Popping in on Toadstool Cottage Patchwork

 Setting up the store at last.......

Alice McGregor and her sister Sarah McNee are busy setting up the interior of Toadstool Cottage Patchwork.  The sign for the outside has arrived and they are really happy with it - a lovely touch of whimsy, reflecting the name of the cottage, and the magic of creativity that can be expressed in craftwork, they feel.  Now they are just waiting to have things in order before it is erected to announce to the village that they are open for business.

'Not of course that the village needs a formal announcement' they agree 'That's the nicest thing about living in Ferny Creek.  Everyone takes an interest without being too intrusive.'

Sarah and Alice moved yet another set of small display shelving to a new spot

'What do you think? Is this better?' asked Sarah.  Alice nodded in agreement.  Setting up is a lot of hard work even though the basic layout is done.  But it is very enjoyable as well. Stock of the extra bits and pieces such as accessories is a little restricted to begin with but will be added to progressively.

Upstairs on the first floor in the front area there is quite a lot of shelving, still to be filled with the fabric that is waiting to be unpacked. On the left side there is a rack of ribbons for trims and shelving underneath that will soon be filled with other embellishments.

In the middle of the floor is the cutting table, with another unit beside it for fat quarters.  Both of these units have more shelving under them.  After some discussion, Alice and Sarah have decided that they will cut fat quarters from all the bolts of fabric even though they are new, to encourage people who are unsure of buying larger amounts of fabric.  They know there are some miniaturists in the village too, so they have decided that any prints that are particularly tiny will receive extra attention.

On the right side of the room upstairs, a large roll of wadding occupies one corner, and beside it on the side wall they have placed a double quilt rack with a display of lovely quilts for inspiration.  Right beside that is a wall display with a wide range of products including some cutting mats and an assortment of quilting tools.

Downstairs on the ground floor, there are two rooms, the larger room with more shelving for fabrics and another quilt rack.    The lovely panelled wall separating this area from the smaller room to the left will soon be hung with more examples of Alice and Sarah's handiwork, or other attractive items.

On the right side is more shelving for fabrics, and near the front is the counter is a floor stand with more sewing and patchwork items on it - scissors, cutters, etc.

The smaller room to the left on the ground floor is the kitchen/lunch room.  Here is a freshly renovated area for Alice and Sarah to have their morning and afternoon tea and lunch.  And in fact for customers to have some refreshment during classes as well, if they wish.

'The kitchen area is still a bit sparse, but has a table, a cupboard, microwave and fridge. Through the door there is a small scullery. Chairs are coming soon, but the bench outside of the store is a lovely place to sit in the meanwhile, enabling Alice and Sarah  to enjoy the mellow afternoon.

'It will be a lot less clinical when we get some colour in there' commented Sarah.  I'll put the shelf up tomorrow and we can at least put the cups and saucers up out of the way.'

'That will brighten it up'  agreed Alice.  And we need some plates too, for eating the donations from'
They both smiled. 

Miss Emmaline from Hollyhock Cottage drops in fairly regularly, bringing delicious home-made scones or cake for morning tea and encouraging Alice and Sarah in their efforts. In fact several of the residents of Ferny Creek village call in to offer help - which is gratefully accepted

"It is very kind of them and apart from satisfying curiosity, it all goes to encourage people to form a relationship with the shop'  Alice said as she gratefully sat down and sipped her coffee at the end of another long and productive day. 

 'Sure does' agreed Sarah ' and if we start off with a really good opening sale, it's a great way of saying thank you for all their help as well as enticing them to become customers.'

'Great idea. Let's do that.  And .....we need to keep them coming too.'

'Hmmmm.   How about the first 3 classes free if they sign up for the term?'

'Yes!  That's a great idea too!' Alice enthused.

They surveyed the day's progress.

'The sewing boxes are just perfect for beginner sewers.They will look good when we get them out on display'

"Yes, and that new batch of  fabrics is just delightful too.  Now we have the furniture worked out we can finally put the fabric out on the shelves.'

'Yes, but it's a shame that they won't be full for a while. Never mind, what we do have is lovely'

'And the pattern books look really nice - I'd be tempted myself by some of them.  Hopefully if we put them near the sofa we're getting to put just outside the kitchen, people will look at them while they are having their tea or coffee and they'll encourage inspiration - and sales!'

And on that hopeful note they made their weary but happy way home, ready to face another day setting up tomorrow.

Making progress on Toadstool Cottage as well.

For some strange reason I'm a bit tired today - can't imagine why vbg.  Spent most of the day doing a big tidy-up of the house - in particular my not-so-mini mess.  The surface I work on in the lounge room is about 2ft x 18ins but that doesn't stop me from spreading far and wide.  Very far and wide!  So cleaning and organising was definitely in order.

 I am happy with the clay on Washtub today - it has dried beautifully overnight, and looks even better than it did last night.  The edges of one side have shrunk a tiny bit but I will fix that when I have the clay out again  (this is a warts-and-all blog so I'm telling it all). 

 Feeling much better about the house and also feeling much more organised, I then dived into the next steps on Toadstool Cottage, leaving the clay on Washtub Cottage to dry for another day.  There's not a lot to show you, but  I'm pleased with the progress.  I sponged two or three coats of parchment coloured Folk Art paint on all the pieces that will be painted - the interior and exterior of the walls, the inside of the roof pieces and the ground floor ceiling.  While each coat of paint dried, I worked on the dividing wall on the ground floor.  This involves drawing the 'beams' on to thick paper or thin card then cutting them out with a scalpel.  It is not a quick process, but once it was done and adhered to each side of  the dividing wall it was worth it.  A coat of brown paint, distressing with darker brown paint and it looks great.

I decided to do the floorboards before I did the beams on the ceiling for the ground floor - my hands were fairly sore after doing the earlier beams for the dividing walls.  I am quite comfortable doing the floorboards using the strips of thin card now, and really like using this method.  In fact I have used it on other projects too because I like it so much.  I cut the strips of card, stuck them to the floor and painted them with the first coat and left them to dry overnight.

In between all of this I managed to get the pieces sponged with parchment paint and  the walls were ready to assemble.  I glued them together and left them to dry overnight as well.

I really feel that Toadstool Cottage is well on its way now. 

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Monday, 8th March 2010

I have eyes! - and the Toadstool has arrived

I picked up my new specs today and boy what a difference they make! I can actually see 40hpi silk gauze to stitch with just my multifocals in daylight (will have to check it out tonight once it gets dark) - and wearing my new close-work specs I can see the 50 or 60hpi being a possibility, so I might even attempt that in the future.

And this morning my delivery from The Quarter Source arrived by courier, with several lots of fabric, some turntables and some scribed wooden flooring. Unfortunately I had ordered the wrong flooring thinking it was the thickness of the wood, not the width of the scribing. But it's okay - I will use it for some 1/144th scale structures I have put away to do. Yes, I have some of those too! And now I need to order some more flooring.

After that delivery, I was surprised this afternoon when another package was delivered - this time by the postie. It was from Petite Properties, and had the Toadstool Cottage kit and book in it. The kit is a good sturdy laser-cut timber one, and the book has in-depth instructions for making the house and personalising it. I was quite right, the kit is just the basic walls. You add the beams yourself, and use air-drying clay for the walls, floor and roof so that will be an exciting challenge. I haven't decided yet whether to use the Creative Paper Clay or to use the ordinary airdrying clay. I have several packets of Paper Clay, so I feel I will probably use it. It is really nice to work with, and even though it lasts for a long time I don't want it to go off in our heat here.

Tonight all work on the 'Sea Shanty' was put to one side while I enjoyed having good 'eyes' with my new specs and spent heaps of time checking out the Toadstool Cottage kit, reading through the instructions a couple of times and working out any pre-preparation steps I need to take before I start doing it. then I checked out the TeaRose kit again, comparing the work they each require. It is nice to have kits that are rather more challenging - or at least involve different skills and steps than the ones I have done so far.

And I also explored the difference the new specs made doing some mini petitpoint - lately it has been a real strain trying to stitch and my vision has been quite blurry so I really enjoyed being able to see clearly and without extra magnification.

Of course now I have a decision to make: which of the three cottages will I start next? I have taken delivery of TeaRose Cottage and Toadstool Cottage and Miss Marple's Cottage should surely arrive any day now since they were all ordered within a day of each other. Eeny, meeny, miney, mo...................which way shall I go? I have no idea at this time! So watch this space vbg. But first of course I want to go as far as I can with the Sea Shanty.