Cleaning Up.....

After The Party.....

I Suppose, Dear Readers, that after the tumult of the recent few weeks in my mini worlds, the Old Witches can be forgiven for taking advantage of the refreshments after all the guests had gone home. Ken stayed to serve the Potent brew and The Deadly Nightshades played until Dawn.

They wouldn't want to fall afoul of the Witches, after all!

And they could wait until morning to put the Hall to rights...

whatever that would entail!

Who knew what Era it would turn out to be!

And I am sure you can understand, Dear Readers,

 that I was equally curious to find out

 how all the Mini-worlds would return to "normal"

 once the fervor of the Holiday was past.

There was so much that needed to find it's way home.....

Because during the story-telling frenzy, 

most of the Castle is turned inside out more than once!

It makes a Grand Mess!

So in the Aftermath, I find myself needing to rearrange everything...

(Especially now that I am not making Lilac bushes any more...)

The Folly, which has spent the better part of two years

 sitting at the end of the work table, finds itself moving aside.....

Leaving room to move the Dollmaker's 

Workshop onto the work table!

Where maybe I will finally be able to get some progress

 made on the now quite warped structure!

 

And after waiting in vain all fall for

 the sun to come shine on the Summer Lilac shrub

 in the Folly garden, Dear Readers,

would you believe that this morning

 as I was rushing to get ready to go to work...

A little sliver of the low sun

 reached way into the dark corner of my workroom

 and caught the lilac shrub in a magical morning light....

Can you believe how beautiful it looks?

There is nothing like the early morning sun!

So unexpected.... and so brief.....

And so beautiful!

Such a narrow Tiny sliver of sunlight!

And I could not have planned for this if I had tried!

It was a bonus Gift...

From Cleaning up

After the Party!

A Moment of Sunshine....

Catch It If You Can.....

Some of you, Dear Readers, might have wondered where Will was now that the Lilacs were in full bloom. I can promise you that like many of us, he was hurrying to and from work every day in the rainy and gloomy weather, and had not been paying the lilacs any attention. So one sunny morning as he stepped out on the porch the blooming bush really took him by surprise! He could not believe he had not noticed before. It seemed almost as if the blossoms had appeared overnight!

It was such a magnificent sight that it stopped him in his tracks!

He was almost positive that the bush had never bloomed so beautifully before....

 

 

At least he could not remember if it had....

Or perhaps he had just been somewhere else when they bloomed!

But the scent was just Heavenly!

It made him wish he could share the experience.... 

Perhaps he would make a plan after work...!

 

But then, Dear Readers, there was a Moment

 when the sun really did shine in!

A Brief visit in the early morning....

 

 

Oh, what a rare thing this has been!

 

Can you see why I am so glad to see it shining on my Little Worlds?

I grabbed my camera to try and capture it...

 Even Will was astonished at the brilliance...!

And then it was gone!

I'll invite a few friends over for a cook-out... he decides.

This is just too special to miss!

Meanwhile, I have finished another blossom....

The Fifty-something-eth blossom!

And I added it to the vase on the mantel of The Folly.

(How many blossoms do you think each bouquet will need?)

Well, Dear Readers, it is a good thing

 that I can just keep on making lilac blossoms

 while I am waiting for the sun to shine.

Those moments are Rare, but Heavenly....

So catch them when you can!

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!

Clouds.......

Illusions I Recall.....

By Now you must be aware, Dear Readers, just how much I enjoy it when the Sun shines into my little Mini Worlds! So it was that on Saturday morning early I was able to catch the Sun shining briefly on the Cloud Palace before the day advanced and became cloudy and snowy! Here on Terra Firma we are vulnerable to the moods of the Clouds, but in the Cloud Palace (when it is completed, you understand) it will be sailing On top of the Clouds... and therefore should be able to expect an Endless supply of sunshine! But until it is completed, I will have to take my luck with the sunlight.... and so I have grabbed the moment to take some pictures....

Can you see how the sunlight casts a lacy shadow 

through the pattern on the window pane?

And since it is morning, Blue has set out the tea and cupcakes....

 

 

She is expecting some Visitors soon.... 

and she wants to be ready!

But since they are traveling from a Long Way Away....

She has to be very patient....

This morning she has to eat the cupcakes by herself.....

Because the Palace is still being worked on.... 

there are more paintings to be done...

So everything has to be cleared away and the room taken apart....!

Here you can see the beginnings of a pair of 

low planters to sit under the windows.

Here we have to test them in place again.... 

and you can also see the added clouds at the top of the walls....

I didn't want the Clouds to appear to end at the corner of the wall....

It is just an illusion... but I wanted to create more depth...

It needs more work before it will look right.

And since none of the parts can be glued in place in this house 

until I have completed the decorative parts, I also made a start on the upstairs!

It is really just a little space under the eaves....

But I wanted it to look as though you were sleeping on top of the clouds!

And because I wasn't done with the planters....

I painted one with another Dragon........

And the other with another Lake and Teahouse scene!

And then I had to add some butterflies....

Because there was a Lovely quote on Birgit's Blog...

by Novalis who wrote (something like this...)

 "He who can hear the butterflies laugh knows how the clouds taste...."

Which caused Flutterbeary to say that 

"Butterflies are always giggling and the clouds taste sweet...!"

Which caused me to think we needed some Laughing Butterflies here in the Cloud Palace!

And then we need to see how they look all together....

The giggling butterflies....

The dragon planter.....

The teahouse planter.....

I still am not sure what plants to plant in them...!

And the Clouds in the sky overhead.....

still in need of some softening around the edges.....

 

And the Clouds in the attic.....

And the whole room.......

And the whole house.....

So you can see, Dear Readers,

I have been painting....

 But its Just the Clouds Illusions After all.....

Oh, wait.... can you hear the butterflies laughing?