Recycled Planter Box

You may remember from July's Unfinished Projects Challenge, that I mentioned a mysterious planter box. Well, here it is, FINALLY all finished. When I went back to find the initial photos of putting it together, they were back in my MAY folder. This is one project that's been too long in the finishing. But now, finally, my little raspberry plant has a safe home, where it can't take over my yard or grow out of control. Hopefully now it will provide us with lots and lots of fresh raspberries.

It's made out of two old pallets that were left behind (or rather, snaffled with the overseer's permission) from our house building. These were the ones that the bricks were on for the house.

And, just in case anyone has a hankering to make one of these, here are some photos and basic instructions.

First, cut both pallets in half. We used the chainsaw for this. You want to end up with a piece (well, two actually, but you'll only use one of them) like this for the base.

And two pieces like this. They will make the sides.

Pull the back board off each side. These will be cut up to make the ends.

Attach first side with these hammer on connector thingies. (I'm really good with technical names.)

Then attach the other side. Then let it sit and weather for 4 months or so. Or, if you're the sort who likes to finish jobs in one go, you can skip this step...

Then cut the boards you pulled off into two pieces (one slightly shorter than the other if you have an angle like ours), and screw or nail them onto each end.

I then moved the planter to it's final place in the front garden, up against the fence, near the compost heap. Of course, it's not finished yet, since it's hardly going to hold soil like this.

I lined the planter box with weedmat on the bottom (left over from making DD's sandpit), and shadecloth on the sides (recycled from DH's parents pergola).

It's attached on the inside using the staple gun. Doesn't look too tidy, but it's about to be covered in soil anyway, so you won't be able to see it. Using pretty much all recycled materials or stuff we had lying around, all up it cost nothing more than the price of a few screws and staples. Can't go wrong there.

Then add your soil and plant your plants! It took quite a bit of soil to fill this up. Half the compost from my compost heap (on the bottom since it's still quite fresh), and about 4 bags of compost/potting mix from the garden store. The raspberry only takes up half of the planter for now, so I'm thinking I'll plant carrots in the other half until it grows a little.

Jacket - Completed!

I just love making clothes for DD. She has a way of making anything look good. I have to admit, this jacket is one of my better efforts as well. It's taken a week or two to knit, with that edging taking as long as the rest of the jumper put together! It's worth it though. She's really getting into 'pretty' things, particularly in pink, so hopefully this will make her cooperate with wearing something a bit warmer in this cold weather.

Although we've already had arguments over those little flowers hidden under the bow. I did a combination of colours to match the combination of colours in the wool, but apparently they should all be pink!

That's one more project crossed off the list to complete anyway.

First Project Completed!

Well, already the new challenge is spuring me on. I sat down this afternoon and finished DD's mermaid doll. It only took an hour or so, I can't believe I've been putting it off so long!

DD really wanted this bright red acrylic wool for the hair. I didn't have anything else in quite the right colour. Damn Disney's Ariel! DD is really happy to have her doll finally, and is here telling me she is going to cuddle it in bed tonight.

July Challenge - Unfinished Projects

The July Challenge over at Aussie's Living Simply is to finish off some unfinished projects. Which is just what I need right now. So without further ado, here is the list I have planed to finish for July. Let's see how far I get!

First up is to finish the jumper I'm knitting for DD. I have half of one sleeve, then the trimming to go. Should be easy to finish, as I knit mosts nights while watching TV with DH. Then I'll finish up the dishcloth I'm crocheting (teaching myself from a book). These are both pretty recently started projects, so I would have finished them this month anyway.

Some of you may remember that back in Feburary, I made a fairy doll for a friend's daughter, and also a mermaid doll for DD that never got finished. I just need to do the hair, but we had a bit of an altercation about it. DD decided she didn't like the colour I was doing it, so have to pull it off and start again. Time to stop being annoyed about it, and finish it already!

The major project I'd like to finish is renovating DD's dollhouse. My dad made it for me when I was 10, and I'm now updating it for DD. It needs the interior walls done (which means removing all the old paint/wallpaper), then the new front cut, attached and painted, then the windows, doors and stairs put on. I would be SO happy if I could get it finished for her.

Finally I hope I finish the planter box I'm working on too, only needs a couple of bits of wood put on.

Hopefully it will be a productive month, with lots of photos of completed projects!

Finished! Finally!

And this is the last post about the building of the chicken coop, I promise! A few hours this morning finished off the last of the chicken pen, and I now feel reasonably sure that they are secure in there. They seem to like it, aside from the fact that it does get quite hot in the middle of the day. I was worried that it would be too shady, as it's under a very large tree, but after working in that area for the last 3 days, it is barely shaded at all! As you can see, we've rigged up a lot of temporary shade, and in the next few weeks, when I recover from all we've done so far, I'll plant some citrus trees inside the coop that will hopefully give some better shade in a year or two. I'm also hoping that when the sun is a little higher in summer, it should be nice and shady under there.

And here is my spectacular door. Not bad for the first door I've ever designed is it? I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. It has a bolt half way up, as well as one down the bottom for added security. The hinges are supposed to be self closing, but they aren't really that successful unfortunately.

And here are our babies in their new home. We still had to put them to bed tonight, as they were all huddled up near the door. Hopefully they'll get the idea soon! From early guesses, I think we might have 2 roosters and 5 hens, but it's still a little early to really be sure. I will probably keep one rooster, and the other one, well, we'll have to see.

Empty Nest!

Well, we spent a lot of the day (interspersed with play with DD, a trip to the markets, and a trip to bunnings) finishing up the chicken coop, and they are out there. We worked until dark, and even a little by torchlight to finish up, and though it isn't quite finished, I think it is secure enough. There is a gap up near the roof at the back that needs an extra bit of wire added, and the door isn't attached properly, just wired on. Hopefully they'll be relatively quick jobs to finish off tomorrow. Sorry, no pictures, I was too busy trying to get it finished to take any.

They spent the day outside in the coop while we finished it off, using an old wooden crate across the doorway to keep them in. But they were still a little surprised not to be taken inside when it started to get dark, and cheeped quite pitifully when we left. We put a solar light inside their bed area, but they were still too stupid to go in, and when I went out to check on them before, they were all huddled against the fence. I moved them into the sheltered area, and will go out once more tonight to see if they stayed there. I'm sure they'll be happy in the morning though when they wake up and can just walk outside without having to wait for us to take them out, and we are certainly happy to not have the cheeping and the smell inside any more!

I asked DD, who had been complaining of not having enough time to play because we spent all day building the chicken coop what her favourite thing about the day was, and was most surprised that she said the chicken coop! She said she liked being able to see them, and go inside to play with them. Of course, when I asked her what was her least favourite thing about the day, she said building the chicken coop, and not having time to play! I guess that is a pretty normal expectation, we want to have the thing, but not do the work to get it.

Overall though, I've really enjoyed doing the building. It is very satisfying to see something take shape under your hands, and know that you designed and built it! This is one of our first large projects (other than our bathroom in the shed, I'll have to post pics of building that one day) that we have made with such success, and it really helps to feel that we are finally getting there.

More Progress on Chicken Coop

We started out this morning with a hunt for 2 inch black poly pipe. Finally tracked it down at a irrigation store, and bought 25 metres. The guy who helped DH carry it out to the car said in disbelief "You're putting it on that?" We just gleefully nodded, and proceeded to tie it to the removable roof racks. On our trip home, someone in the car behind us was taking pictures of it with his mobile phone. Does it really look that surprising?

We cut it into four 6.25m long pieces, and somehow we have heaps left over? I'm thinking that they gave us too much, because 4 x 6.25 is 25 isn't it? Anyway, then we put those over the ends of the pickets, and they fitted exactly. It took us a bit longer to work out how to make sure that the spans were equal, but DH finally suggested measuring the bits of picket that were left, and that worked well.

Then we dug a trench all the way around, lifting off just the top layer of grass.

Ending up with a wheelbarrow load of grass from just one 5m side.

Then we cut three 8.15m lengths of 1.8m wide wire, and joined them together, overlapping by about 10cm. We used these nifty wire squeezer things and pre-cut C shaped bits of wire. Saved a LOT of hassle of threading wire through to join them, and it should be nice and strong.

This made a HUGE 8m x 5.something metre bit of wire.

Then we pulled and dragged that over the poly pipe tunnel. Thankfully DH's dad was there to help us. It would have been a much harder job with only two of us.

We fastened the edges of the wire to the side of the shed with some corner metal bits from building this shed.

And the same with the roof. Hopefully that should keep any predators out.

DH has started fastening the wire to the poly pipe structure, but dinner and a grumpy child interrupted, and the rest is left for another day.

To Do List Progress

Much as the chickens are cute, it is time for them to be OUT of my living room! They actually don't try to jump out of the box, they just like to perch on the edge, but sometimes they do loose their balance.

So, soon this will be their new home. The green garden shed (3m x 3m) will eventually be theirs too, but right now it is full of all the stuff we can't fit into the living space here. Once the house is done, most of this will either be thrown out, or move into the garage.

So in the meantime, I built this little shelter for them from leftover materials from the building. The base is a pallet, just in case we have a lot of rain, as we get quite a bit of runoff on the block. That should be high enough to keep them out of any water. The bricks are just stacked, but I've put sticks and pipes down the holes in the middle to stabilise them. The roof is an old sheet of colourbond leftover from the shed, tied firmly to the pallet. The area is sheltered from most of the wind by the garden shed, but hopefully it's all tied down firmly enough to stop anything blowing away if we do get a big wind. The gaps at the back near the roof line I've stuffed with newspaper, so hopefully their won't be too many drafts.

And this will be their run. It's 4m x 5m, which I think should be big enough. Tomorrow we'll go out to get the rest of the materials, and hopefully do some more work on it. The sooner the chickens are out, the better!

In other To Do List news, I finished my string bag. This is crocheted, and was actually quite easy, if time consuming. I put the handles on wrong, so it isn't perfect, but it's now sitting in my handbag for the next time I'm out and need something to carry shopping in. Hopefully it will stop me dropping things on the ground on the way to the car like I did with the lovely glass orange juicer I found!

Some spinning

Well, the day after I posted my "To Do List", I actually sat down and read the spinning book which I borrowed from the library, and learnt a lot of valuable information. The most useful of which was that once you have spun your wool, you actually have to 'set the twist' before you knit it. So that is why I had so much trouble with my first spinning attempt!

So I sat down, and spun the second lot of very expensive wool from Spotlight (that I bought before I found my new wool stash). I think I did a lot better this time, the wool was much more even, even if it did keep breaking, which it didn't do the first time! It was still very curly when I wound it off the bobbin, but I now know this is how it is meant to be!

So carefully following the instructions in the book (which is "Hands on Spinning" by Lee Raven, don't know how it compares to other books, as it's the only one I've read so far), I let it slowly sink into some warm, soapy water, then rinsed it in some warm clean water.

Then I gently pulled the ends to straighten out the kinks. There are still a few, but on the whole, it is much straighter, and I'm sure will be MUCH easier to knit with!

While I was washing the wool, I thought I'd also wash the slipper I knitted with the last lot of wool, which is why I needed the second lot of wool. It's a bit softer now. I just have to knit the second one (hopefully I'll have enough wool, this one pushed the envelope a little), and then spin a little of my new wool to put a crocheted frill around the top, as the heal is a little short. Then to see if DD will actually wear them.

Edited to say, this is the first ever post I've written where the spellchecker has come up with NO errors! In fairness to me, sometimes the errors are just disagreements between me and the spellchecker.

A Busy Day

It seems like writing up my To Do List yesterday had the desired effect. Today has been a much more motivated and busy day than usual.

I decided to tackle sorting out my sewing/craft stuff, which has been a HUGE job. I have been collecting stuff since we got here (I'm a hopeless hoarder), and that, along with me pulling stuff at random out of my stash in the shed, has meant it has been strewn everywhere with no rhyme or reason. So here, finally, is all my material (bar the stuff still in the shed) in one place. The draws are from Ikea, and used to store all DD's clothes before we moved. Since then though, they've been sitting around filled with various homeless stuff that has, mostly, found new homes now.

This is my cotton interlock stash. Most of this is old t-shirts from the op-shops 'Fill a bag for $3' rack. There are a few bits, like the orange on the left and the duckies on the top right, that came from my existing stash. The large plain green and the larger amounts of pink and pink patterns in the middle of the bottom were a spotlight buy though.

The next drawer up is the woven cotton. (Can you tell I like cotton?) Again, mostly op-shop bargain racks, with some purchased stuff that I already own.

This is an example of a recent op-shop bargain, these three cotton nighties were on the bargain rack. Lots of large amounts of unseamed cotton! That pink floral one in the middle is just lovely, and I think I'll make a skirt for DD from it.

This drawer is all the poly/cotton and specialist materials. On the bottom left is all my PUL, a very useful breathable plastic style material used for making nappy covers (and quite hard to find in Australia, or it used to be anyway). While I won't be making any more nappies any time soon, it will have lots of other uses. I also have some hessian (orange and pink in the middle back) which I'll probably use for bag making, and some netting (top left) which will probably become vegetable bags (although I'm tossing up trying latch hook on the larger holed stuff, if only I could figure out a way to stabilise it.)

Then there's my wool/yarn. The bigger lots in bags up the back are acrylic, and most of the smaller balls down the front are cotton. The cotton is mostly op-shop buys, with a few lots from the bargain bin at Spotlight. Middle left is some string that I found at the op-shop, thinking of trying some macrame with it some time. (Yes, somewhere in all the spare time I have!)

This lot won't fit in the drawers, but deserves a mention. This is some of the fleece/wool I've acquired since getting my spinning wheel. I was very lucky, my mum rang a friend of hers who has sheep, and she was just about to have them shorn. Since she is unable to spin any more, she passed on a lot of her existing wool to me. The stuff in the bags is washed and carded, and the bit in the pillowcase is raw fleece straight from the sheep. Isn't the brown beautiful? The yellow stuff is actually white, that is all the lanolin in it making it that colour. And this is only a sample of the stuff my mum still has up at her place! I'm going to be one busy spinner!

I caught DD later on just running her hands across the material, feeling what it was like. Is this the beginnings of a crafty habit beginning? That is how it started for me. My mum made a lot of our clothes and toys when we were younger, and I still remember playing in the lounge room as she sewed. She had a foam broccoli box under the bed with her laces and ribbons on, all carefully wrapped around A4 sized bits of card, 3-4 different ones to a card. My sister and I used to love looking at them, and often asked for a piece of this or that. I only now realise how nice it was of my mum to give us bits. A collection like that takes a while to build up, and to give up pieces just to give a child the simple pleasure of playing with them, tying them in the hair of a doll, probably to end up trampled in the dirt at some later stage, is what real love is about.

To Do List

Posts have been a little thin on the ground here as a lot of things have been happening in the real world. Unfortunately, not anything that makes for interesting updates. I've been running in circles the last few days thinking of all the things that need to be done, but unable to pick one to start on. So, I figured I'd write a list of things that need to be done over the next few weeks/months, and maybe that will get my thoughts into order.

• Chicken Pen - While it has been very nice having the chickens inside, they are starting to become REALLY annoying. They are big enough to jump out of their mower box, and chirp really loudly in the evenings. They're mostly feathered now, and we seem to be having a break from the really cold weather, so it's time for them to move outside! Of course, in order for this to happen, they need a secure pen to sleep in at night. I have a few ideas, but we'll see which way we go once we get started.
• Clothes - I'm hoping this year to begin trying to make most, if not all, of our clothes myself. OK, so I'm probably not going to sew business shirts for DH, but the ones he has should last him a little while I think! Mostly the stuff I'll be making will be DD's clothes, as hers get a little messier than ours, plus, of course, she grows out of them. I have a stack of cotton t-shirts to be cut down to make shirts for her, should be more than we will need, but I'll make them big enough that at least some of them should last into next year. I'm also thinking she needs some aprons/smocks to try to keep her clothes a little cleaner, especially when painting! Plenty of winter clothes, so shouldn't need to make any of those till next year.
• Knitting - Probably really under clothes, but it's different to sewing really. I have lots of plans for knitting slippers (pattern will come one day, I promise!), trying out beanies, and if I get adventurous, knitting a jumper for DD.
• Household Items - Lots more dishcloths to crochet edges for and knit. Going to try crocheting some too. I'd like to make some patchwork rugs for the floor as it gets colder too. I have some old wool blankets that will be great as wadding for them. Also really wanting to try some rag rugs and rag crochet. Perhaps that would be interesting for dishcloths too if it were cotton? Ahh the possibilities! Adding making some cloth shopping bags! Both the carrybag type, as well as some netting/see-through bags for fruit.
• Cubby House - Apart from the fact that there is still some painting needing finishing (the accents around doors and windows etc), I want to do some work inside the cubby too. I have an old blackboard that I'd like to cut down to put on the wall with some chalk, and I'd like to make some curtains and a rug. We had considered getting a fold out lounge for her, but I've found a pattern for a cushion lounge in one of my books that I really want to try, I think it will have more possibilities for play. I'd also like to find/make a cupboard for her to put things in, as well as some hanging storage/hooks. My plan is to turn it into a sort of 'home corner' for her, instead of using space inside.
• Dollhouse - I don't even know where to start here! It still needs major work, and I've been stumped because I just can't decide on colours for the rooms/wallpaper. Can you imagine what I'm going to be like with a real house?
• Garden - There isn't too much major to do on the garden right now. I'm doing a little planting each day, but we don't eat too many of the winter vegies, so mostly planning and learning, although I have put some interesting sounding books on hold at the library. If I can find time to read them! Hmm, OK, so there is a bit. I need to finish planting out my April challenge bed, so far it's only about half planted. Plenty of room for more vegies yet! And I want to get LOTS more fruit trees and plant them - if only I could decide on some. I want them ALL!
• Cleaning up - Ahem. There is rather a lot of this to do! Main jobs though are to get the veranda organised/cleaned a little (never seems to stay that way though), and to organise my sewing/craft supplies somehow so that they're not just strewn around the shed in odd places.
• Maintenance - The gutters need to be checked (we're afraid to look though), and probably cleaned. We may need to look at getting a professional in to do some decent gutter guard, since it seems that our drinking water is going to come off the shed permanently (house is too low to feed into our stainless steel tank). We should also check our filters, clean them, and think about having some spares on hand. We need to block up the inlets for our whirlybirds on the roof, as over winter they're just going to suck all our warm air out. There's also the usual jobs that I put on, such as the shower curtain in the bathroom that never gets done, and some sort of barrier behind the sink to stop everything falling into the abyss. At some point I want to think about fixing blankets to the shed walls around the bedroom area to try to keep some of the cold out.
• General craft - At some point I really want to get into spinning. I have two library books here that I haven't even had a chance do to more than skim through, and some wool from a friend of my mum's that I can practice on. I'd also like to make some clothes for DD's doll, and some time make her another doll! (A better one!)

DH has one week off starting Monday, so hoping to get some stuff done, but still have plenty of time for RELAXING! We have a trip to the beach planned, as well as possibly to the museum/science centre (Before our yearly pass runs out). I think those seven days are going to FLY by.

Some projects finished!

Well, today has been a day of finishing many projects that have been hanging over our head for the last few weeks. We have 7 little chickens that were ready to fly out of their brooding box and a cubby needing painting.

It all started last week. We had a big trip to Bunnings to buy all the necessary materials. We bought polypipe (found in the plumbing aisle), connectors, and some chicken wire, and of course, paint for the cubby, 4 litres of Pink Tiara! The sheltered bit we planned to build with corflute (imagine corrugated cardboard, only plastic), which we already had leftover from building our bathroom (that is a story for another day!) Only when we arrived home of course, it was pouring!

It lessened off in the afternoon though, and we put together the polypipe frame for the chicken tractor. I chose polypipe over wood for two reasons. One, if won't rot when it gets wet (there was no way I was using treated timber, hate the stuff), and two, it will be light so it will be easily movable. That is the object of a chicken tractor. It isn't designed as a stationary pen, but rather to be moved from place to place to give the chickens fresh grass to live on.

Initially I was planning on making a rectangular design, like this one of at The Frugal World of Doc's, but in the end I decided on a triangular model, as it gave us a larger space for less pipe. Ours is now 3 metres by 1.5 metres, which initially seemed huge, but now I think is just the right size.

This is about how far we got last weekend. We ended up having to put an extra support in the middle, as 3 metres is just too long a stretch, and the polypipe was bowing in the middle. This meant going up to get more connectors (still didn't get enough, as you can see from the tape), only my car broke down on the way! Luckily I was close enough to walk home, and DH went back and sat with the car till RACQ came. It wasn't a cheap repair, but at least it's going again now!

While we were waiting for my dear sister who came and took me back to Bunnings to buy the connectors we needed, we got to painting. We had a very enthusiastic painter in DD, who was COVERED from head to toe (including hair) in paint by the end of it. She had a ball though, and most of it washed out. If you ever visit our place, don't forget to check under the cubby, to see her artistry.

And here it is finished! It is VERY pink, but that is what DD wanted. We are going to get some darker pink to do around the door and windows, and possibly some stencils on the veranda palings just to leaven the pinkness.

We also put down some weedmat in the sandpit area, ready for the sand that will arrive on Monday! So looking forward to having a sandpit again. I'll have to pull out all our sandpit toys. And yes, it was getting dark by the time we finished. I could have brightened the photos, but figured I'd leave them natural(ish).

And back to the chicken tractor, here it is finished! The whole side (on the other side) lifts up to get them in and out. I will add a roost in the covered end for them too, but haven't gotten to that yet. We did have a few dramas when it wasn't really square, and the door didn't line up properly, but we got it all lined up in the end. It's not very secure yet, as we don't have wire all around it (putting wire about 30cm out from the edges on the ground will prevent dogs/foxes getting in. They will try to dig under the edges, but don't know enough to go out past the wire), then we will peg it down with tent pegs to make it secure.

Initially they all huddled up in one spot, looking around as if to say "What are you doing, leaving us here all alone?" But after a while, they started to wander around and enjoy themselves. Well, more like jump and fly! They pecked around all afternoon, and we only bought them in again when it was getting dark. If it were summer, I would leave them out overnight (once we had a secure pen), but it's just getting too cold here now.

And here is a closeup of our little babies enjoying their space! They are getting quite big now, and have pretty much fully feathered wings, and are getting feathers sprouting everywhere. It's amazing how quickly they grow! I think they look so pretty, with their dark red feathers, such a beautiful colour. I'm so glad I went for Rhode Island Reds, they are just the prettiest chooks.