1: 144 Scale Half Timbered Cottage

I have been side tracked by a new project. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Ever since I added half timbered additions to the nutshell houses  I have wanted to do a 1: 144 scale cottage.

I wanted to use twigs  because I thought they looked great on the other pieces I made. (I buy twigs at Michaels in the floral dept. They are six feet long, all I can use are the tips.) And.... I wanted to fill between those "timbers" with a super fine sand & glue mixture I make. I thought it looked much more realistic/ interesting then just having a flat painted background. It is a bit tedious... more than a bit actually. You have to be so careful not to get the thick sandy glue on the "timbers".  I push it around with the point of a toothpick and pat it all into place between the twigs with a damp finger.

The end of the pin is black from burning off the Zap-a-Gap glue off it. If it gets up your  nose it can make your eyeballs CROSS!

It is not going to be finished for a week or more. I am waiting for shingles and some more windows. I want to operate on those so the inside will have a finished look around the windows.

I was going to paint the double front doors white but now I am leaning toward a sort of barn red. Which might compliment the roof if I try to simulate a reddish tile look.

Where is everyone??? Taking the summer off from blogging I suppose. :-)

Thank You Pepper!!!

 

Here is the gorgeous George 1 cruet set I won on Pepper's blog. http://mitchymoominiatures.blogspot.com/ 

What lovely and generous prizes she offered her Followers. I was thrilled and feel very lucky to have won this beautiful sterling silver set made by silver/goldsmith Stephen J Randal. He is a wonderful silversmith, the detail in his work is fabulous.

Thank you so much Pepper. I will treasure it forever.

It's finally blooming!

I planted a new crape myrtle tree in my front yard two years ago. We have had three years a drought, so this is the first year it has bloomed. We have had so much rain everything in my garden is happy.

In a few short years the tree will grow to be as tall (or taller) then my house. The foliage will get thicker and it will have more blooms. This type of crape myrtle (Sarah's Favorite) flowers several times during the summer but it is also very pretty in the fall when the leaves turn a bright red.

This older one in my back garden is very happy too.

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I have always planted impatiens in the west court yard but because I sit out there so much at night I thought I would plant a lot of white garden this year.

Even the 'Knock Out' roses are happy on the back of the wall.

Not much survives our summer heat so this is pretty good for this part of the world. 

It is 97 degrees F today (36 Celsius) and the humidity is killer!!! Those brick walls make the court yard feel like an oven.

The only way in to the west court yard is through this gate.