Extra help - not always appreciated...

Yes, I am working away at the Remembrance Day project but will wait to update the progress on that until I have a couple more stages done. So let's catch up on what else is going on.

First of all, this year my DH gave me the best Christmas present ever...which is also the worst!!!

Take a good look at this little face. Study it carefully. Memorize every little speckle and spot. This is her calm and innocent look. It was the first and last time we saw it and don't expect to be seeing it again any time soon.

This is Bridie. Doesn't she look all shy and quiet??? Yes, I do love her to death but it has been about 30 years since we actually had a kitten in the house since we have tended to adopt older cats and each have lived good long lives. We forgot what having a kitten could be like. It took her all of 3 minutes to settle in once we brought her home and the house has not been the same since. Although she was my Christmas present we picked her up early in December so she was so very involved in decorating the house for Christmas, wrapping presents, and taking down the decorations in early January.

In between she has volunteered her services for stripping and remaking beds, working on the computer, sorting laundry, sweeping, dusting and vacuuming (she has no fear of noises at all), drying my hair, showering, herding us out of the TV room and into bed when it's time, waking us up in the morning so we don't miss anything important (like filling her food bowls) ....there is simply no end to her generosity when it comes time to help out around the house.

The icing on the cake is how excited she gets when it's time to help Mommy work on her miniatures. As a result, I cannot tell you how many small pieces, and sometimes even large ones, go missing from my work table, only to be found in the strangest of places anywhere in the house several days later. Reaching into my tool bag has become somewhat of a hazard. Somehow, when I'm not looking, the tools and supplies inside seem to have sprouted fur and tiny, sharp little nails as my hand always comes back out with dots of blood. It has been a truly interesting experience and reinforces our earlier practice of adopting older cats. If only she wasn't so darn cute....

Anyway, I shall persevere and continue to work on my minis - just keep extra bandaids close to hand.

So, before I put this project away until next December, I thought I would finally introduce you to it. Last December (2017 that is), my friend Marijke invited Louise and I to join her in each building our own Christmas advent project. The project was from an old Dutch miniature magazine and involved building a small room box during the month of December. The theory was that the 1st and 2nd of December we would build the box. On the 3rd we would add the window and make curtains. Next we would make a chair, an ottoman, an area rug, etc., etc., adding an element each day until it was complete by December 24th. Okay - that didn't work out so well but I am having fun with it.

Here is the picture of the one in the Dutch magazine:

So Feeling very ambitious, we started our projects on December 1st, 2017. Instead of 2 days, it actually took me 4 days to cut out the pieces, put them together, build out the fireplace, and the window and cover everything in stucco (premixed crack filler). The outside walls are completely covered in stucco but I marked a line where the wainscoting was going and put the stucco just down to that point on the inside.

Before putting it together I cut out the window area and placed a nice winter picture on the outside, giving it a nice depth for the windowsill. I trimmed that out and then I bricked the fireplace by putting textured brick paper on the outside of the fireplace and painted it white, put the textured paper inside and blackened it up, and put in a real brick hearth. I had previously drilled a hole through and plugged it with a toothpick so I could fit wiring through if I wanted to.

Next I laid a wooden floor and installed the wainscoting, then I was prepared to whitewash everything. Okay - - it was at this point when I realized two things: 1. I should have painted all the window trim before installing it, and 2. I forgot to put the plastic in for the window glass before installing the window mullions. I never seem to do things the easy way. I then cut a piece of plastic but was not able to slide it under the mullions in one piece. So I slit it vertically down the middle, slid in one half, then the other. The seam is completely hidden in the area where the middle portions of the frame come together in the bottom section. In the top horizontal section, the seam falls directly in line with a branch in the picture behind it so is almost impossible to see unless you know it's there. Once that was completed I was able to using masking tape over the plastic sections so I could whitewash, then paint the window frame. Good to go - even it it did take several steps more than if I had actually paid attention to what I was doing.

Once this main part of the room box was done, in December 2017 the only other things I completed was making curtains, using a cardboard backing with wooden skewers glued down to it. I then was able to glue the fabric over these skewers so it formed perfect looking little pleats.

Then I used a piece of tea-dyed Aida cloth, pulled out some threads so I could insert some red sparkly ribbon and stitch some green accents down the sides of the ribbon. This became my little area carpet.

I also made a small white chair and ottoman but didn't get pictures of them at that stage.

So - that is all I was able to get done in 2017. On Wednesday's post I will show you the work completed on this "advent" room box in December 2018. It really is coming along! Until then - I have to go drag Bridie out of the treat cabinet! TTFN! - Marilyn