse than last time. That was two years ago. The way the doctor put it was, we were both just a tick worse than last time... Not bad.

Then we went to lunch with the kids for Walter's birthday... He is a new years baby. Jan. 1.

I finished up to the toe of the first sock.  It should be finished tomorrow.

Back to the conservatory.  I decided to take the fountain out and move the planting bench to the center back.

All of the real plants are coming along nicely.

I still need to make some wisteria if I decide to use it.

Tessie has washed her hands of the whole thing.  She has decided it would be easier to go out in the back yard and plant things.  More room.

I am still going to try to finish this one. 

It doesn't look like it is going to be finished by the first of the year, but it will be close...

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Every Day Things...

I think that the shelves on the potting bench will be held up by fancy wrought iron brackets.

That's about all that I did in mini today.

Then I got to thinking about changing the walls in the bedroom.

Since this is where I work most of the time, I decided to make it pleasant to work in. 

I have been gathering some of my paintings and sketches.  Also some things that other artists have done for me.

It's hard to see, but the black frame at the bottom left side is a quick sketch of me that a friend did when I was a freshman in college.  Just something fun.

The flamingo above it is a photo that Seth took a few years ago... I like all of his art.

The one in the black frame above the conservatory is by Roger Holt.  He was an artist based in Jerome, when I was going to college.  He passed away in 1979.  I can say that I have a painting by an artist that has had stuff in the Met in NYC, also in the UN building.  What is even more amazing is, he traded that for one of my lowly college paintings when I was about 21 years old!

There are also a lot of art prints in my collection.  If I like it I hang it! 

The thing that looks like a knot hole is just that.  I think that April brought that back from one of her hikes with Seth.

On this wall there is a bunch of French cross stitch that I did several years ago.  There are a couple of mirrors, some scissors and a framed photo of Amare when he was only a month or two old. 

I am not done yet.  I like looking at these things and I can't when they are hidden away. 

At the rate I am going, I am going to have my very own art gallery. 

It might not last, but it is fun while it's here.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

One Step Forward...

And only one step back... I opened the conservatory roof to try the potting bench and discovered a lot of white spots on Desmond that didn't get paint!  It's not a BIG  step back, but it is going to have to be fixed!

Poor Desmond.  He it going to have to stand upside down while I paint his underneath part.

 Anyway, this is what the potting bench looks like so far.  It needs a couple more legs on the right side and some shelves.  Then it will need painting.

It's not perfect, but then I wasn't trying for perfect.  I just wanted something different in the way of a potting bench.

I may have to do some rearranging.  I think that it is going to look crowded with potting bench and fountain.  I would rather use the fountain somewhere else if it comes to getting rid of something.  I am liking the potting bench that I see in my  tiny mind. 

Actually, Tessie does too, so that is settled.

She keeps asking how long?  I keep telling her a day or two... That seems to satisfy.

I am going back to build shelves and paint dragons now...

See you tomorrow.

Layers upon Layers...

 OK.  I officially have the base coat on everything now.  Desmond is green and the bricks are stone colored...

 Now I have to make them look like a real dragon and real stones...

This could take a while...

After I get this done, I am going to have to decide what I want to do with the inside of the walls.  I am not sure that I want more stones...

I may just move to wood on the blank end.  I need shelves.  A place to put plant pots, tools and bags of dirt.

And I want to add a potting bench.

While I am trying to decide what to do, I am sitting around curving leaves.

I am using a new mat of a couple of layers of leather.

I couldn't find my stylus, so I am using a crochet hook.  It is working quite well. 

I only have about three or four hundred yet to go.

Wish me luck.  I'm going to need it.

See you tomorrow.

Wednesday Again...

This, believe it or not, is almost three hours work! I punched leaves at Wednesday Witches until I got a charley horse in my right little finger!  I am not even going to hazard a guess as to how many there are... Not enough!

I think that I am going to change out the branches.  These are too big now.  Not quite the right shape either. 

I need something a bit shorter and more curved towards the center of the greenhouse.

These are too straight up and down.

I need to go look for different branches.  These just aren't right.

While I was at witches, what did Tessie do? 

Absolutely NOTHING!  She sat on the plate with the plants and napped. 

Walter is going to a U of A game tonight, so maybe I can make up for lost time. 

Tessie is NO help at all.

I am thinking of keeping the conservatory for myself and she can just go back to her townhouse! 

Is my bad mood showing?  Oops!  Sorry about that. Back to work!

See you tomorrow.

Going Green...

Slowly, but surely, Desmond is coming to life... I got one basecoat on him today.

I had to go out a while this morning.  Haircut and Christmas shopping. 

The other thing that is holding up progress is the fact that I didn't scribe the stones.  They all have to be gone over before I start painting them. 

There is a definite difference after they are scored.

Meanwhile, Desmond's older sibling has made himself at home inside the conservatory.

He is going to have to move, once I start working on the inside. No more laying around, doing nothing...

I am almost done with the scoring now.  Better get back at it. 

See you tomorrow.