SOLD!

One of my butterfly frames has sold, so I have been busy making some more. I've made 2 more gold ones (as that was the one that sold) and a couple of other trial ones to see if they sell (ie; are popular).









The deck progress has been a little slow, as a few weekends ago we were interrupted with golf ball sized hail. Although not uncommon in other parts of VIC and Australia, it has not occurred in Melbourne city and such a widespread area (many suburbs) before....at least not in the last 50 years! Many, many houses, cars and people were damaged and injured. Being a weather watcher, I knew it was coming so was prepared, but many people at Flemmington Races and the Moomba Festival were caught unaware and out in the open.

We escaped the larger tennis ball sized hail, but the golf balls that fell here did do their fair share of damage. We lost 1 tile in the roof (that we could see...) and has since been replaced, and all of the lead flashing around the roof tiles and the hardy plank on the back section of the double storey has been dented. We also have dents in the letter box (although el-cheapo temporary one) and my Husband's car has some sizable dints in the bonnet, roof and top of the door panels. It took me over a week to discover that the TV aerial is also damaged, but it still works! Thankfully my weather station attached to the aerial mast survived!

The thunderstorm warning courtesy BoM. I had been tracking the supercell on radar several hours before it hit, and had heard of reports of golf ball sized hail in the Sunbury area, so I knew it was coming:



This was the one stone that fell the closest to the back door that I could reach safely undercover! It was not the largest I saw:



Damage to a roof tile:




So after that little interruption on 6th March, the deck progress has been steady, but still fairly slow. We have run into a few unforeseen problems! Nothing that cannot be fixed with some careful planning, but it all takes time when you are doing it yourself!

We added a few more noggins to the joists for a bit of extra stability:



Continued with the mitered edges on the other side of the brick pillar:



All the edges sit nice and flush against the brick pillars:



The boards are glued to the joists using liquid nails, and then held in place with biscuits that are screwed into the joists. No nails or screws on top:



This was a tricky part! We had to cut a section out of 2 boards (either side) so they would fit neatly into this section around the pillar. The jigsaw didn't work as the blade kept bending on an angle, so it was the circular saw with a guide attached to it instead! I then had to sand the edge so it was rounded like the other edges of the boards, and sections were routered out so the biscuits had their rebate to fit into:



Fits like a glove!



This is how much we have done in 4 weeks:



We have another 2 boards to attempt to fit around the pillars, then it should be all smooth sailing from there...provided the boards are not too bowed which some appear to be..

Outside Happenings.

What a busy weekend! While I was off on a little jaunt to Sydney to catch George Michael in concert (what a show, what an artist and I get to see him again on Wednesday!), Hubby was busy beginning construction on the deck.

The deck is just on top of the concrete slab in the alfresco. We had, at one stage, thought about extending it out at the sides to catch some sun, but then thought it would take up too much room, and we don't have much to spare out the back unfortunately!







It's looking as though it may be a wet weekend coming up, so I'm not sure if it will be finished. I guess it depends on how much he wants to do after work during the week! There's a few hours of sunshine left in the day at that stage...

On another note, I have created another 2 butterfly pictures, which are now in a shop in Flinders ready for someone to buy!