September 29, 2007

I thought I would try to make a mini crazy quilt block which I have never done before so was not sure on the size to make it. I made these four blocks and as you can tell from the second picture next to my hand it is a little big. I plan to try again when I have time and use a 1 1/2" backing to get a 1" block. I might use these for pillows or something.
Here is something else I did. I saw the most magnificent stairs in a magazine so copied some of it on the back of my stairs. It's not perfect but I like it. The next pic is of the front of the stairs. I plan to put a small study under the stairs for the man of the house with more of the fancy wood work and a leather chair.

Now this is what I have worked on mostly for over a week now. This is part of my real stairs and landing that I have painted dazzling red! The trim is white and the baseboards, floors, and doors, are to be the natural wood. I started this project last fall by stripping the stairs, baseboards and railing. Before I started all the stairs were painted black with a gold design on them as well as the top landing. the first landing had gray tile on it. I took pics but who knows where they are. So these pics are after I stripped all the black paint off the stairs and while I am in the process of stripping the awful, horrible black tar like stuff they put down the tile with. This is the main set of stairs that have already been stripped.This is the first landing at the top of the main set of stairs. Have all my supplies out there ready to get started. I tried to remove most of the gunk with paint remover, orange paint remover and scraping, and wiping up with rags and over and over and over again. Whoever thought it was a good idea to use this black gunk was nuts!After you turn the corner there is a walkway before you get to the next set of stairs. More tar gunk to be removed. I didn't do a perfect job but it turned out pretty good. I did alllll the work by myself and it took the whole winter to recover.This view is from the top landing looking down on the bottom landing. Here you get an idea of some of the rails I had to strip black paint off of. Here is a better picture of all the railing and part of the upper landing after it was stripped.This is the top landing looking over the railing towards the bottom landing. To the left is a shelf where i have all my supplies piled up. Inside this shelf is old cast iron plumbing. Makes a great place to set up my Christmas sleigh collection and my ceramic cats the rest of the year. and finally a part of it after some of my painting. Will post more pics when I am through, this is just to give you an idea of the color I am using. Isn't it enough to wake you up when you come out of the bedroom in the mornings? I think it will make a great backdrop for all my bright color quilts too! I have very few walls in the house where I can hang my quilts so plan on hanging some of them in the stairwell. When I wasn't working on my real house I was working on the miniautures. Some of these kits go so fast that I get lots made but here are just a few I got made this week. Here is the hanging shelf. I love the design on the sides.

I finished this corner cabinet yesterday. Plan to paint it to match the room I put it in.
The biggest piece so far, the flat top highboy. Still have to make the broken bonnet highboy but it is made the same with only a different top to it. See my tapewire in the back ground, I finished it this week and it actually works, so all but one room is electrified, forgot about the last room when I was doing it so will have to do it later.
Ah, and the slat back chair. They remind me of the chairs my Grandmother had in her kitchen. Only thing is, is that hers were strung with wire and had a throw pillow in them. I got some wood this week and plan to make a replica of her house. Can remember the whole thing from memory. One of my Uncle's and Aunt tore the old house down and built a new one in it's place. They built a great house but sure miss the old one and wish it was still there.

This was the most fun I had building something, even though it was a real challenge. A dollhouse for my dollhouse. I painted the inside after I had most of it together. Talk about challenging. Each room is a different color and 3 of the floors are stained and one painted. Just too cute, huh?!Well bye for now. Will post again when I get those stairs finally finished, the real ones that is!