Look! A Black Rug!!!

Everything is off of the floor! I actually got everything off of the floor.  And! I vacuumed!

There were beads scattered all over the room.  Not now!

Kota and I spent the morning picking up and putting away in the workroom. There is not one bead on the floor now... We won't talk about what is in the vacuum cleaner...

With the exception of the wood pile, this wall looks pretty good now. Unfortunately, Kota was not a lot of help. He mostly just sat and snickered, while I put things away. 

I have the distinct feeling that he and Tessie go in there and scatter things around on the floor when I am not watching them.

I found a few pieces that can go in the empty room box.

It may take a while to make it looked lived in, but hey! It's a start.  I need to get back into the swing of things.

I decided to leave the corner box on the table until something better comes along. I need to take that tray on the chair out.  Ick! Cornflakes for breakfast! Not a good thing. 

Anyway. I am on my way to getting things going again!

Back to work.

See you tomorrow. Hopefully with some minis done!

Day of Rest???

I got the original "She Shed" put together this morning.  The body is glued... The roof and doors are just there to show you what it's going to look like.

That pile to the left is the material to make a hanging wall box.

I have decided to make hanging boxes from the rest of the scraps.  This could keep me busy for a while, if I stick with it...

You know how that goes...

If I do them all, I am going to have to go get more foam core board.

Walmart had better keep putting out new stock for a while!

I will make them to hold a couple of pieces of furniture.  Nothing fancy.  Just something else to put minis in.

This is what I have been using for a cutting board and a work table today.

I bought it at Walmart about ten years ago... It might just be time to get a new one.  They still carry them.  They did the last time I looked anyway.

I love this thing.  It is really a lap desk, but it has a hard finish on the board part.  The pillow underneath is still going strong after all these years of use.

I am going to have to go look for another one. The only trouble is, it will look just like this one does in about a month... Maybe I should just stick with this one.  OK... So it has a little paint and other stuff stuck to it.  It still works. 

Speaking of work... Back to it.

See you tomorrow.

Browsing Walmart Again...

As you know, I love school supplies.  I found a new mini item in the kids' section this morning.

They have graph ruled index cards now! They have the lines on both sides.  I immediately grabbed some.  These are going to be great for trying out ideas for mini buildings.

I did this one as a second idea for a she shed.

The only thing is, I wish that they would have made the cards four squares to the inch instead of five.  Five works for designing, but if they were four, you could just cut out the pieces and have a perfect quarter inch scaled building.

This is a little under sized, but as I said, good for seeing what your design is going to look like.

And if we did quarter inch, we could make trees like the bonsai!

I got this far on the corner box.  I didn't remember what the base was made of on this one... It was one of the first ones I made in a class.  Guess what?  Ceiling tile! I knew that I learned to use ceiling tile for bases early on...

As I said before, one of the first classes I took was a corner box... and sure enough, we used ceiling tile for a base!

I did do a model of the first She Shed just for fun.  As I said, it's just too bad they aren't quarter inch squares.  I may have to do some She Sheds in 1/4 inch scale.  This was fun.

I could have a whole village in a matter of days.

I have no idea where Tessie is.  She disappeared after the Witches left.  I have a feeling that I am going to be sorry that I didn't keep an eye on her.

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

A Great Time Was Had By All!

Several people didn't show up today... I have three kits that I will have to think of more She Sheds for. 

If I keep it up, I will have one for every day of the week...

Maybe that's not a good idea.  I think that one is enough.  I may make more later on. We shall see...

Tessie is really good at playing dumb... That is, she didn't say a word whilst the Witches were here.  They still think that she is just a mini person that doesn't really do anything... Little do they know. 

As soon as they left she started in.  "Hey! Three kits left? Go get more foam core board. I want one for the Bonsai trees and one for an outdoor closet for my aprons and one just to hang out in...You know.  The one with the One Woman Chair."

Those kits may just have to disappear down a rabbit hole when she isn't looking.

After everyone left, I got curious about other foam core boxes that I have made over the years.

I found one that has a glass picture frame for a front, that is a lamp for real life.

Then I found this one in the top of April's old closet... I made this one when she was a teenager and it had Jim Morrison, of The Doors,  sitting in it for a long time.

I am not sure what happened to him.  I sculpted him from Super Sculpey. I imagine that I just got tired of him and tossed him sometime after she left home.  Anyway, when I found it, Action Figures of Starsky and Hutch were rattling around inside. Those were hers too... No... Not mine!

There is a point to this.  The bent Plexiglas is still in really good shape... I am thinking that it warrants building a new box for it. Yup, more foam core is in order... I have two pieces left of what I bought.  I would leave it as is, but Jim Morrison no longer lives there and I really don't like purple crushed velvet. 

Now all I have to do is think of  something to put in it and find some different paper or fabric to do it.

I will have to think on this for a while.  Some of the witches are coming back Friday to do some more on their She Sheds.  Maybe they will have some suggestions.

See you tomorrow.

I Win!!!

Tessie requested privacy.  Lots of books to block her view of Zar's side.

Zar, on the other hand, wanted room for friends to join him. He is getting ready to have a BYOC party... That's Bring Your Own Chair...

I arranged the books on his end, so that they wouldn't fall on anyone's head and left plenty of room for guests.

Everything in his box is freestanding.  That way, when there is a party he will be able to rearrange things so that everyone can get to the food and drink. 

He told me that whilst Walter and I go to a movie today, he is having a few friends in.

Tessie, on the other hand, asked me to pull the books beside her to the edge of the bookcase so that she won't be disturbed...

Will do! Let her sit there and eat cake alone.

I imagine that Spike will leave her flat.  He likes parties!

As for me, I solved the problem of her moving the director's chair... I glued it to the floor and then I glued the tile to the shelf... Let's see her move that...I know that the bookcase is above her weight limit for moving with a ZAP!

She can zap herself out of there any time... It's just that she can't take the director's chair anymore. HA!  I am the boss of myself as long as she can't move the chair!  Thus...  I WIN!

See you tomorrow!

I Want To Be Alone!

I need to find a stack of books to put in between the Terrible Two.

They have been arguing all day as to which side of the bookends is best...

Don't tell Tessie.  I am siding with Zar...

Tessie has a single, very large piece of cake and food for Spike. The only other things in hers, so far is her favorite pottery and books... Not much to attract visitors...

I have a feeling that this thing is going to get zapped to wherever I am working and Tessie is going to be directing the work I do.  It makes no difference what that work is...

Zar, on the other hand has his set up for company.  TV set for watching movies and sports. 

He kept the flowers... I don't think that Tessie can get the plant stand in hers since she has the big chair and "larger" bookcase...

He also has a pitcher of bug beer on the top shelf.  A nice platter of cold cuts and crackers for guests. 

And on the bottom shelf, cookies and cigars!

He has some Native American crafts on top of the shelving unit and somewhere he found a kitten and a puppy. 

His is just nice and friendly all around.  The only setback I can see is you have to bring your own chair and sit on the surrounding area...

I'll suffer with him.  Somebody pass the cookies!

See you tomorrow.

Tessie Wins Again!

Or does she?

She nagged until I put together a bookcase for the other corner box... Then when I got it together, she nagged even more!

It seems that she noticed that it was going to be the same size as the other one...NOT GOOD!

She nagged until I told her that I would put higher legs on it and she could store stuff underneath it.  That still wasn't quite enough to suit her...

She opted for little finials at the top to make it even taller.

She then drug out a bottle of pewter gray. Yup.  That was her color of choice... She kept saying after I finished putting a couple of coats of paint on it, that she had other ideas to fancy it up... Her words.  Not mine!

Then she proceeded to grab all of "her" stuff from the other bookcase.  That left nothing but a couple of old books that she didn't want in Zar's new bookcase.

She has all of her pottery back.  Most of her books are in place. 

She keeps saying that she has other stuff to add...

Please note, she even grabbed the piece of chocolate cake that Zar barrowed from her...

I am just waiting to see what else she drags in, now that she has her very own "larger" bookcase... I know that there will be stuff on top and stuff crammed under the bottom.  I just don't know what she has up her sleeve yet.

She has not yet noticed that Zar has lots of packing boxes on his shelves... I can't wait to see what he chose to bring over from the clockwork cottage.

One of these days I am going to have to get to work and finish that one too.

Not today.

I have to go help Zar unpack and then probably help Tessie get one or two items up on his stash.

Back to the bickering.

See you tomorrow.

Hidding Out, Inside...

I went out for a while this morning.  I didn't enjoy it much, because my left heel hurts.  I stepped back into the tree trunk that the Witches Warehouse sits on Wednesday, when the gang was leaving.  Now it hurts.  Most irritating...

I did stop at the Goodwill.  I found a purse that I couldn't resist.  All leather and in good shape. The reason that I wanted it was, it is one of those old ones that have the wallet behind the zipper part that you see on the front.

The only thing wrong with it was a green pen mark between the two zipper fobs that you see on the front.  All gone now.

I used some leather cleaner that I found in the shoe department at Walmart. That worked pretty good, but I did have to do a bit of camouflage on the pen mark.  It just wouldn't come out all the way. Now it can't be seen.  Good old Ceramacoat paint to the rescue!

 Anyway, I planted three different kinds of tomatoes in the trough. I know it's a bit early to put the cages around them, but I have high hopes...

The winds are blowing today.  Sometimes as fast as 25 MPH.  Ick!

When I came back in, the Terrible Two plus One, were as you see them now...

No, I still don't have the bookcase built for Tessie's.  She gave up on getting the other one back when I told her that she could put whatever she wanted in the new one...

She immediately zapped it to sit beside Zar's and started grinning and proceeded to tell him that her chair was taller than his chair...

She even needs another layer on her footstool.

She is using her director's chair... That usually means more work for me.  I told her that she couldn't tell me what to do until tomorrow. Then the fun begins again...

For today, I am going to put my feet up, rest my heel, knit and watch Korean Dramas until Walter gets home from golf.

Back to the needles and Roku.

See you tomorrow.

Calling All Art Experts...

I spent more of Walter's Goodwill gift card this morning.  And I still have $6.00 left!

I bought a hand colored etching...

I believe it is an artist's proof.  There is no run number on it. Sorry about the three fingers in the middle of the pond.  Yup.  They're mine.

If it were one of a series of prints, it would have a 1/30 kind of number.  The first number is the number of the print and the second one is how many were printed. 

How do I know this?  I took several etching classes in college. We had to pull proofs of our prints. They were never numbered. Only prints that we did a series of printings were numbered like this.

We did however have to sign them.  Usually in pencil.

I am having trouble even deciphering this one.  I have the L. B.....Then it goes down hill from there.

I don't really care if it is a masterpiece or not.  I like it and it is already hanging on the bedroom wall.

While I was taking the frame apart and cleaning the glass and the mat, I noticed that Zar was being spied upon...

A couple of seconds after I took this photo, the bottle on top of the bookcase fell on Zar's head and at the same time, Tessie mysteriously disappeared.

I left.  I am not going to get into the middle of this.  The two of them can fight it out until I get another one made and then they are going to be sitting on either side of a row of books.  I will not have to worry then. To each his own....

Back to work. See you tomorrow.

The Witches Were Here...

We Started on the Kits that I put together. 

Between teaching and working, I got this far on a new one.

Witches Judy and Susan had a great idea for theirs.  They are sisters and live together... They are going to make bookends out of theirs.

I like the idea of using them for something more than just a miniature display.

I ran across this tile. I used a print of a tile inset to make the center fancier... Maybe I should have used that one instead of the plain one.

Oh well... I will make another one.  They are fun and quick to finish.

I had to force Tessie to vacate the one that I was using as an example... She went off in a huff!

Big mistake!!!

Look who has control now!

Enough said...

While I am at it, I have to show you this.  I think that this is one of the orchids that we got at Costco last year.  I am going to have to go back and see if I can find the entry for those.

If it is, it is blooming again.  I have three other ones that aren't doing a bloomin' thing! I am going to have to have a talk with them! They aren't doing their job.

I am going back to work on the new corner box now.

See you tomorrow.

Just What I Need!

 More projects!  I put out the corner room box for the witches to see this afternoon.  They all liked it... I may be teaching curtains to the witches soon...

Two of them already wanted lessons.  I think that I have a third now.

We are still passing along things that we no  longer want or need and adding things to the box.  It is working out well.

Today I got rid of a bunch of "House of Miniature" furniture kits.  I also picked out a few things.  A kit for a dresser set.  A bookcase and a very pretty woven rug.

The witch sisters, Judy and Susan came with these to share.  They were cake decorations.  Maybe for weddings?

They had a LOT of them and I took a few.  They might come in handy for wrought iron or even for carvings...

I thought that the arched pieces were about the right size for chair backs and the corner pieces might very well go on a porch or gazebo.  We shall see... I just get rid of one thing and another pops into the box.  We are all having fun with this idea.

I am going back now and relax for the rest of the day. Way to much cooking and cleaning today!

See you tomorrow.

Back to Normal....

When I got home from grocery shopping this morning, I found Tessie in the potion room of the townhouse...

I made the mistake of asking what she was up to. She said the nail polish, nail polish remover and other implements on the tray would make a potion of great strength... They smelled like it!

I have never known her to polish her nails or even clip them.  They just grow to a certain length and stay that way...

Then I figured it out.  She was trying to get out of cleaning her closet.  I had mentioned that I needed to clean mine... She must have taken that as a hint...

I shoved her into her closet and then went to clean out mine...

I paid no attention to the wailing and whining coming from the direction of her closet... Mine was bad enough.

Then, suddenly there was total and utter silence...

That can't be a good sign...

I went in and found her clamoring to get out from under the pile of aprons that were overtaking the area...

Then I simply smiled sweetly and said, "I don't think that you need any more aprons, Tessie!"

She frowned and clamored over the pile.  Then she disappeared in a puff of smoke!  It took me a while to figure out where she went... When I did, this is what I found.

She growled at me from under the basket... "I have a new bedroom.  I don't need that house anymore.  You clean it, if you want it clean! If you need to contact me, I will be in my new bedroom with all new possessions!"

Then, dragging one foot to keep the basket tray with her, she headed for the new bedroom...

I am always one step ahead of her.  I got between her and the new bedroom.  I carried it back to the workroom.

If she is going to make a mess of that bedroom too, she is going to do it behind a closed door where nobody can see the mess.

I am off to hunt for something else to do now.  If I want a mess, I will make it myself!

See you tomorrow.

Finished Curtains...

I didn't use these, but I thought that you might be able to use the technique.  I will use them somewhere else, later.

I simply tied bows.  Pinned them to the board.  Then I sprayed them just like the curtains. 

They give the impression of movement.  As if a gentle wind is blowing through the room...

I ended up only using the roses... I do see a couple of places that I need to tweak.

The photo makes the curtains look whiter than they actually are for some reason. In real life everything is about the same color.  Tessie just chased Zar out and is trying to get me to leave.  She wants to try out the new bed...

Incidentally, if you make roses on the needle like I do, they come with an added bonus.  I usually cut the bottom from the roses to make them lie flat.  What is left can be a bud if it is trimmed a bit.  This is one of those "save it, you might need it" times.

Anyway, that's as far as I am going with this for now.

See you tomorrow.

Again... Waiting For the Glue To Dry...

Swags are drying as fast as they can.  Tessie is very impatient... I have the feeling that she is going to jump into bed as soon as the curtains are finished. 

Heaven forbid that I would have a chance to get the cover of the box done before she does!

They don't look too good yet.  I still have to add all of the trim after the glue dries.  I hope to get that done before Tessie shoos me out to take a nap... Fingers Crossed.

I was right.  Very little of the window will be seen. 

 Whilst the glue dries, I am looking for patterns to try on Pinterest.  I cheated and took screen shots of a lot of the bracelets and then printed them out all on one sheet of paper with my greeting cards program.  Hey!  Whatever works!

I did try one bracelet.  I am not quite happy with the last row. I should have squeezed another row in before I quit.. There is a small gap.  I think that I can fix it by running another thread through the last few rows. Wish me luck.

I really just wanted to see how it worked and how many beads in one inch of the length.  I am going to do another one with delicas.  They are a different size and may take more to fill an inch.  That's the only problem I can see with this loom.  You have to know how many beads in an inch and plan accordingly.

Anyway.  The glue is almost dry.  I will be able to put on the roses and other trim in just a bit.

Back to watching the glue dry.  Oh!  The excitement!

See you tomorrow.

Still Rearranging and Making Big Decisions...

 That's according to Tessie.  I moved the weaver's workshop off of the table this morning...

In order to have some place to put it, we are going to have to do some more rearranging.  I am running into all kinds of unfinished objects...

I had Mid Century Modern in this little box... However, Tessie says it's too small.  She keeps hitting her forehead on the glass when she gets up from the couch and complains that there is no room for a coffee table or her other  Mid Century Mod pieces.  I see a larger box coming... Or a whole redo of the townhouse first floor.  I don't know which is worse.

Next we found April's Russian Cottage...

Tessie immediately told me to put it back.  April doesn't have room for it.  And it's not for Tessie.

Two good reasons not to work on this one Right now.

I do believe that this one is going to be the one that wins... Unfortunately, Tessie is under the impression that it will stay in the bedroom and she can snore away the night in there... I don't think so.

I am going to have to either make curtains to go behind the dressing table or redo the window.  I am leaning towards the curtains.

Remember the piece of embroidery that I showed you a couple of weeks ago, that was part of a bench cover... This is where the other half went. 

I designed and carved the dressing table and matching stool years ago and needed a cover.  Part of the bench cover was easier than a whole new piece of embroidery and besides, it was already done!

Anyway.  That's as far as we have gotten today.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.