Let The Sun Shine In......

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time....

It was one of Those Weekends, Dear Readers, when all the other projects in the RL World demanded most of my Time, so Precious Little got accomplished in the Mini Worlds! Spring has finally arrived with all the Garden chores and the beautiful Sunny mornings calling me outside. I am sure you know how it is! But I was able to work on the door to the bathroom in Rose Thorn Cottage! And I wanted to reassure Marisa over at Steinworks Blog, that I would not dream of forgetting the bathmat! It was high on my list of little details still needing to be done, so I got out my scissors and cut into a small infant romper with a velour texture and a cute pattern in pink and white.....

Of course, the bathroom is so small that the bathmat gets caught in the door when you open it, so you simply Must pick it up and hang it over the side of the tub when you are done bathing!
The morning sun was shining so beautifully that it filled the Cottage with a Rosy glow....

And even though the bathroom door/wall is not yet glued in place, here you can see how it will look when the bathroom is completed. That tiny room will be virtually inaccessible to all but the mini people, so I need to be sure it is well stocked before I attach the final wall!
And because that Morning Sunlight was calling so clearly, I had to take a tour around all the houses, just to see what still had not been done.....

The Folly is just as you last saw it, 

except that Daphne is no longer staring into space.....

The little Rats are still awaiting progress on their Tree House.....

Which stands Patiently beside the Folly....

The Dressing Room beside the Bath is still unfinished.....

It still needs its window, and lighting, and furniture....

Not to mention the rooms above......

Here you can see both the dressing room and the toilet.... 

which also needs its light figured out....

And while we are inspecting bathrooms.....

The Folly bath is lit by the morning sun....

but it needs just about everything except the light!

And Pollyanna has been looking at the Bath 

in The Lovely Old Dollhouse....

She thinks it could use all new fixtures.... 

and most importantly, a mirror over the sink!

Meanwhile, downstairs in the front Hallway, 

the sun is shining in through the sidelights of the front door....

Lighting up the new Antique chair....

so like the one my family has been handing down for Generations!

Meanwhile over at the Castle, Father Alban is still contemplating 

which Vision he should render next....

 When perhaps he should make it his life's Work just to complete the chapel ceilings....!

Which were begun by his predecessor... 

with whom he trained as a child....

so he knows the pattern of the stories intended on the unpainted portion....

He has been dreaming too long...!

And Will still contemplates the ancient wardrobe in the Castle Council Chamber....

He is busy buying up antiques for his shop "Otts And Ends"...

But we are not sure that he sees it at all....

Perhaps he is still trying to figure out where he stands with Daphne....

And what he should do about looking for her child.....

Because now that he knows, he cannot forget.

And let us not Forget the Conservatory......

Seemingly abandoned.....

But barely begun!

That Floor!

Made of mismatched tiles....

Still in need of so many more.....

The sun has not Forgotten..... and visits every Day...

Waiting for me To Find The Time to sit and make more tiles....!

Oh so many Projects!

And do you remember the Sewing Machine...?

I found Another one!!!!

Can you believe it???

(Can you even See it???)

It will have to have it's own Entire Project!!!

But it will have to have Patience.....

It will probably be quite some Time before I get to it...!

And Speaking of Patience......

Remember the Saints?

Still Awaiting their Details......
When was the last Time anyone even stood in the Great Hall
and Gazed Heavenward...?

Ages and Ages Ago....!
In the Dark Ages..... Long Before the Sun Returned!
Oh that Sun!
Shining Its bright light on All my unfinished Projects.....

Letting me know just how much there is to do.....

Like start to plan the Sink for Rose Thorn Cottage...
Which will sit under this window.....
Oh, Dear Readers, there is So Much to Do!
But whether there is enough Time or not......
We Have to Love it when the Sun Shines In!

More Bricks and Saints

Slow But Steady.....

It was easy enough, Dear Readers, to get the last few bricks attached to the chimney, (because there were so few still to add!) allowing for a brief sense of Euphoria that the Chimney was coming to Completion! All I had left to do was paint and grout the bricks and then attach it in place! Oh, and add the cap stones... and it would be done! So I set right to it! But I remembered that I would need to paint a coat of primer on it first... and while I was slowly painting it I remembered how fiddly it was to get the paint into All the cracks between the bricks... and ALL Four sides of the chimney! It took longer than I thought it would...

And then it needed to dry.... 

in all the cracks between all the bricks......

It took longer than I thought it would.....

And then the painting part....

I use acrylic artist paint and mix as I go....

It took longer than I thought it would....

 Because it needed two coats of paint on all four sides......

And then it needed more color and texture added in places....

(I forgot to take good pictures...)

And then it needed a coat of polyurethane sealer....

In all the cracks between all the bricks on all four sides....

Yeah, it took longer than I thought it would!

Above you can see it late Saturday night... 

painted but still no grout.... but progress had been made!

So Sunday morning I started right in with the grout.....

But first I took a Morning Light picture of the partly done chimney...

without the grout in place it is really difficult to tell whether the color of the bricks 

will match what has already been done.... so we just have to hope for the best!

And get started on the grout....

Section by section you push the grout into the cracks 

and wipe off the excess with a damp sponge....

The abrasion of the grout takes away the gloss of the polyurethane sealer...

In fact, it took away some of the skin on my fingers....

Which I didn't notice until later!

Hmmm... should I have used some gloves?

But eventually all the grout was applied....

And I just needed to wait while it dried....

And keep wiping off more of the dried loose grout.....

Yeah, It took longer than I thought it would!!!

But, Oh boy, the grout really makes it look like bricks!!!

Here you can see it in place....

And none of the bricks match very well....

But the Story is that it was constructed in several parts originally....

And it is very old so some of the bricks are more worn than others....

And it will be getting more "Aging" as we go....!

 So you can see that you will probably never even notice

 the different bricks when it is all finished....

Here you can see the end view.... 

without the cap stones....

 which I haven't made yet...

And which will be a whole other adventure....

But it is starting to look like I had imagined....

Here is the interior view....

I think those bricks look Amazingly real!!!

But before I can attach anything in place, 

I have also decided that the windows need interior muntins....

(All those little cross bars on the window panes)

It bothers me that they are only real on the outside....

So I stained a whole lot of thin strips.....

The window on the left is how the kit looks from the inside....

the one on the right has the interior vertical muntins 

but none of the horizontal ones....

(I forgot to take a picture of the completed window)

I have a Lot of windows to complete.....

but the one window didn't take as long as I thought it would!!

And last but not least, lest you think I was doing nothing 

while all that paint and grout was drying....

I started painting another Saint on the Castle Great Hall Ceiling....

This is Saint Cecilia.....

(Couldn't you tell...?)

She was surprisingly difficult to find ANY contemporary images to copy!

The only version I have is in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, 

which has one of the most complete Hagiographic sections ever....

But I didn't like the image....

It didn't include any of her traditional attributes....

She is the patron Saint of Music.... and it showed her with a Hawk!

So I searched images of Rood Screens..

(Isn't the internet Awesome!)

And while I couldn't find an image that was hers for certain....

many of the surviving paintings are very badly damaged....

I found a pose and attributes I could use.....

But she is only just begun...

I have to invent most of how she is....

I apologize for the Lousy pictures... 

the lighting is so difficult at this time of year...

But you can see her in conjunction with the other saints.....

And here is a view with the ceiling in place...

Again, the lighting is difficult... 

it gives a much too orange cast to the painting...

And I have only one more Saint to begin!

But they ALL need tons of details to finish them!

So you can see, Dear Readers,

while it might take longer than I thought it would....

whether its Saints or Bricks....

Slowly but Steadily...

I have made Progress!