Tree, Shingles and Garden Walls

I think it's officially almost time to panic.  Brae has helpfully put a countdown on her blog and every time I go look at her progress I start thinking about my own.

Then I have to do deep breathing exercises so I can calm down.

Keeping in mind that I don't have much time left I've been doing a bit of work each night this week.  Mostly getting the tower roof shingled and the main roof painted.

I took this last picture Saturday and I was thrilled the cats were being so sweet and not interfering.

The Building Inspector on the cat climbing tree. AKA Tali Zorah Vas' Normandy.

Cap'n Jack Sparrow on top of the craft supply shelf.

Miho, in one of the little window shelves.  Nice sunny spot.

Helo on the other window shelf.

All four of them were lined up in a row.  This very rarely happens.  Drusilla lives in her own room and was quite happy to stay there in her little bed on the chair when I opened the door.  She just looked at me like 'what do you want? I'm sleeping.'  Obviously not in a picture taking mood.

Unfortunately Saturday was the last day the Building Inspector kept her nose out of things.  She was all over the table after that. There was cat hair on the dollhouse roof. As if someone had been walking or rubbing on it.

Despite her interference I did manage to get the roof completely shingled.

I had to let the glue dry overnight before I could paint.

You've seen the black undercoat.  I went over it with Anita's Acrylic Charcoal paint.  I put a straight layer of paint and then added water to the brush and pulled the paint down.  It gave it a nice streaky finish.

Then I went over it with another layer of slightly lighter paint, Americana Grey Sky and did the same thing.

I added a layer of Folk Art's Thunder Grey in a few places but I didn't care for how it looked so I watered it down and spread it out so it wasn't as obvious.

I decided to add the bargeboards and topper to the front.  I don't think I'll end up painting the roof anymore but if I do I can tape it off.

I went to the Scenery Solutions site and ordered some more Candytuft last week.  The man who runs the site was really great and upgraded my shipping so I got it this Friday.  So I was able to work on the tree some more.  Can't say enough nice things about him.

I'm adding a bit of a built up base to it so I can have the branches clear the walls of the garden.   I need to carve it away a bit more but you get the gist.

I have my chimney made, and I have the two stacks for it.  I'm priming my dragons to embellish the stacks.

I remembered to age/burn the bread boards.

I thought of using matches but I decided it would be safer to just use charcoal.

But that's the extent of my progress for the week.  I'm going to try and make some vegetables using Jodi's tutorial this week and hopefully put stone on the garden walls in the evenings.

I'm still waiting on my sausages to arrive, I've been told it can take up to eight weeks.  Lets hope they get here soon, I'd like to get the drying rack hung up.

I'm lucky though, with all the time I'd put in when we were trying to take the new accounting program live at the end of October, I got about twenty six hours of flex time.  My boss is letting me take a day and a half of it this Thursday and Friday so I get some extra time to work on the dollhouse this weekend too.

The tape you see on the corner is because someone (The Building Inspector) decided to jump up on or pull down the lower wall and snapped the trim when it fell to the ground.  One of the shutter hinges came undone and had to be reglued as well.  There was a lot of cursing and threats and she went to her daddy's spot on the couch and pouted.

I can use this turf for moss on my rocks around the tower base and a bit on the lower portion of the house walls if I like how it looks.

I need to make a stop at Hobby Lobby tomorrow on the way home and get some more paint.  But other than that I'm pretty good for supplies.

How are the rest of you doing?



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
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?
          Make lake/river to go alongside house
          Add moss and weeds along side house and tower
          Make stone wall to go around garden
          Iron front gate.