New in the backyard

It is always nice to have people help with big projects. Working in the backyard is no different. Here are the most recent projects that have been completed in the backyard with the help of friends and family.



My ILs helped me dig out all the grass, haul compost to fill the area in, and edge this. My next door neighbor donated and helped me move all the plants except the ferns. Here's a daytime shot from straight on. You can see some space between the two large yucca plants. My Stella d'Oro day lillies will go there after they are done blooming.



Here's a nighttime shot off of the deck last night when it was raining. I have a couple of small bleeding hearts that I may add on the edge in front of the large sedum.



Here's the back of the house outside the bathroom and K's room. My MIL helped me add edging to this and the kids and my MIL helped me get the paving stones evenly down. The hostas were our $1.99 find at Home Depot.



Here's one of N's lily's that he bought with daddy and planted a couple years ago. They are just beautiful. This is the only plant that is doing this well. All the others are very small. Maybe if I keep the weeding up, keep them watered better, and keep the darn gophers out of there they will continue to grow.



M chose a Columbine this spring to plant in the back yard. It has doubled in size and is getting a new batch of flowers on it. They are so cool!

I will hopefully be going back to the compost place and get some mulch to put around all these new plants to help keep the weeds out.

Now that this project is almost done I'm considering other options to work on. Hmm.....

Bedroom/sewing room

About a year ago I decided to give up my sewing room so that the girls could each have their own room. In order to do that I had to move my sewing room up to our bedroom. With a little creative planning I have managed it, although there's not a lot of space left in the bedroom after this. If you're interested you may look at the new layout.

I have had to be much more organized and have a place for everything since the move so this is good. The girls get along much better since they can be apart and that is good too.

Curtains or sails?

M has two skylights in her room that let in way to much light at 5:30 in the morning so she requested that I make some curtains to cover them and she was willing to have this project jump to the head of the list of projects I have to do for her. So, with my MIL (who has made LOTS of window treatments) in town we decided to work on it one afternoon. My FIL was nice enough to hang the rods for us and between the three of us it took 4-5 hours for the whole project.

I decided the easiest thing would be to hang two long parallel rods above and below both windows and then hang them on the rods using the little white rings you use for draperies. (Don't know what they're called.) The rings slide very nicely on the rod. When she wants to open them she can just stand on her bed and pull them to the center. They are made with outdoor canvas which was doubled so they pretty much hold their shape as they are moved. These were moved to the middle once and then moved back once without straightening so you can see how nicely they hang either way. When opened they just fill the middle space perfectly and look great that way too.

We intended to make them so they were fairly flush to the rods but were tired by the end and forgot which number to work from when sewing on the rings. I actually like them this way. They kind of look like sails. They also give the room a very warm feeling when the light comes in. I told M that if she wants them less drapey we can take them down and I will teach her how to sew the rings on and we can move them. She just didn't see the humor in that. LOL.




From the side you can see the light coming in the window.



Straight on you don't even see the light out the sides. The window openings are recessed quite a ways from the roof so the light doesn't spread much .

Jalie 2788 Twist Top

Here's the second new summer shirt I've made for M. I didn't really like this pattern on the envelope but it is so cute in person. I didn't try to do any pattern matching with the fabric, as you can tell. The ruffle was supposed to be only one layer but with the patterned fabric I decided it would be better as two layers so I did a narrow hem on my serger to finish the edges. The pattern for the front includes a modesty panel but M requested I leave that off as she layers with cami's all the time anyway and she just so happens to have a black one. The back is supposed to have a tie way up at the neckline but she didn't want that either. I think it fits and looks great, although the twist on the bodice sure looks funny when it's not on her.

I made a size S with some of the yummiest 4 way stretch fabric from fabric.com. It was kind of a bear to do the hems around the arms and bottom as it's a bit slippery but the result is so worth it. She wears this and the other Jalie 2682 a lot. I have enough of this fabric left to make something for me too, although it won't be this twist top. LOL. The hems are even, btw, it's just that the fabric is so stretchy that when she didn't pull it down evenly it stayed that way.

Ottobre 1/08 #31 "Ball" Vest part deux

After having this sit cut out and then partially finished for a couple months I finally got it completed. Now after sitting on my camera for a couple months I finally downloaded the pictures so that I can blog about them. This is the same pattern I used to make K's vest only I sized this one up one size from a 170 and then ended up taking it in about 1/2" inch on both sides. It's still a little baggy but she's ok with it.

I used a twill polka dot fabric from Sewzanne's on the outside and a white linen that someone gave me on the lining. I didn't have enough linen to line the hood so used self fabric. If the linen weren't a bit see through this could easily have been double sided but didn't want to waste the snap parts as I don't think she'll wear it that way. For the elastic on the hood, I just cut apart hair elastics and sewed them to a regular elastic. Looks great and I can use whatever color matches this way. Probably way cheaper too. Guess you can't really see the toggles and elastic so you'll have to believe me that they're there. She's not gathering the hood anyway so I could probably have omitted those. The bottom fronts are even. Not sure why they look uneven in the picture.

I'd have to say these vests are probably the most challenging projects that I've done. The woven fabrics were much easier than the stretch fabrics to sew and get the lining even and such. This is the first pattern that I've done that's been fully lined and that was the hardest part of it for me. I think I figured out how to master it now so maybe lined projects will be easier for me in the future.