The Gift Of Sight....

Or The Perfect Gift....

Oh yes, Dear Readers, we are back at the Tower again, and I am Sure you did not see that coming! Well, you are not alone, as I am often not sure what is coming next in my Doll Worlds... so I am as amazed as the next person when Unexpected Gifts turn out to be the Perfect thing.... and such is the case with the Beautiful pieces of scrapbook papers that Dear Birgit "threw in" with one or another of her Wonderful parcels that have come to my home over the past year! She included a whole assortment of colors and textures and "hoped I would find them useful!" Well, Birgit must be blessed with the ability to see what is needed ahead of time! Two of these papers were almost instantly singled out for use on the Cloud Palace Tower bedroom.... and I honestly never would have gone shopping for them in the store.... (I find the possibilities a little too overwhelming and so avoid that aisle when shopping!) So I Honestly cannot say where I would be without them! You can see in the above picture that I am testing one of them, a Beautiful pale gold brocade with a pattern of roses, as the wall covering for the lower portion of the Tower bedroom. It is difficult to photograph so that the pattern can be seen... so delicate and pretty!

Here you can see it again, but what I really want you to notice in this picture is the lovely edging I have added to the opening in the wall! It took me  long time to figure out which part of the egg cartons would best cover the edge of the openings in these rooms.... and still look like "stone" with a decorative feeling. These "stones" are made from the bottom of the egg cups folded back on themselves.... it makes an edge a little like a pie crust... thick and a little fluted, almost like the petals of a flower! Well, applying them and painting them took up much of my weekend, and make for pretty boring pictures! And I needed to get them done Before I could add the beautiful papers to the walls! Here below you can see the second paper being added..... a Gorgeous sky blue brocade with the same rose pattern as the gold.....

It was really very tricky to cut these pieces to fit around the "rock" window frames! I had to make patterns with tracing paper then adjust the fit for each section. These papers are "self adhesive", but I confess that I decided not to rely on that and added glue to the wall first. (I had applied the gold pieces using just the adhesive backing and was a little surprised at how easily they "let go" when the thin walls were flexed the tiniest amount!) Here you can see more of the blue in place...

What a beautiful sight!

I also added a beautiful gold lace edge trim at the cornice.....

And have added the "windows" as well.....

And I am trying out designs for the paneling on the lower section....

I am not yet satisfied. I will know it when I see it!

And Thank you, Birgit, for "seeing" the possibilities in those papers for me!

But I must confess, Dear readers, that I did not only work on the Tower last week.....

I also continued on the bathroom in Rose Thorn Cottage.

I only tested a couple of tiny details.....

The first being a curtain made from a tiny scrap of fabric I have had for years....

(it was a blouse I made when I was young...)

It has a lovely Rose pattern.... and I added a scrap of lace....

(still only pinned in place....)

I also wanted a little shelf for the corner and found this scrap of shelving from a kit....

Of course you need to see how it might look when the wall is in place.....

In other words, when you can hardly See it at all......

It needs some work, but I think the curtain will be just Perfect!

As for the Gift of "Sight"..... 

I hope that Some of you might remember way last Fall when Daphne 

was startled to "see" her Mother speaking to her from the Crystal ball

 when she was pretending to be a Gypsy fortune teller at the Castle Halloween party!

(More of that story can be found in the section labeled "All Hallows Eve"....)

Well, I truly apologize for leaving you so long with no follow-up explanations.... 

For now, Daphne's Story continues....

Daphne sat for a very long time in complete confusion. 

It was as if She were Frozen in Time! She simply could not understand how she could possibly hear and see her Mother talking to her from a crystal ball! And with a message that others could hear.... but that made No sense to her at all! The worst part was that she had not seen her Mother in a long time.... they had struggled to get along when she was a teenager.... and Daphne had always felt so constrained and constantly criticized.... she was relieved to leave home when she went to college. She had vowed to herself that she would not be the first one to reach out and mend the rift that had grown over the years. She told herself that if her Mother truly cared, she would be the one to reach out.

But did it count if it was words from a Crystal Ball?

And of such an impersonal nature?

The truth was, Daphne could not just let it go, 

and there was only one way to find out what it could mean. 

She would have to go and talk with her Mother.

It took her a while to find where her Mother was living.

She heard she was staying with Great Aunt Agatha at Rose Thorn Cottage.....

She was not at all sure what sort of welcome she would find.

Daphne was feeling a certain amount of resentment 

at having to go so far to see her Mother.....

and that it had been so many years.....

So she was quite surprised to find her Mother so cheerful and happy to see her.... 

almost as if she had Expected her to come!

"Daphne!" exclaimed her Mother, "Come in! You're just in time for tea!"

It was as if No Time at all had passed since she last saw her! Prudence was neat as a pin in her freshly starched apron, and Daphne suddenly felt all disordered and out of control..... her Mother had always had that effect on her.... no matter how hard she tried, in the presence of her Mother, her hair always was too wild and her clothes a mess. She felt small and wayward.... and even worse, felt that her behavior for the past few years had not been the best.

But she had come for some answers and she was prepared to stay until she had them... 

no matter how uncomfortable she felt!

But now she felt a little silly .... 

How did you ask someone why you saw them in a Crystal Ball... 

without seeming yourself a little strange....?

She cleared her throat... "Mother, I need to ask you something.. 

that might seem strange..." she began.

Her Mother just looked at her and sighed. 

"Yes, I knew this day would come.... why don't you sit down...?" she replied.

Daphne sat. But Prudence did not. She seemed suddenly rather agitated. 

Daphne felt the balance suddenly shift.... her Mother felt defensive, she realized.

"I should have told you a long time ago," said Prudence, "But I didn't have the courage. I kept putting it off .... and then you were gone and I realized I had left it much too long."

"Told me What?" said Daphne, a little taken aback.

"That I'm a Witch" said Prudence.

Daphne was suddenly rather glad she was sitting down!

She wasn't sure she had heard correctly....

"A What?...." she asked....

"A Witch" said her Mother.

"Does that mean I'm a .....?" asked Daphne, in a shocked voice.

"Well, maybe only partly ...." her Mother replied.

"You mean my Father wasn't a ...." she asked, not sure what the correct term was.

"A Wizard?" said Prudence. "No. Not a Wizard" she said in just such a way as to make it sound like there was something worse that he was. 
 "He was.... is a Gypsy." Prudence actually looked embarrassed. 
Daphne stared. She didn't know what to say. 
"Is a Gypsy?....." she questioned. "You always told me my Father was dead!"
"That was so you wouldn't try to find him..... so he couldn't take you too!" Prudence blurted out.
"Too? What do you mean, 'too'? Is there another.....?"

Prudence actually seemed to stagger and fall back.....

"Yes..." she whispered.... "There were two of you.... my darling girls...."

Daphne could almost swear she felt the world shift under her feet. 

"I have a sister...?" she asked.

"A twin sister..." her Mother replied.

"But when I realized I could not live the Gypsy life with him and decided to try to make a home in one place.... he came and took your sister..... he stole her from the cradle in the night!"

 

 Daphne could not believe what she was hearing. It was too much. Too strange. Too sudden. But it explained a lot. "Where are they...?" she whispered.

"I do not know" said Prudence. 

"I may have 'The Sight', but it cannot be used at will to spy on people, no matter how much you may wish it. I lived in terror that he would find us and take you too...." she added.

Daphne had thought she wanted answers. Now she wasn't so sure. Those answers had raised so many more questions.... she wasn't sure she knew anything at all any more.

Had her entire life been a lie? And where did it leave her now?

 

Well, Dear Readers, I will have to leave those answers for another day.

Maybe having 'The Sight' is not the Perfect Gift.....

But I'm willing to bet you didn't 'See' that coming!