Hiding Places.....

When we moved into this house about fifteen years ago, I thought that the plant shelves in each bedroom and one bathroom added style to the house....I didn't think about having to get up there, eight feet in the air to water plants. What was the builder thinking??? No plants allowed!

Then I decided that they were an excellent place for an attic, as long as whatever was stored up there was interesting and didn't have to be dusted every day, atop a stepladder.

I am basically blowing off minis today. Don't tell Tessie I am doing laundry and cleaning. I thought that you would like a peek at what is up there....Some of it.


I decided to combine pulling down some of the larger clumps of dust and taking photos of what was up there. There is a method to my madness. I will be able to remind myself what is up there without climbing a ladder. Ha!

This is the shelf in my workroom. It is two layers deep, front to back, with all kinds of mini related items. I can see, in this first photo a couple of things that need to be pulled down and used or else given to another mini friend to use. The Wednesday Witches love it when I get into this kind of mood. That white terrarium has been around from before we moved to this house. The blue thing behind it is one of those sets of drawers that men keep nails and screws stored in. I wondered where that antique egg basket had gone....

In the middle of the shelf is April's Sundance Saloon. Some of these days she is going to have to find a place for it. The poor thing is dieing up there.

The lamp in front needs refurbishing. The walnut box beside that is empty.....I think. There is still another one hiding behind it.

On the right side is one of my favorites. Actually it's two of my favorites. the biscuit box is an antique one that will, one of these days become a general store. Inside of that, there is a cranberry box, also antique, that will be a kitchen.


I think that I have shown you the "attic in our bedroom before, so I won't go into a lot of detail about that one.

I will show you a little better view of the left side(poke the photos) The hat box in the center was rigged as a millinery shop at one time. Now it is also sitting in line for refurbishing...There are several other boxes up there that need to become rooms also.

What with all of those and the houses that are hiding under the beds, I don't think that I am going to run out of projects for a while....

The shelf in the computer room just has books and other larger items. I did want to show you this small Mexican bench. This is what I do when someone gives me an X shaped stool that is made of plain two by fours....When I got it, it was just flat on the sides and almost raw wood colored. I whipped out my quad rule pad and did a design to carve on the sides. Then I took some wood carving tools that my dad gave me for Christmas one year....They were way too big to do minis, but just right for this. After I finished carving, I also designed a piece of needlepoint for the cushion. It was well loved for a while, but now after cats, I need to re do the cushion cover. That's why it is up high.

I had all but forgotten that the little bench was up there. Hmmmmm....Another project to start....

"No Tessie!!! Please don't throw that hammer at me! I'll give you five cookies to eat whilst I am cleaning...."

See you tomorrow, if Tessie doesn't get me first!

Memory Lane......

As you may or may not know, this computer is slowly dieing..... We went and got a new HP this weekend, but Walter hasn't had time to install it yet. Maybe tonight. I am not much help with the installs, but I did go through all of our old floppy discs this morning......It took me THREE hours! Therefore I didn't get much done in the way of minis. Actually I didn't get anything done in the way of minis.

I am cross eyed from looking at photo after photo. Most were not worth saving, but I did run on to some mini photos that I didn't remember keeping.

The big prize that I found was two inventories that I carefully copied from an old book at the U of A library a few years ago. They were both from the late 1500s and English. I was thrilled to find them because they were estate inventories from when the two men passed away. I would like to do Tudor houses that have exactly what the inventories include.

The first man was a weaver that died in 1583. He had £4 1s when he died. He looked to be quite prosperous. They listed everything in his shop and in his home. It was a three page inventory.

The other man died in 1596 and was a joiner(woodworker). He worked out of his home. which appears to be a one room cottage. He had £ 3 19s 5d when he passed away. His was a one page inventory and they even listed "Certain timber and other trash around the house".

The point is, they never missed a thing in these lists. It made me think......How in the world would I even start a list of all of the things in this house???? Nearly impossible and ours is a small house. OK, that's enough about how over self-indulgent we all are now.

I also found a few mini photos that I didn't remember or thought I had lost. Here's a close up of the motorcycle witch that I made for Pat Arnell a few years back. She(the witch) actually made it into one of the mini mags in an article about unusual transportation. She is one of Tessie's cousins and the one that got Tessie into cycling.....

Please note the black widow spider tattooed on the back of her hand. Funny. This bike was actually puce. If I had used a different bike for Pat's witch, I wouldn't have had to paint the one for Tessie!

I found a really good close up of the 1/4" scale quilt shop in the big latte cup.

Here's a hint on quarter inch furniture. Did you know that you can carve on the quarter inch plastic furniture that comes on cards by room. These chairs were really clunky. I took an Exacto to them and narrowed all of the parts down and rounded the corners. They look so much more in scale. You can also cut the furniture apart to make new pieces just like people do with the Chrisenbon kits and the Michael's hutches. It's fun to chop them up and see what you can make.

This is a photo of Buffy and Spike in the Southwestern Room Box.....I absolutely don't remember for what reason, why or when I took this one. There were several. I am now wondering if Tessie escaped from her old glass box and used the old Mavica to take this one. Why would I even think of putting them in this particular room box?

I am just rambling now. I will leave you with one last photo. AfterTessie impolitely told everyone that the party was over at midnight, she sat up and tried working on the rug for the gazebo. Look at the tangles! She really wants that finished because she knows that I still am going to finish the Clockwork Cottage before I go on the the next project. She still thinks that should be her beloved Spiderwort Mansion........How many times now have I told her
"Don't hold your breath, Tessie!"?


I'll see you tomorrow, even if I have to write the entry on the infernal laptop keyboard......