One Day

This blog cycle has been a busy one. I had three main projects to work on, two non-mini projects that stole time from my obsession. The weather has been so miserable, I wrote in earlier posts--no moisture for both March and April, the months when we get the most moisture,  and awful wind, every day for a month.  Today we have rain; Praise the Lord for that because we haven't had rain all spring; in fact, April has been the windiest month that any  native Colorado Native can remember, giving me ample excuse to stay inside and work on minis instead of doing necessary spring gardening. Now I will have to split my time, working in the garden in the cool of the morning and retreating to basement worskhop as the days heats up--if they ever do.

I had a sewing project that was conceived in 2020 for Colorado DAR State Conference, which was canceled bed of the pandemic. The Saturday night banquet requires formal attire, so I wanted to make a cover for the sleeveless black dress that I planned to wear. So two years later Thursday the day before I was leaving for Conference I spent sewing up my cover up. It's just four rectangles stitched together, but I took me all day--when I could have been making a tiny file cabinet. 

The conference began Friday morning, but my sister-in-law and I left Thursday afternoon. It's only about an hour and half to Boulder, so we had an evening to relax-- when I could have been making a file cabinet.

Daughters of the American Revolution is a a female service organization. Members must trace their ancestral line to a revolutionary patriot, the great father who served in some capacity for the Revolutionary War. The workshop Friday morning was given by local author and genealogist who encouraged use to write our own genealogical books, something that I have long wanted to do, but that means a lot of research and lot of work--when I could be making a file cabinet. One day.

I spent the better part of the week--up to last minute-- before Conference making a desk for the second story addition room which will be some sort of office/ art studio. Instead of trying to design it all by myself, I watched Julie Warren's most current craft desk tutorial for her current dollhouse that she has has been working on. 

I put all of the pieces in Design Space, which works so well, except the left side--the drawer side--is 3/32" basswood. In the past, I've not had a problem cutting that thickness, but it appears that the Design Space updates have changed that because not the machine stops at a couple of rounds. Fortunately I use my scroll saw the make cuts on the lines etched by the Maker. 

My plan all along was to paint the desk white to keep that dark upstairs room light and bright. After one coat of acrylic craft paint, I sanded it down to distress it, making it look like it had been hauled out of the refuse pile or rescued from an attic or garage. Her video shows how to use fabric to line the storage boxes on left side, but I haven't decided yet on fabric or paper or twine

.

The white desk had a major flaw and mistake with one of the shelves that was pretty apparent, so I cut another  desk, avoiding that mistake, but it too has a flaw so it's not perfect. I decided to paint this one green and distress it as I did with the table for the living room. I began with a white base coat, sanded it, then added the green and sanded it. I am quite drawn to this green desk. Instead of fabric, I used twine to wrap around the storage boxes and painted the inside white instead of using fabric, really because I just couldn't decide on the fabric. I like baskets, anyway.

Careful sanding helped to fix the bad shelf that suffered from a bad cut and it was glued in crooked. I managed to loosen the glue and reset the shelf, so that once the drawer was in place the flaw in the wood doesn't show. I've learned over time that careful sanding sometimes helps correct some mistakes.

Next I made a bulletin board--Julie calls it a "pin board" in her video and uses a very thin cork. I had a hard time finding cork at Hobby Lobby, but I did find square cork coasters with rounded corners that I used. They are thicker than what she recommends, but I think the coasters work fine. She has a very simple, short video on how to assemble the bulletin board. I had cut my cork before I went to her video, so it is quite large. I'll make a smaller one that won't cover up so much of my sunflower.

I found the sunflower online some place--rawpixel.com, maybe--. I decided to have just one image on this wall. I may change my mind when I put the roof on, and I can't wait to show you wallpaper for the rest of the room. 

 

Side by side the desks look so cute. I am having a really hard time deciding which one to use. Will I have to make two file cabinets?

Being a long time Mac user-- beginning 1989 when I went to grad school--, I love my mini iMac ordered on Etsy. Sweet Brody grapped the key board as I admired and of course ruined it, so I wrote the vendor and she kindly replaced it for me, at no charge. Thank You! ZZ Mini World located in Dallas Texas.

And that's what I did before Conference. Today I'll build my file cabinet following Julie's tutorial for the file cabinet that she built for her craft shed. Easy and so cute.

I totally appreciated your comments on the 3rd story bathroom and I think you know what I'll      be doing.

Part of the problem with taking so long to do a large project like this house is that it is easy to lose sight of the original plan. I purchased the paper for the walls, made the bed, and made the bedding just for this room. Then midstream I decided "What if I moved it all upstairs." I decided to stick with the original plan and just get over the lack of other bedroom furniture and stairs the 3rd floor. It's a dollhouse. Dolls will live there and hopefully children will play with it--if I let them. 

I have to thank Elizabeth of Small Moments in Cornwall, UK for sending me the pretty antique dollies. Some time ago she sent me set of six and I've been able use one in each of my dollhouses as an afghan on the beds. After she had sent them to me, she told me that I think either her mother or grandmother had hand crocheted them, making them an even more special gift. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I alway enjoy reading your comments, so if you are new to the blog, leave a note to say "Hi." I don't share information or emails. 

What will you be making this week?

Have a wonderful time whatever you choose.