sight unseen

in which our plucky heroine has a useless day off...

I somehow forgot that today I have an eye exam scheduled, so this post will be truncated. The dilation drops they put in to do the exam usually take about 24 hours or so to wear off, so I will be completely useless for anything that needs clear focused vision for the rest of today and probably tomorrow morning. No reading, no online activity, no handcraft, not even chores like washing dishes or vaccuming... Ugh! I am wracking my brains trying to think of something I can do.

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time in the tinyworld:

Finally had the time to paint the winners' heraldry on the cover of the hand bound book prize for the August heraldic display challenge: "Argent, a wreath of willow-herb vert flowered purpure, in chief three lozenges, a mount azure"...

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	7 tiny sunflowers	6 pants for Beth	yard waste bin
2	poppy pod vase	4 box fans clean	recycle bin
3	grey canvas hat	heraldry painted	yard waste bin
4	-	-	recycle bin
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Today I received a comment from Dorothy, generously offering me a second of the Target Liberty shirts:

"I too managed to snag one of those blue on blue shirts, lightly worn and now too small for me. I'd love to share it with you, after all the pleasure I've had from reading your blog over the past several years. How can I get in touch with you to know where to send it?"

This will make my Liberty style blouse project much more practical. I am always astonished and delighted by the kindness of people that have only ever met me in the pixel world. This is the part of living in the future that brings me joy...

Time of Isolation - Day 933

an unexpected delivery

in which our plucky heroine is perturbed...

It is almost 10 AM and it is getting darker and darker instead of the usual bright autumn sunshine. I'm not sure how many new fires started overnight, or where they are. Apparently the dark sky is high level smoke from the big Cedar Creek fire and while disturbing, is not appreciably increasing our bad air quality, which is currently at "moderate". Nothing like it was in 2020 when we had some of the worst AQI on the planet for a few days.

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Well that was a surprise, when the FedEx truck dropped of a good sized box on my doorstep! It wasn't addressed to me, but to the denizens of Caer Cardboard. I don't think that they have been using my laptop while I am asleep, but somebody certainly arranged for a vintage style porcelain washroom suite to be delivered: two sinks, a commode, a tub, and even a mirror with a porcelain frame... The tinyfolk are quite pleased, and are clamoring for me to find the time to build them some more rooms, please.

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time in the tinyworld:

Finally finished the seven small sunflowers... Adding the leaves was rather difficult, and should I make something like this in the future I will definitely return to using floral wire for the stems instead of dried weed stems, which are really too fragile. Still, it was possible to hold them carefully in clothespins in order to get the lower ends of the stems painted, and I expect that the paint will help strengthen them.

Using dried weed centers for the sunflower centers really added a good texture, and I was able to add some dark brown/black paint washes to give them an appropriate color. Then when I noticed while out walking that the actual flowers often have a small ring of yellow surrounding the center, I added that to the miniature ones, and it really added that "extra something" IMHO

I'm fairly pleased with the poppy pod "pottery" vase as well. (though also wondering if it needs a faux glaze?) I also reinforced the vase neck with hemp cord binding, as it was thin enough that drilling it out to hold the flowers caused a few tiny breakthrough holes.

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Last week, once I noticed that all the box fans were coated with dust on their interiors, there was nothing to it but to take them each apart, wash all the grilles, and carefully wipe down the blades and inner housings. It can't be helped, with them drawing air from outdoors, which isn't the cleanest even when there aren't fires. Took rather longer than I expected, but now they are all clean again, and will no longer be blowing dust around the house.

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~ creativity challenge ~

I have been working on my "hat pattern mashup" project, with partial success. The hat is definitely wearable, and using narrower seam allowances was helpful. I still need to finish laminating a second layer of interfacing to the brim, sew a lining, stitch a hatband, and finally edgebind the whole kaboodle together. I am not quite sure if I like the proportions, or how the finished hat will look. The crown is definitely more architectural and less downhome than the Norwester. I really wish I could track down the hat pattern I used years ago, that had a very interesting crown construction, but I suspect it was a small indie pattern company that only lasted a short while, as I have done image searches from time to time to no avail.

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	7 tiny sunflowers	6 pants for Beth	yard waste bin
2	poppy pod vase	4 box fans clean	recycle bin
3	-	-	yard waste bin
4	-	-	recycle bin
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Eeeee, the azurite/malachite cabochon I ordered from Etsy turned up on my doorstep this week, and it looks even nicer in person than in the photo, and I would happily order from that seller again. Shipping all the way from India was surprisingly fast, as it arrived just over a week from when I placed the order online. The seller included a tiny nice lapis cab as a thank you, like how folks did back in the early days of Etsy when you never knew what tiny surprise would be shared as lagniappe.

a mango in the milk box and other miscellany...

in which our plucky heroine is perplexed...

A mango, but no note to accompany it. I am baffled. I am unlikely to eat it, as much as I love mangos, unless I can find out who left it there. It wasn't my good next door neighbors, I asked them... Eating random food gifted/abandoned in semi-public is not a level of desperation I currently live at, and can be dangerous/fatal.

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time in the tinyworld:

Day 24 "all laid out"... my current book collection for the library of Caer Cardboard. All of these have real pages, and almost all have actual content. All the fairy tale books and a number of others were all part of the "My Miniature Library" kit, that was my valentine gift to myself this year... most all of the smaller ones I created from various online images, or original artwork, or collages from found ephemera.

I've rather lost the momentum on the month long "julyminifun" challenge, so am picking and choosing which prompts to follow. This one engaged my imagination. I'd like to get back to making some additional miniature books, to continue to fill the tiny bookcase shelves...

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This morning I did not fall out of bed. Yesterday, I rolled over to turn off the alarm, and fell out of bed. Since the surface of my bed is almost 34" from the floor, it was fortunate I wasn't injured afaik (nothing broken or torn) but was mightily startled and somewhat bruised... It was an arnica sort of day for sure. Good news is that I was so awake I was able to turn on the box fans a full hour earlier than normal, for extra amelioration against the hot yellow daystar. I was careful to make sure there were no alarms set on my phone last night, but woke up before 5AM anyway, and went about setting the fans for the three hours it was cooler outside than indoors. Managed to get the indoor thermometers down to 73. Last nights low was 72F, forecast high 101F and unrelentingly sunny, so by this evening it will be well over 80F inside Acorn Cottage.

It really has been getting hotter, for longer, since I was a youngster:

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I've figured out how to make a bit of a project space in the air conditioned bedroom, which is my afternoon and evening retreat zone. By setting the laptop on the nightstand, and the keyboard on a TV tray table, I can remain in contact with the outer world, or watch cartoons. A little LED light lets me also work on handwork project or tiny art project, (when I am not simply siesta-ing away the worst of the middle of the day) and I've almost completed sewing on the last of the edge binding on the colorful huipil.

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia brown dress	Emilia's legs	entryway spiderwebs
4	Emilia batik dress	replace blouse buttons	recycle bin
5	Kestrel work apron	front yard mowed	yard waste bin
6	eyeglass case(s)	back yard whacked	x
7	colorful huipil	parking strip edged	x
8	x	hanging loop chore coat	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - air conditioning and electric power to run it

Time of Isolation - Day 861

not exactly colorblocking

in which our plucky heroine waves goodbye to one of the PIGS*...

My sleep/wake cycle is entirely scrambled currently, as I do my best to shift to crepuscular. There is an additional temporary housemate here as little Wellington is having a doggish vacation at Acorn Cottage. I'm doing what I can to play catch up with various chores and projects anyway.

Probably the most pleasing sewing project recently has been getting back to my colorful huipil, a recombination of varied pieces of coordinated vintage rayon, all in the same colorway but different printed designs as the fabric re-used from the tunic I sewed for my college graduation. This will be the third iteration of the original fabric, from tunic to party dress, and now to popover huipil/top...

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time in the tinyworld:

finally made a start on my cardboard furniture project for this months SCA Miniaturists challenge. I decided to make a set of trestles to use as a table when my tiny friends are SCA camping... The completed table will consist of seven pieces, that will fasten together to form two trestles and a tabletop... The sekrit for making smooth rounded cutouts is to use a paper punch! I used a standard size one for the curves at the bottom of the triangular trestle, and a ⅛" punch for the upper trefoil; careful layout of where the circles intersect does an excellent job.

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~ creativity challenge ~

I've been thinking about making one of these sweet embroidered armchairs as a gift for a miniature-loving friend, so I rummaged around to see what felt I had in the resource boxes... more colors than I expected! Now I want to find out what their favorite color is... (I'm going to make one for the Caer Cardboard library as well)

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia brown dress	Emilia's legs	entryway spiderwebs
4	Emilia batik dress	replace blouse buttons	recycle bin
5	Kestrel work apron	front yard mowed	yard waste bin
6	eyeglass case	back yard whacked	x
7	x	parking strip edged	x
8	x	hanging loop chore coat	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I really love the bi-weekly zoom meetings with my Stitching Nomads group, which inspires me to keep on making things, or to finish things started ages ago. Finishing the recombinant rayon project gets at least one of the PIGS* out of the sewing space and into my wardrobe.

*PIGS = Projects In Grocery Sacks

Time of Isolation - Day 855

Plaid and patterns and polkadots oh my!

in which our plucky heroine mostly escapes the heat...

It didn't quite reach 100 today, I think the high was 98. I hid indoors from about 9AM onwards, and left the laundry hanging out on the line to sunbleach.

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time in the tinyworld:

Day 11 "pattern and plaid" ...Plaids and dots and florals oh my! The more the merrier!!  From Nandina in a patterned apron, and plaid dress, Kenya in a striped top and plaid apron, the patchwork coverlet made from scraps of all the masks I made back in 2020, the plaid flannel bed blanket, (and not really visible in the photo, but the little bed pillows are made from dotted or striped fabrics)... and various furniture decorative treatments like the eggshell mosaic tabletop, and the canal boat roses painted on the small bed... (that scamp Emilia in her stripey silk dress couldn't resist climbing on the bed to make sure she was in the photo as well) My tinyfolk are quite unafraid of combining patterns.

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Remembering when I was a child, and would go visit my friend Vanessa, who lived a block away on the next street north of us. Their house was always dark, with the curtains drawn everywhere but in the kitchen. I think, now, looking back, that the darkness was to try and help keep the house cool, in those days when even in LA not everyone had air conditioning. Their house was dark, but never gloomy, more like an artist cave and vivid with music. Her mother Louise was the first to take me to hear folk music live, and we would zoom away in her rattley old Volvo with the holes in the floor, to mysterious halls mostly full of grown-ups. I think I met Hoyt Axton once at their house, but to me he was just another mysterious adult. These days, when I keep my own house curtains drawn, I remember Louise, and her offhand generosity that enlarged my world.

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia dress	Emilia's legs	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I was tired and it was hot and my arm hurt, so I took some pain meds and slept the afternoon away.. I am grateful that I have the option to do that.

Time of Isolation - Day 844

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine feels a little better...

The second day of rice cereal seems to have done the trick of soothing my savage interior. Tomorrow will be food with flavors. I have been planning out various weekend projects, depending on how the weather behaves. Either yardwork, or sewing, or scribal art. I miss having yardwork helpers so very much. Today I cut back all the gone to seed euphorbia, to prevent it from spreading around the yard.

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time in the tinyworld:

funglasses sunglasses... got to this a bit late for the @mayminimakers challenge, but I decided to go ahead anyhow. "Day 28: Paperclip challenge". I've had this stripey paperclip for ages, and the colors reminded me of some sunglasses my mother had when I was a child, that were red with tiny white polkadots. I found an online tutorial of how to make miniature eyeglasses, and then had the bright idea to turn them into sunglasses. Used a paper punch to cut some tiny discs from the lens of the eclipse-watching glasses I saved as a memento, then wedged the discs into the wire frame. In order to keep the discs in place, I filled in behind the disc with tacky glue and let it dry overnight. Et voila, a tiny summertime accessory suitable for Nandina and her pals!

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Yesterday I learned that yard ferns can be pruned... they can be cut back to ground level and will grow back all nice and fresh. BUT... it should be done in early spring. Somehow I don't think that mid June is early spring. I may try and cut back the lower former fronds that are all brown and dessicated, to make the path to the backyard easier to navigate. And I will make a note in my journal for next spring.

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June SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel's friends clothes	replace clothesline	yard waste bin
2	tiny green flannel dress	repair Nandina overalls	recycle bin
3	individual cheesecake	sew buttons on blouse	yard waste bin
4	shirt for Kestrel	old mattress off bed	recycle bin
5	Kenya tiedye top	bed slats shorter	yard waste bin
6	baked custard	Nandina overall pockets	-
7	tiny giraffe	move towel holder	x
8	x	bedrails attached	x
9	x	slat mat completed	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I love my Microplane rasp... it made quick work of removing the zest of half a dozen lemons.

Time of Isolation - Day 821

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine enjoys small beauties...

A spectacular visual treat, this afternoon when I went to take out the compost... maybe half a dozen male Western Tanagers were hanging out in my backyard up in the walnut tree between my yard and the bad neighbors yard. I had to look the birds up online, as at first I thought goldfinch, but they had vivid red heads!

(Western Tanager - photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS)
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time in the tinyworld:

Only tinyworld activity currently happening is some clothing being made for Kenya, who seems to be rather mad for purple. I wonder if I need to make her a red hat?. Other than that, I have been enjoying window shopping online and getting ideas about how to decorate Caer Cardboard. Maybe wainscotting downstairs in the library, and the upstairs will probably be a sewing and crafts room, maybe with a daybed, or a bedroom for at least two denizens? (I don't think any of the rooms in either house are big enough for three beds, though I need to check the size of the spaces in the Aster Cottage kit ) The downstairs in Aster Cottage is definitely going to be the kitchen/workshop space. Food for thought...

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A song of hope... never not needed, never not helpful...

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~ creativity challenge ~

I've been wishing for some small pillowcases for my buckwheat hull pillows, but lacking any decent flannel on my resource shelves. This weekend it occurred to me that there were four linen tea towels that with a bit of time under the presser foot, could become just the pillowcases I was needing. Use what you have is my theme.

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I was able to locate some of my preferred heavy interfacing  (Peltex) to use for stiffening hat brims. Since lacking this is what was keeping me from making a new hat, I guess I am good to go, or at least good for experimentation. I have never been totally happy with the crown shape of the Norwester pattern, and hope to come up with something just a tad more vertical, which means creating an entirely different crown pattern. Long ago I had a hat pattern I really liked, with a more vertical bias crown, but it had been lost long before I moved to Acorn Cottage, and I have no memory of the pattern name, which was from some independent patternmaker I have never seen since.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	lilac top for Kenya	small linen pillowcases	yard waste bin
2	setting for Laurel	-	recycle bin
3	dress for Kenya	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Yesterday, a zoom call with my Mud Bay friends. (things continue to deteriorate with my Aged Parents, so a chance to see dearheart friends I sorely miss, and feel less isolated did make a big difference in my state of mind. Even though I almost burst into tears more than once)

Time of Isolation - Day 784

weekend wanderings and wonderings

in which our plucky heroine is feeling rather flat...

... and in response, dives further into the miniature reality where there is more delight and less travail and troubles. I feel grateful to have discovered that this kind of activity is renewing for me, at least right now. I cannot help wondering if I am being peculiarly self-protective, by not simply returning to the externally social life, filled with unmasked restaurant eating and event going that I see so many of my peers returning to, despite the actual statistics of the pandemic. I cannot help but fear that I will never feel like it is okay again. This is not my phobic attempt to stave off inevitable decline and death, but what I see as a realistic response to the situation. I don't know how to answer those in my circles who ask me, a little peremptorily, when I will rejoin the larger world. 

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time in the tinyworld:

This weekend I made some more tiny books, most of them using images that were downloaded for the covers, and blank interiors. I also printed out two books ("Beautiful Birds volumes 1 and 2), that one of my Tiny Rag Doll Nation friends sent me as a pdf, which have lovely and colorful illustrated pages. So there are a bit more to put on the bookshelf.

This last week I finally worked on creating Kenya Ogidni, (Nandina's mom)... I'm pretty happy with how her face turned out, and with the new method of attaching yarn hair.

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~ creativity challenge ~

Stopped in today at local art store to get some papertape, since I couldn't find the roll I know I have somewhere, and in their free box were small offcuts of soft printing plates. I want to try using some for block printing tinyworld textiles, either for soft furnishings, or even for clothing. Why do I want papertape, you may wonder... well the redoutbable and renowned Ann Wood presented it to the world on her blog as her new secret ingredient in making cardboard houses! Since I have been struggling to figure out how best to move forward on Caer Cardboard, I think this will be ideal for filling in the many corrugated gaps in the layered laminations that are visible on the edges all over the house. Then I can finally get it painted, start decorating, and finding places for various small furniture bits and bobs.

I also have the IKEA faux greenhouse, SENAPSKÅL which will be an "outdoor space" between Caer Cardboard and the Tudor cottage. I intend to make an egg carton cardboard stone flagged floor, to bring it all up to level with the house floors, and the whole "neighborhood" is actually going to live atop the tansu (箪笥) chest in my closet. Hmmm... perhaps I should call their street "Tansu Terrace"

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny Euphorbia	jacket snaps added	yard waste bin
2	tiny moth orchid	moar wood chips in planter	recycle bin
3	Countess scroll	weight closer for back door	tax forms mailed
4	Laurel enamel	tiny drawer handles	broken tree parts
5	sunflower enamel	tiny trowel handle	CrankyTooth
6	tiny cutting board	x	yard waste bin
7	x	x	recycle bin
8	x	x	-
9	x	x	-
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Friday I found out that, fortunately, the peculiar mole on my arm turned out to be benign. This was a big relief.

Time of Isolation - Day 770