The Card.... Well, Dear Readers, it is The New Year, and some Traditions really should not be ignored! I refer to my personal "Tradition" of being so late with my "Christmas Card" that it is a wonder it is still called that! As I have mentioned a time or two, I have been drawing an annual "Christmas Card" now for more than forty years. When I was a child, the sending of "Christmas Cards" was quite a big deal and you could buy many many commercial options to send to friends and family. Because my family leans to the artistic side, we often made our own. My Father designed and had ..read more

  Another Distraction.... Well, Dear Readers, Some years I guess I just need a few small distractions to keep me going! And Santa pointed out to me a few of the Tiny Kits I had received and not yet assembled... and since I had been craving gingerbread and thinking about the many little Gingerbread Houses I had made in RL over my accumulating years... This tiny kit by Robin Betterley Miniatures was calling to me! On Christmas Day I pulled the pieces from the package and got started! The pieces are tiny and go together very cleanly (these kits are Amazingly well designed!) so I had made g ..read more

  You Know How It Goes... Well, Dear Readers, I don't know where the Time has flown off to, but here we are suddenly almost at Christmas... and I am never quite ready! When last we peeked into The Folly Living Room to see Gabrielle's new Lighted Tree, it was too gloomy and dark to be able to see the Nativity she had set up in the window sill. It is much brighter today, but still a little dark for photos... but never mind... we have seen it before, this simple gathering of Mary Joseph and the Child with an Angel hovering overhead. It is just perfect in it's simplicity.... for who else wa ..read more

  Oh..... Heavens....! Well, Dear Readers, I left you last week while the Tiny "Reindeer" were getting some Body Building exercises to help them build up the necessary muscles to do the job of pulling the sleigh! And knowing that these things take Time.... I am fairly certain the project will not be completed in time for This year's trek! But... progress is being made! And meanwhile, as some of you know, my Main project at this time of year is to work on "The Christmas Card".... which somehow is never quite finished in time for Christmas....! But since I have been drawing an Annual Card ..read more

  Oh, Dear..... Some of you, Dear Readers, might recall the Tiny Reindeer I rashly began to create a couple of years ago while I was working on an entirely other project. I had been building the "Ravenwood" kit by Robin Betterley, adding my own touches to their design, but the Holiday Season was getting under way and suddenly I found myself "testing" the possibility of making a tiny Sleigh with Reindeer for the "Secret Christmas House", another Robin Betterley kit I had completed a couple of years earlier. I had always wondered what it would take to make a Sleigh with Reindeer in 144th ..read more

   Light Up My Life.... I Know, Dear Readers, that last week I bemoaned how little Time there was between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. But never mind, after Thanksgiving is over life is All about Christmas in my house anyway! And I know it has been many years now that I have been promising to "someday" show you well lit closeups of the decorations on the Lovely Old Dollhouse Christmas Tree. Well, don't be too surprised, but Someday is here! In the above picture you can see a closeup of the glass dove which is one of the very special and lovely little ornaments. Of course ..read more

  For So Many Little Things... And So Once again it is Thanksgiving here in America, Dear Readers, and it is later than usual this year. The Holiday is tied to the fourth Thursday of November.... whatever date that happens to be! This produces some panic in my "timetable" for the next few weeks, for when it is Late in November that just means Fewer days to accomplish ALL those Christmas tasks... and we all know I have a few of those I assign myself every year that never seem to be done in time. But that is all for next week.... for now we are focusing on the blessings of Family, Food, a ..read more

  On A Beautiful Sunny Day.... Lets Face it, Dear Readers, an Attic workroom can often be quite dark and cramped, tucked in under the eaves of the house. And Pollyanna's workroom was no exception. In theory it has a medium sized dormer window on the (still not built!) opening roof side, but even that would not allow much light to come into the room. Pollyanna was used to the cozy space and the cramped work area, and Arthur often spent his time up there with her "working" on his computer... or sometimes napping if the truth be told! And this was just such an afternoon when the attic sudd ..read more

   Fixing A Mistake... I Left You a couple of weeks ago, Dear Readers, with the comment that "All" I had to do was repeat the just described window process for the final large window with the opening lower panes. I had it all figured out! I charged ahead with confidence of easy success. The frames were already cut and just needed the glass panes prepared. The glass panes were quickly cut and the leading added. The window opening was cut to receive the hinges and holes drilled. The hinges went on with no trouble at all!     I had decided to begin with the left ha ..read more

  Petit-point Variations... Well, Dear Readers, Time has been Flying along and progress has been made on some of my various stitching projects since I last posted about them, but it has not been the sort of progress I had hoped for! The last I showed you the Chinese Dragon Carpet, I had just transferred it to a larger frame the better to be able to stitch the border areas. I am still not sure about my planned changes for the middle section, so I am starting to work on the borders now that I can access them. You can see above that I have been adding the gold to one side. But you might no ..read more