jeudi 31 janvier 2019

Finished ceiling rehab

Pics are better than long explanations, so I'll keep them basic
I've been putting wood rods into the holes, and used a kind of adhesive mortar

then used a little bit of broken plaques of styrofoam to make it at the same level as the rest of the ceiling

finally covered everything with the plaques

ok, it's not "nice" at all, but it's SO much better than it was and the best : over the night, I gained 6°Celsius ! 
I'm so happy to see it done in such a short time !
It looks so much clean than before
Now you would think I stopped there
NO
I am "me" so I decided to start moving things around 
huge mess of everything, like things to sell, empty boxes of my BJDs, etc

This being done, I moved the big cupboard/shelves, to prepare them for the cutting part

as I can't explain well, I'll show with pictures : before the larger one was near the heating thing, I've been permuting this big one with the 2 smallers
I don't like the smaller ones, because they are deep but not large enough to put something that would be nicely displayed in. I'm asking François to destroy those 2 smaller ones, and use the parts to create one that should look a little bit like the larger one (1rst on the left on the pic will stay, the 2 smaller after will be destroyed, and the last very small metal one will be used elsewhere in the house. It should look like this (sorry for the awful drawing LOL)

this way I'll have space at the bottom for things actually on sale, next one for the 2 dollhouses I'm trying to repair, the 2 next ones will be for sylvanian things (that's where my seaside corner will be), and the top part  the  at the top should be perfect for things displayed, light in weight, be it craft things I made or maybe some dolls or ...who knows...
I don't know when we'll find courage, time, energy to do this, but at least the big one is settled at its definitive place, so it's gonna be easier now to move/remove what we want
Hopefully I'll manage to work in the attic, to create some space for things to sell, and ex husband things. I believe the divorce procedure should start sometimes around september, it's going to be a long and hard fight, that I'll face alone as I have no family or close friends. I know then I'll end with absolutely nothing, just I hope I can keep the house. For the rest I don't care. It means I'm searching even more a job, what is almost impossible to find here, mostly without a car, so I guess you are not going to hear me as much as before after the end of spring. That's also why I am working so hardly now, to keep my mind occupied, and low my stress 

lundi 28 janvier 2019

Am I done with cross stitch world ? (long)

I've just read a blog post that is making me wonder about it. I am, probably...

I gave up years ago mostly because I was totally fed-up with everything that went with cross stitch. Increasing prices of charts (more than 25€ for a chart ? really ???), more secret clubs where you have to buy a project without having any clue of what you'll get, sometimes you win, sometimes you loose... all the local craft shops closing, the few left are now more than an hour far from here, driving, no access if you don't have a car... total impossibility to find a thread you NEED for a design, not to mention the fabrics. Do you know I still can't stitch a chart I bought in 1996 just because I can't find/afford the suitable skein of thread I was needed ? No, another colour wouldn't do the trick. I need a thread gatherer silk, nothing else, and to get this silk thread I have the choice between ordering one in France, from a shop I'm not really sure about, in Paris, for about 9€ + 5€ something for a basic shipping in a simple envelop. Really ? 14€ for a tiny skein of thread, send without any protection in a simple envelop ? that would cost about 1€ something. Where are the 4 others gone ?? I have a clue...
Grrrr. I can order it from another shop, but it's almost the same price, and people mentioned having troubles to get what they ordered. At some point it could be more or less the same price for me to order it from a US shop. Silly world...
French (or so called) DMC thread is less expensive in other countries. I mean LESS. Here a skein is about 1.80€. YES. WHen you need 30 colours for a design, I let you imagine the grand total : fabric, threads, needles, chart, and not to mention the finishing. A fortune. And of course you can't get all those things at the same place so you'll pay 2 or 3 shipping cost as well. Once in the past I managed to order skeins of DMC in the USA when they had a kind of sale, and WITH shipping cost I had 120 skeins for 15€.... I let you compare. The thread supposed to be from MY country is so much discounted elsewhere...Oh, and of course, DMC thread is not "that" french. When I hear french stitchers saying yes they are, they paid the visit to the "factory", and they told them it's french so it is. EXCUSE ME... but will someday people of this country get a brain ? I doubt about it. I'm sure they will never. I'm exhausted. The thread is from Egypt, colours in Morocco or so, and then send God only knows where (even him is wondering I'm sure), to finally come to France, where it's packed with a nice label. The only real part of the job done in my country is the "laboratory" thing, where they test threads, colours, etc. It's a board to create, nothing related to production. Some years ago someone on a forum gave the proof of it, like customs papers. She was flamed, ang maybe banished (or she gave up too, I don't know).

I also gave up because I had enough of fake friendships, those people who can squeeze you up to your last drop of blood, to get whatever you create. They are very clever to ask, ask, and ask for more. I spent billions of hours stitching, doing cartonnage, mounting things a creative way. And spent all the money that would help me survive NOW to send all those things to them, they were just sending a tiny gift certificate in return. They KNEW that I was too poor to afford, but as long as it was working for them... As soon as I became ill, they all disapeared, to show up when I started posting pics again. Shhhhhh... They knew I was alone, depressive because of my health/marriage situation, nobody helped me. They were clever, really, knowing I was too lonely to answer no to their requests. They wanted expensive charts I could have never get for me, they kept telling me how lucky I was to be able to make a box, a bag, a doll, etc. NO. I wasn't lucky, I was just a hard worker, trying to learn more each day. But it was less stressing/efforts for them to just get MY work than learning themselves how to make this.
Of course my eyes situation made it hard for me to do any crafts... and sitting hours to stitch a tiny piece is no more an option. I can't sit for a long time. I can't do anything for a long time in fact. I'm suffering too much. Here, they offer NO help to people with my condition...
Also, what will happen to all my things when I'm dead ? They'll surely just go to the loony bin, with my dolls and precious books, I have NO family, be it close or far, and for the friends case, well....
So : no money, no health, no perspective, no real sincere friends. That was yet quite compromising.

But then came something else : I can't follow on the new communication channels.
I am a blog girl. I don't match facebook, twitter I'm not even on it, flickr or so is too elitist for me...
I had some hopes with what is called "flosstube", a kind of you tube dedicated to thread works. When I started viewing videos, I must admit it was entertaining... But... (yes, there is always a "but")...

Videos can be 50mn long.... to show nothing I can actually use. I mean it's great to know someone got 200 charts but... and so what ? It's great to know someone is making progress on this huge design they started working on... but... making a video about it each time they stitch like 3cm²... really ??...Not to mention all those who have their baby screaming, calling for attention, the floss tuber holding it, giving him his toy, again, and again... I sometimes wonder if they are not going to change their diaper in front of the camera LOL. The one who is putting on lipstick (WTF ????), or sipping coffee before starting to speak (yep girl, you CAN do it prior to put the camera "on", I promise)... Those speaking about their holidays (but nothing related to cross stitch at all)...
Little by little I've stopped following most of those channels...
If it's just to brag about their huge stash (when I thought mine was indecent & how much I felt ashamed about it, I feel it is just ridiculous in quantity now), WHERE is the interest ?
Everything now is about "my perfect life in a perfect house with the perfect family"... and ?
I must admit what I LOVE is to read a blog where people tell about what went well or wrong in their life, what is life like in their corner of the world (is it hard to find this or that ? is there a total lack of access to some things like health things, do administration is a nightmare or is it just french ? Is a bottle of milk expensive ? etc). I love blog where people share REAL life, not PERFECT life.
About cross stitch it's the same.
I love reading about someone who bought a chart, and tell why they finally liked it or no, did they stitch it or no, how do they plan on finishing it, how they tried different ways to store their things...
I mean... Wasn't it ment to be a place to LEARN something ?
I expected people to speak just like what I am looking for on blogs, show technics, ideas, etc

There is the designer problem too... I have been SO deceived lately by 2 of them... they are people from which I bought quite a lot, and I hate it to stop my story with them, but I'll do.
About Lizzie*Kate as I already said it's about her way to spit at the face of all the tiny shops which supported her for years and years. But the major deception went from Little House Needleworks. I subscribed to the facebook group, and was happy to publish a design that I modified, telling the story about it. Surprise : the comments were blocked. What ? Why ? I was not giving a chart of any kind, I was not lacking respect to her work, I was just telling why I enclosed a particular verse of a song... I didn't understand what happened, mostly because nobody told me, or answered my questions about it. So I made the "mistake" again, and same, then my publication was just ripped of the group. That's when a very kind stitcher had the same problem, with a sampler she was dedicating to her grandfather, and it's her who could explain me the whole thing. To be totally honest HER sampler is 10 times better than the original one. I guess the designer was upset with her tallent. I NEVER expected this from a designer. NE-VER. Such a childish behavior really broke my heart. So, from this designer, I'll finish what I already have, but will never get again a single new chart from her. She is no more getting a single penny from me. If there is something I want, I'll buy a 2nd hand chart. And modify it if I want. Grrrrrrr. Oh, and I'm not speaking of all those designers who copy each others, sometimes the design is so close that I can make the mistake when it comes to tell who did what....

I 'm still watching a couple of floss tubers, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to last long. I'm following more than 250 blogs, but I hardly have to ready more than 20 posts per week... It's SO frustrating...

The last stupidest thing they've set up (who ? where ? I don't kow..nobody bothered giving more infos about it, just they asked "follow the movement") is a challenge, when you are supposed to start  stitching a new design each day of the month... EACH day. When it's yet very hard to actually have time to finish one in a month or year, you are supposed to be excited by the idea of starting 31...
This world is mad. This world is not mine...
I almost subscribed to a thing about 12 months 12 designers, but I quickly realized I would not have the time for it, not the money too. And I don't have more than 4 designers listed in my stash. I can't buy a single thing now, and I don't even want to. So... I didn't register...

I know most of the people doing crafts no more have a blog, or take time to read a blog, I don't know if I'll keep my 2 last blogs up, because there are few people reading, I don't know if it's worth the effort to create some tutorials, and about what. My few knowledge will be gone with me, it's making me sad to see everything now is a competition, not a huge sharing thing. I'm done I believe....
Is it making me sad ? Sure. But I'm yet depressed with everything else... so it's going to match the general mood let's say...

samedi 26 janvier 2019

Toy room improvement

As you know I still have no clue about the future, maybe I'll loose my house and end being kind of homeless, but nevermind, I keep on working, just because this house deserves more than what my ex husband did for it.

So, my current "recreative" activity is to do something for the ceiling. Every other option was way too expensive and complicate : finding someone who is willing to work (and actually comes to do it) is quite hard, someone who is going to work well is harder to find, working well without asking for 10 times what it's worth is yet a dream, and work well on something complicate it's just impossible). After thinking high and low about all the options, I went for the simplest and cheapest one, even if it's something I HATE to work with. Kind of styrofoam thing. I chose one with a girly style, just because it was the cheapest in the heaviest material. It's great that it's this design that was matching my needs, because all the others were totally ugly !
The ceiling being distort all ways, with a bunch of holes, things attached, pipes all kind, electrical links and such, it's going to be a nightmare. But all my life has been a nightmare, so... more or less...

Let's go. I think it's going to take me a couple of weeks to achieve it.

It's what it looks like at the beginning

what a disaster !

I don't know yet how I'm going to fill this big hole

I can't hide or untie all those pipes, I'll have to make creative silly cuttings

that's a bunch, but according to my calculating I need 84 of those plaques
ouch

The ceiling is a parallelogram, the walls are too, and they have all the curves you can imagine

 
and here I am, standing in precarious balance between the top of my scale and my village... yes, I am walking on my seaside corner... no choice
Wish me luck for I don't fall straight in the middle of it LOL

Sylvanian post office - supplies

I'm not using mine, but just in case I found clever to put the scans here, as they are impossible to find for most of us... Just in case someone in need will find them !



for the 1rst one you'll have to play a little bit with your printer, for the 2nd one you can print on A4 size paper and it will be ok 
Enjoy !
If someone has the little books, mostly the stamps one, it would be nice to share. Thanks

jeudi 24 janvier 2019

Sylvanian tiny tree house redo


If you remember my post, I got this one in a lot, where everything was spoilt, broken, not complete, etc. It was missing a roof, so I did one, with wood, covered by an old wallpaper and to have it at the right angle, I've added beads to the front part. The beads show very brownish on the picture, but it's not showing up like this in true, the colour is more like the swing part.
 Then I had to remove all the stickers, trying to save them when it was possible (very old portrait ones)
 And finally I could work on the inside
I made a kind of mattress/sofa, & various pillows
Everything is sewn, I could have go for glue, but I wanted to be proud of my work so...
(perfectionnist mode settled)

the table is made of a small spool, wrapped with twine, the bottom is painted in the same colour as the roof is, and finally I've glued a water bottle cap on top of it

then glued some fabric over. I'm not totally happy with it, but it will be a good temporary one.
I have few furniture, can't get any 2nd hand ones at decent price, and the fabric wasn't cooperating, first I was just planning to put it like a real table cover, but.... pffffffffff

the lamp is from a playmobil old set, I made the basket with flowers, the poster on the wall is a part of a birthday card I got years ago. I've also attached (everything is taped only, nothing is glued) a straw hat to the door, to hide the discoloured spot left after I removed the sticker 

and voilà !
Now I need to create a scale to climb in the tree... 
I'm always missing things, it's like a never ending story

Oh, and I started working on my brand new tree house I just got at the sales.
I didn't plan to do a wallpapering but the roof clips are really ugly inside the house so...
no idea of what I can put inside, I try to find a suitable link to create a hammock, but for the lower stages... ??? Probably I'll get a barbecue if I find a cheap one, to place on the green ground, but for the 2 levels....I admit I have no idea at all ! 
As we are speaking of hammocks, isn't it...mean... from the designer to sell this house without one, when they've put the hooks for it ? Really ?! It's a toy that is about 70€ when you pay it at full price and there is no accessory... I have this sad feeling they are going to put less and less accessories, most sets are less detailled. People keep telling the new buildings are pretty, ornated much, but then if there is nothing to put inside... I'm glad I don't start collecting now, because I would hardly get things, too expensive, no accessories... argh

lundi 21 janvier 2019

Sylvanian story booklets

A little gift, I know they are not offered with all characters, so I'm sharing the only 2 I got. One is in japanese, sorry, but still nice to look at the pictures :-)
You can click the pictures to see them better, and then save them
Enjoy !



dimanche 20 janvier 2019

Cross stitch and sewing finishes

After YEARS I decided to start finishing things that are waiting in boxes, boxes under boxes, and boxes hidden by a pile of boxes behind another one... and all those kits, waiting to be done in baskets, keeping company to the charts, waiting in a binder, just for the hypothetical & unlikely chance to see me having any interest in them... do you see what I mean ? Yep, years of a big mess of unfinished things.
I love taking part into challenges, as it's a great way to dig through those heaps of "last chance before the bin" things... and see if I can finish/stitch/sew some.
Here we go, thanks to Augustine Bobine who is offering those challenges quite often, I finished not only some matching the "reindeer/deer/moose" thema given, but some others as well...
Applauses for me LOL
Here is a first batch, be ready for many more soon !
tralala design, finished as a tiny "vitrine" because... it's all I had to frame it and I try to buy nothing (as far as possible) to finish what I have

the picture is awful, sorry, I couldn't find a way to take a better pic with the flash, and the house is very dark (because of all the fabrics/curtains/plastic sheets I had to use to try to make the house less cold) so I can't do without the flash....

Tilda. I'm not sure to keep it...

kit "cut and sew", old one, I believe it's my last kit 

can't even remember who the designer was, it's soooo old
It's not showing up but the fabric is hand-dyed, so it looks like a marbbled one

this is so old I can't remember who the designer was or when I stitched this.. LOL
I found a Mill Hill frame in my stash that is at the right size. Perfect ! I was so surprise to see there are 2 holes and a kind of rod at the back of the frame. It took me some time to understand it's working like a foot for the frame. Clever (and cheap). An idea I might re-use
Heart in Hand kit

Lizzie*Kate design, I used some sparklng thread for the hat, but it's not showing on the picture :-(
I used to like a lot this designer, but after she retired she did something I really found... weird and quite unfair (let's say it : un respectful) for the cross stitch shops... so I think I'll no more stitch things from her...I'll finish what I have, but my left over charts will all be sold, even if I didn't stitch the chart. It's the same with a couple of other designers (for other reasons) who will never get my money again... *deception*

jeudi 17 janvier 2019

Huge addition to my sylvanian village !

After I bought the 2 families and the 2nd seller accepted to sell me the 2 concertists, I thought ok, no more money (not a single coin in my purse), it's going to take me "some" time to recover, let's think about what I'll sell next and....

Ok, I had another haemorrhage... François ran into panic and offered me to go to town (the smaller one, we are half way between a big and a small town), and get close to the emergencies, just in case it gets worst. I accepted because I was quite weak. We even tried to go directly, but they bothered me again (because I don't have health insurance, etc)... We stayed a little bit, and finally left because there were people NOT in a case of emergency that were taken care of and it was getting on my nerves. I had some rest in his car, took auto medication, and I started to feel better after a couple of hours. I also have a huge gum problem + abcessed tooth, I was breathing badly... it was nice to him to drive me there. And he was totally mad seing their don't take any care of me (when the law says they have to), he started to shout loudly at them.. I thought maybe they'll call the police and we'll be arrested... and then they'll bring me back here automatically LOL


So, as I was feeling better, he said he should get me a sylvanian little thing, just to cheer me up. That's how we started speaking about prices, etc... and he asked me if I don't find it "strange" to see so many identical sets sold at the same time on Vinted, he said "maybe there is a supermarket having huge discounts, and nobody told you !". Yep. Many people are nice and share good deals, but the huge majority of people keep the good deal for themselves and buy everything from the shelves, to re-sell. I hate french mentality... 

As we were "close" to a supermarket of this town (there are only 2) and as he was looking for a new computer as his died, he offered to go and have a look. 
And of course there were items discounted. MUCH. Arghhhhhh


I told him I can't even afford a 5€ one, so he decided to get me whatever he could with all his money left, and this will be my birthday gift ... even if my birthday is in march LOL. Isn't it the cutest thing ? That's how I came back home with things that were not even on my wish list except one, but the price was....WOW

I've let the price under, just for you see how great the deal was !

There were other things avalaible but he couldn't spend a single other euro, he wanted me to get everything but I found it was yet too much.... So I chose those I prefer :-) 
*happy dancing*
the tree house for 29 is the best deal I've ever seen, even a dirty spoilt 2nd hand one is much more than this !
I'll open the boxes later, for now I'm feeling too bad to move, 
but I wanted to share the deal just in case someone is in France and has the same supermarket (could be good to check, just in case, right ?) : super and hyper market Cora

mercredi 16 janvier 2019

A couple of cross stitch finishes (and cooking too)

design by Heart in Hand "little pumpkin patch", stitched yeaaaaaars ago
finally framed 

I'm not sure as I stitched it a long time ago too, but I believe the designer is C mon Monde, I bet this is one of the design of her book (as long as I bought the book but I have bought really few charts)

finished following the "cube" method, but I didn't want a plain square, so I've cut the shape of an arch...
I couldn't remember why I didn't use this method more, until it took me more than 2 hours to finish it that way... ok, too long, now I remember LOL


2 more done... Let's try to keep the rythm !
And to change a little bit, I've been spending some time in the kitchen, making the so famous french "galette des rois à la frangipane", and some ice cream as well, as long as looking for something else I found back my ice machine (very simple one, you put the "bowl" in the freezer, and when it's cold enough you put your cream or whatever in it, it's brewing it and tada...). So I have lemon yoghurt ice cream and vanilla ice cream. Yep, I'm the kind of silly person to eat ice cream in the winter LOL.
I don't like much the one we buy, it's too sweet (too much sugar) and creamy. I prefer yoghurt type.





Sylvanian new additions

2 new families are travelling to join "Bois Joli" village
I always loved those poodle dogs, so it's great news ! I just wish I could get a baby too...
I was not much interested first, but after having one with my hamburger wagon, I thought it could be nice to gather a whole family !

I wouldn't have buy those, because the price is toy shops is now totally crazy (like 35€ for a family... no way !), and I can't buy on amazon... but I found those brand new ones on Vinted, and the seller was offering a great discount : 2 families for 25€ !

I even made an offer for 2 other sets, to another seller, for the concerto girls (cello and violin), for the same price. Here they are over 20€ each, I really don't want to put that much (+ the travel to go there, I no more have a car and it's far, not accessible by the train, etc). Let's cross my fingers, because I would have love to get those to complete my Lionel Grande orchestra !


samedi 12 janvier 2019

Cross stitch finish, dollhouse, destruction of the day

This is the destruction of the day : I made this huge "pèle-mêle" so many years ago. I had a use of it at that time... but my ex husband didn't like it, and came the day when I was sad to see it taking dust in the attic. I tried to sell it, but no matter how low the price was, it didn't sell... The frame is huge, costing yet quite a lot, there was this big piece of linen (around 15€), all the ribbons, the clips, and the time spent to stitch the center design. This morning I was fed-up, so I destroyed it all. I can recycle the frame, maybe, and I've just cut the center piece to keep a "memory" of my work. Sad, but done !

As we are speaking about destruction, I started working on the 2nd dollhouse, that is the same as the one I repaired earlier (not totally finished tho). This one is in a much poor shape. I really don't think I can save it, tons of heavy glue that doesn't go, the wood (plywood ?) is too fragile to scrub, there are a bunch of parts missing, some totally broken including one that is supposed to hold the roof... well, I'm giving it a try but I don't have big hopes... 


the right part is missing the bottom, the fence is missing sections, some have broken junctions... a nightmare !

To relax from all that stress, I decided to finish my Bent Creek, the one I made progress on (attaching wheels and rope to)

as I had no suitable frame (the finished area being 37cmx 13cm), as foam is too expensive for I get some and finish it as a "cube", I decided to make a... ??... rushed ?? ribbon, and attach it to the back, then make a sandwich out of 2 cardboard pieces, covered with fabric. Why black ? Because black is always the answer when you don't find the suitable colour LOL


that's a bunch of pliers, and a bunch of glue as well LOL

tada ! :-) another one finished !
Maybe someday, later, I'll add some fancy details, if I ever find some... but I don't have a shop selling those kind of things, nor great wood hangers like I see on all the american blogs like Priscilla's one... So for now it will remain a little bit boring... Let's say : classic LOL

3D card kit

  Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, my camera is acting silly, I couldn't use the flash. My printer is an ink one, it'...