Tree House Bed Curtains Completed!

Stitches.... And Love....

Can you Believe it, Dear Readers, but after All this Time spent making these Tiny Bed Curtains for the Pagoda Bed in the Tree House, I am a little sad to be finished? Don't get me wrong, I am Overjoyed at  how Perfectly they turned out! But I was enjoying the process of Stitching those Tiny flowers and vines so much... and now they are Done! I find myself thinking I need to start some more just so I have them there to stitch on a Sunday morning...! But let me show you the finishing of the curtains. As you  might recall, all I had left to add was a small amount of "ground" at the bottom of each curtain.

Here you can see what I mean.

I added a closely stitched gold border at the very bottom, 

to act as a hem, because I intended to pull the threads

 and make a fringe with the silk, 

rather than actually hemming the bottoms.

And just above that I stitched a small layer 

or "hill" of light blue-green to be the "landscape".

And with that the embroidery part was truly finished!

Next I took some very thin silk charmeuse in an ivory color.... (made from an antique slip...) and stitched the cloth right sides together along the two sides that had no fringe. I first pressed the other two edges so that when it is turned right side out, the hems would be already turned under and correctly aligned with the fringe edges. (See above!)

Then I cut the curtains apart from each other, 

leaving about a quarter inch for seam allowance.

(This is the back side of the embroidery!)

Then I turned them right side out and carefully... 

with tiny stitches, sewed the two open sides of the lining 

to the fringed edges of the curtains.

This is the reverse side of the finished curtain... 

with the fringe pulled at the bottom edge.

And then I had to run and get the Tiny Bed to test the curtain....

 

Oh! OH! OOooHHH!!!

I am in Love with this bed!!!

 

Here is a closer view.... and this is just the First curtain!

And the other one..... 

they are still not attached, 

just tucked under the gilded trim....

And just testing the bed in the Tree House... 

but it is getting late and dark and hard to get good pictures.

Here you can see the two curtains side by side.....

the first and last time....

because now it is time to glue them in place!

Which was easier said than done, 

because there was so little space under the edge 

of the gold trim on the bed frame....

Then I just have to see how it looks in the Chinoiserie Bedroom....

And with the fire lit.....

 

And from a little further back.... 

it is hard to get it all in focus!

And then in the morning light the next day.... 

can we get better pictures?

 

I think they turned out as Fine as I could have Imagined!

And then just to remind you of the scale of the Tree House....

 

Here it is in the Bedroom of Hardwick Hall!

 Oh, Dear Readers, I cannot express in words

 how much I adore this little Bed!!!

I don't know about you, Dear Readers,

But, I am in Love!

'Twas Early In The Month of May...

Projects Old And New.....

I hope you will not be Too Surprised, Dear Readers, to see that I have picked up my needle and Magnifier and continued the embroidery of the Tiny curtains for the Pagoda Bed in the Tree House Chinoiserie Bedroom! The first of the two curtains has been mostly done for ages now, and the second curtain had only just been started. The curtain panels each are only 2 and 1/2 inches tall! They fit together inside a 6 inch embroidery hoop with room to spare. So what has been holding up the progress, you ask? Well, I needed to decide whether the second curtain would be a copy of the first one, or whether it could vary from the design. I have decided that it will be basically a copy, in that the flowers will be of similar color and design.... but it is very difficult to copy exactly! It seemed pointless to make an entirely new design, when one of the curtains faces the wall and will rarely, if ever, be seen! So they will be a matching pair! And I embroidered most of one blossom and part of another on Sunday morning as the beautiful May breezes wafted in my window!

There is still a Loooong way to go, but I made progress!

And another project that still has a Loooong way to go 

is the adding egg-carton stones to the Guard Tower of the Cloud Palace.

I had a Dream one night that all the Beary Guys 

were standing around Playing Cards in the Guard Tower,

and I realized they would need some seats to sit on!

I decided to make some built-in Stone benches....

And Hamish Harry came by to see if they were the right size!

Yup! He says they will do nicely!

So I got to work adding the "stones"....

Starting with the window openings.....

I found a piece that would bend over the opening and

stretch to the sides on both the inside and the outside!

They needed to look like a single piece of "stone"

forming the base of each window.

And then the remaining structural pieces for the window 

could wrap around the open edge....

And the same was needed for the bottom steps...

It needed to appear as though it was a single thick piece of "stone".

I started on the edges for the open doorways too...

And the "stone" bench....

There is a Looong way to go on this project!

And because there was such a Looong way to go, Dear Readers, 

did I work at it diligently?

No, I am afraid I got distracted by the Beautiful May Morning....

And remembered Another project....

Painting the walls of the Willowcrest Bedroom....

trying to capture that Perfect Moment on a May morning....

when the apple Trees are burst into bloom....

And the lilacs too......

(I know the colors don't look right here.... 

it is the dark purple variety of lilac!)

And before you can even catch your breath, 

the Quince are blooming too!

(Just starting to add the color in the above picture)

Yes, believe it or not, Dear Readers, there is still a Looong way to go 

with painting these walls, trying to capture that Perfect moment....

Here you can sort of see how they look in place in the Willowcrest....

These are modeled on the murals I have been painting 

on the walls of my RL bedroom...

Trying to hold onto that perfect moment...

early on a May morning....

As if that were possible Dear Readers!

But Twas Early In the month of May....

And as you can see, Even though there is a Loong way to go

I made progress on Old Projects and new!