A Little Bit of This.... A Little Bit of That.....

All Over The Map.....

You Might recall, Dear Readers, that I started to do some petit-point embroidery projects during the times of day I was normally in my car on the way to work. Those hours add up fast and I have accomplished a lot during my "commute" times! Above you can see the stitching completed on the little footstool in the Tree of Life design by Janet Granger. I love this design and had a lot of fun stitching it! But it only took a couple of weeks start to finish.... well, I have not assembled it yet, so it is not finished. But I was so enjoying the stitching process, I had to start another of her kits right away.

This is a mini handbag from the "Jazz Era"

and it took me even less time... I didn't even take progress pictures!

Of course, I have not sewn it together yet...

But the stitching is done. 

And yes, I found myself in need of starting another of Janet's kits...

This time a Tea Cosy in the shape of a cottage.

Which is coming along rather quickly!

And lest I forget to show you the progress on assembling the footstool...

The kit includes the bare wood pieces to finish and assemble.

 The feet are supposed to be gently rounded by sanding them.

 I had just started this when I realized it might be fun

 to make them "ball and claw" feet instead!

You can see the beginnings of my carving above.

I was quite happy with my efforts!

And promptly carved the other three to match!

I stained the pieces before gluing them.... 

and have not yet given them a coat of varnish.

Which is why the footstool has not yet been "finished"!

But that was already a couple of weeks ago.... 

and since then I have been building those "Rocky" window frames...

And rather than bore you with all the steps, 

I will just show you the completed window for the outer door wall...

And with the shutters finished too!

The outer side of the wall has yet to be completed, 

but this finishes the windows for The Lord's Council Chamber!

Ah, but you are wondering about the Map....

The Map is Slow going Dear Readers, 

because I don't know what I am doing!

This is how it looked when you last saw it....

So Bare!

And yet, I keep needing to remind myself

 to think like a Medieval Traveler...

I started by placing the "known" details.... 

the mountains that nobody disputes

 and the location of Paradise

 which was at the Center of the World.....

Although that was beginning to be

 moved farther from the known lands.

And the Four Rivers that flow from Paradise....

 dividing the continents....

But I got them wrong and had to do them over....

Perhaps this is better...?

And a few sailing ships had to ply the seas....

(just under-painted in white to make the colors true...)

Oh, did you want to see them closer.... 

pretend you are a bird....?

(Go ahead, poke the pictures to zoom in...!)

And more.....

More ships... a sea monster or two....

More mountains....

Each so carefully positioned....

And if you are wondering why, for once, 

you can see so well in my pictures....

I had to rig a clamp lamp overhead

 in order to be able to see what I was painting on the wall!

Now the ships have their hulls painted too.

And this little bit has taken Days of dithering!

But I must be Brave and just forge ahead....

There have to be castles....

 in the places where castles were known to be!

Rome, Paris, London, Palermo, Jerusalem, Constantinople,....

 every time you turn around there is somewhere else

 that needs a castle or a walled city....

And they need their details inked so carefully!

This is sometime around 1200 AD.... 

I cannot be more precise about the year...

Castles were the up-and-coming thing....

 The Crusades were nearly over...

The Battle ground would be on the Home Turf,

 not the Foreign Lands...

Castles were being built everywhere...

Ghent, Edinburgh, Avignon, Cardiff, Norwich.....

And the knowledge of the World had changed....

People Traveled to the ends of the earth... 

and came back again....

Marco Polo wrote his tales....

Fez, Lisbon, Dublin, Barcelona....

More Mountains.... More Rivers.....

Camels of the Deserts.... 

Elephants of the Indies...

And yes... Somewhere there Be Dragons!

But we haven't found them yet, Dear Readers,

And this exploration is a Long way from done.... 

because I really don't know where I am going...

But you can be sure I will be wandering all over the map!