Four poster bed in William and Mary House

Here's the bed in situ in the bedroom of the William and Mary House -- I really love how it looks, even before I make and embroider the hangings! The pinkish velvet-covered mattress came with it, and looks just fine, actually -- goes very well with the wallpaper, at least :)

The chair is a Bespaq I picked up cheaply on eBay -- so typical of the period.

And I finished the strip of stonework for along the front of the main house. David bought me a triangular file and I found that did an excellent job of delineating and deepening the bevels between the stones.  Next step -- cut the right hand front door!

Tulips (full scale) and 1:12 four poster bed

Today felt quite a lot like Spring in Nova Scotia -- warm sunlight and a brilliant blue sky almost fooled me into thinking Spring was here already. It made me buy a bunch of tulips at the grocery store; my first of the season :)

I think I love this so much because it reminds me of the 17th century love of tulips :) I get to have tulips all year round in the William and Mary House!

I finally decided on the four poster bed to go in the bedroom of the WAHM: this whitewood (or barewood) version, by Street Ahead, which I bought through UK dealer Minimum World. Within a week or so after ordering, it arrived and was ready to be stained.

 I have some touch ups to do (I need to even out the tone in places), and I have to varnish it, but imagine this hung with crewel work and with crewel bedding ...

Tony Knott pewter in miniature

Having heard that English pewter artisan Tony Knott was retiring, I ordered these pieces while I could still get them :)

The three tankards are for the Pub, when it gets built (sometime in the never-never of planned-but-unstarted projects) and the jug and goblet are for the William and Mary House.

Stonework waist

Needing stonework waists for my house, I decided to make a band of "stones" out of a thin pine strip.

I used a long quoin and marked off the strip into lengths. I incised a v shaped groove to separate each stone and then beveled the top and bottom edges with a craft knife. I think I need to get some decent carving tools -- this is fun!

I then coated the strip in limestone modelling dust.

This door is now ready to hang -- maybe later today?

Knole settee by Kris Compas

Kris, the settee arrived yesterday, and it's just stunning. I couldn't be happier with it!

The Blue and White room is in a bit of an uproar because of the construction going on, but this gives an idea of how harmoniously the settee goes with its surroundings :)

Folks, that's Kris Compas, furniture artisan extraordinaire!

WAHM roof on! Woo hoo!

Darling David, in spite of not feeling very well, helped me put the hinged front of the roof on today!

Piano hinge screwed to the front:

And with the other side screwed to the ridgepole ....

... it now opens and shuts!

I'm so happy :)

Knit Wits make progress

We had a great day on Thursday! Ruth made some serious headway in finishing her fireplace, and Esther zipped along with her Tudor house - putting in the dividing wall upstairs and making the stairs to the attic.