The Last Of the List

I'm relieved, I have only a couple more things on my list and neither are absolutely necessary.  Chances are that if I hadn't gotten to use my flex time on Thursday and Friday I would still be frantically working and you might get a post on Monday or Tuesday.

I started with my chimney stacks.  You recall my inspiration photo?

I wanted to do something similar.  So I got a couple of terracotta stacks.  And some dragons.  You saw my primed dragons last week.  This week I got them attached to the stacks and aged so they looked like they'd been on top of a very active chimney.

I imagine they'll show up much better with a simpler background.

But once they were up and the glue drying I continued to work on my tree.  I bought some apples that resembled the type of apples in England during Tudor times and threaded some dark brown embroidery thread through them so they would 'grow' on the tree.

I worked on it and while waiting for glue to dry, worked on vegetables for the garden.  I used Jodi's vegetable tutorial, which is awesome.

The trick was to figure out what sort of vegetables my WQ would be able to grow.  Lettuces and leeks were good.  Carrots grow well with leeks and green onions too.  Cabbages and cauliflower were the other plants I had.  I also made some mint for tea and chamomile plants.  I used Jodi's method for the chamomile too.

While everything was drying and being built I started to add stones to my wall.

I was very tempted to not put stone on the front but I wanted to be able to take pictures from a wider angle if I wanted so I bit the bullet and added the stone.  I will say going with semi rectangular and square stones made the process a little easier.

Then there was the painting and adding mortar/grout.  Slightly messy process but it got done.  I was going to use the big rocks for a path but I didn't like how thick they were.  Some of the other stones I had worked better.  I built up the path slightly with spackle underneath the grass so I could press the stones down into it.  I couldn't put the path right up to the gate or the gate wouldn't open over the path.

The tree was a bit unstable for a bit until I got some dirt made of coffee grounds and white glue to add around the roots and base.  Then I added some of the coarse turf to the roots and around the stones.  The excess needs brushing off but I needed to let all the glue dry first.

While that was going in I made a border for the garden. I added some mushrooms around the tree since they always seem to grow in the shade.

I'm going with my old method of making the garden separate from the yard so I can work on it and set it in place once it's done.  It's on very thin balsa wood.

My vegetables were mostly done so I made up more of my dirt with white glue and coffee.

The glue is still drying here but I put it in place so no one (Building Inspector) will be tempted to play with the carrot tops or my leeks.

There's a rabbit in the garden.  He'd better watch out.  Bathsheba and Boadicea will be happy to chase him away.

I added my pigeons to the dovecote.  I decided to glue them to the house rather than use temporary sticking stuff.

I also added some more rocks and moss to the side of the house so it looks a little bit more like it's been there a while.  I still want to do some weeds or something.  Maybe some more moss at the bottom of the house so it doesn't look so abrupt between the grass and stone.

I also bit the bullet and made a couple of rush mats for the bedroom.  They warm up the room just enough I think.

Not bad for my first attempt.

And just because it makes me happy I opened all the windows and took a picture of it like that.

Are you able to tell at all where the house comes apart at the roof and walls?  I'm curious because when I look at the cottage it isn't immediately obvious to me.

I got a big white sheet to use as a backdrop and I'm going to order another clamp light.  I can practice my picture taking this week while I wait for my sausages to arrive.  <grinding teeth>


Create 'slate' roof
           Put Roof on House
           Paint roof.
Wiring
Finish back of house and tower
Doves/Pigeons for dovecote - Got need to glue on
Basic landscaping around the minimal base.
Lean to, to hide light switches.
Label Switches
Bedroom
          Make rush mats
Kitchen
          Hang sausages-mailed
          Age Bread paddles
          Cloak - Anna
Create front garden           Make tree? - more candy tuft ordered.
                         Finish adding and paint out stems.
          Make stream? - Not enough time
          Make lake/river to go alongside house - Not enough time
          Add moss and weeds along side house and tower
          Make stone wall to go around garden
          Iron front gate.