Not Yet Finished.....

New Year.... Same Old Story....

Well, Dear Readers, I hope some of you will Not be surprised to learn that I still have not quite finished painting the Christmas Card. It does seem to take me a little longer every year. I have already put hours and hours and Hours into it.... and it is nearly done... but it is not a good idea to rush the final parts. So I will take the Time that is needed to complete it to my satisfaction. Which leaves me to lament that I have nothing New to show you here! Except for this small teaser.... a glimpse into my workroom as it now stands.... all those Unfinished projects.... waiting! (And as I am sure you are aware... what you see here is nowhere near All of them!) Yikes!

Upstairs, beside my drawing table

 where I am painting the card,

 the ponies are waiting and the hounds keep watch

while Rose Thorne Cottage sits Teasing me....

And the sun shines in at this time of year...

Illuminating the beauty 

and the potential that awaits...

for some time......

When I have time.

(Jodi's chair has found a home for now...)

And downstairs.... where Hardwick Hall has been shoved into a corner....

The sun reminds me of so much I have left undone....

*Sigh*

Well, Dear Readers, I promised you

 this has to be just a little Teaser.... 

it's back to the drawing table for me,

 or I never will get the Christmas Card done!

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!

Sew Very Little

And The Bigger Picture....

You will not Believe me, Dear Readers, if I tell you I have Very Little to show you this week! In fact you will probably Laugh... but Truly, I have So very little to show that is new! The stitching in the picture above is ALL I got done this week in my Mini Worlds! It was a three day Holiday Weekend too, and my only excuse is that my Sister was visiting.... and we Played and Ate and Talked and drank endless cups of tea.... and I forgot to take pictures. And we sat all Sunday afternoon while rain showers drifted by... she sewing on her Daughter's Teddy Bear who needed a thorough repair, and I putting Teeny stitches in the second bed curtain for the Tree House Pagoda Bed. It felt just like when we were little and used to sit all morning on our beds with the rag bag making clothes for our dolls!

Here you can see the first curtain that is nearly finished... 

it needs more leaves and some gold filigree embroidery added still....

But the flowers are done.

Keep in mind that the entire curtain is 3/4 inches wide and 2 inches tall!

Here you see both curtains together.... 

the beginnings on the left, 

and the faint basting stitches outlining the curtain edges.

Together they fit inside a 6 inch wide embroidery hoop.

And here is a closer shot. 

I use a magnifier and take tiny tiny stitches.... 

the thread is antique silk sewing thread.

I am sure you know how it goes!

And here is a picture of Teddy once he was repaired.....

My sister's grandson (who is only three) had removed a quantity of stuffing,

and the ancient fabric had torn beyond repair. 

She replaced the old fabric with a very similar print cotton that I had in my stash...

and added a tiny heart inside as well!

Now Teddy is Better than ever!

We spent hours and hours looking at all the Doll Houses....

She had never met the Fairy Bears nor seen the Cloud Palace....

And I am sure you Will Believe me when I say that I felt a little embarrassed at the MESS my Workspace was in.... so I spent some time before she got here cleaning up and re-arranging the Houses.... The plants went outside for the Summer.... and the Cloud Palace and the Conservatory moved into their place in front of the Windows!

And when the sun shone in this morning....

I couldn't resist some pictures.....

Blue had to get her Magic Wand out to show to my Sister.....

And Sir Orion demonstrated (very carefully) how his sword works...

My Sister was so very impressed!

And Brother Beorn wanted to show her the Library... 

even though all the books are not on the shelves...

He showed her his Book of Herbs....

And how cozy the little room was!

(Bears Love to be cozy, after all!)

And once those Houses had been moved, 

there was more room on the work table....

Which is really my Dining Room Table...!!!

Here you can see the whole room from one end...

The folly is on the Table, 

and the Lovely Old Dollhouse is in front of the windows....

And the table itself is covered in bits and pieces and boxes of stuff....

Here is a view of the whole room from the other side......

You can see the Cupboard House in the back to the left....

And the Castle takes up almost the entire front wall!

The Castle is big.... and my room is small!

We spent time looking through each of the houses.....

Here is a closer view of the Castle with the lights on.....

I apologize for the blurry view... 

it is gloomy this evening and my lighting is difficult...

And here is another view of the Lovely Old Dollhouse....

With the lights on..... some of them not working.... 

and the Mess all around!

I hope I have not destroyed your Illusions!

It is easy to edit out the mess when I show you close-up shots.....

But the real picture is piles of stuff everywhere....

And I usually have to move something in order to get anything done!

And below the Cloud Palace and the Conservatory.....

we have the "Temporary" rooms set up in the shelves.... 

currently being the rooms needed to tell Daphne's Story.....

because None of those "Houses" have been built at all!

I really must tell you the next pieces of Daphne's Story....

before you forget the parts I have already told.....

But I am afraid that will have to wait for another Day...

Because this past week was a busy one, Dear Readers,

 and I got Sew Little Done!

But I hope you have Enjoyed seeing 

a Little bit of the Bigger Picture!