"No More Fooling Around!"

"Not one more minute!  I am not waiting.  You haven't done minis for days!".  That was Tessie this morning.

Fortunately, it was after I got back from the Desert Sky Rummage sale.  I haven't missed one for quite a few years and I am there the first day, before it opens every year.

It is a huge sale spread over the whole grounds of the church and the grounds are big!  It even has cars and RVs for sale some years.

Surely you don't expect me to pass that up, even for minis.  I don't always spend a lot, but it is just so much fun to see what's for sale. 

I spent right around ten dollars this year and look what I got!  I doubt that many of you would be that interested in a hand embroidered table cloth, but I liked it....Someone put a great deal of work into it and it was $3.00.  Perfect condition.

I got my usual grab bag of needlepoint canvas....YES!  Penelope and #18 to 24 were there.  That means more baskets and fake wicker pieces in mini.  The little wooden box/tray under that looks like a foundation for something mini to me.  The thread was an added bonus with the canvas...I know it will be used somewhere.

There was a two shelf spice rack.  25 cents. They are handy for acrylic paint storage if you have a wall to hang them on.  This one holds 14 bottles.  The three tiered ones hold 21 and all are out where you can see them at a single glance.

The box in front is for storing knitting needles but I will probably find another use for it....Who knows?

Last and best was this cosmetics case.  It is just book board, but very sturdy.  I already found a use for it. 

My #14 beads have a new home.  That is if I can get the Terrible Two to evacuate the site. 

Zar wants it for a tool shed and Tessie just announced that the side that she is in would make a perfect place to take a nap...Like she doesn't have a dozen beds around here to nap on.

Anyway, I did solemnly swear to go back to work on minis.  I am still recovering from the traumatic wounds that you saw yesterday....That's my story and I am sticking with it.

See you tomorrow, with minis in hand!

This, That and the Other Thing.

Yesterday, while I was at Michael's, I found these! They were in the floral department and were only $1.49 for a package of four. They are terracotta. Tessie took one look at them and said...."Mine!" Then she started making plans for what could be planted in them...

She took a second look and said, "Spiderwort. I want spiderwort." Then the trouble began...."Hey! What happened to Spiderwort Manor? It's still under the bed, isn't it?"

She is now harassing me about building that. Forget about the Clockwork Cottage, the Townhouse and all of the other unfinished projects.

I just looked at her and said, "Tessie, just stand there and hold your breath until I start...."

She held it about 6 seconds. She fixed a puzzled frown on her face. Then she hissed through her teeth, "You can't trick me! I am not going to hold my breath. If I do, I would pass out before you started it! No fair!"

For the rest of the afternoon she was not fit to live with.

Today she is somewhat mollified. I went to a few garage sales this morning....You guessed it. I bought her a house for two dollars.

It is basically a six story+attic dump, but it was immediately claimed by her. It was a kid's, well loved bookcase. On one side, there are growth marks for several kids. You know, the kind that we all loved as children. The pencil came out about once every six months and we marked our progress to tallness.

The woman that I bought it from said that I made "the princess" very happy. Evidently the daughter was getting the money from her own stuff. She was obviously past the "getting taller" stage.

Did I mention that Zar is back? I was a bit worried about him. He went into a blue funk after the last time that Tessie shot him down about working on his house. I guess that he is resigned to waiting in line. He has been pouting in Tessie's townhouse workroom for quite some time.

I suspect that he was brewing something other than spell juice in the still...He planted himself in the easy chair beside it. He seems very mellow and content to wait now.....

The only other thing I purchased this AM was a really nice sectional basket to carry tools. I think this was what drew Zar out of hiding. He heard the word tools.

Tessie needed his help getting her new sled out of one of the compartments. Just what she needs in Arizona! Hey! It was free with the basket!

I heard her chattering excitedly as she pushed it up over the edge, for Zar to catch. "Just think! The next time it snows here, we can take turns sledding down Casey's real roof! It will work just like the mini roofs, but a longer ride! Me first! Me first!!"

I noticed that Zar was not fighting for a turn. I believe that he knows what's coming. I had better have a good "Tessie repair kit" on hand if it actually snows again. Thank goodness, it doesn't happen often.

The last I saw of Tessie, she was headed for the basket shop, with sled in hand. That building has the steepest roof.....I have to go now and look for bandages and splints..... I do believe that the sled is going to disappear in a few days.....

See you tomorrow.

More Fun Than a Barrel Full of Aardvarks.....

First of all, I broke down and made Tessie's apron yesterday afternoon. She is off my case and really agreeable now.

Now for the fun part. April and I went to the Dessert Sky church rummage sale this morning. I didn't even spend twenty dollars....Maybe right around ten. I don't know if I told you about this sale before, but it is the largest one in town and is held on the first weekend in November every year. The church collects things for the sale in a warehouse on their property all year. I heard that last year they made about 90,000.oo! It all goes to charity so is for a good cause.

Did I get some deals? I got all of these books for $3.25. The Interior Decorating from A to Z is from 1965. I have been looking at it on Alibris, but decided against buying it because the shipping was more than the book! It's a good one if you like 60s decorating.

The next couple are a bargello needlepoint book and a crochet book. The prizes were the next two. The first one is about Pima Indian Basketry. The Pimas are one of our local tribes and they make wonderful coiled baskets with beautiful designs woven in with natural grasses.

Next is a book on building "rustic" furniture from branches and such. There may be some furniture from that one in miniature in the near future.

The last two are an antique furniture guide and one on Vintage fretwork. All in all, I would say that I made out like a bandit!
I got a 1/4" scale "bed and breakfast" for two dollars. At least I think that is what it will be when I am finished with it.

Tessie hates that one. She doesn't fit in most of the rooms.

Inside the house there is, from top to bottom, a package of two soft sculpting needles(25 cents), four yards of white silk ribbon in an unopened package(10 cents), a small unfinished wooden hornbook(10 cents), Tessie(priceless), a pair of Japanese scissors(they were expensive! 4.00) and a small square frame(10cents).
The two bamboo place mats laying beside the house were 25 cents each, then there is a small macrame board @ 50 cents and some of the little wooden pieces that look like muffins. Those were 25cents. OK I just added it up. 10.70 for all.....

April and I gave up after that. She had a couple of sacks full also. Neither of us were quite ready to give up. We went to a couple of garage sales and finally ended up at a yarn shop.....And guess what I found there?
Yummy yarn for two more pair of socks. As I have said before.....There are never enough yarns for socks! The colors in the rainbow yarn are much brighter than the photo shows.

I am going now to play with my new toys if I can pry them away from Tessie and Widget. He was eyeing the balls of yarn, when last seen.

See you tomorrow.

If It's Not Mookie, It's Tessie.......

Look what I found this morning! No. Not Mookie. The house.

I was doing the garage sale routine this morning and found this bookcase for three dollars! I don't know what I am going to do with it, but I couldn't pass it up. It is really well built and maybe I can use it for storage somewhere, even if it doesn't become a mini home.

Mookie immediately moved in and made himself comfortable. Hmmmm.....Cat Cottage?

At another yard sale, I found an early 70s sewing box. I had one of these in avocado green back then. That's how I know the date. I have run onto a couple of them lately for ridiculous prices, but none had the original tray in the top.

I took the stuff out of the inside(I think that is what they were actually selling.) and cleaned it up. It is in good shape. I can use it for storage somewhere....

What was inside? Tons of copper wire! I use a lot of this in jewelry making and some in minis as well.(see the Steampunk ice box)

There was also a lot of striped telephone wire. I have been wanting some of that for real sized baskets. Now I have it. There were also copper jump rings and some chains. This whole mess was three dollars.....I would have had to pay a lot more than that elsewhere. I realize that most normal people won't be excited about this, but even Tessie zapped in, chair and all, to ask what I was going to make for her from the wire....

She is still holding on to that chair for dear life. I think that she fears that I may box it up and send it back. I am not going to tell her anything different for a while. I am so enjoying the peace and quiet.

My last photo of the day is of all of the electrical that I purchased. I started working on the ceiling fixture for the bathroom. I had to paint the rim of the light. it was shiny brass and when I am through, I want it to become part of the ceiling design.

I am planning to alter all of the lights that I bought. I can't leave well enough alone. That would be no fun at all.

It is sheer torture, trying to work on the lighting with all of that new wire and a new little house staring at me. I know I have to behave, but I may leave the behaving to Tessie. I want to play with the new toys....Electrical is boring!!!(the six year old is whining and stamping her feet now, in protest....)

See you tomorrow.

Just a Little Fruit.....

I can't honestly say that the morning was fruitless....I went to several garage sales, two thrift stores, the 99cent store, Michael's and my favorite antique mall.

The fruits of my labor were few and far between. I got a pile of Better Homes and Gardens Quilting magazines. So much for garage sales.There was nothing at the two thrift stores and the 99 cent store worth purchasing.

I had a 40% off one item and a 15%off the entire purchase coupon for Michael's. All I could find was a hunk of half inch thick foam core board and a piece of illustration board. What is this world coming to, when I can't find anything but white boards on which to use perfectly good coupons?

I decided that a stroll through the antique mall might help my mood......Would you believe that I spent two dollars on the candlesticks that you see in the photo....That's it. I gave up and came home with just a little fruit....

Tessie wasn't too pleased. She usually benefits from shopping trips. The candlesticks were the only things that looked promising to her. Her only comment was "Huh? You bought more table bases? I don't need more tables. I have enough tables. Why did you buy more tables?" I just walked away, to discouraged to answer.

I consoled myself with cleaning out 1/4" supplies. Tessie hung around making rude comments on how useless the tiny furniture was.

"Why would you want to make furniture so little that I couldn't use it? That's just silly."

I did stick with it and I will be able to put my hands on things for quarter inch immediately when I need something.

I have been kind of itching to do something in quarter inch for a while now. It looks like I may have to work on it in an inconspicuous, out of the way corner so that Tessie won't know about it.

On the good news side of the scale....I am almost done with the black part of the zebra skin rug. I do have a couple of inches of the white done on the left side of the photo.

Now I am trying to decide if I want to leave it just the skin or to put a black border around the whole thing. We shall see. I have to get the body of the rug done first anyway.

I am going away now to pout about my semi fruitless day. See you tomorrow.

So Much For Saturday Morning.....

I went into town for some groceries that we needed this morning. On the way home, I Only stopped at one garage sale. I drove by a couple of other ones, but from the car, I could see that they weren't worth stopping.

The one that I did stop at was not bad at all.
I found two key cupboards that had never been opened. I use those for mini displays in various places in the house. They are a nice size for hanging on the wall with just a couple of minis in them.

These are nice because they have never been either painted or stained. I get to make the choice. At a dollar a piece, I couldn't pass them up.

The only other thing that I bought was a plate rack. The guy wanted two dollars for it. It was very black, so I was taking a chance on whether or not it was salvageable. It almost looked like silver plate with the plating wearing through. I offered him a dollar....He took it.

Tessie immediately decided it would make a good jungle gym. Now her dress is all black in spots from the tarnish. Hey! If she keeps at it long enough, I won't have to polish it!

It is going to take a lot of elbow grease and silver cleaner, but it was worth every penny of the dollar. I started messing with it and the piece right above Tessie's head in the photo is bright and shinny now. Like new. The other surprise was....on the inside of the bottom band were 5 tiny hallmarks! I am going to have to see if I can find out what they are. I am thinking that it is worth lots more than a dollar. I am a happy camper.

I stopped cleaning the plate rack and my mind wandered to some of the little glass pebbles that go in the bottom of vases. I found some that were smaller than usual the other day at Walmart.

There were three colors in the sack, so I thought that they would be fun to play with. Remember the bottles that Nikki of Witch and Wizard Miniatures http://nikkinikkinikki72.blogspot.com/ and Debie Lyons of Piskies and Poppetshttp://piskies-and-poppets.blogspot.com/2010/07/am-i-going-barmy-or-do-these-look.html made with marbles? I decided to try some with these. Different shaped bottle.

Of course, Tessie was all for making bottles. She figures that bottles are all for her. I didn't tell her that Zar might have to have some too....I don't want to start anything this morning.

I have had a couple of ideas rattling around in my weird little brain since I got the pebbles. In order of appearance from left to right. Kind of a Hershey's Kiss shape. A bird bottle with the beak as the opening on a gold pebble. A plain bottle on a gold pebble, awaiting decoration of some kind. One of those twisted ones on a clear base. A really twisted one with a knot in the neck, in red.

The last two are pretty off the wall and I don't know if they will work. I started fooling around with embedding beads in the clay. I am not sure what is going to happen. I used liquid poly to stick the beads on/in, but they don't seem all that secure.

These are only silly experiments. If they work, I will keep going. I like the idea of adding things to the clay before baking.

One thing that I tried years ago was adding ground spices to the clay. It gives a rough texture more like raku pottery. I didn't do that yet. I think that I will go do some more experimenting now.

See you tomorrow.

Out of the Cage!

I ran away from home this morning. I decided that, since nobody was here to stop me except two little bitty cats, I would get out of the house. Widget has stopped hissing at Mookie and Mookie is still ignoring him when he does it anyway, I figured that it was pretty safe.

I treated myself to breakfast out. I did a fast run for groceries. And then, I really ran away.....I went to about ten different garage sales in the neighborhood.....I even went back to the first one a second time.

Why, you ask? Because that one had lots of bags of jewelry findings for a quarter a piece. I spent a whole four dollars and look what I got!

One of the bags held four cabochon pin backs(mini picture frames) that were labeled 95 cents a piece.....There is the four dollars. The rest was free? Poke the photo for a better view. All of it was new in the package and probably from someone that was buying it wholesale for jewelry making to sell. It was advertised as an estate sale.

I also found three really nice baskets, a meat thermometer(new in the package) and an antique jam spoon at the same sale. Nickles and dimes.

I got the small wall cabinet that is behind Tessie and Zar at another place for 50 cents.

The best thing that I found was back at the first sale....I saved the best for last. I found a sewing box from Romania(it's marked on the bottom) It's in really good condition. Well built, with dovetailed joints and a bentwood handle. It was a whole ten dollars!

Now my only problem is....I am going to have to fight for it. Tessie immediately claimed it for a storage chest for the townhouse.....And then Zar jumped into the other end and announced.... "Since you bought all of those nifty findings, you can start working on the Clockwork cottage again."

Of course, that started an insane shouting match between him and Tessie, as to whom was going to get it.To make matters worse, Mookie pushed in and claimed the center portion for a new bed.....I think that Widget will stay under the bed, if he knows what's good for him.

I would just like to say....."OK you guys! Cut it out!" and "I am bigger than the three of you put together, so I get the last word. It's MINE!!!" Now all I have to do is follow up by throwing them all out on their respective ears!

It wasn't too difficult to get Tessie and Zar out. After I cooked the poly stuff from yesterday, they started divvying that up. More fighting, bickering and it almost came to fisticuffs.... I think that Tessie finally allowed him one jar.

The thing that I liked best in the end was a couple of towels for the bathroom. Everybody always has neat and tidy towels in their mini baths. I wanted something more like the real thing. Face it. In the real house, a lot of times the towels aren't on the rack.

I especially like the one with the trim that is wrapped around the glass and hanging off the table. I am thinking that it should have a bottle of shampoo where the glass is in the photo.

OK. Now that you have seen all of my ill gotten gains for the day, I am going to go see what I can make of the new findings.......Oops! First I have to lay claim to the sewing chest or I will never get it back.

See you tomorrow.

Kidnapped!!!

This morning April abducted me, as all good daughters should, once in a while. She forced me to go estate sale-ing and thrift shopping in Green Valley. That's a retirement community south of Tucson. I think I have mentioned going to the "White Elephant" thrift shop before. It has been a least a year since the last time that we went.

On the way back, we stopped at the out of the way quilt shop. Tessie benefited at both locations.....

I am now 15 brand new, one inch, foam brushes, richer. Coincidentally, I was getting out the stain for the shingles when April arrived. I had no brushes for staining.....It was fate. The price was $2.00 for all of them. No more excuses.

Next she found two hand painted #18 needlepoint canvases. She is under the impression that I am going to let her have them for hangings in her townhouse. That's more of the stuff that comes under the category of "Hide it and she will forget it." They are quite nicely painted and I think will work well as scissors cases. Don't tell her that.

The three books behind her in this photo is giving her grandiose ideas. They are quite nice all color books on Leeds Castle, Buckingham Palace and Builtmore Estate....She keeps saying, "We could add a wing or two on the townhouse, couldn't we?"

I am afraid to say no(but I will) because of the very long library scissors that I found for my scissors collection. These were used to cut apart pages in books when they came through with some uncut. Tessie is 5" tall.....The scissors are three inches longer than she is....As I said, I am not arguing with her when she is holding them.

She is standing on a Larousse Cooking School cook book that is about a thousand pages thick. There are lots and lots of colored photos of the recipes. Luckily she is having difficulties turning pages in that thing or I would be making Fimo food right now, instead of playing on the computer. The fabric on top is four fat quarters that I found for her at the quilt shop.

I did manage to scarf up a few things for myself along the way, but mainly she claimed everything in sight. So what else is new?.....

Since there is no longer a "no brush" excuse for the shingles, I guess I will go do some staining now.

Sorry that there's nothing new to report on the house. April had to go be a librarian tomorrow, so I will be safe. It's all her fault I didn't get anything accomplished on the townhouse today. Bad April. Thanks April. It was fun!

See you tomorrow.

A Day Out.....

April and I met up and went garage sale-ing and antique shopping this morning. It was a fruitful day. Maybe I should say it was a bookish day. Most of the things that we purchased were books and more books. She is looking for things from 1937 because that is when their house was built. I was just looking for anything good that I could lay my hands on.

She showed up with a book called Rugs and Carpets by Andrew Middleton for me. That's the great thing about having a librarian in the family. Sometimes she gets first shot at discarded books. This one was great! It is a large format book that is all color!There are beautiful photos of rugs from all over the world. It is a treasure.

When I got home, Tessie had to have a look at all of the things that I bought. As you know, she always thinks of these shopping trips as..."What did you buy for me?" or if I didn't buy her anything that is instant gratification, "What are you going to make for me?" In this case, it was the latter.

Her eyes started sparkling when she flipped the pages. She found what she wanted. The ones that she is standing in front of in the photo "match her apron". I guess it is important to have rugs and aprons that match in her world. Or maybe she just wants a new rug. Do you think???

I went on to look at a few "Magic Crochet" magazines. She wasn't the least bit interested in those. I didn't tell her that some of the patterns could be made in miniature.

Then I picked up a miniature book that I found. Yes! A miniature book that I didn't already own! She immediately found the interest that she had lost. She likes this log cabin quilt. As you can see from the illustrations on these two pages, this one is easily made in miniature by strip piecing. Add another project to the list that she wants for her new house...s....

She has Theo with her today because she seems to think he should be interested in some of the rugs since they come from the same area that he is from....I didn't burst her bubble and tell her he was from down the street, right here in Tucson.

Walter brought home a big bag of kettle corn. Yay, Walter!!! I now have an official way to distract Tessie!

She tried it. She liked it. She is hooked. I tried to take the bag away and she slapped my hand.

Unfortunately, Theo seems to like it too. That means me against a weird little witch and her faithful tiger sidekick. I don't like kettle corn that much. Let Walter fight them for it! I am going away now and read new, used books for the rest of the afternoon.

See you tomorrow.

Fuzzy Logic.....

It was from this

to this

in

three easy steps this morning.

The first step was stopping at a garage sale, asking a couple of questions and then going home.

The second step was going back to the garage sale to see if my camera would work with what they had for sale. It did.I bought something to stop the fuzzy photos that Tessie causes when she jumps up and down. She does that a lot when she is excited.

The third step was telling her to stop jumping up and down when I am trying to take her photo....... OK so there were four steps. I am so excited. I have wanted a nice tripod for a while now. The ones that I like are about 40.00....I purchased this one at said garage sale for 10.00! When I got it home, I looked around on the net to see if I could find it. It doesn't have a company logo on it, but it is an exact match for one that Canon sells for 40.00! My Canon camera seems to have been made for it!

Tessie was pretty happy about it too. When I took the camera off, she proceeded to take over the tripod. She announced that she could see the whole house from up there. It not only works sitting on the table, it's legs extend for floor use also.

I hate to say it, but I think she has figured out that she can see a whole lot more if I extend the legs and then set it on the table. She has zapped it to several different locations and keeps reporting back what she can see.

I am pretty sure that she likes this location best. As it is, she can see all of Zar's cottage, her house, the bookstore, the castle, the bar and a couple of other key locations.

She is now in the workroom searching for the tiny telescope that I have stowed away. For some reason, she seems to think that she can spy on everyone else and they won't notice a small witch sitting on a tripod staring at them.... I don't have the heart to tell her that I gave the telescope to Zar a couple of months ago.

Anyway, I have a new toy. That is, if I can ever wrench it out of Tessie's hot little hands.

I don't guarantee better pictures. I do guarantee that they will be a lot clearer. Especially if I can convince Tessie to stand still.... "Tessie! Bring back that tripod right this minute!"

Excuse me for a moment. I have to go catch a witch flying around the house on a tripod now. See you tomorrow!

Garage Sale Jackpot!

This morning I hit the garage sales on the way home from town. I actually only left the car at two and only one was really worthwhile.

These were my finds. The first was this stool. It was sitting beside another just like it but obviously very old. The lady told me that she had had this copy made of the old one in hopes that she could salvage the other one and have a pair. The other one was not really salvageable. This one is perfect. It needs stain and finish and I will have a beautiful copy. I paid a whole TWO dollars for it!

I got the book on top for a dollar. It is full color and lots of neat ideas for mini rooms and even some real size how to's that have possibilities.

I pitched in another doller for this. I thought it might be too big, but I got it home and made Zar stand next to it for size. He is soooooo excited! Look at all of the tools. I am going to have to fill in the top of the bench, but other than that it is perfect for the mad scientist that builds things. He is planning on making the drill steam powered.....Most of the other tools will only work if he works them.

It was actually a pencil cup for a desk. It sure saves me a lot of work. I won't have to hunt for tools for the workshop. They are all right there. The scale is perfect!

Tessie broke up the party, but couldn't manage to talk Zar out of his drink. We may have to send him to rehab if he doesn't cut it out.

When Tessie saw the vice on the corner of the bench, she got a gleam in her eye and said to Zar, "See, if you put your finger in here, and I turn this handle, we can see if it works....." Zar may be a little tipsy, but he's not all that stupid. He told her, "You can put your own finger in there! I'm not doing it!" Maybe there's hope for him yet.....

We are going out to lunch and a movie. I have to go get ready. You can stay and witness the argument if you want. I am leaving now.

See you tomorrow.