Barbie Gets The Last Word !

Okay, I finally finished the Barbie Music Room. Of course, it didn’t fit into any standard U.S. Post Office issued box. I was hoping it would go into the Medium Flat Rate for cost purposes, but no such luck. The Large Flat Rate box is more square and couldn’t accommodate the length and width of the flat pieces. So, I searched for a more fitting box (pun intended). It did fit perfectly in an Old Gran-Dad Whiskey box we had in the basement.
I carefully packed it in, made sure there was a shipping address in the box as well as on the outside and taped the heck out of it. (I’m known for excess tape jobs at my local Post Office.) I trotted right down to the local P.O. to get it mailed.

They refused the box. Seems you can’t mail in a box that was ever used to ship any prohibited items and alcohol (as well as other liquids) is prohibited. I guess this would also pertain to empty Clorox cases, apple juice crates, etc. (I did not know about this regulation.) I asked if this was a new rule and she insisted it had been around for years. The particular clerk who waited on me has a snippy attitude at all times and loudly proclaimed I was breaking the law in attempting to mail in that box! This was the week after a number of mail bombs were shipped to State offices in our area and I got quite a few stares from those waiting in line. I slunked out in embarrassment.

Both The Big Guy and I remember mailing things in empty beer cartons and such in the past. We both carefully read the shipping regulations on the USPS site but were never able to locate this rule. I honestly looked for another appropriate box to no avail. I finally simply covered the box in brown paper, used another ton of tape on it and set out to mail it again.I live halfway between two Post Offices. (Neither services my home. That one is actually farther away.) I decided to go to the other one this time. I intended to ask about the box situation (after they accepted my wrapped box.) This particular branch is a small one and closes for an hour and 45 minutes for lunch each day and wasn’t open when I got there. I was so frustrated, I simply went to Postman Plus and sent it UPS. As it turned out, it only cost me 65 cents more than the Post Office would have and I got free delivery confirmation and insurance for that price.

I did ask there about the old alcohol box. He didn’t know the answer but suggested I call and ask the owner. I haven’t done that yet. Does anybody out there know the answer to this one?

Yep, Barbie gave that knife one more turn, didn’t she? (Actually, a shot of Old Grand-Dad would help ease the pain.)

Maybe by next year, K will have outgrown Barbies and I won’t be tempted to make her a different room.

Remember that Barbie Music Room?

This is Part 2 of the Barbie Room Fiasco -
I was so stressed out after all the problems getting the eight wall sections done on that Barbie room that I needed a breather. Time was getting short, but I needed to put it down and forget about it for a day or two.

At this point I was almost convinced it was a jinxed project. I’m not sure who I wronged but I was beginning to suspect a certain 11 ½” blonde bombshell was behind all this. I must have left her lying around naked or dressed in something garish many years ago and now she was finally getting even.

Remember I said this gift needed to be shipped halfway across the country? Time was getting short now. It had taken me the full allotted time just to finish the walls!

I went ahead and packed the gifts for the rest of the family and all the “extras” I had gathered for K. (I admit, I ALWAYS over buy for the little kids.) I took that box to the Post Office and sent it off. The Barbie Room would just have to make the trip alone as soon as I could get it done. If it didn’t make it, there would be plenty for K to open on Christmas Day and she would be none the wiser until she did receive this special box. (I envisioned it arriving the Monday or Tuesday after Christmas, at the latest.)

I sat down that evening to begin working on the floor/base portion of the room. The walls, now connected to form one foldable panel, sits in little troughs in a base that is about ¾” thick with a floor pattern in the room and green (grass) around the outer walls. The floor piece then folds in half for easy storage. There are about 20 of these room patterns out there but the floor plan and a matching carrying case are printed on one separate pattern that can be used with any of the rooms. It’s in a separate pamphlet.

A separate pamphlet which was NOT on the shelf where it should be. Okay, this was easy enough to deal with. I’ve made enough of these that I could wing it on this portion. In fact, I decided to use the 5 count plastic I had on hand (since I wasn’t planning to use it anywhere else!) This took me a little bit longer to formulate than it would have if I had simply grabbed the printed pattern and worked from it but pretty much went smoothly.I quickly moved on to the furnishings for the room. The piano went together smoothly. Only now, I was running out of plastic sheets (the 7 count size). Somehow, I had miscalculated my needs. I was forced to stop for the evening until I could get to the store for supplies the next day. I knew at that point, it was not going to be there on Christmas Day and I strongly suspected it might not be there that week at all. (Thank goodness for all those “extras” I’d picked up for her along the way!)

With a replenished supply pile, I sat down to work on the rest of the pieces. The keyboard and stand went together quickly. As did the amplifier. The microphone was a little trickier as I found the base wasn’t strong enough to hold it upright on its own. I had to redesign the base to offer the proper support but turned out a satisfactory finished product.

Then came the intricate little music stand. Cutting on this item was very intricate and quite delicate. I cut it out once and realized it was wrong. Twice - oops, different error. Three times, perfect - but then, a corner broke as I tried to attach it to the stand. Don’t even ask about the 4th try. Bear in mind, this little piece didn’t even measure 2” x 2”. I was getting quite frustrated. The fifth time was a charm!! Again the base didn’t support the framework. I adapted it the same way I did the microphone stand and moved on.

The stool was a little tricky to cut. I made at least two mistakes and had to re-cut. Once all the pieces were cut out, it stitched together fairly easily. The piano bench, complete with storage under the lid, went together like a piece of cake.

Finally, I was down to the last piece, the guitar. Again, this was tricky and very intricate piece to cut. I thought I had it right on the third try, but then found an error as I began to stitch. The fourth effort was totally off and the fifth also had a problem. I decide at that point to piece a correction together. (Besides, I was, once again, running short on plastic since I’d had so many re-dos.)

Da! Da!! Finished!!! At Last!!!! I set the room up to admire it and then went to bed.

By the light of day, I wasn’t happy with the way the guitar strings looked so I cut them off and restrung the guitar. Easier said than done. Just take my word for it.

Okay, NOW it was done.

End of story. NOT quite. There was one more glitch in the process. That’s a tale I’ll tell you in "Barbie gets the last word!!" -- The Final Chapter of the Barbie Room Fiasco!!

Size DOES Matter ! ! !

Ever wonder how much difference two silly little squares per inch can make? Huge, I tell you, HUGE !!!

I’m talking about plastic needlepoint canvas. What were you thinking?

For years, decades really, plastic canvas has come in two sizes - 7 holes per inch and 10 holes per inch. For those of us who did a lot of this work, we began to refer to them as the “big holes” and the “little holes”. It was a simple life. The majority of patterns out there were (and still are) designed for 7-hole plastic. The 10-hole was used for more intricate and delicate designs. Many tree ornament snowflake designs used the smaller size grid.

I have done plastic needlepoint for over 4 decades. (Yep, I really am that old!) I’ve even taught the craft, looking out at my first group of eager students about 34 years ago. I thought I’d come up against all the twists and turns of the craft, and, I thought I was too experienced to run into them on my own!! AHA !!! Wrong again my little brainiac!

And then along came some brilliant R&D department and they created 5-hole plastic!!! Brilliant idea. One can make larger items now. Or just stitch faster on the larger canvas. Maybe it will make a good training material for little hands or elderly, arthritic fingers. One little question, guys - Have you come up with new patterns to accommodate this larger monster plastic canvas? I haven’t come across any, have you?

This IS the finished room!!

I began work on the now infamous Barbie Music Room on December 2. I know the exact date because I also ordered new dining room furniture that day - the first time in 30+ years so it was a memorable date!!

On my way to select furniture, I stopped at Joanne’s and picked up the plastic I needed for the Barbie project. I knew exactly how many sheets of 7-hole plastic I needed. I trotted right in and was pleasantly surprised to find they were now making a larger sheet of the plastic grid. (One often has to piece it together to complete larger projects.) Those larger sheets would come in handy on this creation. I grabbed the requisite number of “big-hole” plastic and checked out quickly. (I already had the yarn I needed on hand.)

I started stitching right away when I got home. This was not my first rodeo. I’ve made a number of these Barbie rooms along the way and I know they take me a week to 10 days to complete. This one was for our little K’s Christmas present. I needed to get it done and shipped in plenty of time to appear under that Midwest Christmas tree.

I made great time on the first wall the first night. (There are 4 inner walls and 4 corresponding outer walls.) The next evening, as I neared the last ten lines of stitching, I discovered a counting error and needed to rip out about half the wall. I was disgusted with myself but these things happen when you do stitching projects. I was still able to complete that wall before going to bed that second night.

At some point along the way, it did dawn on me it was a little bigger than I recalled from previous efforts. I glanced it over and reasoned it had been a while since I’d made one of these Barbie rooms and, yes, they always seemed to be a big project. (Duh!!)

Okay, I admit it. Red flags were jumping up. (The larger sheets of plastic available in the store, the overwhelming sense that the single wall was a little large, etc.) I simply chose to ignore those inklings.

I quickly moved on to the next wall (identical to the first but with a small count reversal). This one went smoothly and was quickly completed. Again, I sensed it was a little big. (Again, I did not take time to check the measurements.)

The wall to the right was the third wall.
It featured a lot of detail work
for the "sound system."

The third wall required piecing since it is an extra wide section. I stitched most of the design (more intricate than the first two walls) before attempting to attach the extension. Standard 7-hole plastic comes in a 10”x12” piece, featuring 70 holes across and 91 holes long. You’d have thought the 14”x18 ¼ measurements would have caught my eye (brain) when I counted out my holes for the first two walls. Suddenly, it truly dawned on me just how HUGE this wall was going to be. Barbie was going to either need stilts or steroids to simply look out the window of this music room!!!

OMG!!! I was working with 5-hole plastic. Who ever heard of such a thing?!? Okay, I admit it. There were these cute little stickers stuck to each of those large pieces of plastic canvas claiming to be the “New Larger Grid.” I’d simply peeled them off and jumped right in there with my stitching. Who could I blame but myself?

I then had two choices. I could start over on the right size plastic canvas (which required a trip to the store) or buy K an American Girl doll who might fit the room better. Starting over was a little more economical at that point in time. At this point, I’d lost about 5 ½ days of stitching time. I would now need to hurry.

This wasn’t the end of the difficulties and obstacles associated with this project. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Barbie Room Fiasco!!