Sew Very Little

And The Bigger Picture....

You will not Believe me, Dear Readers, if I tell you I have Very Little to show you this week! In fact you will probably Laugh... but Truly, I have So very little to show that is new! The stitching in the picture above is ALL I got done this week in my Mini Worlds! It was a three day Holiday Weekend too, and my only excuse is that my Sister was visiting.... and we Played and Ate and Talked and drank endless cups of tea.... and I forgot to take pictures. And we sat all Sunday afternoon while rain showers drifted by... she sewing on her Daughter's Teddy Bear who needed a thorough repair, and I putting Teeny stitches in the second bed curtain for the Tree House Pagoda Bed. It felt just like when we were little and used to sit all morning on our beds with the rag bag making clothes for our dolls!

Here you can see the first curtain that is nearly finished... 

it needs more leaves and some gold filigree embroidery added still....

But the flowers are done.

Keep in mind that the entire curtain is 3/4 inches wide and 2 inches tall!

Here you see both curtains together.... 

the beginnings on the left, 

and the faint basting stitches outlining the curtain edges.

Together they fit inside a 6 inch wide embroidery hoop.

And here is a closer shot. 

I use a magnifier and take tiny tiny stitches.... 

the thread is antique silk sewing thread.

I am sure you know how it goes!

And here is a picture of Teddy once he was repaired.....

My sister's grandson (who is only three) had removed a quantity of stuffing,

and the ancient fabric had torn beyond repair. 

She replaced the old fabric with a very similar print cotton that I had in my stash...

and added a tiny heart inside as well!

Now Teddy is Better than ever!

We spent hours and hours looking at all the Doll Houses....

She had never met the Fairy Bears nor seen the Cloud Palace....

And I am sure you Will Believe me when I say that I felt a little embarrassed at the MESS my Workspace was in.... so I spent some time before she got here cleaning up and re-arranging the Houses.... The plants went outside for the Summer.... and the Cloud Palace and the Conservatory moved into their place in front of the Windows!

And when the sun shone in this morning....

I couldn't resist some pictures.....

Blue had to get her Magic Wand out to show to my Sister.....

And Sir Orion demonstrated (very carefully) how his sword works...

My Sister was so very impressed!

And Brother Beorn wanted to show her the Library... 

even though all the books are not on the shelves...

He showed her his Book of Herbs....

And how cozy the little room was!

(Bears Love to be cozy, after all!)

And once those Houses had been moved, 

there was more room on the work table....

Which is really my Dining Room Table...!!!

Here you can see the whole room from one end...

The folly is on the Table, 

and the Lovely Old Dollhouse is in front of the windows....

And the table itself is covered in bits and pieces and boxes of stuff....

Here is a view of the whole room from the other side......

You can see the Cupboard House in the back to the left....

And the Castle takes up almost the entire front wall!

The Castle is big.... and my room is small!

We spent time looking through each of the houses.....

Here is a closer view of the Castle with the lights on.....

I apologize for the blurry view... 

it is gloomy this evening and my lighting is difficult...

And here is another view of the Lovely Old Dollhouse....

With the lights on..... some of them not working.... 

and the Mess all around!

I hope I have not destroyed your Illusions!

It is easy to edit out the mess when I show you close-up shots.....

But the real picture is piles of stuff everywhere....

And I usually have to move something in order to get anything done!

And below the Cloud Palace and the Conservatory.....

we have the "Temporary" rooms set up in the shelves.... 

currently being the rooms needed to tell Daphne's Story.....

because None of those "Houses" have been built at all!

I really must tell you the next pieces of Daphne's Story....

before you forget the parts I have already told.....

But I am afraid that will have to wait for another Day...

Because this past week was a busy one, Dear Readers,

 and I got Sew Little Done!

But I hope you have Enjoyed seeing 

a Little bit of the Bigger Picture!

Very Little Progress

Next To Nothing Done.....

It was One of THOSE weekends, Dear Readers, the sort when no matter where you turned there were things that needed doing and even when projects got started with the Best of Intentions.... it seemed as though Nothing got Done! The Weather didn't help, because after what had seemed like a promising start to Spring.... we were met with more Winter on Friday.... (certainly only the Cold and Unappetizing Leftovers of what John of Merriman Park had to endure...) but still, it quite dashed all hopes of spending time digging in the Garden!

And when that Spring urge to dig the garden is thwarted.... 

it sends me into a Spring Cleaning mood....

Which fortunately only lasted Part of the Weekend....

Because, like Mole in "The Wind In The Willows".... 

there comes a point where one just Has to say "hang whitewashing" and run off to play!!!

Which is what I did around 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon! 

I realized I was Desperate to get Something done on my mini projects!

So I started in on the Ceiling of the Chinoiserie Bedroom in the Tree House....

Remember where I left off with the realization that the ceiling was too low for the bed....?

Sorry for the dark picture.... 

but here you can see I have added the gilded ceiling trim at the top of the walls....

And because the chimney is at an angle... 

I decided to "round off" the other corners of the room....

By putting more trim across the corners.....

And filling the gap with ceiling.....

Leaving the middle "octagon" open for a Domed ceiling 

high enough to fit the bed.....

Here you can see the opening from below..... 

All that was accomplished Weeks ago, Dear Readers, 

leaving me with the next step of Designing the Dome.....

Which is where I started on Sunday evening....

I will NOT bore you with the exactness of my method... 

because it is so far from exact as to be Laughable!

The Room is un-square to begin with... so all the angles are unique.....

So I cut a paper pattern and I Wing it... 

It just has to have slits cut out of the edges... 

and the sections need to be longer than the flat ceiling measure....

So when they are folded up the sides are glued together.....

And the over-all width of the "Dome" is now equal to the original flat width of the Ceiling....

And then I wanted to add some more trim.....

So I carefully cut and mitred the central "octagon"  pieces....

None of them are the same... 

but they had to fit in the oblong section of the middle....

After gluing them in place I wanted to test the look.....

But it isn't done yet.... I couldn't leave it alone....

I thought it needed gold "ribs" over the joined sections....

But, like many half grown teens... 

it still looks half finished to me......

It is nowhere near what I have envisioned....

But it is as far as I got on Sunday!

And the Other project I tried to work on this weekend, Dear Readers, 

was the stitching on the Tiny Bed curtains.....

Which you can see here below....

 

Oh, you think it looks Exactly the Same as last week???

Well, if you look VERY closely, 

you will see that I added the stitches at the Center of the Rose blossom,

as well as the darker row of stitches on the petals!

Just How long will this take to finish...?

And speaking of How Long Things Take TO Finish.....

I have just Realized that this is the Third Anniversary of this Blog!!!

And Oh, Dear, that prompts one of those 

"let's see where we are with all the Dollhouses" moments....!!!

The Book Nook is still waiting for Books.....

The Wizard is still working on potions in the Lord's Chamber of the Castle....

So far he has not succeeded in Magically finishing The Chamber....

Hazel got tired of waiting outside for a House of her own....

So she came to visit in The Lovely Old Dollhouse....

Where nobody Ever cleans up the Kitchen.....

(But Pie and Tea and interesting conversation seem to be Always available..!)

 Victor and Joanna are still entertaining themselves in the Living Room....

Playing music only they can hear......

 And in the Castle.....

The Chapel is still just as I left it..... 

Murals half done.... floor unfinished....

And Anna Maria and Samuel Whiskers 

are still discussing whether it would be a good home...

While the Tree House is under Construction....

Ah... the Tree House!

That Project begun almost a year ago....

And Sooooo Far from Finished!

And I cannot even bring myself to Look inside the Cupboard House.....

Waiting patiently in the background.....

Can it be I have Spent the Entire Year building the Tree House???

And No, I didn't even finish the Spring Cleaning!

What a Year it has been.....

The Progress has all been So Very Little...!

But Next to Nothing is Done....!