Post-it #118

I've been getting that nesting itch these days, and have had the urge to stock up on baby stuff. I checked craigslist for deals one day, and found all of this. Nice portable baby swing with music, bouncer with vibrating seat and musical toys, a jumparoo thing, baby bath insert, diaper bag, and the infant car seat thing, for a total of $45. Not too bad, in my estimation!

Post-it #117

Flowers from David July 30, 2013

Seventy-fourth Passage

We/David made a baby cradle! And it's so lovely.
Here is the process and pictures of the process. David will ultimately be the author of this post, as I will be stealing the pictures and captions from what he posted on facebook. Mostly.

Here it is. In a short time this knotty Alder and Peruvian Walnut will turn into a cradle. I've already planed down the 4/4" rough sawn lumber to 3/4"

Melanie and I cut them into 36"x 5" strips and slotted them to be joined with biscuits.

We've biscuit joined the pieces. They are now clamped and drying.

45 minutes is up. Time to unclamp. We now have the two ends of the cradle. 36"x20" squares that will be cut to shape after they've had a day or two to cure.

I draw the shape of the cradle head and foot and begin to cut it out. Melanie was a huge help with keeping the wood help up on our teeny tiny band saw.

Because I drew the shape on the wood freehand I know that I will never be able to draw the shape completely symmetrical. So I only cut out one side of the shape. then I put it on top of the the other piece and trace the shape. Once I cut out the second piece I can put it on the uncut side of the original and trace the edges to ensure that both sides are symmetrical.

And there is the rough cut head and foot of the cradle. I still need to do quite a bit of shaping with the sander but I think that it is turning out nicely.

I'm going to put a 1" trim of Peruvian Walnut on the top of the ends. Here is the rough cut shape

And here is what it looks like after it's been sanded and is ready for gluing. I do admit that it was very difficult to cut it to the exact shape as the cradle end.

And now It's being glued on. Yay!

These are the cross-members for the side railings. I cut a tenon in each of the ends.

With a couple chisels I cut four rectangular mortises where the cross-members will attach.

Here is what it looks like standing up after I finish the mortise & tenon joints. This is the first time I've tried to use this kind of joint and I do admit that the first 3 holes I cut look pretty rough. But, woodfiller covers a multitude of sins.

I used the radial arm saw to cut a 2 1/4 dado in the railings every 3 1/2 inches to hold the verticals on the railing. Because I don't have a dado blade this took FOREVER.

These are the railings after the dados have been cut

Here is how the horizontals and verticals will go together to make the railing.

And here I am gluing the railings together. I'm just using the large front and back pieces to hold the railings in the proper spot while they dry. I will remove them later so that I can sand and shape them more easily.

There I am, sanding the railings.

I cut a dado along the bottom of the railings that will hold the bottom of the cradle

And here it is, all glued together. I just need to put the rockers on the bottom and put the finish on. Then it will be done.

Melanie breaking in. David and I found a picture on the internet that we both thought would make for a cute/appropriate carving on the cradle. David printed it and used it as a guide to draw the owl on the cradle, free hand.

I've started carving the cradle. Carving is much more difficult that I anticipated.

There's the finished carving. Yay! It didn't turn out too bad considering it was my first time carving with chisels. 

I'm thinking about coloring in the features with 
difference colors of stain. Idk though. Seems risky

Yay! The polyurethane is on and the cradle is complete.

I supposed I should put a picture of the carving after it's been finished.

Isn't it lovely? My husband is so flippin' talented! I love him. I love the cradle. Only 13 more weeks until we have a little babe to put in it. 

Seventy-third Passage

Here's a bunch of photo's I took from Lisa, with the cousins playing while they were in town from Virginia. It sure was nice to meet them and hang out!

Seventy-second Passage

Here are some other pictures from camping.

I thought this was a fun photo. That's the pants of all my kids drying on Nana's and Papa's tent after getting wet in them in the lake.

 David finally got to try out our new grill thingy for over the fire cooking on our last morning there. The sausages were yummy.

 Lydia chillin' with Nana and Papa in the shade.

 Morgan was interested in Matt and Heather's cooking methods.

 They're weird...

 David and Matt are only a little over a year apart, but very different in height.

Actually, for this picture, Matt was on tip toe and David slouched. The real height difference is as follows...

Still quite different, though not as pronounced.

Post-it #116

While camping, David and I left the kids with his mom for a couple hours and went to McCall for a little date. We ate lunch at one of the places we ate at during our honeymoon.  It was much warmer this time though.

And we got ice cream. Actually, funny story, we ordered our ice cream, they made it, gave it to us, told us what we owed them, and then told us, "We only take cash or check" as David handed them his card. We didn't have cash. So, eating our ice cream, we walked to the nearest ATM and got the money to pay for the ice cream they trusted us to walk away with.

Then we stopped in the bookstore. On our honeymoon we went there and bought The Hunger Games and began our reading books together tradition. So we went there again and bought The Giver, one of my favorite books. It's small, so we finished it last night.

It was fun to get away for a bit and spend time together at a place so sentimental. Thanks, Lisa, for watching the kids! And thanks, David, for the awesome idea and company. I love you!