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....