Scattered....

Where Does The Time Go....?

I had a Vacation week, Dear Readers, but when it begins with a Three Day Holiday Weekend, then somehow the rest of the Vacation feels a little shorter than usual! But nonetheless, it allowed me to continue right away with the painting of the doors and the fourth wall of the little sleeping compartment in the Gypsy Wagon. Above you can see the finished painting as it would be viewed from inside the compartment (if there were light enough to see it!) with the doors closed. One more hen and one more bunny have joined the others in the Meadow.

And here is the view from the other side, with the doors open.

But perhaps you want to see it in the wagon....

With a spotlight shining in

 so you can see it on this dark rainy day....!

And a little farther back....

 the bunny is clearly running for shelter

 and the hen is flapping her wings....

But wouldn't you run for shelter

 if your Meadow was suddenly opened wide....?

And because it was still

 the beginning of my week of vacation, 

I decided to continue with

 the interiors of the Gypsy wagons.

Here I am starting on the second wagon interiors...

I have had to build a "painting box" 

to keep my new cat away from the painting

 which is done on my floor.....

 right in the middle of his play-space!

(Actually we've had him for months now

 but he is very very shy and is finally beginning to get friendly!)

So far Dusty has no respect for paint

 and likes to contribute hairs generously!

Here you can see the Fortune Teller's wagon

 will have a lovely pink interior space....

It is called "Hibiscus Petal".....

I love the way it looks with the

 dark brown trim and the raspberry exterior.....

(I know my lighting angle is poor...)

But the real thing I was trying to make some progress on

 with these wagons, Dear Readers,

 was the layout and furniture for the interiors....

As I am sure you can imagine,

 these wagons have to be carefully designed

 to fit everything in! 

And there are some traditionally accepted

 arrangements of the necessary features....

The stove tends to be on the left just inside the door,

 beyond it is the seating area for a table.

In this wagon the area for the stove is very narrow

 due to the placement of the windows.

There are two windows on each side of the wagon,

 one in the sleeping compartment and

 the other midway on the wall of the main area.

The "hearth" area will need to hold a stove

 and will need to have a tile surround

 to keep the hot stove from burning the walls!

I have a small selection of lovely tiles to use.... 

but needed to make the arrangement fit the tiny space.

(Sorry this picture is so dark... I wasn't paying attention

 to the lighting as I fiddled with the construction....)

 I am building a "brick" base for the stove to sit on....

 with an area under for storage of wood...

(Amazing the difference a sunny morning makes...!)

Here you can see my rough progress... 

there will be a cabinet under the window with a sink basin...

and the seat for the table will be right against the compartment wall... 

with a pull-out table tucked under the bed...

There was an amazing amount of cutting

 and sanding and fiddling and cutting again....

And thousands of falling over pieces.....

But I gradually got the basic design worked out... 

And had to adjust it all again to allow for the thickness

 of the cardboard which will hold the tiles.....

And trying to work out the tile arrangement... 

because I have not enough of two different tile patterns.... 

which combined are enough.....

Here I am just testing the tiles for basic size .....

And still wrestling with the design....

I have painted the cardboard white 

where the tiles will be glued...

 I am planning to cut them all apart, 

since there are already pieces cut apart, 

I think they should all be cut apart...

 but the space they fit in is very tight and

 I don't want to lose the lovely designs too much!

The stove base has been painted white with primer...

 I am going to have to add all sorts of layers

 a la Elizabeth of "Studio E" blog 

to make it look like stuccoed brick....!

(Must gather my courage and some materials...!)

Meanwhile, I have also been making

 the same structure for the other wagon....

And forgetting to take pictures of the duplicated efforts.....

But here you can see my "work table" for these wagons.....

(Yes, I'm a little over-booked and have run out of work space....)

Because I also got all the branches added to the third lilac shrub....!

And added paint and tested the fit of the "cages" 

on the Gypsy Wagon addition...

Added a little more cream background to the petit-point stitching.....

(Did a whole lot of outdoors gardening in my RL Gardens....)

Oh, and went to the Sturbridge Miniatures Fair on Sunday....!!!

(But that will need to wait for another post...!)

 And yes, I did complete Lilac blossom number Eleven...!

And here they are all in the box!

So it was a busy week Dear Readers, 

Filled with minis and much more...

But I just don't know where the Time goes!

And I still feel a bit Scattered.... 

(Which I'm sure you understand, 

has nothing to do with too many projects!)