Spring Project Progress

This spring has been a busy one, so I thought I'd share some of the projects I've been working on. 

To begin with, I've been working on growing this little baby who keeps getting bigger and bigger! But in between resting, walking and making sure she's well taken care of, I've been working on some other kinds of projects.

I made Jerome a patch for his backpack

And turned him a pestle for his Chinois for his birthday

I formed 14 new Shaker boxes - I'll do a separate post on that soon, with videos and everything!

I did do marquetry for the top of one of them though - it involved a lot of small pieces and a ton of scotch tape! 

But it turned out pretty well I think

I turned this Couronne Stick which is used in knitting somehow.. It was a present for my Mum, so I guess I'll see the results sometime soon! 

I started a project to combine marquetry and turning, with the intent to bend and glue the strip around the tealight holder. There were some wrinkles in the process, so it's not done quite yet. 

I made this pair of matching photo frames for the Grandma's to be. 

Then I went home to Ottawa for a few weeks, where we did lots of walking and more projects. We even saved this teeny tiny turtle from being run over by bicycles! 

Mum and I made some baby blankets and clothes - under close supervision of Rupert and Baxter

We experimented dying and painting some onesies

My mum gave us this awesome I-spy quilt she made for the baby with all sorts of fun animals and pictures to find and teach the baby with! 

I got to visit with Jerome's parents, and my Grandma, and lots of friends who threw surprise baby showers! I somehow didn't get any pictures of those though! 

Re-Purposing a Found Outdoor Table

Last month I made a short but very fun trip back home to Ottawa. We spent quite a bit of time doing projects of various sizes and shapes. This was one of the simpler ones. Earlier in the summer my Mum and Cousin came across this table on someone's lawn. It had seen better days, but my Mum had a vision!

To get it home in the car, she had to sit in the trunk holding it in, as the back of the car couldn't close. Luckily it was only a block or so away from our house! Looks like they had a pretty amusing time getting it home. 

The first problem with the table was that it was too big for the deck area and use that she envisioned. So I started by cutting a few of the boards off the top. I just used a hand saw, but it was pretty quick work. The table was made of really nice cedar which has a lot of good life left in it. 

I cut the matching boards off the other side. We did this one board at a time so we could see the size as we went to judge when it was just right. 

The next problem to address was that it was too tall. So using a square and the hand saw again, I cut each of the four legs to a better height. 

Mum seemed pretty happy with the result so far! The round edges give it some character, with it being more manageable now that it's narrower. 

Finally I trimmed the braces at an angle so they taper down from the table top to look more intentional. And we set it in place. Looked pretty good. In the spring it will get sanded and painted and be a great addition to the deck!