Paint!

 OK!  Back to work on the HBS Forest Fantasy...

Unfortunately, it is hard to see the first coat on the floor and chimney...

The floor still looks gray to the camera. 

It has the usual stonework pallet.  Greens, browns, grays, black and white.

You can see it a bit more in the fireplace.  At least I am started! 

It will get better with another coat.

You may be asking yourself what I did with the Terrible Two plus One and the Minions....

Simple... I made granola yesterday...

Lo and behold, Minions are crazy about home made granola!  In fact they kept throwing it at Zar and Tessie to keep them out of the jar!

I guess I am going to have to kick them out and give the Terrible Two a bowl of their own... That is, if I don't want to have another fight on my hands. 

First I have to get all of them out of the jar!  That's going to be the hard part.

Back to the painting. 

See you tomorrow.  Hopefully with a painted floor and fireplace.

Taking the Easy Way Out....

When I went to start work on the stones this morning... This is what I found.

I was not in the mood to fight with Tessie, Zar, Spike and eight Minions. 

I decided that the easy way out was to do something else...

It's been a while since I just sat and played on my Pattern Maker.  That seemed like a good choice. for something to do, that the gang wouldn't try to take over...

This might be a good time to tell you about the advantages of using a cross stitch program for designing rugs.

I imagine that some of you are interested in designing your own cross stitch rugs...

This program is also handy for loom bead work, among other things. I have had this for years and every once in a while Pattern Maker sends me updates for it.  For free.

I think that there are other pattern designers for cross stitch on the net.  This just happens to be the one that I fell into.

If you like geometric patterned rugs or repeat patterns of any kind, these are handy. 

I used to draw out my patterns on ruled graph paper.  Now, I wonder why I ever did it that way...

The first thing I do is determine how big I want the rug to be and what material I am going to use.

Then I put in the numbers into the program.  After that, it is all down hill.  Especially with repeat patterns like this one.

As you can see, I started with the darkest color and did a diamond shaped grid... Theoretically, I could keep this pattern going for a room sized rug.  Then I start filling in with the other colors.

I decided to make this one square and not too big.  See the little pink squares on the outside edge of the three sides?  Those are the center points of the sides.

With the pattern maker, I can repeat any part of the rug over and over, by copying a section and moving the copy to another area.  The copy can be flipped so that it will fill in another area as a mirror image. 

For example, I have a quarter of the design filled in, in the bottom photo.  I can isolate that part of the design and copy and flip three times and I will have the whole pattern.

Theoretically, I could make the rug to fit any room with just the one piece to repeat.  The same with the border.  I can select any part of that and repeat. 

Anyway.  Here we go again!  Another rug for you to copy and finish before I do... Have fun.

See you tomorrow.

A Tight Fit...

OK.  I finished the stonework on the fireplace...

It fits, but will need a bit of trimming at the top.

Of Course, Tessie has been influencing the minions... They now show up after the work is done... Just like Tessie...

I wonder if they can handle a paintbrush?

I do believe that I am going to have to take a short break and make a new cat basket...

This is the tray on the table beside Walter's favorite chair...

Kota has taken to laying in it when anyone sits there... Insurance for getting petted...

If he really relaxes, It all but disappears under him. 

Watch!  If I make him a new cat basket... He will still prefer plopping down on the small ones that he really doesn't fit into...

What is it about him and mini baskets?  I don't understand...

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Slow Going....

It took me between three and four hours, yesterday afternoon, to finish what you see in the last two photos.  The stonework on the fireplace takes forever, because each block has to be cut precisely and then bent, shaped, trimmed and glued in place. 

They have to be pinned to hold them in place until the glue dries...

After taking out the pins, the holes need to be scraped with the head of the pin, so that the hole disappears...

I brought the fireplace in to see how it looked so far.  It will be hard to tell, until it is painted, but so far I am happy with it.

Tessie and Zar about to round up the Minions and lock them back in their house.  They slow things up considerably... They are absolutely no help when it comes to stone masonry. 

The did, however decide that the hole for the bed would make a wonderful home away from home for them...

That was after we explained to them that the fireplace was not a good place to set up camp...

I still have half a fireplace to cover.  I guess I should shoo the Minions out and get back to work...

"Tessie!  Round up your Minions, give them some cookies and send them home!"

See you tomorrow, with a stoned fireplace.

Once Again... Waiting for glue to dry...

I just got home from grocery shopping and started working on the chimney again...

Tessie and Zar are supervising... I don't want to panic anyone, but I think that they are being invaded... That's One...

Oops!  There's another one... Pirate, with knife?  This can't be good.

Back to the fireplace.  I cut pieces from 1/4" foam core  for the overlay.  After gluing it on, I have to let it dry for a bit, before I start applying stone to it...  Good time to write...

This fireplace is going to be similar to the one in the Weaver's Workshop, if you want to peek.

OK. This can't be good.... Tessie must have forgotten to padlock the door, when she threw in the morning cookie supply...

I wonder how many cookies they are asking for stone laying?  If I can get them to work for just a couple, I may try to get them to help.

Otherwise, I am going to have Tessie and Zar round them up and herd them back into the half inch cottage in the workroom.  No way am I letting them run free all over the house.  Who knows what kind of trouble eight Minions could cause while I am trying to work!?!

See you tomorrow!

I Need BIG Lock!

I started working on the fireplace this morning...

It is going to have to be finished on all three sides and finished well.  It can be seen from all sides.  No cheating...

After I got one piece of half inch foam core cut, Tessie came running in and yelled, "I NEED A BIG LOCK!!!".  Then a long drawn out, "Hurry!  Now!!!".

It seems that is the only way to keep the Minions from following her everywhere...  I told her so!

But would she listen?  Nope.

I gave her an old padlock and a couple of cookies.  She threw them to the back of the half inch house and padlocked the front door.

The mini minions are now all happily munching cookies for the time being...

I still have a couple more layers of thinner foam core to cut.  Then I will start shaping the fireplace.

That will probably take me most of the day.  If I get lucky, maybe I will get to start putting the stone on...

"Tessie, may I borrow your Minions?".  I can see the work going a lot faster with 16 extra hands to help... or maybe not... We shall find out.

See you tomorrow.

We Are Officially in Trouble NOW!!!

I should have been suspicious.  I got ready to leave for Walmart to get supplies... Tessie trailed along behind me, whinging and whining..."Pleeeease Can't I go???  I promise to behave."

Have you ever heard Tessie make a promise like that?  I know I haven't.

I should have thought back to a few days ago when my friend Deb was on the Greenleaf forum, telling everyone about the mini minions at Walmart. 

Of course, as luck would have it, Tessie was reading over my shoulder at the time...

People!  Don't let anyone that you know anywhere Walmart if you don't want to be invaded by little yellow men!

When I got home, I noticed that one of the bags was just a little heavier than it should have been.

She somehow got them through the checkout line without me seeing them... Oops!  I suspect it was when the clerk and I were talking about the horrible price of chicken... Yes.  I checked the receipt.  They were on there!

Anyway.  Whilst unpacking groceries,  I glanced over at the dollhouse on the table in the corner.  There was Tessie and EIGHT MINIONS! 

Granted, they are very cute, but knowing how they operate,  I am already having nightmares in the daytime, just thinking what Tessie will order them to do!

She announced that they can take over the 1/2" Tudor house in the bookcase.  OK, but she gets to do the furnishing!

As I type, she has them lined up on the top of the desk.  She seems to think that she can assign each one an area of the keyboard and teach them to type for her... I am not going to burst her bubble and tell her that they aren't that strong!

At least they will keep her busy for the rest of the day.  Just remember.  Don't blame me.  Deb was the person that found them!  It's all her fault!

See you tomorrow!