Small Steps....

 

 Tree House and Leaves....

As I was finishing the windows for the Nanny's Room, Dear Readers, and the Dressing Room in the bath, I began to mentally count the windows still to be made for the topmost attic level of The Tree House. And that level was probably only going to need one or two at the most. Was I almost done with the windows? But then I remembered the stairs! On the bottom floors the stairs went up in the walls to each new level. But when it came to the bedroom level, I realized the inhabitants would want privacy, and so the stairs needed a different route upwards. Thus I built the little winding staircase on the back corner of the tree trunk... and realized that it would be invisible unless I added an opening door on the outside wall...

 Which you can see on the left at the bathroom level.

 

Here it is open and you can see the staircase is wallpapered too! 

But the window itself was not yet constructed... 

and in order to build it I was going to need to remove the door from its hinges...

 and in order to do that I needed to move the entire Tree House out of The Folly base

 because I could not reach the hinges with my screwdriver otherwise.

 

It is a very delicate and tricky operation 

to lift the Tree House out of the base... 

It has to tilt forward to bypass the living room window,

 but mustn't tilt too far.... 

and then it must stand alone... 

tall and just balanced enough that it won't fall...

unless bumped!

 But I was able to remove the staircase door from the hinges!

 

 It has a chevron shape to the wall 

in order to "curve" enough around the stairs...

 

And there is very little clearance on either side of the window for the frame.

 

 

 The window pieces were made the same as for the Nanny's Room...

 

 

Then the door needed to be balanced over another piece of wood

 so the window could be weighted while the glue dried.

 

 Here is the finished exterior...

 

 

 And the interior too! 

But this side still needs the frame attached...

 

Like so! 

The clearances are very tight! 

And then it needs to be reattached to the hinges...

 

Which you can see here.

 

 

And the open view!

 But I was nervous

 with the Tree House out of the base...

 so back it went!

 

Here you can see it is so close to The Folly

 that it is hard to see that it even opens!

  

 

 And it needs the flash to see inside...

 I might have to put a light in the stairwell... 

 

Because I still need to build the walls around the stairs

 as they go upwards to the top floor....

 the Attic level!

 

And as for those leaves I mentioned, Dear Readers,

 they are the final leaves of the Chinese Dragon Carpet central area.

 

If you recall, I had rearranged most of the kit pattern

 throughout the central area when I added the Dragons to the center.

 I stitched as much of the rest as I could according to the original design.

 But at the end I had to rearrange leaves on the ends too.

 Here I have begun the final leaves for this end...

 

And finished!

 (Except for the designs in the border... 

and the gold border... 

and the background....)

 but hey, the central section leaves are done!

 

So Step by step, Dear Readers, 

those Small Steps are

 making good Progress!