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!

A long day

It has been a long day today. First up, up at 5 to drive DH to the train by 6, then DD and I went on to the markets for our fruit shopping. The specials weren't quite as good as they have been the last few weeks, but we did get some nice grapes, and it looks like the apples are coming in. Bought a whole heap of tiny red delicious for DD, figure they're about her size.

Then we came home to rush around doing our morning routine, before heading off to visit my sister before it got too hot. We had a great swim in her pool, and DD was determined to try to 'swim' on her own, which meant bouncing around and needing someone to grab her periodically. I think she had fun though.

The onto my real purpose of the trip, the hobby store. Here I have to say I grossly overspent. Nearly $200 for doors, windows, and a staircase for the dollhouse. I hadn't planned on spending that much. In all honestly, if I had thought about it, I would have realised that these wouldn't be cheap, and might have planned things a little better. I didn't want this dollhouse to be an expensive project, it was supposed to be cheaper than buying a new one! I guess I'm still stuck in wanting to do everything I wanted to do to it as a child, and couldn't afford to. I want it to be beautiful, which I'm sure it will be. And realistically, I couldn't have made those windows myself.

OK, so I've comforted myself by searching on eBay, and they had a similar house to mine, only NOT as good of course, for $400 new. So maybe I'm not doing too badly. Most of the cheaper kids are either much smaller, or simple barbie style houses. So in other words, I probably shouldn't have spent the money, but it wasn't excessive for what I got for it. Really.

On a good note, we had homemade gluten free pizza for dinner, with my homemade tomato sauce, and homemade bottled pineapple (for DH, I prefer just bacon and cheese on mine). DD had some bottled peaches for desert (but before dinner funnily enough).

I'm very very tired now, so I think I'm going to have an early night, and hopefully be more bright and cheery tomorrow.

Dollhouse Restoration

A couple of weeks ago we visited a friend who's daughter had received a beautiful dollhouse for Christmas. DD really enjoyed playing with it, and it has promoted me to pull out my own dollhouse and restore it for Ezri. This doll house was the one my father made for me for Christmas when I was ten, so it's over 20 years old! It's not in the best of nick. Just to set the benchmark, here are the photos we took when we first pulled it out.

The tape marks are from where we've taped the doors closed in our many moves. This dollhouse has moved 11 times with me!

And here's inside. DD has been playing with it, and the rooms are filled with sand and sticks.

The first job, obviously, was to clean it up. Then we stripped back the dark maroon paint. Best way to do this is with a heat gun! Even so, it still took quite a while, and lots of hard work. Here is DH and his dad beginning the job.

Here's the finished back.

We thought the sides were going to be easier, since they were smaller, but the were fiddly, and it was harder to hold the dollhouse steady. We decided not to even try to do the doors. I found some MDF for $4 a sheet, and we're going to make new doors instead, with the added advantage that we can make them standard sizes for windows and doors.

Next it was on to painting! I picked out a light pink, called, appropriately enough, Fairy Den. DD of course, had to help with the painting. I snuck out after dark to do the second coat, just so I could get it smooth. Of course, the paint dripped after I'd finished, so it still isn't smooth anyway.

My next job was the roof. I had ordered some Canadian Red Cedar shingles off eBay, and was worried they were going to be too small, but they've turned out beautifully, albeit very fiddly to put on.

First, I decided on the placement of the first line of shingles. I wanted just enough overhang to hide the edge of the blue ply roof underneath. Then I ruled a line for the rest of that line of shingles. The instructions said to rule the rest of the lines at 1 inch intervals, but when I tried that, it was too far apart for me, and it would also leave my last row ending above the edge of the roof. So I got a piece of paper the length of the remaining space, and folded it into eighths, which gave me good spacing, and ended the last row of shingles at the very top edge of the roof. Then I ruled the lines (OK, so I didn't rule them all at once, I marked them all, then ruled as I went.)

Before you can put the first row of tiles on, you need something to lift the edge off the wood, to keep them at the same angle as the second row, who's bottom edges will be resting on the first row. I had heaps of shingles (1000!), so I cut some of them into thirds length ways, and stuck those to the edge of the wood.

Here is the first row completed.

To do subsequent rows, I ran a line of glue (I used aquadhere) just below the line I had drawn (so I could still see the actual line), and a row on the top of the previous row of tiles. Then I stuck the first whole tile at a position that would place it above a join of the previous row of tiles, with the edge on the line I had drawn.

Then I cut the edge of the next tile off with scissors (cutting from the bottom stops it from splitting), and stuck it next to it. Sometimes I destroyed several tiles getting the angle right, and then I was glad that I had bought the 1000 pack, not the 500!

Then I cut the last tiny piece, and glued it on too.

Then it's just a matter of gluing tiles along the line to the end, where a few required cutting again.

Rinse, repeat, until the roof is finished.

Looks good doesn't it?

Of course, inside still needs some work. I haven't finished the back of the roof yet, as I had to find and glue the chimney back on, then paint it. I'll hopefully get the roof finished tomorrow. I also plan to go out to the hobby store and buy windows and a door, and maybe some stairs.