Unwanted and Wanted...

I have been trying to find a place for this table to live for quite some time.  It was priced at $2.oo at a garage sale years ago.

It gets moved from place to place in the house and is never quiet right, wherever I put it.

I decided that it was time for drastic measures...

Is this drastic enough?  I decided that the two circular pieces could be used for bases for mini scenes.  The legs could be put to good use out in the back yard as posts for bird feeders or to hold water dishes.

Meanwhile, I won't be taking up useable space in the house.

Now all I have to do is think of something that they can be used for, that I can't live without.

The Kumquat Tree is doing amazing things. 

See the little white spots? Those are the start of flowers! Everywhere there is one of those, we may be getting a kumquat!!!

It has grown a few new leaves, but I am even more excited about all of the flowers that it is starting!

We may have kumquats this year! Fingers crossed.

The last thing is this... It is the start of a
Palo Verde Tree. I cut it down two years in a row.

It keeps fighting back.  I think that I am going to let it keep growing this year and see what happens. 

I seem to have pretty good luck with trees that just show up and start growing.

I probably would have had a better tree if I would have let it grow from the start, but I foolishly kept cutting it down. 

I give up.  It is going to win, if it keeps growing.
If it doesn't, no great loss. 

Back to the workroom sorting now.

See you tomorrow.

More Shelves for Tessie!!!

The first shelves that I made for this room were double deep.  The ones that I am making for the other side are single deep.

That way I will have more floor space in the room for furniture.

I figured out the dimensions for the shelves and how many shelves in the frame. 

I spaced them the way that I wanted them.

Then I decided that I wanted the bottom shelves divided.  I can see that I need to go adjust the middle shelf. It is lower on the right side than it is on the left.

Hang on just a minute.  Be right back...

OK fixed that.

Here you can see what is holding the shelves up.  A small piece of square stock that doesn't reach the front.  It doesn't make a lot of difference. I am going to put something on the front edge of the shelves that will hide these little pieces anyway.

This is going to be a short one.  Tessie is tugging on my pant leg again.  She wants the closet done and she wants it now.

We went to a movie this morning. That cut into her time. 

Get used to it Tessie! We do other things all of the time when you aren't looking.

I need to go paint or stain the shelves now.  Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

All in a Day's Work...

The first thing I did this morning was get the gifts ready for lunch tomorrow down at Judy's restaurant. 

I am not going to show you what is inside because someone might tell the witches what they are getting.

I was digging around to find something to write about and found a new center piece on the dining room table...

The stone top on the table is cool and it is getting hot outside.  Kota appreciates the finer things in life.  Especially if they keep him cool.

 Tessie, on the other hand, only appreciates things that other people are willing to do for her.

Thus the pile of furniture that needs repairing on the telephone table in the bedroom.

I guess I may as well start gluing the legs back on all of the furniture that she has messed up.

But first the coffee table...

That's the easiest of the bunch.  All I had to do is put a new coat of lemon oil on it.  Look at the difference.

Please note that Tessie has not moved a muscle since I started working.

Now all I have to do is get her off the pile and I can repair all of the legs that she has broken.

Actually they weren't broken until I put them in a drawer and piled other things on top.  So really it's my fault and not hers.

I am going to go repair the rest of the furniture.  Maybe I can talk her into putting a new floor in the living room box that she wants to put them in.  If she paints and I fix the legs it won't take long to do that box.  Then maybe I can do something that I want to do for a change.  Without her yelling at me.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Little Bins

In Amare's room there is a shelving component that consists of side boards with dowels strung in between. I am not sure if they got it somewhere of Seth made it, but I am copying it. 

All of the good stuff gets thrown in there. Easy to put away and easy to grab when Amare wants to use it.

I started by building a frame all the way around and then drilling holes in both sides to match.  That way the little tubs can slide in and out when needed.

It was not a lot of fun getting all of those long toothpicks in the holes on either end, but I did it!

The tubs are made from the little plastic bubbles that jewelry findings come in at Walmart.

I cut them out close to the edge of the bubble.  Then I glued string around the edges to make them more sturdy.

I painted them all in rainbow colors. I used at least two coats of paint both outside and in.



  

I need at least one more package of two kinds of findings.

Not too bad for a bunch of miscellaneous wood and some throw away plastic.

Two of the little boxes that I made yesterday will be glued to the corner post of the bed after I get things glued into all of the holes.

I am going back and try to find tiny rocks that are interesting... Amare tends to collect everything that he sees.  That includes interesting rocks.  That's what he has in the real ones.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Getting Down to the Little Things...

I finished the copy of Amare's wrought iron sign on the side of his bed.  I have to do a little cleaning up of excess glue, but it is finished. It looks just like the real one.

I found a mouse to wander around, unless Amare puts him in a cage.

He seems happy so far.

I finished the bookshelf.  Now all I have to do is fill it with all kinds of goodies.

Amare has been trying to get that stack of sheets away from me for a couple of months now. I am not sure what the fascination is with them.  I suspect that he will open them up and that will be the end of the extra sheets for his bed.

The little plastic drawer unit is made from three plastic bubble packs from jewelry findings and some of the cat food dividers.  The drawers do come out... If you pull hard.  I may just tell Amare that they don't come out.  That will save a lot of time trying to stuff them back in.

I am now recreating the little boxes that I gave him.  I got them at Dollar Tree a few years ago and I use the real ones for book shelves and other things mini.  They are about nine inches square.  Therefore, these are 3/4" square.  the backs and dividers are the good old Cat Food box dividers. 

I see a couple of pieces that need to be straightened.

I guess I had better get back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Movin' Right Along.....

I took everything out of the box this morning.  I was not happy with the floor.  There were noticeable cracks between some of the tiles. 

So whilst waiting for the paint to dry, I decided that the bookcase was too plain.

It now has trim all around.

I put a piece of fancy molding inside the top of the front shelf.  Then I added chair rail to the front sides and the front and rear of both side panels.

That makes it look more like a real piece of furniture. Not fancy, but better.

I put another coat of Barn Red on the floor.  It is still drying...

You have heard of  "It's so boring that it's like watching paint dry."?

That's exactly what Tessie, Zar and Spike have been doing for the past hour or two...They are sitting on the roof and every once in a while, one of them will ask, "Is it dry yet?"

The Terrible Two plus One are back together and I don't even want to know what they are plotting this time. 

I am going to go back to work and try not to think about it.

See you tomorrow.

Working Wednesday!

I accomplished several things today... The room box now has two floor cushions to sit on when company comes.

These were done with some 3/4" thick foam and a bit of thin quilt batting. 

Basically, I cut a rectangle of the foam the size that I wanted the seats. 

I then put a bit of thin quilt batting on the top and spread the fabric that I wanted on top. I cut it about 3/4" bigger all around. I glued the sides to the foam.

Then I cut a strip of index card the same width as the height of the foam. I bent it around the foam and cut it with an overlap in the back.  I covered the front of that with a long strip of fabric and wrapped about a quarter of an inch to the back and glued that down all around.

I still have to find some #5 Pearl cotton to use as cording along the top edge.

We were at Witch Barb's house today.  She contributed this fabric to make curtains.  I was going to go out and start hunting fabric for the curtains.  I was afraid that it was going to be hard to find.  This is perfect.  Thanks Barb!!!!

Now I can just get up tomorrow and start pleating the curtains.  No hunting trip!

There are two people enjoying the room already.

I know just how to get them out of there.  I am going to threaten to make them go with the room when I give it to Amare... That is sure to stop them.  They know the lay of the land here.  Lots of shops and rooms to have fun in.  If they went with the box, this would be their whole world.

Not something that either of them would want.

I win again!

See you tomorrow.

Progress? Maybe?

Well, at least the table is cleaner than it was this morning... This is what it looked like when I got up...

I attempted making the wrought iron sign that hangs on the side of Amare's bed.

I still have to get it stuck together. If I can find the soldering iron, I will use that. If not, let's hope that my best jewelry glue will do.

Tessie found the room box this morning... I am having trouble getting her out of there...

I think that she has been up and down that ladder at least ten times in the last hour. 

She is back to wanting a room like this...

She found the bookcase and asked where that was going to go...

Now she wants one of those too...

I am going to quickly find something else to keep her busy.

Maybe I can talk her into finishing her Rya rug.

I did tell her that I was not going to do anything else until that was finished.  she seems to think that, if the rug disappears, she won't have to finish it... Nice try, Tessie.

It's not going to work.  I have too many things started and not enough finished.  I need to get to work on projects already started... Right after Christmas.  Remind me of that... Right after Christmas. 

Not today!

See you tomorrow.

Saturday Fun!

We are almost to the fun part now. The bed is made.  I need to make some pillows for it.  They will naturally have Star Wars material on them too.

I have a lot of the material.  I am even thinking about a mini beanbag chair to put in here.


there will be another patch of rug on the ladder side of the bed.  That's how it is in his room.

He has a large hutch/bookcase on the wall facing the room from where we are standing.  There's no way to get it in there, so I am making a shelving unit to go next to the bed.

He needs a place for dinosaurs.

I am in the middle of making an 4 by 8 bookcase.

I cut pieces for the sides and top and then six pieces for shelves.

I marked where I wanted the shelves and the put a piece of wood on each side under the line for supporting the shelves. 

It is very simple. I will probably add some trim to make it look more fancy. 

The only disappointment so far is that nobody will be able to see the star wars sheets.

I think that I will remedy that by using the material for the curtains and maybe some cushions to go under the bed.  He has a couple of big square ones under there for people to sit on.

Anyway, that's where we are right now.

I am thinking of all kinds of things to make it more Amare like.  This is the fun part.

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Making the Bed...

First of all, if you are interested in making a similar bed, go to U Tube and put in "The Square to Spare".

The woman that has this channel does all kinds of modern minis. She has an Ikea bed similar to this one. She uses the craft sticks that you can get at Walmart. Very nice bed!

The reason I am not giving you this pattern is Seth designed and made this one from scratch and I copied his.

First I glued together the pieces for the two ends of the bed.

Next I put the other two sides on.

I did it with the front side in the magnetic jig.  It was easier that way. more boards in the tray.

I let the glue dry for several hours.

Then I tried it in the room for size.  Perfect.

I still have to put on the ladder. One big difference between the Ikea bed and Seth's.  The ladder comes out of the end of Seth's.

The Ikea one has the ladder on the side. Amare's room is quite small so they didn't want to be tripping over the ladder every time that they walked through it.

Anyway, Now you can see where the bed is to go.I am going to take a few liberties with how the room is laid out.  In the real room there is an arched opening on the left wall that opens into the dining room and there is also a door on that wall.

If I put those two features in there would not be much room for shelving.  By leaving them out, I can put a couple of bookcases by the bed.  I want to have enough shelves that Amare can put books and toys on.  Oh and dinosaurs. The room must have dinosaurs! 

Yesterday at dinner, we were told to hush a couple of times so that he could hear the dinosaur music... He has not seen Jurassic Park, but he likes the music. He refers to it as the Dinosaur Music and listens to it a lot.

If I am going to get this done by Christmas, I had better get back at it.  I want to get the Star Wars sheets and curtains going next.

See you tomorrow.

Even Redder Than the Photo!

This photo doesn't really do the sunset last night justice! It was even redder than it shows up here!

This is part of  the reason that we live in Arizona.  The sunsets are like this a lot of the time.

 Now back to the real world.  I had to re-glue the bench a third time.  It is now working right.

The blue in the foreground is what I am using for the upholstery. It is very thin, but has an almost leather like finish.

The real bench has brown upholstery, but I thought that the blue would go better with the Star Wars material of the bed covers.

This is a piece of upholstery material that I had in my stash.  The right side is at the outer edges of the photo. 

It actually looks a lot like the rug that they have under Amare's bed.

I simply cut the fabric to a little larger than I want the rug.  Then I smeared glue around the edges.  After it's dry, I will cut it to the right size.

We are coming along nicely. Fingers crossed!

April is doing the turkey, tomorrow.  I get to do Christmas.

It all works out.  I have more time to play with making Christmas presents while she cooks.

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

I Got the Best of the Trade!

Tessie didn't use her head... So what else is new?

I started building furniture for the room box that I am working on today... I decided to start with the small bench that sits under the window in the room box.

I cheated and used pre carved corner posts.

They were perfect for the height, carving and look that I wanted.

I first put together the ends and let them  dry in the magnetic jig.  It took a couple of hours.

Then Zar turned the bench upside down and assembled the rest of it. We will let it dry overnight in this position.

We want it nice and strong.

In the morning, I will put a finish on it and then make a seat and cushion for it.

April and I both have real sized ones of this kind of bench.  Very handy to have on hand and they move around easily.

Zar seems to be working out well as a partner in crime.  He is pretty good at standing for hours and watching the glue dry.

I have never been very good at that. I always want to rush things.

Let's see if Tessie and Albert can do as well... They were still sitting on Albert's front porch the last time I looked...

One point for Zar and I.

Zero for Tessie and Albert! So there!

See you tomorrow.

Need More Yarn!

I got this far with one ball of thread... I need another ball or two to make this as big as I would like it... Rats!!!

I will go hunting tomorrow. It was from Walmart... I have three on this side of town to see if I can find it.  Wish me luck!

I have two balls of this colorway. Maybe I can do it with two balls.  I hope! But this one is for me, so I should stop working on it and get to the Christmas gifts!

My luck is running true to form for making Christmas gifts. 

We went to a doctor's appointment this morning and at noon, we went to see "Murder on the Orient Express". Good movie.

However, it was not conducive to finishing Christmas gifts...

I went into the horrendous work room when we got home and I did manage to find the wood for the high up bed that is like Amare's.  Tessie expects it for Christmas...

Now all I have to do is get myself in gear to make it!  I am so behind!

I am afraid that I am going to be working until midnight on Christmas Eve to get everything finished... Yup.  I am right on my regular schedule!  Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Kota Rules...

I was going to draw some new ideas for carved furniture this morning. 

Kota forbid it.  He plopped himself down on the book that I wanted to look at and growled at me when I reached for it.  Then he went to sleep on it.

I outfoxed him in one way. He didn't know that I had more than one new notebook of graph paper.

I got a drawing of a headboard done before he could stop me... He should have stopped me.

I didn't like it at all after I finished it.

I went and got the very large notebook filled with old drawings and started looking at those. 

Kota is always right.  I found a lot of drawings of things that I have made and things that I want to make.

I would like to make this day bed again.  I did it very early on and foolishly sold it at the Anaheim NAME show in the early eighties.

I was always sorry that I sold it.  It was one of my all time favorites.  I may just have to find some walnut and do it again.

It was fun, looking at some of the old things that I made.

The original drawing for a carved and painted folding screen... I am now wondering where I put that.  I know I kept it.

The one on the far right is the original drawing for the console table that is behind Cinderella in the castle.

See? I do know where some of them went. I keep looking at that daybed.  I want it back.  I may just have to start carving...

See you tomorrow.