Last night I used the book that my friend Alana sent me — The Most Wonderful Dollhouse Book, to make a new chair for the doll house.

First I started with an empty baking powder can.  I used a Sharpie to outline where I would cut with my sharp Xacto.

You can see how the chair will be shaped.  The most tedious part comes next, and that is cutting a piece or two of fabric and smoothly hot-gluing it on so it looks upholstered.

But it turns out well!  What did I use to fill the inside?  I simply measured out enough stuffing to fill up the seat.  I then cut a circle of fabric and laid that stuffing in the center of it.  I pulled the fabric together all around it like a balloon and tied it together with a piece of string.  The tied-with-string end went down into the seat first, leaving a pretty puffy pillow look on top.

Mama Doll loves her chair.  I ended up covering my fabric “seam” on the chair with a ribbon I had recycled from some old PJs.  It worked perfectly. 

Fancy, no?  Princess of the Universe loves her new chair.

Remember to supervise the use of all crafting tools.  I always do the sharp work myself and supervise my children very closely when they are working with things like this to avoid injury.

Lynn

Saturday mornings always find Princess of the Universe wanting to play. Yesterday was no exception. A little friend of hers came over and they played “camping.” This little boy loves how Princess of the Universe is able to really play boy games, but hey, she has three brothers after all.

They are building their tent.  At least that’s what they said.

On my way out for my wintery Saturday walk during my lunch break, I took a picture of the two little kitties snuggled up on their favorite chair.  The one on the right is the tailless cat.  She’s much bigger, but much more shy than the smaller kitten.

All during my walk, it sounds as if little critters are walking along with me, only they are in the mass of trees and vines by the road.  Every so often I catch a glimpse of a little bird here or there in the carpeting of leaves under the tangled trees.  The animals blend right in and are hard to see.

It is very cold, but I do love my walks.  With most of the foliage gone, the train track looks long and lonely, like it only goes to somewhere even colder than here.

Another tangle of vines and trees, filled with hidden animal sounds.

When I return, the kittens have moved and Oreo has taken their spot.  I love how cats pull their legs tightly up underneath themselves to sleep when it’s cold. 

There’s not much color overall in the cold landscape of late fall and winter, but there’s something about it I love.  I love the contrast of the clear blue sky and the black silhouettes of the trees.  I love the sharpness of the air.  It makes me love and appreciate our little home even more. 

Lynn