Hay Ladies!

Welcome to the chicken yard.

This project was a "measure 0 times, cut 5" kind of deal. The original coop I built was very different and up against a wall. So if the chickens jumped up on it they could totally jump over the wall and end up in the neighbor's yard. I got wise to their schemes and moved the structure, built a back on it and switched the direction of the pallets. This coop is more solid than it's original counterpart. All walls are screwed in so the wind won't knock it over.

Note the distance from the brick wall. Hopefully they won't attempt any escape shenanigans.

This is my modern art roosting pole. I haven't had a chance to fit it in the coop yet.

I stapled chicken wire along the perimeter wall. At first they were able to jump up on the white brick wall. I think Eleanor Roostevelt was trying to get her roost on.

This door was originally a chicken wire make-shift gate. Totally shabby. I tried to drill a 2x4 into the brick on both sides of the opening. It isn't the most solid, but I was able to attach a sheet of wood to the bottom (the bottom part is stationary.) The top part of the gate is attached with hinges and swings open, again, it's not very sturdy, but it keep the chickens inside their yard.

I don't know about this latch. I'll eventually have to redo this whole system. I think the door is going to just fall off it's hinges one day, because of the strong winds we get here.

This is the back of the coop. I screwed the nesting box and the sheets of wood into the base and walls of the coop. The chicken wire above the nesting box is stapled from the inside. It took me a couple tries to build the nesting box. I forgot to leave one side of the box off so I could attach hinges to it, so I ended up having to saw into it and pry part of the top off. It all worked out!


Inside of the nesting box. No eggs yet, the chickens are a bit too young still. I think. Or they've been laying their eggs somewhere else. We'll see.



The front and inside of the coop before I attached the door. The whole thing is made of three pallets; one on the bottom and two stacked together as the walls. They all sleep on the top roosting pole together.


This is the sheet of wood I sawed down and put hinges on for the door. The opening is where they enter/exit their coop. When I need to clean out the old straw I can open the big door. If I need to keep them in their coop I can roll down a piece of chicken wire attached above their small doorway.


Omelet, Scramblez and Eleanor Roostevelt. Now I'm just hoping none are secret roosters.

Garden

I haven't found much time for crafting this year, but my garden is thriving. I'm still trying to figure things out. I'll have it more under control next year.
The above photo is the front of my grandma's house. I'm growing sunflowers along the windows, cucumbers on the right and long eggplant on the left.

Close up of the cucumber sprouts.

My growing compost.

The back yard garden. On the right I planted bell peppers that haven't sprouted yet. Next to them are potatoes and just in front of the rose bush are carrots that haven't sprouted yet.

On the left side is lettuce that has been growing since February. They recently started shooting straight up, which means it has past it's prime growing season... I think. I planted onions behind the lettuce, next to the tree. Between the lettuce and carrots are rows of cauliflower and beets.

Close up of cauliflower.

Close up of beets.

Lettuce.

This is a craft! At work we took the scouts to a clay studio in Los Lunas. We made ollas. The ollas are big clay jars that you plant in your garden. The water seeps out of the jar and into the soil. They sculptors told me they save you around 80% water. Perfect for our desert climate, especially this year. I think it has rained one time in 2011. This is just the top of my olla, the rest is under the dirt. I carved a picture of Yaffa on the lid! Behind the olla is my struggling strawberry plant.

The plant behind the olla is the strawberry plant and the two in front are rapidly growing zucchini plants.

I look forward to trying to pickle some of these veggies.

Embroidered this stuff for my folks:

Our house in Virginia.
Cocktail napkins of the family.

coozies

Made these for friends:

Dress Up

This is a dress I made recently. The pattern is from my boss, Diana Rupp's, book, S.E.W. I work for Diana at Make Workshop on the Lower East Side. The fabric was free on craigslist, but it is totally beautiful. I altered the pattern by lowering the back by about 2". Check out the picture below.

The lining I used for the bodice is this adorable fabric my grandmother gave me years ago. I believe it was from Japan.

Invisible zipper win, but waist line match up fail. It is off by about a 1/2", bummer.

My sister graduated from Berkley with a Masters in Public Health. This is us in her kitchen all dressed up! Who knows the next time I'll have the opportunity to wear this pretty dress.

Spandex again...

Kwik Sew pattern #2797 how I love you.

I shortened the original pattern, cutting the leg to 7" below the crotch seam. This is the small size.
Having trouble understanding how this pattern piece becomes a pair of spandex shorts? The waist of the shorts is on the right side, while the bottom is on the left. You cut two pieces out. The seams on the top and bottom of the photo become the center front and center back seams (from waist to crotch). This is confusing to explain.... sorry.

I also embroidered a No Hands tag on bias tape!

This last photo is just of a dress I hemmed. It used to go down to the floor. My sister wore it in high school. Now that it's short, we're going to share it.
Not related to spandex shorts at all. Just a cute dress.

Soap Making

I was able to sit in on a soap making workshop at Make, because I work for the owner, Diana Rupp. The workshop was run by the folks at Meow Meow Tweet, a handmade soap company in Brooklyn. They were an adorable soap making team.
The photo above is of the cut up soap from the class. I packaged it up for my sister and my parents (shh! it's a surprise). Also in the photo is the bar of soap they instructors gave me for helping out. It is a fennel, orange and oat bar with a goose print on the packaging.

Class!

Below is the soap in our bodega coffee cup molds. (We ran out of milk cartons.)

We made two different flavors. Lemon and ... well ... I don't remember, but it smells great!
Out of the mold.
Soap making was a surprisingly easy process. It's not going to be my new craft of choice, though. If you have soap needs, check out their website. It's super cute!