Monday 2 August 2021

The Next Big Step....

 ....involves the staircase. 


I had ordered the wood for this months ago, during the height of the pandemic, and when it arrived one of the pieces I needed was very badly warped, as well as stained. This happened at the factory, as the package itself was dry and unstained. While I was out this morning, the Carpenter-in-Chief contacted the manufacturer, with a photo, and new wood is on the way to replace the damaged piece. At least, I can begin sanding, painting, aging and distressing the pieces I do have.

When we started this project, the C-in-C wanted to know where the heck this stairway was going, did I really need it? Well, it goes to an imaginary second story/attic, so I will attempt to paint the illusion of a dark opening in the "ceiling", to suggest that. After all, I need that staircase to hide the privy under, and perhaps also the eventual electrics!


So, as those among you who do embroidery for their dolls' houses know, you end up with an awful lot of tiny pieces of canvas. Along with those, I have a massive lifetime collection of embroidery floss. I like to think of this as a Serendipity project; making something from left-overs, essentially. The tangle of floss represents left-overs from kits, threads I can no longer match to their skeins, floss my children used when they wanted to learn embroidery, and so forth. And the first result is the "modern" rug in the centre. This one is done, ready to have the hems turned. It was worked on 24ct canvas, with 2 strands of floss; some of the stripes have two colours in the needle, which gives a subtle, tweed effect.

A small project like this is handy to carry around. Basically, I decide on a colour scheme, pull all the various bits of those colours from the tangle, and stitch away. The next one is intended to be a rag rug, the sort you use in front of the kitchen sink (or in the bedrooms of your servants!), in blues and greys.
This one, in brown tones, may fit into my Trash-to-Treasure Loft Project, as it pulls from the natural shades in that little vignette. But if we ever get back to having shows again, I may also try to sell it.

Tomorrow I begin sanding the treads and risers of my staircase....



7 comments:

  1. Genius use of leftover embroidery floss!

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    1. Growing up in post-war The Netherlands taught me to save stuff; also, I've lived in places where embroidery floss was very hard to come by, indeed! I may be a floss hoarder....

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  2. Stairs are such an interesting architectural feature even if they only lead to an imaginary 'somewhere'. These are fabulous and hope the replacement piece of wood gets to you quickly.
    Anna

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  3. The stairs going in is a grate milestone in the progress of the shop! I hope the replacement lumber is of far better quality.
    The rug is wonderful and I admire your stitching skills! To have that much leftover floss is a luxury! I am sure you will make the most of it!

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    1. My actual floss stash takes over an entire picnic basket. That does include embroidery fabric, colour cards, and two plastic storage boxes with yet more floss wound on cards! I'm a floss hoarder?

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  4. Hi Marijke, it sounds like you are definately a floss hoarder. :-) But I can not imagine that this is a bad thing to hoard. I love the rug you have created.

    Huibrecht

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    1. Thank you, Huibrecht! I've made another small one in denim blues with some red accents, and am now working on a modern one with cubes in various shades of green. I'll have to see where I go from there....

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