Custard RIP

Custard, and her sister Tilda, were part of a hatch of chooks destined for the table. They were incubated and hatched along with Florence and Roobarb.

Tilda was a particularly tame and friendly little girl,with a habit of tilting her head on one side and listening while we talked.  I decided to keep her at home, and Custard (along with Roobarb) was going to join the breeding flock at the allotment.   In the end I decided to keep Roobarb at home too, and I couldn't introduce just 1 hen to the existing Allotmenteers,  so Custard joined our Garden Girls too.

Custard was big bully of a chicken. Grumpy, bad tempered, and really horrible to any subsequent hens.  She led many attacks on Tilda, and so she was a hard chicken to like.  

Over the last few months she had become a bit less nasty.

Like Florence, Custard became much more hand-happy over recent weeks.  She fed, gently, from my hand, and would pop out of the Pampas when I called her.  She even let me stroke her and, once, pick her up and put her on my lap.

In fact she was slowing down considerably, dozing a lot,  and we could see that this was probably going to be her last year.   Ironic then that she should still be alive after the fox attack.  Her injuries were so severe that we had to cull her.

Custard (R) and Florence.

Custard (R) and Roobarb

Custard (R) and Roobarb

Custard (R) and Florence

Custard (R), with Roobarb 9C) and Tilda

Lotti, RIP

Lotti was an Exchequer Leghorn,  and was hatched (along with Poppy and the current harem) in 2012.

She damaged her foot early on, and we weren't sure how well she would do.  She didn't let the disability hinder her, and she was destined to join the Garden Girls as soon as we knew she was female.

She was flighty, loopy, and very vocal.  She was botton of the pecking order, and her floppy comb and wattles made her an easy target. 

She was very tame, flew on tgo my arm as soon as I outstreteched it, and was happy for me to pick her up and cuddle her.   She was absolutely lovely.

I named her Lotti, short for Borlotti, because of her markings.  She had a very definite personality, would run around screaming if aany of the other birds looked at her.   She insisted on having the entire nestbox area (not just the nestbox) to herself, and would shriek continuously until she got what she wanted.  She liked to build her own nests, and two years running built nests in the Pampas grass.

Inseparable from Poppy,  together I called them Poppylicious and Lottipops.

She was absolutely loopy, mad as a box of frogs.

 

I can't believe she's gone.

Foxed

Foxed this morning

The Girls raised the alarm at 5.15am, just before foxy got in to their run. We were out there by 5.17, but s/he'd already killed 3 chickens and mortally wounded another. Her injuries were too severe to be treated, so DH had to cull her.
We have one survivor, my most favourite Girl, who is currently in a dog crate in the kitchen.

Cube was not in any way at fault. We have it attached to a walk in run, and the walk in run has an automatic pop hole opener. Ironically, if the girls had been out in the garden they would have had a much better chance of surviving - they could have scattered, flown up high, had more hiding places.

I know that foxes are always a risk. I debated whether or not to watch the garden cam footage as I expected to see Fox sitting waiting for the opener to open. In the end I decided it was better to know what happened, and it wasn't like that, which is a relief. (I don't know why I should feel relief at that, I just do).

It was so quick, less than 2 minutes between fox entering the run and leaving it because we got to the back door. He didn't manage to take any of them away.

My poor, lovely girls. I'm mourning the loss of each one of them,their quirky individual characters. They were such poppets and were so very loved.

Poppy, the survivor, has had some fish and a bit of corn, and is drinking AviPro-laced water from a syringe. I've given her a quick look over and can't see any obvious wounds.

I'll inspect her more thoroughly a bit later.

Separation anxiety

Yesterday we ran a fence to divide one of the paddocks, leaving an entrance way so the chooks could still come and go freely.  We also set up an additional feeder.

Today we encouraged selected chickens to go into it, including Henry, and we closed the gap in an attempt to contain them.

We ended up with Norman, NotNorman and their sister Siouxsie.  Siouxsie, who sleeps i a separate coop to her sisters,  was pacing up and down outside the paddock where her two sisters were ensconced.  I ended up putting her in there too, I have no idea if that is a good thing.

Both Nora and Batty went in as well, instead of just one of them.

And two Welsh Black girls.  I picked the one with a saddle who is, or used to be, Henry's favourite.  And, after a bit of an inspection,  LightPink went in as well.   DarkPink is a bit pecky;  Gorgeous did a runny poo so I didn't think it was a good idea to put her in;  NoRing had gone broody; and Blue was quicker at getting out of my way than LightPink.

Henry was tricked into entering as well.   No one looked too bothered at first but, by the time we left,  the captives started to realise that they were captive.

I feel a little anxious.   I feel anxious that Norman and her sister Notnorman will have had their home invaded by bigger, meaner, Girls.   I feel anxious that Henry (the cockerel) will be fretting that he can't get to the rest of his harem;  I feel anxious that the Harem may get a bit narky without Henry to keep them in check; I feel anxious that removing some of the harem girls will have affected their position in the pecking order.

I also feel anxious because most girls use the Grey Coop to lay their eggs in. Even those that sleep elsewhere. I don't want to stress them.

The area has an old, roofless, coop on as well plus two separate shelters;  there is also room under the Grey Coop.     There are places for the smaller girls to get away from the bigger girls, and for them to hide from Henry if they need to (which I know defeats the object).

I know its for the best.  I know it's only for a few days.  But I don't like it.

I'm going to have to go down after dark to check they are all OK, and I will be surprised if  I find them all still where they are supposed to be.

Here's an old pic of Grey Coop.

Pursed!

As a result of a chat with DSD, I decided to make something to send to my youngest DGD.  I had some fabric squares with a Frozen theme, turns out she still likes said film, and she'd missed out on having anything made for her birthday as I wasn't making things for other people back then.

I was pleased with my first attempt, although I decided that I should have done it with the fabrics the other way round (swapping the lining with the outer).  The second attempt was great, but when  was wrapping it, I spotted some dodgy stitching, I presume I hadn't quite lined it up properly. 

So, my 3rd attempt. My last few pieces.
It looked fine. Ididn't have any suitably coloured ribbon, so I made little loops from an offcut of fabric. .

Front

Back

  I decided to have a go at embroidering her name on the inside piece. this has to be done before anything else, and I wasn't quite sure how this would turn out.  I played safe and did it in a colour that blended in to the background, just in case.

Inside

 No more Frozen fabric left!

I Spy

The time for collecting eggs to hatch is almost upon us.

Once again we have decided that we will put Henry and a specific group of hens in a separate pen for a few days, so we know whose eggs we are collecting.   We had planned this meticulously last year, only to have our plans scuppered by DH having to go parent sitting, Norman going broody, and the timing going out of the window.

We started a rather circular discussion with "where are we going to put them".   My view was that we should take Tilda's now unused Go down to the allotment for a few days. This means that no one needs to be ejected from their chosen coop. Well, apart from the Girls we want to breed from.

DH wanted to use one of the existing coops, but I didn't want to stress anyone out by stopping their access to their chosen coop and forcing them to try and bed down elsewhere.  I knew from the poo piles that all the coops were in use, and I had a reasonable idea of how many were using each coop.

We then went round the "who were you thinking of", "where were you thinking of", "how many were you thinking of" loop, arriving full circle because it all kinda depends.

We would very much like to breed from Norman. She and her two sisters (Siouxsie Sioux and Not Norman) are our oldest hens, and are completely unrelated to the rest of the flock.  They are lovely, tiny, birds.  Norman, however, is possibly not fertile.  At least one of the three of them is definitely laying eggs (they are small and distinctive), but we don't know who it is.    So, we'd better include one of Norman's sisters as well.   Now, if they produce girls, we'll keep them (the girls I mean. Of course we're keeping Norman and her sisters). If the resulting chicks are boys they will have to be for the table.   And there might not be any at all.

We also want to breed from Nora or Batty.  These sisters are also unrelated to Henry, our cockerel. They are a year younger than Norman.  Resulting Girls might be kept,  boys will be for the table.   It's good to keep the different bloodline in play before we lose it.

And we want to produce table birds from the Welsh Blacks.   These are Henry's sisters so any chicks, irrespective of gender, will be for the table.  In my mind I was only going to breed from one ("Gorgeous", who is the spitting image of Poppy one of my Garden Girls),  DH was thinking of more.  The girls from last year's hatch are all too young.

We'd need to have quite a few eggs, just in case.   Last year we had only a 50% fertility rate,  but that was because Henry has far too many wives to manage from a breeding point of view.  Separating him so he has access to only a few girls should give the best chance of fertility.

The Go would be big enough to accommodate Henry, Norman, Batty and Gorgeous for a few nights.  If we were adding at least one more Welsh Black and one of Norman's sisters, it wouldn't be.

In the end I decided I'd have to go down at night and see who was sleeping where, then we could see who  would be displaced in whatever scenario.   No time like the present, so I waited for sunset last night, and set off.

I was a little surprised at what I found.

I started with Mrs' rickety old coop.  We had planned to take this one out when we built a new coop,  but Mrs liked this one, she was ancient, and we didn't want to disturb her. After she died we could see that it was still being used by 2 girls (although we had no idea who).

No one was sleeping in the nest box.  Inside, at opposite ends of the perch,  was DarkPinkRing (Welsh Black), and Siouxsie.   Siouxsie wasn't a surprise, but DarkPinkRing was.  I had expected her to be in the Shed along with Henry and the rest of his main harem.

Next was the 'new' coop, the one DH built.  Nora, who has been broody for days,  was in one of the nest boxes on one side.  Norman was in one of the nestboxes on the other side.  Inside the coop was NotNorman, and one of the youngsters!   That was an even bigger surprise than finding DarkPink  in Mrs' coop.

In the Cube, no surprises - the remaining 4 youngsters.

Just to make sure I hadn't missed anyone (they could have been sleeping outside), I checked the shed.  Henry, his 5 other sisters, and Batty were dozing on their perches.

It was definitely an exercise worth doing.  We'll use the new coop.  Norman and NotNorman are already there;  the youngster will have to sleep with her hatch-mates;  and Nora is bossy enough to push her way into one of the other coops.

So now we just need to section it off,  finally agree on who's going to be in there, and put the plan into action.  

And hope that Norman and Batty don't go broody in the meantime.

Cop this

I've posted off DGD's card, present and hanging thing. It seems like months ago that I made them. She;s the last April birthday so, in an attempt to keep on track, I looked at May.

The other day one of the big embroidery designs retailers had a fantastic sale. While I was on the website, I did actually search - unsuccessfully -  for a couple of things for upcoming birthdays.   I eventually found something suitable on another site, so I was ready.

It's DH's BIL's birthday in early May. He's been learning to fly a helicopter, so I had sought out a 'copter design.   There were more than I expected, including some very realistic ones. I have no idea what the model of helicopter is,  so I decided to play safe and go for something a bit more 'toony. 

It was a low stitch count, so I decided to try it straight on to the card.

Hopefully he'll appreciate the thought and effort, even if he thinks the pic is naff.

My back is playing up today, so no more sewing for a bit.  I'm going to do a bit of fabric research for a Happy Birthday banner instead.

Bathroom continues

Yesterday was Diamond Club Day at B&Q where old farts, who have registered, get 10% off their purchases.   We've done quite a bit since one of us (not me) was eligible and registered, and the 10% discount has been really useful.  It does mean that we tend to "save" any B&Q shopping to Wednesdays.

Last week DH went to buy the hardboard for under the new floor. The cutting machine was broken, so he didn't buy any.  We waited until yesterday to go back and try again. .  (Such discipline was previously unknown!)

We had other errands to run, including doing the allotment chooks.  It had been 3 days since we last did them (OC, Other Chap, did them on Monday and Tuesday), and they were very excited to see us.  SSpecifically, they were very excited to see the Grape Lady.   They were disappointed.

We got back home to find that the bathroom supplier had phoned to see if we would be in to take delivery of our sink and vanity unit (tap hadn't arrived yet), as they were delivering to our village anyway.  It turned out they had popped it on their van just in case, but we weren't in when they tried.

Luckily for us they were due back in the village today, and at 8am they delivered two enormous boxes.  The unit was fully assembled and really well packed.  The basin was packed to withstand being thrown from a height!        DH even managed to unpack and put the polystyrene in the bin before the bin men came.

Very exciting.

Yesterday, we discussed the floor.  DH favoured straight.  I favoured the more laborious angled.   We both concurred that straight horizontal was out, and angled -45 degrees was out. The Karndean site has a helpful interactive viewer, but it's not the same as seeing it in your own bathroom.  They do have an app for that, but it is an i-app so no use to us.

DH laid out some of the pieces so we could (try to) agree.   We could only lay where the existing harboard was, and we had to overlap some of the planks to get them to fit in (no cutting until we were laying for real).

I took photos so I could review later.  When I reviewed the photos this morning, and compared them to Karndean's, I got similar feelings about both sets.

First, +45 degrees.
 Here's the Karndean version...

Karndean's photo

+45 degrees - a direct line to the loo

 It looked OK, but it meant that the "planks" were acting as a corridor from the door across to the toilet

 Next, angled the other way -45 degrees.
Karndean's:

Karndean -45 degrees

 Ours:

-45 degrees. Better than expected

 I didn't hate it. I quite liked it.

Straight.
Karndeans's:

Karndean Straight

Straight

 Hmm. No. It was really...dull.

Finally, we tried straight 90 degrees (which is the way the original floorboards ran).

Karndean - straight horizontal

Straight +/-90 degrees

  Unexpectedly,  I quite liked it.Of course it was different depending on whether I was standing at the doorway or actually standing in the bathroom.

By the time we'd done all 4, I couldn't tell what I liked.  I'm glad I have the photos to look at.

Blooming

We're very fortunate to live in an area which has many many acres (hectares) of parkland and woodland open to the public. Some of them require membership (or payment on the day), but many are free.

We've been visited Langley Parka couple of weeks ago. Many many years ago, I used to keep my horse very close to Langley Park and ride there every week, but I  haven't been back since we moved the horses so we could ride in Windsor Great Park instead.    It was fascinating to see how much was different and how much was the same,  walking around trying to find spots where particular happenings occurred.

I found the place where I fell off and my horse walked himself home;   and thep place where a stupid woman let her dogs of the leash and they were snapping and nipping around the horses feet.  One of the horses kicked out, and the woman screamed blue murder at us.  I can understand why she was upset, but we did try to explain that the horses were stressed by the nipping.

On foot, the park seemed huge.  On horseback, it seemed much smaller.

.....

This week we went for a quick walk in the Valley Gardens, near Virginia Water.  It was wonderful.  Peaceful, pretty,  vast.  So pleasant to stroll.

We'd missed the sea of daffodills, but the blossom was out.

Recovery

Before - with old cushion cover in place

 I've done both chairs now!

For the second, more difficult chair, I used the same principles as I'd learned doing the other one, plus a bit of messing about.

Instead of a wooden frame and Velcro, like the modern Poangs, it has a fabric back, and the back has to slide over it.

Before - without cushion

I had to use a scrap of fabric, some pins, and my phone (acting as the chair cushion) to work out what order I needed to sew things in, so that the end of the cover that slipped over the back was over the cover that came up from the bottom.  (Sew the one you want to be dominant, first).

And I wanted to add extra strength so I used double fabric on that bit, and I couldn't work out which way to fold it to double it.

I expect one day that this will become second nature,

Here is it (on the right of the two chairs).I've cunningly photographed it to hide the base of the chair, which protrudes slightly.  This is the same colour as the original cover, so isn't particularly noticeable then.

It's a bit of an eyesore on the new one, so I expect I shall sew something to cover it up (and stick it to the chair base with Velcro or something)  DH isn't keen, so I'll have to wait til he's not looking.

I haven't rounded the corners on this one, as the cushion has squarer corners.

Here's the set.

I did a little Dance of Victory  after taking it.

Bish bosh

This morning I decided to get on and do the stool.

My fabric offcut wasn't quite long enough.

I considered waiting for the fabric for DH's chair to arrive.  And then I decided that I would use the side bits cut from my chair's cover, to extend the piece I had.

I carefully, painfully,  pattern matched and pinned.  The fabric was right side to right side but, as I have limited spatial awareness, I could not turn it round in my mind's eye to work out where I had to sew to ensure it would work. I had to do some tests on some scraps to get it right, and then apply that to the real fabric.

Whatever I did, it worked BEAUTIFULLY.    Very pleased.  Wish I'd taken a pic.

I then managed to get the seat cushion covered fairly quickly, without any instructions.  Bish  Bosh.  Well, ish.

I didn't pin it all in one go.  I pinned a but, then sewed, then checked, then pinned another bit.   This gave me a bit of a problem when it came to sewing the second (and third and fourth) bits,  but it was relatively quick and painless.  

I applied some of my learnings from the chair, and was pleased with the result.

Just the horrible chair to go.

Got it covered!

I am soooooo excited.

The finished chair

I've managed to re-cover an Ikea Poang chair for the summerhouse..

Admittedly, it wasn't exactly complex, but I've never done anything like this before . So, for me, it mas a bit of a major achievement.

Even the flapover bit at the top worked beautifully.

Izzy Helping

I broadly followed the instructions on this lady's blog: http://stickelberry.com/?p=683

Before

I can see the flaws, the "could have done it better" bits. But a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice.

There are a couple of things I would do differently if I did it again. Plus I wouldn't take so long faffing around measuring and re-measuring, afraid to use the scissors.

I'd also really like to have sewn lines down it, like the original has. But I didn't/don't have confidence in my ability to sew that straight.

 I had enough fabric left to cover the stool,  and I ordered more fabric so I can attempt to cover DH's chair. Also a Poang, but an ancient version - and much harder to cover.

 

Scrubadub

Jet washed, scrubbed, disinfected the Garden Girls Cube yesterday.

Note to self:  jet wash the poo from the mezzanine before doing the inside.

It looks lovely, smells gorgeous (I had a small amount of louse pwder left in a tub; I love that smell, so I put some in the enstbox on top of the fresh Aubiose.

Quick grape.

Our allotment girls aren't showing any signs of worms, but it's supposed to be a good idea to worm them a few times a year anyway.

We use Flubenvet.  Sometimes we buy the marriages pellets which have the Flubenvet already mixed in.  This time, however,  everyone had not long transitioned to Breeders Pellets, and would shortly be transitioning back to Layers,  and I didn't want to introduce yet another type of pellet.

I went back to the grape method.

I calculated that each chook needs about 1.2g of this particular strength of Flubenvet over the whole of the 7 days.  (It's only an approximate calculation, because the chooks are all different sizes).  With 17 on the allotment to be done, I found it easier to round it up to 1.4g and divide by 7 to give me the doseage per hen per day.   I then multiply this bythe number of chooks, 17, meaning I weigh out 3.4g of powder into a teeny tub each day.   I have a set of those highly accurate scales that jewellers (and druggies?) use.

At the allotment, I quarter a load of grapes lengthways, put some in the tub, put the lid on, shake it.

I then have my pre printed spreadsheet with the chooks names on, and I proceed to ensure that each chook gets a piece.  It's not too bad if I divide them up - some are shut outside on the grass,   some inside.  Sometimes we corral a few and do them.   I refill and reshake as necessary.  Sometimes a chook will get two pieces, f they steal from someone else.   When I'm done, I chop up a few more un-powdered grapes and give them out too.

It works well. The Girls adore grapes.

By day 3 I find that most of those Girls who normally refuse to eat out of my hand are happy to do so.  

Henry sometimes hinders.  He'll take his bit of grape and, instead of eating it, he lets it dangle from his beak until one of his haem steals it.  Sometimes he holds it, waits until he has acrowd of adoring girls (adoring the grape, sadly for him) before droping it and stepping back to watch the rush.

I always make sure I give him some unpowdered grapes to use as well. He likes to be his flocks Provider and, because he's such a good natured boy, I'm happy to help.

Sinking feeling

The great Sink Debate caused work on the bathroom to halt.

Pedestal hugging vanity units had been explored.     We looked around a bg chain bathroom store, but couldn't see naything - everything was aimed at people who were buying everything new.Very cheap ones were available online (although I never found them in a real shop).   Very cheap-looking-but -not-cheap ones were available.   

The trip round the bathroom shop looking at vanity units made me realise that I really liked some of the wall hung ones, with drawers instead of doors,  but these weren't suitable because our pipes come up from the floor. 

I was surprised that some of the new units were a lot of money and still felt cheap.

It was going to cost a reasonable chunk of money, and still look like we'd done a bodge job,  so I eventually broached the subject of maybe replacing the sink.  Keeping the expensive and lovely taps,  but not the sink.

 I did some research online, until my head started to swim. 

I looked for vanity units with sinks which would accommodate 3 tap holes.  There are fewer than I expected, and those that I found easily were too ornate for my taste. Ornate and dirt trap types.   The current fashion is for monoblocs.  I did find a company that would drill additional holes in their sinks, so I had a look at those, but I couldn't see that our tap would really work (the nose - or whatever you call the bit that the water comes out -  wasn't long enough).

I did find one that was sort of OK. It was a bit ornate, the cabinet was wooden. It was a mortifying £1200.  That was a lot of money to pay for something that was only "OK".  I realised that, even though my existing tap set was horrendously expensive,  I could probably buy a new sink,unit and tap for a lot less than that the cost of buying a new sink and vanity unit for my existing taps.  

DH and I went to another bathroom showroom, this time looking at vanity units and sinks, and the subject of the taps was raised.   So, this time, we were looking at a complete thing.   We saw a few that were OK, I made a note of the names, but this was just a "fact finding" foray.

Bck home, I looked online. It was no good, I had to see the things in the flesh.

A couple of days later, I decided to venture to another retailer, and picked one in a nearby town. I traipsed round their (what turned out to be) enormous showroom, and found a few possibilities.

I came up with a longlist. Then I realised that some of the vanity spaces weren't very tall,  the bottles of cleaner wouldn't be able to stand up in there.   So I traipsed round again, taking photos and notes. I even found a tap style I quite liked.

It was promising.

The lady was lovely.

At home I showed DH, and said we should go back to look to see what he thought. So that's what we did yesterday morning.     We got it down to the choice of 2.  They were completely different to each other.  One was a very straight sided basin, on a white gloss vanity unit (something I never thought I'd have, but it looked good and the drawers  felt good when I opened it);  the other was the same shape, but a sloping basin , on a wooden cupboard.   Thewhite gloss might actually work better, as we were having wood on the floor, so wooden drawers might be a bit too much.

Sadly, it turned out the drawer mounted version wasn't any use. The cupboard version of that range might have been, but they didn't have one on show.   I tried to explain to the plumber owner that I needed to feel how the doors opened and closed....that often some of the doors look OK and shut OK but feel like crap when you open them.

He looked at me and nodded, and I could see that he was really thinking "what the heck are you on about?".

For the other range, I wasn't sure about the wood finish.  Plus it was a cupboard and I wanted drawers.  Theat manufacturer did do a drawer versionm but it was very deep. It would look like we'd tried to put a kitchen unit in our bathroom (which, in fact, I had already considered and discounted).   I didn't think the cupboard version wuld liook right in white gloss. 

Alongside this, we discussed the tap I liked.  DH explained to me why it might not work too well.  I explained why I liked it.  It was a pleasant enough looking tap and it swivelled.   This meant that you can move it out of the way before spitting out toothpaste. It meant that it would be easier to clean the sink.  It meant there was more elbow room in the sink (not that I use the sink for elbows).  It was quite a high, long, tap, but not so high and long that it looked like an out-of-place kitchen tap.

DH said that the reach of the tap might be a problem on the second, slopey basin.   He showed me what he meant. On the first basin, it was level, so it didn't really matter where the tap water hit.  On the second basin, if it hit the slope we might end up with a mighty backsplash. 

I found myself thinking, "Well, that's that then. We'll have to buy the first basin".   I was a but surprised, I hadn't realised that I was so attached to the tap.  I hadn't even really looked at many - but I was finding that the tap was going to help me choose the basin!

At this point, DH  - understandably - had had enough. I suggested that we went away and thought about it, I could visit a couple of places on my own to look at taps and to see if I could find the cupboard version of the first sink for us to look at.    He was adamant that either of the two were fine with him, and could see no point in delaying.

We measured the tap carefully.  We measured the sinks and compared them.  Really, the obvious choice was the first sink, but I wasn't ready to order without seeing the cupboard first.

So.

Of course.  We bought the least suitable sink - the slopey one,  on a vanity cupboard,  and we had the havana oak finish.  And the tap. Which is not at all the shape and style that I had thought I wanted. Without looking at what other tap manufacturers have to offer.

And all for a huge amount less than the "OK" option.

What if I was just suffering from shopping fatigue?  That's when an individual ends up buying stuff which they loater look at and wonder "what the heck...?

I hope I still like it when it arrives

Of course.

Busy morning what with one thing and another.  Weather too hot.

Got home, pootled about. DH opened the summerhouse up to do something in there. By the time he turned round, both the new chairs were occupied. By the cats. Of course.

A bit later I decided to sit in the summerhouse for a bit.  Only one cat remained, looking very comfortable in my chair.  I moved her to her DH's chair and sat down.  Wash came in and looked disgusted to find someone on his chair.

In disgust, he got onto the stool.

Much later, the foam for the cushions arrived.  DH fitted it (it fitted perfectly); he'd also vacuumed the cover several times, and it looks OK.   So, nearly a bargain then.

Little Helpers

We have an area in our garden which has a lot of fruit bushes on.  Once upon a time, a long time ago, we (by "we" I mean, of course, DH) erected a fruit cage.   We added more fruit, took some out.  We neglected it.

Last year we talked about what to do.  We knew we were going to have to do something when we decided to build a "Summerhouse" (big shed). We didn't make any decisions because, apart from anything else, the Girls love to rook around in there. 

We talked some more this week, and discussed some options. 

 DH decided he would at least have ago at clearing some of the nettles in an unused part of it.

The Girls got very excited and rushed round to help.

He couldn't move without havig to watch wher he put his feet.

Bathroom break

I think I mentioned our bathroom in a recent post.

The Karndean arrived (thank you to the superfast service provided by Rebecca, of MPM Flooring   I was a bit embarrassed to ask her about it actually,  as they have fitted all the floors and carpets in our house, apart from the bamboo floor in the bathroom that we are now removing. As this was going to be a "supply only" request, I wasn't sure how they'd feel about it.  I needn't have worried, she was fab as always).

The new floor will be lower than the old floor, so there's a lot of messing about to be done. 

DH removed the skirting and architrave, and ordered new ones.   He started to cut out the old bamboo.  He cut out a couple of pieces that were large enough to form new side and end panels for the bath, just in case.  We evaluated the state of the hardboard underneath. When the first chunk of bamboo came up, the hardboard underneath looked in good shape.  However, it's a bit too thin really, so we decided we'd replace it all.   Then there was talk of what to do about the dodgy floorboards, should we do something about those while we're at it?...

Alongside this, we've discussed what to do about the sink pedestal?, which will be a smidge too tall.  The sink itself is fixed to the wall, and we don't really want to take it off to move it up a few mil.  Perhaps we could grind a bit off the pedestal?  Or take the pedestal out and put some sort of vanity unit underneath?  The pipes go from the sink straight down to the floor, so we have to do something.   We've visited a couple of bathroom shops, but these are all geared up for selling new suites, not for adapting existing.     The places that cater for adaptations don't tend to have showrooms,  and Internet pics can be so misleading.

We haven't made a decision yet.   Happily, we haven't fallen out about it yet, either. 

Is that a first?

I didn't take any pics befoe work started, as I was sure I'd have some already from when we did the inital renovations some 17 or so years ago.

I was wrong

Bargains and Unbargains

It's been warm enough to sit outside for the last couple of days so, whilst sitting outside it, we started to discuss what we should be putting inside the summerhouse.  Up to now I've been consistent in saying that we should WAIT and see how we use it before we start filling it up.

A few days ago I thought that it would be good to have a couple of very comfortable chairs in there, rather than just bringing in the garden table chairs.   Not lots of chairs, just 2, for us.  We used to have Poang chairs from Ikea, and I thought that a couple of those would be ideal.   

They aren't particularly expensive - not if you go for the cheapest fabric option (rather than the leather we had on our previous ones).  I looked on Ebay and other selling pages, and could see the price varied quite a lot.  I reasoned to myself that if I bought a couple of second hand ones, I could buy fabric and make new - unique - covers for them. The money I saved on the purchase would more than cover the fabric.

Second hand Ikea Poang chairs are quite popular in my area, and they seemed to be going for reasonably large sums of money. Large enough that I would have just gone and bought new ones.  Eventually, one came up that had only been in a spare bedroom since purchase and had hardly any wear.  The starting price was quite high, but it included a footstool, and the pics looked OK.  I waited to the last minute to bid, and got it for the starting prices. Result!

A second chair was on sale about 15 mins away from that one, and that had a low starting price.  Once again I waited til the last minute, and this time I got an absolute bargain.   I don't understand why so few people bid, or why those that did bid put in such low bids.  Another result!  

We arranged to collect them both today.  The first one was OK. The lady was lovely.   I could see it was a little more worn than I expected.  We loaded it into the car and went to the second one.  

I was a bit embarrassed at the low winning bid, and the second lady had been so accommodating that I had already decided to give her 4 times more than the winning bid, as it would still be a bargain.   The chair was pristine,  it could have been brand new. 

We loaded it into the car, and realised that the first chair was slightly different. Definitely a Poang, but it must be a much older version.  Never mind, no one would know, once both chairs had been recovered.

At home, I decided not to bother washing the second cover, it smelled freshly laundered.  We DEFINITELY needed to wash the first one though, nothing nasty, just age.   We took the cover off, and realised that the cushions would need replacing.   A few bits of foam, it'll be fine.

Then we discovered that the covers on the first one are not washable. Not dry cleanable. Nothing-able, apart from upholstery shampoo.    These chair and the way the covers fit are that bit different to the new ones, it requires an extra layer to slide over the back of the chair.   I'm not sure how easy that will be with my (lack of) sewing skills.   

I said to DH that I would buy another chair, and we could just sell that one (without the cover and the cushions if necessary). It didn't matter, it hadn't been that expensive (we had the stool too, remember), so it wasn't the end of the world.

DH wanted to keep it (goodness knows why! Contrariness perhaps?).  We agreed that he would order some foam (suitable for upholstery) cut to size   £40.  £40!    He's gone off to find out about "upholstery shampoo" now.

Meantime, I''ve got a couple of possible fabrics in mind for the new cover (of my chair at least). One of them is very bright, I'd ordered it in anticipation of the re-covering, and I can't see DH approving.    A second might be OK.  A third is a different colour variation on a fabric I have already so I'd need to go and buy it.

I'll wait til the bright fabric arrives and then make a decision.

Meanwhile, I've printed off blog entries from 4 different people with their instructions for re-covering Poangs.

I need to psyche myself up to try and read them properly.

Wish me luck, I may be gone some time.

Cry Baby Bunting

Apologies if I have already mentioned this.

Yesterday was the first birthday of my Great Niece, and her parents had a party for her.  As her birthday present, I made her some bunting with her name on.    I didn't want to use all pastel colours, but somehow I ended using a lot of pink, and the end result was not particularly harmonious. 

I realised that, because I had used capital letters,  the name was reversible apart form the E.  I had a flash of inspiration when I realised that I could make the E reversible by putting bunting holes in the bottom as well so it could be turned over and upside down.

I had also had the bright idea of making the first letter from a bigger alphabet, like a capitalised capital , but I hadn't factored in that the name was strung from the top, so in the end it looked a bit...odd.   By the time everything, including the hearts and bows, were done,  I had had enough of said bunting, and I couldn't face re-doing the first letter.

I'm getting a sense of deja vu (or whatever the typing equivalent is), I'm sure I wrote about the false finishes.

Anyhoo.

The end result was OK.

I also made her a card with an appliqued "1" in beautiful baby-appropriate fabric.

I was going to post a picture of both, but have discovered that I didn't take one of either.

Botheration.

Cream crackered

Just got back from 4 hours with the allotment chooks. It was a gorgeous morning, so we decided today would be The Day.  We loaded the car - pressure washer,  generator, strimmer, knapsack sprayer, Poultry Shield,Stalosan, Diatom, Face mask, shower cap, gloves, cloths, bottled water... and set off.

Big Shed first, as this takes the longest to dry;  then Mrs' wooden coop (We still call it that, even though Mrs has been dead for some time),  Empty, clean, Poultry Shield, leave to dry.   Then pressure wash the roosting bars and poo trays,  then Poultry shield the nest boxes from the Shed.

Next, the new coop,  finally the Cube.  

Henry took his wives for a stroll outside the allotment, but the noise of the generator, and the growing pile of poo trays, nest boxes and roosting bars, bothered him. The final straw was when I started pressure washing the roosting bars, I think the noise was too much.

 DH was busy strimming,  so Henry kept his Ladies away from that side of the allotment too.

The Cube was dry first and was Stalosaned and Diatomed, and filled with fresh Aubiose.   Next, the new - home made - coop was puffed and filled;  and then Mrs' coop.   The large nestbox in Mrs' coop was immediately occupied by a broody black chook.

Henry was happy when the generator was turned off, and took a section of his harem out for a wander.  The netting was down,  and we saw him wandering round the perimeter.   The promise of corn brought him and most of his wives back,  just one little escapee had to be fetched.

We did all the other little bits and started to put stuff back in the car,  and then I was able to put the shed back together.  Two more broodies occupied nestboxes in the new coop.  I hope the ones we want to collect eggs from don't go broody.

It all looks and smells lovely.

It'll last for a day or two.

Nesting

You may remember that, some time ago, Lotti built herself a nest in the pampas grass.   You may also remember that Florence, our enormous Australorp who we thought had gone through the henopause, decided she really liked this outside nest and wanted to use it too.  

Daily slanging matches ensued.

Lotti would shriek loudly every time Florence was in the nest, near the nest when Lotti was in it, or just whenever she felt aggrieved.  Florence would bok mournfully when Lotti was in the nest.

Mostly, we tried to ignore it.  The weather has been better recently, and we've had the kitchen door open in the morning. It's quite hard to ignore the cacophony with the door open.

I decided to help Lotti build a second nest in the Pampas.  I went out with a bill-hook, and did some general trimming, looking for a suitable entrance.  I realised I was a bit limited: the Pampas is on the corner of their netted area,  so a nest on two of the sides would jut serve as a launch platform to get her over the netting and out in to the rest of the garden; the original next was on the third side, so I had to try and find somewhere on the only remaining side,

I was suitably attired for attacking Pampas: years of experience on the wrong end of the sharp fronds has taught me to make sure my arms and top are fully covered, and to wear thick gloves.  I poked around a but and found a tiny hollow that might be enlarge-able.  I removed some stems, and hollowed it out a bit.  I caught Lotti and put her in.  She burbled happily, and then barged through what turned out to be a party wall into her original nest.

I worked some more, taking out another stem from the edge to make it bigger.   I put dry matter in the holes to make a floor. I, reluctantly, moved the 2 eggs from her original nest into the new nest.  I caught Lotti and put her in it.  She looked around, and then tried to escape throughout the party wall again. 

Meanwhile Florence decided it was time to lay and flew into the original nest. Lotti went loopy.

I took out a stem from the side wall (not the party wall)  to make a bigger cavity.  I padded it out some more.  I put Lotti on the ledge below.  She jumped into the new cavity, looked around, and thentried to get into the next door nest.  I blocked Florence from leaving. The row continued until I gave in. Florence jumped out, Lotti moved in.

I worked some more, removing a stem from the back, which made the nest a bit bigger.  I grabbed a handful of nest material from the old nest and padded it out with that.  I rearranged Lotti's eggs.    Florence jumped into the original nest.  I caught Lotii, put her on the ledge below the new nest, and watched her jump in. She turned around.   She snuggled down on her eggs.  She pecked some of the side walls a bit.   

And then she laid today's egg. In the new nest!

Result!

Of course, that doesn't mean she'll use it tomorrow.

But I am hopeful.

De-flamed

The Naproxen is working well today.

House presentable.
Visited Costco to buy some cider,

Finished birthday present for Great Niece.

Actually, it was only when I was attempting to assemble it I realised that I had been premature in whipping the last few pieces off the embroidery machine: the eyelets hadn't sewn in the last 2 pieces.  I  cursed, and adapted a design so I could do a placement stitch (so I knew where to place the item) and then straight to the eyelets.

All done, stabiliser dabbed off, I carried on.  And found that the last piece - actually the middle piece of the banner -  was also eyelet-less.  Not quitesure how I missed that, but I had to fix that too.  While it was sewing, I realise that, by luck of her name,  every item on the banner was reversible. Except the E.   That meant that her mum and dad would have endless variations they could choose for the look of the banner.  Except for the E.

I twiddled in in my hands.

I realised that if I put eyelets in the bottom as well, it could be reversed by turning it upside down/  So, back to the software to create a placment template and eyelets. And sewed.   I couldn't find the cotton byds to dab the "WSS" (water soluble stabiliser) off the back of those last two pieces, so I used the tap.

B I G   M I S T A K E.

There is, of course, WSS in the middle of the sandwich of fabrics.  There is now mush in the middle.  I've put the offending two pieces on the radiator, in the hope that they will dry better than they currently look.

Meanwhile the rest of the banner is sitting on the worktop,  half on and half off the ribbon.

When it's dry and done, I'll post a pic.  Probably. Maybe.

Birthdays

April is a busy birthday month.

I'd made a card for my granddaughter (see previous post), and then I saw some fabric on a Facebook Fabric site and I decided to make her something from them

I used BigDreamsEmbroidery's reversible "Ribbon Romance" banner. I picked the largest size, 6 inches square, which was a bit too big really.

I used washaway stabiliser, which meant a much cleaner edge finish, but I did stuff a smaller piece of tearaway stabiliser in the centre (not to the edge) to add some protection for the sewing of the name.

I wish I hadn't, as it feels artificially stiff now. 

Never mind, it's done.



I wanted to make a card for my friend Sandra.  However, I'd already bought a card for her ages ago.  I looked at the card I'd bought, and I really liked it.  I thought about embroidering inside the card, but I could see that ending in disaster.

In the end I decided to do an embroidery of her name and to stick it into the inside of the card.  I had a brilliant of using FilmoPlast (a sticky-on-on-side stabiliser), but using it upside down.What a great idea!  I could then peel off the paper and use the sticky side to stick the design to the card.

The first time I tried it, all went well. Until the "d" was sewn, and chewed the stabiliser to shreds.

The second time I tried it, I put stabiliser on top of the FilmOPlast. All went well. Until I tried to remove the backing paper and the whole thing fell apart.

The third time I tried it, I put stabiliser underneath the FilmOPlast. All went well until I discovered that I didn't have enough stick to stick the name, and then it started to unravel.

By now I was going off the idea.   I am, however,  stubborn tenacious, and I really like to be able to overcome problems. 

The fourth time I tried it,  I sewed on to stabiliser, cut it out with pinking shears, and glued it.

It's my great-Niece Thea's birthday shortly, so I need to work on something for her next.

Cup of tea and a break first.