Patches..... And Other Little Things....
I almost didn't think there was Time, Dear Readers, to pull out my camera and show you what Daphne found with the Sewing Machine! But then it was Raining again, much too hard a rain to go to the Park today, and certainly not with Monsieur Guillaume. The excitement of the wheel chair the day before had chased all ideas of the sewing machine from Renee's attention. So Daphne waited until Renee was asleep before she dragged the old machine across the hall to her room. It was dusty and very old, but the parts all moved smoothly when she turned the wheel. The only thing missing was thread and cloth to sew!
She realized she would not be able to show Renee
how the machine worked if there was nothing to sew!
But if there was a sewing machine stored away, she thought,
then surely there should be a sewing box somewhere!
She went to have another look in the attic storage room...
There was a huge old wardrobe.... so she looked inside...
Aha! Just as she had thought....
here was the old sewing box!
She pulled it out and carried it to the Nursery.
And there in the bottom drawer, all folded up...
were some pieces of cloth......!
"Look what I've found, Renee..." she said excitedly.
"What is it...?" asked Renee.
"They are pieces of cloth..." explained Daphne.
"They look like patches...." she added.
"What are Patches...?" asked Renee.
"They are cloth that has been cut into squares
for making a Patchwork Quilt!" said Daphne.
"What's a Patch Quilt...?" asked Renee.
"Well.... " said Daphne...
"We will spread them on the floor to see what patterns we like....
and then we will sew the patches together to make a Quilt!"
"Oh." said Renee, as she looked at the patches.
"We can add as many patches as we like..." said Daphne,
"Until it is as big as we want to make it!"
"Oh!" said Renee, getting excited...
"Can we make it big enough for Grandpere...?" she asked.
"I don't see why not.....!" replied Daphne.
"I will go to the machine," she said
"and you can bring me the patches..."
Daphne sat at the old machine
and pumped the treadle with her foot....
"Here's the patch ..." said Renee.
"I have to finish this one first...." said Daphne.
"Make sure you bring them in the right order..." she added....
"One row at a time...."
Well, Dear Readers, I hope you don't mind
if we leave them here, happily sewing patches together!
Because I wanted to show you that I managed to finish
adding the final pieces to the Castle framework....
It was not easy!
The Chapel Tower had not enough room for me to pivot it around in place,
because it sits right next to the dresser which holds the Cupboard House,
and there was no room to squeeze in beside it to reach the back of the Tower.
The only solution was going to be pulling it forward
and in order to do that I need to find something to perch it on
that was close to the same height as the base....
And fortunately I found just the thing!
A sturdy oak artist's storage chest!
I slid the Tower onto it...
where I could pivot it to reach the back side!
Here you can see it from the other side...
it shows the stained glass Chapel Window...
and the postern door...
But all this work was just so I could drill the holes
for the last support beam on the back side of the
Lady's Bed Chamber at the top of the Tower...
Three holes....
And the beam glued in place.....
(And yes, I had to undo the proscenium...)
And then I remembered that other pesky floor support that would be
blocking the stairs on this side... when I get them built that is.... !
But it would be Wise to fix that beam now while it was all pulled apart!
I thought that maybe I could get away with just pulling the floor out,
and not having to also remove the proscenium for the lower floor....
But it turned out I had to undo that one too...
in order to be able to pry the beam off the wall...
(Chisel and hammer not shown....)
Here's a closer view of the beam that is
in the way of the path of the future stairs.....
The beam has been removed, and cut....
and one end put back in place....
And both ends are reattached,
leaving a gap where the stairs will pass.
And I cut the hole in the floor too!
Here you can see I have put the prosceniums back in place....
and this is the Lady's Bed Chamber without the inner wall,
showing where the stairs come through.
And with the inner wall notched to fit the beam....
Oh, look at that gap along the ceiling!
That will need to be patched!
So many little pieces, Dear Readers, took all my Time!
And lest you think I have forgotten.....
Blossom number twenty-five!
And with its buddies in the box!
And as for Daphne and Renee....
I think they will be sewing for a while...
to Sew many little patches will take some Time!
And while they are sewing, Dear Readers,
I will be traveling to visit my family out West!
I probably will not have time to comment or post until I return...
But it will only be a Little Patch of Time!
