Stitches In the Dark...

 

Creating Comfort...

Back when it was still Winter, Dear Readers, and too dark in the evenings to indulge in the stitching of the tiny Petit-point cushions I am obsessed with, I found myself turning to the simpler exercise of sewing together tiny patches for a quilt. Some of you might remember that years ago (where does the Time go?) Daphne and Renee had embarked on a project of making a quilt from some patches Daphne had found in the attic, along with the sewing machine. And Renee had immediately taken the little piece they had started and gave it to her Grandpere for a lap quilt when they brought him to the Park in his wheel chair. As is the way of things.... this little project had not been "in the regular plan" of this story  and had been sprung on me by surprise! And I suppose you can imagine that the busy-ness of Real Life got in the way of any progress at all in this little project, and then Covid turned the world upside down and the Story itself was left waiting for the next piece to come along.... and it is waiting still. But I had cut out a "selection" of little squares to use.... and they were "somewhere..." in a pile of the not yet finished projects.... and I knew I could keep stitching the little squares together even in the poor light of a winter's night. I dug them out and decided to cut a few more tiny squares from the finest of the cloth scraps (many are old Liberty of London cotton scraps from my former Mother in Law) and so I had my stitching for dark evenings ready to go!

      Of course, it was night-time and dark, so I wasn't remembering to take many pictures either.

The squares are about one inch square... 

and once they are stitched together they are about 3/4 inch square.

 I tried to make the pattern pleasing and somewhat balanced. 

And I didn't have any idea how big it needed to be,

 so I thought I better test it on Grandpere's bed...

 

 I am sure you will think I am silly, Dear Readers,

 but the quilt looked so perfect there on his bed that I left it there,

 incomplete, un-hemmed, no backing,

 no careful attempts to make it lie flat and look realistic... 

because it looks so right!

 I can't believe how well the colors go in this room!

 

 And even though Daphne and Renee haven't "finished" it yet, 

and have not had their episode of the Story with it yet... 

I just Love the way it looks and don't want to move it at all!

 

And Grandpere still has his "lap quilt"

 which brings him more comfort than he can possibly say.

 

And I want to let you know, Dear Readers, 

that I might not be able to post very often for a while. 

My son has some extra medical needs that will require most of my attention.

I might not be able to stitch as often as I want,

 but I will be Dreaming of little patches of Comfort as often as I can.
 

 

Sew Little....

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!