Lego Mat

As my daughter has started to collect more legos I thought it would be a good idea to make a fun and useful play mat. The mat would be something that she can place all her tiny lego pieces on without falling into the carpet, make for a quick clean-up when done playing and then can be stored off to the side.

 

I started by cutting (2) 50" diameter circles out of some fabric and sewed them together with wrong sides out. Leave a gap so that you can then turn this piece inside out.

 

After turning it out I then hand sewed the opening closed.

 

I then sewed along the edge of the mat to create a channel to run the draw string. I then realized I should have cut/sewn the draw string grommets before assembling but managed to do so with some care. I cut 4 grommets (2 on opposite sides of mat) and ran some cord through it. Once you pull the cord out tight tie a simple knot/bow and hang it on a nearby hook.

Balance Beam

My daughter received an early Christmas present from her Nooka, gymnastic classes!

She enjoyed practically every aspect of these classes, well except for the uneven bars but I don't blame her one bit there. She talked about the balance beam a couple times and all I could think was, well that's something easy I can make and do so for under $22.

After some initial research on official sizes of balance beams I decided to shorten the 16 footer and do a short 8' practice beam and have it sit about 7" off the floor. 

I started with 3 pine 2x4's that I sanded down to reduce the overall thickness (was shooting for a 4" wide beam) and to round over the edges. I then glued and screwed the 2x's together. I left (2) 3 1/2" gaps at either end to receive the removable 2x4 feet.

 

I didn't know if there would be potential for toe pinching as the boards may move over time so I taped a thin board on the top side.

  

I went to the fabric store during a 50% off upholstery vinyl. Fabric generally comes in 54" wide so I had to stitch the two halves together on my sewing machine. It flattened out well once it was pulled tight. The trickiest part was how to fold heavy fabric at the ends and not look horrible. It took several tries to find the best solution. I started installing the fabric in the center and used a hammer stapler to tack it to the wood. I then pulled it tight lengthwise and temporarily stapled the ends before wrapping the rest of the beam.

 

It turned out a lot better than I thought it would and both my daughter and her younger brother loved playing on it... even if were used for non-gymnastic things.

Thunderbird

A few years ago my family started drawing names for a Christmas gift exchange. The only rule was it had to be homemade. This is the one that I made this year and actually remembered to hit the Publish button!

I drew my sisters name and wanted to do something native american. The thunderbird is a widely used symbol found across many tribes that comes in a variety of forms and meanings. To us it means unlimited happiness.

I have heard that the Miamis used hickory for a number of things including arrows since the wood is sturdy and straight. Being Miami I figured that was as good as a reason as any and took a hickory 'short' off the shelf and went to work.

The board was rough sawn and needed to be planed first. To get past some of the pitting I had to make quite a few passes which mean a lot of sawdust. It was about halfway through this process that my template blew off the table and landed on the sawdust pile. Of course I had to stop work to snap a photo. 

  

Did I mention that I made a lot of sawdust?

I tried my hand at carving the wood with some limited success. If I make a second attempt at wood carving I'll choose a softer wood for sure. 

To keep the rest of the process easy I wiped on a couple coats of tung oil, wrapped it up and delivered it just in time for Christmas!