My Poor Plants

What happens when you have a month of 100+ degree temps, hardly any rain, and then forget to water your plants for a day or two:

BEFORE

AFTER

Whoops!! Guess I’ve been spending too much time in the pool!  Luckily the rest of my garden doesn’t look quite this bad!

Pool Progress: The Final Product

Guess I kinda left everyone hanging after my last pool progress update….we’ve been too busy enjoying it!  Here are some a lot of photos of the final touches.

I decided to go with a more neutral fabric for the patio set, rather than the bright red/yellow/blue stripe I previously picked up.  My mom made the cushion covers and I love the way they look with the furniture and pool! Oh, and we have GRASS!

We got one of the extra-large cantilever umbrellas from Wal-Mart, here it is all wrapped up:

Mom also made some coordinating pillows for the Adirondack chairs on the other side of the patio.  That little table is a tile with a vinyl fleur de lis and our last name that my friend made with her Cricut.

The rock garden with growing (hopefully!) plants and solar lights:

One of my favorite spots is over in the rock garden where we placed this gorgeous pot from a local nursery and ceramic ball from Hobby Lobby. 

On the opposite side is another palm, some hanging vinca, a lava rock planter and iron tiki torch.

The palm tree/leaf theme just happened to come about, first with the fabric, then with these cute hooks and thermometer I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby:

And then this cute solar lamp my mom found at the grocery store!

Here are some night-time pics:

That’s all, folks! Time to jump back in the pool!

Fabric Scrap Collage

Here’s another great project from my 2011 Sewing Calendar that utilizes all those leftover fabric pieces from other projects.  This one comes from Belle and Burger.  Click on this link for the full tutorial or read the calendar’s version below.

I love the idea of either covering a plain frame with coordinating fabric or using a re-designed thrift store/garage sale frame.

DIY Book Sling

I received a great little Christmas present from my brother and his girlfriend last year, the 2011 Sewing Calendar, which is full of over 100 easy sewing projects, 99 of which will make it to my to-do list and never get done!

Many of the projects were gathered from crafty DIY blogs and websites and I thought it might be fun to feature some here every now and then.

The first one that caught my eye is from Penny Carnival.  Click HERE for the full tutorial on her blog.  Below are the detailed instructions for this cute Book Sling from the calendar:

What a great project for a child’s room or nursery.  Since children’s books come in all shapes and sizes, this is a great organizational solution.  It would even look nice in a den, family room, or study with the appropriate fabric choice.  You can even make it “no-sew” by using an iron-on adhesive.  Many versions of this project can be found on the web just by searching for “Book Sling.” 

Have you made something like this lately?