At My Door....

The Leaves Are Falling.....

The Seasons shifted while I was away, Dear Readers, and now the days are noticeably shorter and colder and the Autumn colors are creeping into the hillsides. A few weeks ago as I was leaving the building where I work, I glanced down and noticed a Tiny but perfect Maple leaf on the pavement at my feet. I picked it up, and marveled that I had never Ever seen such a small leaf! It was almost small enough to work in the mini scale.... so I had to search to see if there were any others. I found one more and brought them home. Of course, they are a sign of an unhealthy tree with some ancient branches that did not produce full sized leaves.... but they make an amazing miniature! And they keep falling, and I keep picking them up.....

It is like with seashells on the beach... 

once you discover there are tiny ones out there.... 

you must look and look....

And bring them home to join the others.....

A few more every day....

I just can't get over how perfect they are!

Yes, these are the real leaves!

It is such a lovely Fall afternoon! 

Arthur has convinced Pollyanna to leave her miniatures

 and come out for a walk...

The air smells of fallen leaves....

So many have fallen in the rains overnight.....

Pollyanna can hardly believe it is already Autumn!

Before they know it the Cold Wild Winds will come....

(She has been Very absorbed in her mini projects...!)

She can't help herself....

 everything she sees makes her want to make tiny versions...

She is trying to explain this to Arthur....

He is trying to understand.... he really is!

Pollyanna is trying to think of Something she can make for him...

 that would help him to see the magic of minis....

She is sure she will think of something!

And over at The Folly, 

Will has noticed the fallen leaves...

They make hm feel rather melancholy.

He wishes he had a Sweetheart....

And he still misses Daphne, 

even though he knows she's not the One.

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you enjoyed

 the stroll through the Leaves...

More and more are falling every day.

I collected these just this afternoon.... 

it rained hard yesterday knocking them from the branches!

 

And, as is the way of Vacations,

You Leave everything behind when you go...

but there is so much catching up to do when you return.... 

that delightful "away from it all" feeling vanishes quickly.

I hope to get caught up soon...

 on reading and commenting on your blogs... 

on making the lilac blossoms (one half of one so far this week!)...

on telling some Tall Tales....

But for now, I'm happily Falling

 back into my mini Worlds!

Sew Little....

Patches..... And Other Little Things....

I almost didn't think there was Time, Dear Readers, to pull out my camera and show you what Daphne found with the Sewing Machine! But then it was Raining again, much too hard a rain to go to the Park today, and certainly not with Monsieur Guillaume. The excitement of the wheel chair the day before had chased all ideas of the sewing machine from Renee's attention. So Daphne waited until Renee was asleep before she dragged the old machine across the hall to her room. It was dusty and very old, but the parts all moved smoothly when she turned the wheel. The only thing missing was thread and cloth to sew!

She realized she would not be able to show Renee 

how the machine worked if there was nothing to sew!

But if there was a sewing machine stored away, she thought,

 then surely there should be a sewing box somewhere! 

She went to have another look in the attic storage room... 

There was a huge old wardrobe.... so she looked inside...

Aha! Just as she had thought.... 

here was the old sewing box!

She pulled it out and carried it to the Nursery.

And there in the bottom drawer, all folded up... 

were some pieces of cloth......!

"Look what I've found, Renee..." she said excitedly.

"What is it...?" asked Renee.

"They are pieces of cloth..." explained Daphne.

"They look like patches...." she added.

"What are Patches...?" asked Renee.

"They are cloth that has been cut into squares 

for making a Patchwork Quilt!" said Daphne.

"What's a Patch Quilt...?" asked Renee.

"Well.... " said Daphne...

 "We will spread them on the floor to see what patterns we like....

 and then we will sew the patches together to make a Quilt!"

"Oh." said Renee, as she looked at the patches.

"We can add as many patches as we like..." said Daphne,

 "Until it is as big as we want to make it!"

"Oh!" said Renee, getting excited... 

"Can we make it big enough for Grandpere...?" she asked.

"I don't see why not.....!" replied Daphne.

"I will go to the machine," she said

 "and you can bring me the patches..."

Daphne sat at the old machine 

and pumped the treadle with her foot....

"Here's the patch ..." said Renee.

"I have to finish this one first...." said Daphne.

"Make sure you bring them in the right order..." she added....

"One row at a time...."

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you don't mind

 if we leave them here, happily sewing patches together!

Because I wanted to show you that I managed to finish 

adding the final pieces to the Castle framework....

It was not easy!

The Chapel Tower had not enough room for me to pivot it around in place,

 because it sits right next to the dresser which holds the Cupboard House,

 and there was no room to squeeze in beside it to reach the back of the Tower.

The only solution was going to be pulling it forward

 and in order to do that I need to find something to perch it on

 that was close to the same height as the base....

And fortunately I found just the thing! 

A sturdy oak artist's storage chest!

I slid the Tower onto it... 

where I could pivot it to reach the back side!

Here you can see it from the other side... 

it shows the stained glass Chapel Window...

and the postern door...

But all this work was just so I could drill the holes 

for the last support beam on the back side of the

 Lady's Bed Chamber at the top of the Tower...

Three holes....

And the beam glued in place.....

(And yes, I had to undo the proscenium...)

And then I remembered that other pesky floor support that would be

 blocking the stairs on this side... when I get them built that is.... !

But it would be Wise to fix that beam now while it was all pulled apart!

I thought that maybe I could get away with just pulling the floor out,

 and not having to also remove the proscenium for the lower floor....

But it turned out I had to undo that one too...

 in order to be able to pry the beam off the wall...

(Chisel and hammer not shown....)

Here's a closer view of the beam that is

 in the way of the path of the future stairs.....

The beam has been removed, and cut.... 

and one end put back in place....

And both ends are reattached,

 leaving a gap where the stairs will pass.

And I cut the hole in the floor too!

Here you can see I have put the prosceniums back in place.... 

and this is the Lady's Bed Chamber without the inner wall, 

showing where the stairs come through.

And with the inner wall notched to fit the beam.... 

Oh, look at that gap along the ceiling!

That will need to be patched!

So many little pieces, Dear Readers, took all my Time!

And lest you think I have forgotten.....

Blossom number twenty-five!

And with its buddies in the box!

 

 

And as for Daphne and Renee.... 

I think they will be sewing for a while...

to Sew many little patches will take some Time!

 And while they are sewing, Dear Readers,

 I will be traveling to visit my family out West! 

I probably will not have time to comment or post until I return...

But it will only be a Little Patch of Time!

Daphne Opens Doors.....

Shining A Little Light....

I Hope you don't mind, Dear Readers, if we take a Small detour to revisit Daphne's Story. I know it probably feels to you that it has been a Long time since we followed them to the Park on a Dark and Rainy day, but I must remind you that almost no time at all has passed in their world! In fact it has been only a few hours and Daphne has just finished putting Renee to bed. She finally has a few minutes to herself, something she is beginning to realize is a rare thing! You might recall that she has been the Nanny for less than a week and every day brings more questions than answers. She had not expected the de Montaigne family to be so uninvolved with Renee's upbringing. She had assumed they would raise her like a daughter of their own, spend time with her, take her to see the world, enjoy her company, and most of all give her the love every child needs. She hadn't expected to find Monsieur Guillaume so frail, and Madame Yvonne so involved with running the Family business and their Estates that she was hardly ever home. And most of all she had never thought that the Family's Lawyer would be the one who seemed to care for Renee the most! It was hard for her to admit that she was jealous of the bond he had with Renee. She hoped that with time she could build such a bond herself. She had no clear idea how that would happen, but she resolved to try to enrich Renee's world every day in any way she could. There was so much she wanted to share with her! But for now she would content herself with discovering more about the household while Renee slept. She might as well start with exploring the other rooms in the attic.... There was a storage room across the hall from her room, next to the tiny bathroom. It was completely dark so she shined a flashlight in....

 And way at the back she caught a glimpse 

of a familiar piece of furniture.....

Was that a sewing machine.....?

Would anyone mind, or even notice if she pulled it out....?

Oh, it looked just like the one her mother had always sewed on.....!

The one she had learned on... 

she could show Renee how to sew.....

she could make her new clothes..... 

perhaps it was just the thing she needed!

But it was late and she would need some help moving everything... 

first thing in the morning they could pull it out!

And so the next morning found Daphne back in the storage attic,

 this time with an excited Renee in tow!

"What are we finding....?" asked Renee as she peered into the dark.

"I'll show you..." said Daphne, 

"but first we have to move a lot of things out of the way."

"I need you to hold the flashlight for me.." she added. 

"Shine it over there... while I move this cradle..."

"And now I just need to move this chair...."

"We might want to use this too...." she added.

"See, that's the sewing machine..." she said.

"What's a sewing machine...?" asked Renee.

"I'll show you when we get it out..." said Daphne.

"I just have to get this out of the way first..." she added.

"What's that...?" asked Renee.

"It looks like an old wheel chair..." 

replied Daphne as she pulled it out of the way.

"Why does it have wheels...?" asked Renee.

 "It's for people who can't walk very well...." replied Daphne, 

her mind on getting to the sewing machine.

"Like Grandpere...?" asked Renee...

"Could Grandpere use it and go to the Park....?" she added excitedly.

"Well......" said Daphne, unsure of what to say.

"We could see how sturdy it is...."

"Can I go tell Grandpere....?" asked Renee... 

but she ran off before Daphne could reply.

"Grandpere.... Grandpere....." she cried as she rushed into the room.

 "We found a Chair! And it has wheels!"

"And now you can come to the Park...!" she cried excitedly.

"Renee, you need to ask him, not tell him...."

 said Daphne, catching up with her.

"He might not feel like going...."

"Grandpere, it's got wheels.... we will push you..." 

said Renee, undaunted.

"Yes" said Grandpere as he slowly stood up....

He would try to do this...

He could not bear to disappoint Renee!

Believe me, Dear Readers, when I tell you

 that in a very short amount of time

 the Cook had helped Daphne bring the chair down from the attic,

 and the Nurse had helped Monsieur Guillaume climb down the front stairs,

 and Renee was excitedly leading the way to the Park!

It was not raining today, but it was still a very gloomy day.

But Guillaume did not notice... 

he could not remember the last time he had been to a Park...

Renee could not wait to show Grandpere her friends the birds...!

She dashed ahead....

"See! Grandpere.... they're waiting for me...!" she cried.

She slowed as she got close so they did not all fly away.....

They were pecking at chunks of bread left there by someone....

Daphne pushed the chair closer so he could watch....

Just to see her excitement filled him with Joy!

Renee was completely absorbed by the birds!

She took the bread and tossed it to them again and again.....

they all chased the bread....

Except for one little bird perched on the rim of the fountain....

Suddenly Renee noticed the bird....

It seemed as though everything went very still....

nothing moved...

The sun almost made an appearance...

but thought better of it...

and soon it looked like more rain was on its way....

The moment passed...

Daphne didn't want Monsieur Guillaume to get

 caught in a rain shower, 

so she called to Renee that they should head home...

But even though it was such a gloomy day, 

Monsieur Guillaume felt like he was filled with sunshine!

And Renee was chattering as fast as she could 

about the next time they were coming to the Park...

And Daphne was thinking that the morning 

had not gone at all as she had expected.... 

they never even got to the sewing machine!

And in case you thought I had forgotten the lilac blossom.....

Here is number twenty-four!

And here it is in the box!

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you didn't mind

 the little detour to the Park....

Even though it was so gloomy.

It seems Daphne has opened some doors

and shined a Tiny light into the dark!