The Last Day...

I looked in on Tessie and Zar this morning and they actually moved downstairs!

They still aren't doing anything, but they did move.

I think that I am going to take a lesson from them. This is the last day of Walter's golf trip.

Therefore, I am going to Have one more day of messing around.

If Tessie and Zar can do it.  I can too!!!

I didn't get a lot done on the tool handles that I want to re-do. I need to do the needle nosed pliers and the side cutters. There may be a few others around, but these are the ones that I use the most and they really need to be done.

The grip on them is so much better when they are beaded. Right now the only ones that are beaded are the round nosed pliers and those are the ones that I use the least. I really need to get to work!

Another thing that I really need to do is covers for the remotes for the bedroom TV. I am always losing them. Even with the knitted fuzzy cover and that is coming apart.  Not a good thing.

Anyway, I am going to, at the very least get the flat nosed pliers done. Those are the ones that I use the most, for both minis and jewelry.

Please ignore me whilst I go do some beading now.

See you tomorrow.

Scale Cabinetmaker and Killing Time......

I sketched some trees on the side of the Clockwork Cottage earlier today...

Everything went down hill from there.

I went and looked for a smaller building to practice on...

I found this house that just lives to be used once in a while... For Christmas or other holidays'

I might try messing with this one first.

I am still not sure that I want the whole Clockwork Cottage covered with sculpture of trees and other natural goodies.

If I do this one first I get practice doing the sculpture and I get to work out some of the kinks along the way.

I spent most of the day looking through the stack of Scale Cabinetmaker magazines.  I didn't find anything that made me want to stop reading and go do some furniture. 

I looked over to the bedside table and found four tools for doing the sculpture on the walls. 

My Visa card got replaced last month.  Every time one of my credit cards gets replaced, I get at least four new tools for sculpting rocks. 

I cut them in four or five strips and cut the ends to points or chisel shapes. They work well for making the lines between the stones and putting texture in them. 

I guess that, since I have new tools, I should get to work on the stones, trees and bushes. 

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Fixer Uppers....

Tessie and I went through a number of supply boxes and boxes of finished things this morning.

I have a tendency to leave things where they land and some of the hats, purses and shoes landed in the wrong boxes.

So we started collecting stuff for her closet.

Actually all of these hats were in the hat supply box, so they were easy to find.

This bunch came from all over the workroom...Various boxes, bags and drawers.

To be fair, a lot of these were in the closet in the townhouse and when we got rid of it, they had to be put in a box and stored.

Now they will have a closet to live in.

Tessie is complaining that her favorite witch bonnet(that's her name for it) doesn't fit any more.  She says the new bun is tooooooo big.

Here we go again. New hairdo coming up.

There's a lot of things that have landed on the top of the dressing room. They will all go inside when it is ready.

Last, but by no means least! I found my favorite tweezers!!!!! They have been hiding in the box with the hat making supplies. 

I was afraid that they had run away, never to return.  Not so. I am doing a happy dance for them.

I do believe that they have been missing almost a year.   That will teach me not to make hats!  Next time, that will be the first place that I look.

I am off to work on the dressing room now. Tweezers in hand! See you tomorrow!

Just For Me!

I did some beading today.  The side cutters to the left of Tessie are just as they were.  They are still in pretty good condition.

The ones on the right had to be taken off of the pliers in the second photo.  Then I put them on the pliers beside Tessie.  Why?

Because the pliers in this photo have a spring closure. 

The ones in this photo do not have a spring closure.  Not as easy to use.

I spent about an hour re-doing  them.

The only problem was.....

Tessie found these small ones. They both have springs and as you can see... She can handle them.

Yes.  She wants them beaded. I may just humor her.  They would be handy to carry in my work kit when I go to Wednesday Witches. 

And an added bonus.  They would not be as heavy as the larger ones. I may just have to do that.

I can always sneak them out when she isn't looking.

Yup. I am going to do tiny beaded handles on the tiny pliers. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

I Must Foil Their Plans....

This morning when I got up, Tessie, Zar and Spike Jr. were huddled in Tessie's cottage.  I was curious, so I stepped back where they couldn't see me and listened...

They were chatting amicably about what my next project was going to be... Wait a minute.  Aren't I supposed to decide what I am going to do next?

Before I could interrupt, they disappeared.  Dog and all!

When I tracked them down, they were on the roof of the castle bedroom, this time with Spike Sr..  They are trying to fancy it up.  I will let them.  I am not happy with a plain flat roof. If they can make it better, more power to them!

Not long after that, I looked in on them.  They were no longer on the roof...

I gave up and went to fix food for the Wednesday Witches.  They came here today.

After the witches left, I found them again. They were looking at the new beads.

I took a second look.  They have taken the handle covers off of two pair of my pliars.  The side cutters and the needle nose pliers. 

I asked what they thought they were doing...

Their reply? Between the two of them they explained that, if I had better looking tools, maybe I would get back to work.

They are demanding that I bead the handles of both tools.  Then, they tell me, that I will be able to get back to work... Interesting theory.  I don't think that it's valid. But interesting... I really don't think that is going to make me work better.  I still think that cleaning is going to do the trick.  Maybe I will do some of each tomorrow and see which seems to work the best.

See you then. Goodnight!

I may as Well Write Early...

Tessie yelled over her shoulder about 7:00 this morning to inform me that she was sleeping in...

So the frog prince will have to sit quietly on the dressing table.  Her kitten will have to stop chasing him around the room.

And I shall be quite and not do stonework above her head...

I found other things to do.  The new dragon has been installed above the work desk and is no longer a toilet paper holder. 

He is now keeper of the tapes. I am not sure that he is happy with that job, but it is going to have to do. 

That way I will have someone to talk to while I work.

I am naming him Victor.  He just looks like that to me.

Since Tessie wouldn't let me apply rocks, I found other things to do.  I am trying to get rid of stuff that I don't use and get the stuff that I do use straight, so that I can find it.

I now have a system to keep all of my wire for jewelry making in order.  They are filed by size and kind of wire now.  I can grab any kind I want at a moment's notice.

But the most important straightening job this morning, was the tool bag!

Just ask me where any tool is and I can walk to the tool bag and hand it to you!

I am so proud.  I haven't cleaned this out for the two years since my surgery.

I am now ready to start seriously working again.  My tool box is ready too!

I am going now to try to convince Tessie to either move to another bed or stand the noise.  I am going back to work whether she likes it or not!!!

See you tomorrow.

Tessie and the "New" Tool!

Yes, Tessie is helping and the "NEW" tool is actually an old one that I just never thought of using for glue before...

Tessie is merely pointing to the corner that I was working on when she happened to come into the room.

The new tool is an emery board.  I never thought of using them for glue sticks when I have a lot of glue to spread.

I picked one up this morning When I started work on the roof.  I grabbed one to spread glue on the back of the "rocks".

It actually works better than any other spreader that I have used!

 It picks up more glue than toothpicks or Popsicle sticks.

It moves glue around to where I want it and it takes glue off of an area that I don't want it!

It holds on to whatever amount of glue that I want.  Moves the glue better than other implements of destruction...

Unfortunately It doesn't make rock work any faster, but it does make the gluing easier that anything else I have found.

The edge of it will pick up any glue and move it to another area if need be.

 I am doing the roof of the castle bedroom.

I have decided to do the stone work like the stone work on the music room. I am thinking a series of castle room boxes that, when displayed together. shows you the whole castle... Well.  At least two rooms will match.

Here's one of the corners on the edge of the room box.  I simply cut a V at the top where I wanted the stone to have a corner.  Then I glued and pined it in place to dry. 

Yes.  I am using a LOT of pins. But as I move forward, I move the earlier pins to the new stones. It is slow work because I cut one stone at a time.  I don't like bricks or stones that are all the same shape and size.

I forgot to mention the best feature of my new tool.

It stays up in the neck of the glue bottle instead of sliding down inside like toothpicks and Popsicle sticks both do.

I case you can't tell, The emery board is my new friend.  I like it a lot.  Try it the next time you have a lot of gluing to do.  You might like it as much as I do.  Also, emery boards are cheap and when one gets clogged up, just throw it away and grab a new one.  I am going back and play some more.  See you tomorrow.

Busy Work...

OK.  I didn't do a lot of minis today... I did get my hanging jewelry in the bathroom cleaned out and straightened up... Well. It is straighter than it was and I replaced the batteries in two watches.  Now I can wear them.

If you look to the far right side of the photo, you will see one mini in the bunch.  It is a half timber house in a watch case.  I made it a lot of years ago... I think maybe back in the eighties.

 I also got all of my bedroom tools straightened. OK... It doesn't look straightened, but take my word for it.  I can find things now that I couldn't earlier in the day. 

The main reason that I didn't get a lot of mini-ing done was this hanging shelf.  I found it in my stash and decided to make it into another shelf for Amare to put treasures on...

It's not the greatest thing in the world, but we are going over there tomorrow night to sit with him.  Dad's out of town and mom has a meeting to go to.  We get to play all evening.  It should be fun. 

I will finally get to take some photos of Amare's room and take notes on what I have to make before Christmas.  Tomorrow night the fun begins!

See you tomorrow, before we go.

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.

Tessie's New Friend...

Meet Mr. Dremel.  I have been without my old Mr. Dremel for about a year... I finally decided to replace him.  He was about 20 years old and had seen better days. You will have to excuse the name.  That's what Tessie calls him, so I follow suit.

I got him at Walmart... where else do I shop?  He was about $25.00. He is doing a great job so far. 

I tried him out this morning... With Tessie's help... Maybe that should read Tessie's hindrance...

She was thrilled that I was drilling holes for wicker again... I got all of the small holes in the pieces that you see below before Mr. Dremel needed a recharge. He lasted for about an hour and a half of steady drilling...

One chair takes 58 holes...And I still need to drill larger holes for the legs in the pieces that need them.

Now do you see why she addresses him formally?  He is just her size and does all of the work faster and better than the pin drill that I have been using. Her own personal R2D2.

She proceeded to put her stamp on everything that I drilled... Pile on the right.

Then she announced that Mr. Dremel should get back to work in three hours.

That's how long it takes for him to get his strength back from the charger. He needs to finish the rest.

Walter's battery died this morning..  He borrowed my car to go play golf. So I have plenty of time to drill holes... I have to find something to do for the next three hours.  Then it's back to work, with Tessie standing over me, cheering each time I finish a new hole. That gets old quickly...

For the next three hours, she will be watching the little green flashing light on the charger, so I will be able to do something uninterrupted...At least I will know when I can get back to drilling...

The only problem with drilling all of the holes at once is...  Tessie will think that all of the pieces should be finished before I go on to something else. Keep thinking Tessie... There are enough pieces to keep me busy for several months. My attention span is NOT THAT LONG. 

Back to work doing something else.  See you tomorrow.

Make Three More!

Those of you that have been following my blog for a while, know that I can't just use tools with rubber handles... I like pretty tools. 

And there is a practical purpose.  I have a better time gripping the handles if they aren't smooth. 

Sometimes I just go for crocheting around the handles in single crochet... Great grip.

 More times than not, I like doing bead work handles... Pretty and easy to grip.

This morning I spent a couple of hours looking for two of my favorite rings.  I took them off the day of the Halloween party... Now I can't find them anywhere.  I tore the house apart looking...

No luck. I just hope that they didn't go in the garbage when I was cleaning up.

So anyway, I decided to run away from the problem and bead for a while.

The day that I made rose making tools for the witches, I decided to make myself a new one too.

I couldn't find my old one... Seems like things are disappearing around here, left and right.

I dug around for something to make the tool from and found one lonely miniature bed post. 

It seemed about the right size and balance.  I stained it and colored some of the details gold with a pen and mounted a clipped needle in the heavy end.

This morning I decided that wasn't enough.  I pulled out some #15 beads and went to work. One of the segments was a bit smaller than I would have liked, so I proceeded to fill that one in with the beads. Now it is exactly the right size to hold whilst making the roses...

Only one problem... As soon as she saw it, Tessie put in an order for three more bed posts, the same as this one... Thank goodness, this is the only one I could find...

The crown is going to her head. She thinks that her new title(Queen of the World) deserves a much nicer bed than the one she sleeps in now...  Incidentally, that is a self imposed title.  I had nothing to do with it... I think that the crown is going to disappear shortly...  Oh dear!  I think it went down the garbage disposal... No... She won't believe that.  I have to think of a better excuse...

Back to the search.  See you tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I am not in the mood for more rain!  Especially after what it did to Mr. Burbank yesterday...

It started again this morning and shows no signs of letting up!

The back yard is starting to look like a swimming pool...

The new table and chairs got here yesterday and Walter says that they make the family room look classy.

In case you are wondering, the top is faux marble

I am very pleased with not having chairs that wobble and one that was losing it's stuffing... After 20 years or so.

I'm with Walter... These are way more classy.

This morning I went over to Walmart to get vitamins and they finally got these in.  They have been out of stock for several months. 

My old cordless dremel was over 20 years old and dying a slow painful death.  It only works on low and only for a very short time...

Now all I have to do is charge it up and get it going. 

I love new play toys!

As for what I will be doing for the rest of the day... I think that I will take a cue from Kota... About all he is up for, when it rains, is gazing at the wall... and waiting for inspiration to strike.

Yeah.  That sounds like a plan.
Back to gazing with Kota.(Until the Dremel is charged.)

See you tomorrow.

I lost them...

And Tessie found them!  I made this roll at least fifteen years ago.  It has been missing for about five of those years. 

Thank goodness for deep cleaning...

This roll is one that I used to take to workshops and Wednesday Witches.  It has everything in it to make anything.  Tool wise....

It wraps up into a Tessie sized Package.  In case you would like to make one, the pattern is simple.

You lay all of the tools out in a row.  Cut three pieces for the backing larger than the height of the tools(two fabric and one batting) and a bit longer to allow for the dimensions of the tools.  Cut a contrasting piece of material the same size.

You fold that in half and it becomes the pockets.

Sew a line vertically between the tools for the pockets. 

After that is done, use a piece of bias tape to go around the edges of the whole thing.

I got a bit carried away.  I quilted the outside with meandering yellow stitches. Then I stitched a word on each pocket to indicate what was inside. 

I stitched a piece of ribbon to one edge, in the center of the side.  It wraps around twice and ties in a bow. 

Now fill it with your tools.  It could be used for any kind of tools.  Have fun!

Tessie was on a roll for finding things... She found the DVD player... The disc for Harry Potter and the walls. 

OK. I did help her with the set up.  It was self defense. 

I am not going to be bothered until after Christmas, if I play my cards right.

I will simply turn on the player as soon as I get up in the morning and keep the discs loaded.  I have ALL of the seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... That should last until Christmas.  If it doesn't, I am sure I could talk her into watching all of the Gilmore Girls. 

The point is, she is just like a little kid when it comes to TV,  Turn it on and leave the room.  If they want anything else, they will yell!

I am going back to work now.

See you tomorrow.

I Need Another Board!

Another title for this could be..."What Was I Thinking?"

The drawing for the window seat was way too small.

I didn't want to go all the way to the ceiling with it, but this is ridiculous...

I started by drawing the window without measuring... It looked OK, but the top of the real one is right behind the top of the paper. 

It's been one of those weeks...

I did get all  most of the shelves measured... Then I ran out of the two boards I thought it would take. 

I will go look in the workroom for scraps when I finish here...  Then there's always Ace Hardware, down the street... About two miles.

The reason I am so late doing this, is my trip to town this morning. 

I stopped at Dollar Tree on the way home and discovered that they have quite a few new tools. 

This isn't exactly a tool and I could have used it last week when I was using all of that spray glue on the ribbon  boards. 

I have never really paid much attention to their tools.  I am going to try a couple of other things.  I saw a really cute handsaw, about 12" long, that might be handy to have around... If it cuts more than butter.  I'll let you know if it actually cuts when I get one... For a dollar, I will be willing to give it a try.

Meanwhile, Tessie spotted the area of one of the boards that was marked with "window seat top".

She has been sitting there for the past half hour, wiggling around and mumbling to herself...

I finally couldn't stand it.  I asked her what was wrong?  You have to know what is coming... She answered with, "It's just barely big enough and it's way too hard!  Needs padding!" 

It doesn't matter that I don't even have the boards cut yet... It needs padding!

I guess that the sooner I get the boards cut and the shelves put together, the sooner she will have a padded seat and nothing to complain about... No wait.  Strike that... She will find something.  She always does.  No books on the shelves?  No stone on the outside?  Needs a footstool....  Should I go on... Nope.  I am going to go build a window seat as fast as I can.

See you tomorrow.

Various Mini Related Things...

I am almost back to minis... I picked up my pliers yesterday and decided I had to finally do something about the handles.  The bead work, after a lot of years are almost shredded.  I repaired them once, but they shredded again.  I decided to try something new...

 I don't like the stuff that they put on the handles so I cover them.  I can get a better grip on them.

I decided to try crocheting some with the nylon Sizzle thread. 

I simply started at the bottom end of the handles and did a five stitch circle.  In that, I did two stitches in each one and made it 10 stitches.  Then I just worked to the other end.  I decreased about four stitches and fastened off.  New handles.  They are rough, so that I can get a good grip on them now. And I like the fact that they get a little thicker.  I am not crazy about the tiny handles that they put on them.

Now about the minis.  I am taking down the snow from Christmas, before I start making a bigger mess.

I thought I would show you some gifts that April and Seth brought back from a walk that they took after dinner. 

I am always getting this kind of gifts from them.  They know what I like.  If they go anywhere, and ask if they can bring me anything, I always tell them to bring me a rock...

Seth brought me the rock at the base of the tree and April brought me the tree!  They both know what I like. They will both be used in a mini scene.

I took down the theater this morning and while doing so, I figured out that the scene could be used anywhere.

The floor would have to be made to fit the space and the wall would have to vary in height. 

I would have to make the flap in the front into a base that went around three sides.  Other than that, I could either leave it like this if it were in a bookcase, or have two false walls on the sides. 

Lots of options!

I have to go knock some more snow off of the roof now.  See you tomorrow.