Gardening and a late snow...

I bought more plants this year than ever. Before, I've always planted my spinach and lettuce in seeds.

This year I wanted to just get them in the ground and keep it simple.

Some may call this cheating, but I don't mind, someday I'll raise everything from seeds, but for now I'm happy to let Lowes do all the hard work.

The Pilot built these three raised beds out of fence posts. I really like having them close to the house, but they are also close to where the deer come out from the woods.

So, we had to let the gardening go for awhile, because the other day we woke up to snow.

It was quite pretty, actually, and of course I had to tromp around and take pictures.

I love the snow on the forsythias!

The snow was gone by the afternoon but it has been colder and right now it's raining.

The rain should be great for the garden!

Coffee Sacks

I met my husband at our local coffee shop this morning and look what I brought home!

They roast their own coffee and had coffee sacks covering one wall. So I asked if they sold them and they do. For almost nothing. So, I sorted through a huge stack and came home with ten.

I'm thinking I should probably get more, what do you think?

I have some ideas about what to do with them but would like to hear your ideas also. So, let me know!

The latte was lovely, so creamy.

 I will be going back for another one soon.

And I will buy more coffee sacks.

The 'Ice Cream' Dress

Actually, I think it should be called the 'Flower Garden' dress.

The pattern directions were great, although some of the methods were different than the way I would have done them, in the end, I liked them better. This dress looks almost as nice on the inside as the outside.

 So, it satisfies my perfection complex!

This fabric reminds me of an Anthropologie apron.

Happy Monday Everyone!!

Project updates...

My husband has been very busy lately doing some amazing projects!

This weekend, he is building a chicken house and a little 'pole barn' type shed to hold some of his tractor implements and other large tools that he wants to keep out of the weather.

I've been helping him, which is fun, but it means that I'm behind on just about everything, including blogging.

Oh, and we finished our fence project! Check out the new gate!

I can hardly wait to get it all painted! And I love how it makes the front yard feel a little more separated from the road.

I have some landscaping to do, there is quite a bit of dirt now that needs to be smoothed out and some grass to plant.


I've also planted some early garden plants in my newly constructed raised beds and finished some sewing projects for Big Sister. I'll be showing you all this and more soon.


Have a lovely weekend!

Daffodil Dreamin'

Some Sewing in my Future...

Just look what came in the mail yesterday!

This pattern is called the "Ice Cream Dress" and I'm excited to start on it!

You can find the Oliver + S website here. 

Hope to show some progress on this project soon!

Fence Project

See this? The spiral thing in the back?  It's called an auger. I love it. 

My husband found it on craigslist and brought it home in the back of a friend's airplane.

I love how he thinks "outside the box." It is good for me as an "in the box" thinker.

Life is never boring, I love you, sweetheart!

He loves his "big man" toys and I love what they can do!

So he was ready to try it out and I have lots of ideas.

We have a straight line of fencing along the front that just ends at the mailbox and I have always felt that it looked unfinished.

This thing drilled these holes in about 30 seconds. Amazing!

This picture is from the driveway with the road to the left.

(Mosby kept dropping his ball in the hole hoping someone would throw it for him.)

The fence is finished and we will build and hang a gate soon. The whole fence will hopefully get painted this summer - I would do it now but the treated wood on the new part needs to dry out.

I found some more stones to finish our walkway and The Pilot installed them.

This is how it looks now. 

We are hoping to complete a lot more projects this year. I'll keep posting as we do them.

Forcing Forsythias

This is an easy way to bring some spring into your home!

Cut some branches with flower buds on them.  Slice about an inch into the bottom of each branch to help them absorb more water.

You can add about a teaspoon of bleach to the water if you like, I didn't this time.

Place a clear plastic bag over the branches to create sort of a green house effect. It holds in the humidity from the water.

Then, just find an out of the way place to put it, out of direct sunlight and wait for the blooms!

This only took a few days so next year I will start even sooner.

I'm loving all the little hints of spring that I am finding around the yard and it is so much fun to start bringing blooms inside!

I took these pictures out on the back porch because the lighting was so much better.

I love my porches but they do cut down on the natural light inside my house.

I've heard that crabapple branches can also be forced, I may try that next.

Corner of my House - Shelves Redone

Not all that different, I just added a few things and tidied it up somewhat.

I may try painting the back of the shelves someday, but right now I'm happy just leaving it.

Notice anything different about this picture below?

Just wanted to see if anyone noticed!

Corner of my House - Shelves

The Pilot built these shelves and backed them with beadboard. They are at the end of the stairs between the kitchen and the living room. 

While I love this spot, lately it has been neglected and needs some attention. 

Any ideas? Should I paint the beadboard in the back? Or just work on the arranging part?

The clock was a wedding gift from my mother and needs to stay put.

We are enjoying the beginning of Spring, I'm getting the itch to buy plants and start moving some dirt around.

The chicks enjoyed a brief field trip outside the other day. It's so funny to watch them fight over worms!

They are growing unbelievably fast.