And More Windows.....

 

Details, Details.....

While I was working on the back side of the Ladies' Tower, Dear Readers, it seemed to only make sense that I also complete the one remaining window on the Tower back side while I was accessing that part of the structure! Who knows how long it will take me to "get to" the final upper Bed Chamber... but at least I was certain of the window placement and the construction needed. So I began right away as you can see in the above picture... the boring part of building the frame. I will not bore you with all the steps taken.... but since this is my construction archive, I feel the need to record the progress made, however skip-de-doodle it is!

 

Here you can see the entire Ladies' Tower exterior with the flash for reference.

 The lowest windows are the Chapel windows flanking the altar,

 the two on the next level up are the ones I just recently made for the Ladies' Solar,

 and I am determined to make their exterior rock trimming too

 before I turn the Tower back to the wall!

 

And here you can sort of see the Ladies' Solar window

 before the exterior trim is begun.

 (Sorry about the dark photos.... yeah, I forget

 how little light there is in my house)

 but the chief thing I wanted you to notice is 

that the larger window opening that was filled in

 will be "honored" in the trim construction. 

The story is that the "glazing" of the windows 

was long after the construction of the Tower itself, 

so the already finished opening would have had trim

 and then been partially filled in when the glazing happened. 

Gazing is, after all, very very expensive!

 

The base of the window trim will span 

the original opening as you can see here.

 

And because I am racing along, 

following the already well established styles.... 

here you can see both openings mostly completed.

 Only missing the saw-toothed arch and the central capitals.

 

And here you can see the central capitals have been added! 

These particular capitals are made from

 the laaast small fragments of a particular wooden trim

 that I bought, quite a few years back, at the local big box store....

 and have not been able to find a similar profile since.

 (I hate it when things "disappear" out of the marketplace

 due to changing fashions.... fancy trim..? 

who wants that?.... well, I did.... just a small piece.....) 

So here they are... on the back side of the Tower wall.... 

the Last ornate capitals.... 

hardly ever visible to anyone...

 but I will know they are there!

 

Meanwhile the last upper window frame

 is getting constructed step by step.

 

And the lower two needed their saw-toothed arches cut....

 

Cut... primed.... painted.....

 waiting for the paint to dry between each step.......

 

Here the trim is all glued in place and 

the grout lines are painted on the left window... 

not yet on the right one.....

you can see the subtle difference it makes...

 

And on the right one too.

 

And meanwhile I have raced ahead 

with the glass for the upper window...

 

And glued it in place too! 

It only needs the window crossbar.... 

and trims....

 

 Like so.....

 

And here you see the trims nearly finished too!

 

 

Which just leaves one more saw-toothed window arch....

 And attached.

Well, that was quick! 

 

 

And once again, the exterior view of that back wall... 

with the flash.... 

can we call it just about finished? 

Well, finished enough to turn to the other side....

 

 The interior of that top room has a long ways to go!

 

 "cause we're just getting started with the Ladies' Solar!

 

 And yeah... 

I still have to get caught up

 with that still not primed end wall....

which needs the wiring channels.... 

and the box for the plug strip... 

and the postern gate.... 

 

Well, Dear Readers, a ton of details

 are still needed on this Castle Tower. 

But that just means I get to keep on making them! 

Oh I do love Details! 
 

 

 

Little Diamond Windows....

 

Framed.....

You might Not recall, Dear Readers, the construction of the Nursery Bed Nook windows, and I would not blame you at all! They were made in the distant past, after all, in the summer of 2014, almost too long ago to remember! It was a fantastic little piece of enchantment... this sleeping nook tucked into the "stump" of a lopped off tree branch... on the opening door wall of the Nursery. It set the entire tone for the Nursery... as often has been the case with this construction.... the door leads the way! It lets you in... draws you in.... gives you the glimpse of what will come for the rest of the room. Those little diamond-paned windows with the lace curtains on their curtain rod... yes those are little curtain rings... and those windows are hinged to open! (I tend not to open them often as the hinges are impractical and very very tiny..... but, yes, they do open.) This was the last I worked on the Tree House for the next dozen years! Had I set the bar too high? What was preventing me from continuing with this room? It is a Looooong story... I was distracted... busy with all those other projects.... and the Nursery door would not stay closed on its own but hung open and gaping and begging me to give it some attention.... year after year. I would close it, put tape across the door... but the tape would give out and there was that door waving at me again! Well, as you might know, eventually I bought a step ladder so I could actually see what I was building up there in the Tree House... (I am not tall and the Nursery is above my eye level....) and once again set about constructing these little rooms. 

 

And I have made some good progress in the Nanny's Room,

 and even got started on the Bunk-beds in the other lopped off tree branch. 

But those windows were not progressing at all!

 With the example of the Bed Nook windows and their lovely curtains...

 didn't I have a road map to follow? 

Couldn't I just make them like the first ones? 

Well, no, I couldn't.

 They were squeezed into a smaller space

 and hinging all those windows was beyond

 my ability to even imagine! 

But I did refine the interior of the bunkbeds nook... 

lining them with matchstick paneling and sewing little mattresses.

 I think I showed that progress last autumn about this time. 

But the windows were being stubborn. 

So I worked on the Nanny's Room instead... 

finishing those windows, adding wall paper and decorative ceiling and...

 and... and... still no windows for the Nursery. 

At last I decided that the window spaces were too large...

 the little Ratlings would fall through them if they kicked too hard... 

so I added more framing to the outside wall... 

closing in the spaces a bit. 

If you look carefully at the above picture you can see

 the protruding section of the bunk-beds nook 

with much smaller and better defined window holes. 

Perhaps now I was making progress! 

When I found myself sewing a tiny patchwork Quilt for the Nanny's Bed

 in the middle of the hottest part of summer, 

I began to realize I was just procrastinating... 

those windows Needed to be tackled! 

 

It starts with making a pattern of the window openings... 

pretty much like with the Castle Windows, 

only the opposite part takes the frame

 (outside the window rather than inside the window),

 hence I am cutting out the window panes, 

leaving the framework surrounding it.

 

And trying to figure out the placement 

of the mesh used for the window panes..... 

seeing how the shapes would fit in the openings....

 

Starting to construct the cardboard frames layers.... 

this is the complicated part... 

the under frame needs to surround the acetate window panel, 

which has the mesh glued to it... 

then the outer frame goes over the acetate and mesh window panes, 

overlapping onto the outer cardboard frame, 

thereby holding all the layers in place. 

If you look very closely at the above picture 

you will see the acetate panes have been 

fitted into those cardboard openings. 

Their edges will overlap the window's framing.

 

Here the underframe has been painted with the brown paint. 

This is so any edges that show will be the dark brown wood color,

 and also the paint strengthens the cardboard itself. 

 

And here the acetate window panes are in position 

(but not glued down yet!)... just to test the fit of all the layers.

 The outerframe, there to the right, is awaiting its paint.

 

And then you come to the point where you just have to wing it! 

The four panes "mesh" has to be glued to the acetate 

with a thick layer of Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue.... 

covering and soaking through the mesh 

and left to dry overnight. 

The paper pattern underneath is 

hopefully making the spacing correct!

 

Here you can see them the next morning... 

the glue has dried overnight.... 

but is also lifting from the acetate surface...!

 Aaack! What to do....???

 

 Well, I decided there was nothing for it 

but to immediately glue all the layers in place

 and see what would happen next......? !! 

Here you can see them being glued.... 

well, they are there under that agate rock 

and the glue bottle! :)

 

 

And much later when the weights are removed..... 

perhaps it worked after all...?

 

Here is the view seen through the windows

 from inside the bunkbeds.... 

it looks just about right to me!

 (Whew!)

 

And testing the bunkbeds wall in place in the Tree House....

 the exterior view with flash 

(it is getting late and dark already)

 

And the exterior view of both the bed nook "protrusions"

with the opening wall closed (it stays closed now

because I fixed the door last summer!).... 

 

But the view of the bunkbed windows

 from inside the Tree House, Dear Readers,

 is almost impossible to see.....! 

Certainly, the camera with the flash turned on

 can't get close enough.

 

But the following morning the sunlight was

 snaking its way into my workroom and

 shining directly onto the Tree House....

 could it be coming through those bunk bed windows.... 

could we see it at all....???

 

Aaah.... 

just the barest corner of a window is visible!

 

And the light is definitely shining 

into the Nursery onto the floor! 

(What more could I ask for...?)

 

And the exterior view this morning.... 

yeah, it is dark again... 

the sun angle is getting lower and doesn't stay as long.....

 but those windows are doing their job! 

There will be more "framework" built up around the openings

 when I get to constructing the outer shell of the tree structure.

 

There is still so far to go Dear Readers, 

but finally, Finally, I have framed those 

Little Diamond Paned windows!  

I call that progress!

 

Stitching Updates...

 

Progress is Progress...

It is Hard to Believe, Dear Readers that it has already been several months since I showed you any progress on the stitching projects! Time has been Flying by and here we are on the brink of Autumn already. I finished the stitching on The Medieval Lord's Tapestry back in early June but neglected to post pictures. Of course it was a while before I completed the hemming of this Tapestry fragment. You might recall that I had expanded the original kit design to use as much of the provided canvas as I possibly could. I left myself Barely enough to hem it properly. 

 

Here you can see the hemmed tapestry. 

In theory these are supposed to hang from rods for display. 

I have not yet added the back lining or the hanging tabs

 to any of these Tapestry "pieces"....

 not being sure what the best method is for my purposes. 

I'm still working on that! 

Meanwhile, you can see them all 

in location in Rose Thorne Cottage, 

the home of Great Aunt Agatha 

(nobody is quite sure Whose Great Aunt she is!) 

and the Little Dreamers.

 

Here is the Lord's Tapestry...

 tucked into the back corner of the bed chamber...

I know it is hard to see it there... 

but this is the way it goes...

Old things left in corners for centuries.....

Who knows where they came form...? 

 

And the other two Tapestry "fragments" 

are around the corner in the little bedroom 

with the Little Dreamers. 

Sorry I have had to use the flash for you to see them. 

This cottage has no electricity... 

but on good days at the right time of year

 I can get great daylight pictures..... 

I will have to work on that!

 

Meanwhile, you might remember I had embarked 

on the labor intensive background stitching

 for the Chinese Dragon Carpet...

 

I worked diligently at it for a while, 

but then other projects started to grab my attention..... 

 I continue to plug away at it every so often... 

and here you can see good progress has been made.... 

this was in the middle of June.... 

with long evenings for stitching.

 

This was the middle of July... 

quite a bit of progress had been made 

on the bottom left corner section.

 

And early August...... 

 

And mid August... 

that corner background nearly completed!

 

But I got a bit distracted by the other incomplete stitching project.... 

The "Our Lady of Czestochowa" tapestry...

 

Do you remember this one? 

It requires diligent focus and extreme patience

 with all the metallic threads (five different colors in two different types)

 and silk threads which tangle incredibly easily.... 

five different colors for these... 

and twelve different "ordinary" cotton thread colors. 

It is a very beautiful design and watching it unfold is very exciting.... 

but it requires constant counting of stitches and rows... 

it is not a project to be rushed and requires good lighting. 

Which is why I remembered to take it out

 before the summer light was too far gone... 

 

Here I have worked more on the baby Jesus's dress... 

the gold threads and silver in his skirt, 

as well as some of the maroon...

 

This is a little closer so you can

 geek out on the glitter if you like!

 

Here I have filled in the background of the Halo for Mary

 and am working on the background which has 

a bunch of "hieroglyphic" figures 

that seem to relate to stories in her life...

 

Here I have been working on the

 "plain" background behind Mary.

 

And lest you think I have nothing to do, Dear Readers,

 I have also embarked on another little "House Box" sewing project... 

the same as the "Home Sweet Home" Cottage project, 

but on a different colored ground.... 

which makes it all really interesting all over again! 

 

I am using a bright coral pink linen this time... 

thinking of "Rose Thorne Cottage" colors....

 

And gosh.... it has me making 

little diamond paned windows again!

 Lots of them!

 

And starting on the rose bush on the front wall.... 

It is interesting to try to figure out 

which threads from the original project

 will work with this color version. 

And I am planning a few different additions

 or alterations to the original design. 

For instance.... the original pink roses

 are too similar to this linen color... 

I think I will need to tweak them a bit!

 But first I have to stitch a whole lot of tiny leaves....

 

And you know how much I love making tiny leaves!

I had so much fun making the first Home Sweet Home.... 

(I called it "Cottontail Cottage")

I just really feel the need to have a small absorbing project

 to carry me through the fraught days ahead in our country. 

 

And yes, I am still stitching away at the background

 on the Chinese Dragon Carpet.

 

It will take a while, Dear Readers, 

But little bit by little bit 

it adds up to a lot of stitching 

and I am making good progress!