Stitches And Stones...

 

Slow Going...

I Managed to find the time, Dear Readers, to take the carpet off the frame so I could finish stitching the edges. The long sides are finished by folding under a half inch of the fabric and stitching a binding stitch with a double thickness of the thread. You can see the beginning above. I am happy to be able to report that I had enough of the dark blue thread for both the long sides! I probably could have also done the short ends this way, but I wanted them to have a fringed edge instead. The fringe thread did not come as part of this antique kit... so I scrounged from the remains of a couple of other kits I have made.

Here you can see I have just begun the fringe along one end. 

It is a very slow stitch to make!

And it uses an enormous quantity of thread. 

A three foot length makes about an inch of fringe!

But I know where to get more if I need it, so I am not worried!

So I will slowly, slowly be adding the fringes!

And as for the Stones I mentioned, you know how that goes!

This is the view of the Lord's Bedchamber

 as it was on Saturday morning with the sun shining in.

You can see the unpainted "rocks"

 that I am trying to fit to various places:

The seat below the window, 

the bottom steps by the stairs,

 and most particularly, the "rocks" in the gap

 between the upper stairs and the chimney frame.

I am using small blocks of wood and cutting them to fit...

 then painting them and then gluing them in place.

 Yes, it is slow going.

The first step was to remove all the parts that were not yet glued in place!

Then glue the ones I was sure were correctly fitted... 

and then paint them with primer....

And then the first coat of gray paint...

And then add back in (temporarily for fitting purposes)

 the Hearth and the Door to the stairs...

So I could begin to glue the parts on the other side of the hearth.

The hearth is still removable as it is not finished yet.

The corner on the left needed to have it's post "strengthened"

(you might recall this being done on lower levels last year....)

And because it was an "afterthought",

 I had to carve away some of the window trim to fit the new post!

Yes, I have had to use the flash...

 it has become a dark and stormy Sunday

 and impossible to see in here!

The new post is snug against the original post...

 and now two more sections will be added to make it "square"...

 

I only painted the sides that would show...

Here all the new sections have been added. 

The grout lines will need to be painted.

That whole corner will have a seat across the side wall.

And I have to figure out how to make the ceiling arch inward... 

at the right angles to look like a vaulted ceiling...

 

No, not all of it is glued in place! 

But there are a few more pieces painted than there were last week!

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

Whether it is stitches or stones....

It is slow going!