Very Little Progress!

The Littlest Things Take the Longest

There has not been much time lately in my life for making minis. And while I would like to blame that for my lack of progress on any of my projects, I think it would be more truthful to admit that I have too many projects going at once and so I dither over what to work on first.... and WASTE a good deal of Time! Having said that, I would like to share a couple of the Small bits of progress I HAVE made.... because it will surely make me feel better to show even the smallest amounts of progress! The Castle Dollhouse is the only one I have worked on so I will show you the beginnings of the Lord's Council Chamber or Counting House if you will.... where he records the history of the Castle finances and keeps the Books. It is a Library only in the sense that the few books he owns will be kept here... but in the Early Middle Ages.... the vast majority of the population could not read and books were very scarce and precious. This room is above the Guard Room, and below the Lord's Bedchamber. There is a fireplace.... that Modern Invention!

The stairs go up in the wall to the left of the Hearth, while there is a small seat in the window to the right where light for reading would be plentiful.. I still have several layers of painting to do on the "stone" walls... including the grout lines....... but the general layout is taking shape.

Another SMALL improvement is the beams on the underside of the Minstrels Gallery in the Great Hall. I've added them! And I decided I wanted there to be decorative heads carved where the ends of the beams would protrude over the Hall..... so I made a couple out of Sculpey..... and glued them into place.......

There will be six along this Gallery and three on the opposite smaller Maidens Gallery. So far I have only sculpted three.... because they take a long time to make each one.......
At the far end there is a Gargoyle-like creature, then in the middle there is a Lion's head, and close to the outer edge there is a Monk praying........ there will be more fanciful images, but I'm not sure what.....

Here is the Lion.... except he doesn't look much like one.......

And the Praying Monk came out fairly well.... except that he is too big.....

but I used him anyway.....

As for the floor tiles.... well, I'm still making them.... a WHOLE YEAR after beginning them!!! I think I have made about two thirds of what I will need..... and you will think I am crazy, but I am probably also going to make tiles for the Lords Council Chamber........ just a different color.......

And in the Chapel there has been NO Progress AT ALL on the Noah paintings.........

And No Excuse At ALL!!
But just the other morning when I came downstairs on a morning that Happened to be SUNNY.... This is what I saw........

The Summer Solstice Light was pouring into the Monk's Cell.......

surely he would be woken before Dawn to say the Prayers!

And the brilliant Light of Summer was shining through the Peter-Paul Window.....

Casting colored fragments of sun on the Endless Rain of the Noah's Ark Paintings......

Even if only for a BRIEF moment.... making the window Glow!

I know Henry was momentarily struck SPEECHLESS by the Beauty of it all!

So, he didn't even NOTICE how little progress had been made on the Painting....!

Very Little Progress!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mini Gardens.... Just a Beginning.....

Ever since last Christmas when I was given a tiny Bonsai plant kit by my Secret Santa at my workplace, I have been nurturing the long held dreams of creating a truly mini garden..... with real plants growing in real soil..... surrounded by a tiny picket fence..... perhaps enclosed in a little glass garden pagoda......... It is still a LONG way from being realized..... but recently I Did FINALLY plant the seeds for the tiny bonsai plant kit! It came with a tiny planter and seeds and scissors for trimming..... but so far we are just watching the newly sprouted plants as they germinated in the tiny planter. I say "WE" because Pollyanna has taken a keen interest in this little planter and really likes the whole idea of a little garden..... she thinks it should be right next to the Lovely Old Dollhouse....... but we shall see.

For now, there are only tiny sprouts.... can you see them?

Here, maybe you can see better in this picture......

they have a long way to go before we are even thinking of pruning them!

So, in the meantime, you can forgive me for thinking about making some little flowers for the dollhouse out of paper..... like so many talented bloggers do! I even bought some punches recently that had leaf shapes..... so that I could give it a try! And finally, just last weekend I had the perfect opportunity because my Sister was visiting and I wanted a mini project that we could both work on that wouldn't take too much effort. So I pulled out the paper and wire and paints and beads and the new little punches and we jumped right in! I had never made any of these flowers before, but I had read a tutorial or two on other blogs so I had a vague sense of what to try. Once I had explained the basics to my Sister, she was off and running!

And I must admit she is a real Natural when it comes to making mini plants!

We started by gluing a bead to the top of the wire to act as the stamens.

Then we added the punched out circles.......

And bits of green for sepals.......

Before I had even started mine, my Sister had completed several lovely poppies and had moved on to her real Creations......
Remember the Cottage I sent to her that had a space in the yard for a garden? Well, she wanted her garden to have some Corn plants.... that is American Corn... Maize to you Europeans.......

And she started with the ears of corn made from beads.... like so........

And then attached some leaves....... and a tassel that I helped her make from embroidery floss.....

Isn't it just amazingly beautiful?

And as if that weren't enough.....
She wanted to make an old Oak tree stump that had sprouted a few stems of new growth............. so she could use those lovely leaves from the oak leaf paper punch.......

Like so.........

And the corn needed to be a little taller...

so she added another ear of corn and some more leaves.........

Isn't it just absolutely GORGEOUS???

So, while she was so busy making her plants..... I was trying to get the bead to stay glued to the wires for my Roses..... and trying to make the petals behave like rose petals..... and having to WAIT for the glue to dry.......... so I didn't get very far........ and my roses don't look much like roses yet.........
I am not going to get discouraged! But I am not going to hurry to get them done either! In fact, I packed up all the punches and the wire and the paper and sent it home with my Sister so she can finish HER mini garden! My flowers will wait. I have plenty of other projects I am working on......... maybe I will just get going on the Mini garden with the Bonsai tree in the center.....
And for now, I will just enjoy my REAL Roses .... overflowing my Real garden........

I'll get to the mini Garden.... Someday......

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Celeste!

Where Is Arthur's Mother?

Dear Readers, I am sure some of you have been wondering WHERE is Arthur's Mother? In all these months since he became engaged to Pollyanna, there has been NO mention of Arthur's family at all! Believe me, I have been wrestling with this fact ever since Arthur sprang "the question" on all of us! Suddenly we have to have a Wedding..... and weddings are ALL about family..... so Everybody has to meet Everybody! Well, I have been trying to track down "Everybody" ever since! And some people are just difficult to find! And Nobody knows that better than Arthur.... because even though he Loves his Mother dearly, and she Loves him too.... he is never sure of WHERE she is! Except for every now and then when she comes to SING at a club near enough that he hears she is there........ for you see, Arthur's Mother is a Starlet..... she Acts and when she isn't acting, she SINGS in nightclubs. She is never in one place for long and she is often overseas where she has a devoted following. In fact, Arthur spent much of his childhood overseas.... he is fluent in five languages because he spent his youth in nightclubs and theaters all across Europe! Nevertheless, now that he is settled in America, he tries to catch up with his Mother whenever he can. And he has been trying to find a way to introduce Pollyanna and his Mother for quite some time! But before we introduce them, I must show you what circuitous path brought me to make this Post in the first place!

To begin with this morning.... I went shopping at my favorite miniatures shop.... and came home with a new horse for my Castle stables! He is a Beautiful Arabian Stallion..... with real mane and tail! He is the Pride and Joy of the Lord of the Castle..... his name is "Lightning"!

He is Very Handsome and I will surely show you more about him in another post soon....!

He arrived in his own fancy box..... just so.....

And when I had led him out of the box and taken him to his new stall in the Castle Stable..... I looked at the box and .... and.... couldn't bring myself to throw it away! It looked just TOO useful! I love glittery things! I LOVE stars! And it looked a bit like a STAGE.... for mini performers... or Nightclub SINGERS!
And it Just So Happens that Arthur's Mother "Celeste" had arrived this very morning at a venue near enough that Arthur could persuade them all to come out for an evening of music....

To hear Celeste sing at a little club called "Le Petit Jardin des Reves" in the nearby city.....

I wish I knew the names of all the ballads and love songs she sings.....

I will leave you to imagine that part............

The nightclub stage is set to look like a little garden... it is very intimate and charming......

And Celeste is a real pro.... she sings beautifully...

and she knows how to make the audience Love her.....

Everybody is Enthralled.....

And then there is the moment when she spots her Son in the audience.......

She must come off the Stage and they embrace....

"It has been how long, my darling?" she says...

"Only a little while, Mama.." he replies... because he knows what she wants to hear....

"But I have somebody I want you to meet, Mama.... "

"This is Pollyanna... my fiancee..."

"Aahhh, I knew this day would come!" she murmurs... "I am glad to meet you, my dear!"

"I am glad to meet you, too..." says Pollyanna... a little bit tongue-tied in the presence of this Glittering little woman who will be her Mother-in-law.......!

"We really hope you can come to our wedding...." she adds ..."Although we haven't set a date yet... we'd be happy to work around your schedule...."

"Ahhh, my Dears.... so would I!....

We shall have to put our heads together after the show....

because the Show MUST go on....."

And the show DID go on.... on into the wee hours of the night.......
Because Celeste is a STAR, after all, and Stars do shine their best at night....

So now you have met Arthur's Mother.......

Celeste!