The Big Fall Project

Fall is here!! Fall is my favorite time of the year. The weather is temperate with warm days and cool nights made just right for sleeping. The leaves turn lovely shades of gold, red, and orange. The clothing styles and colors change which surely must mean My Sweet Melissa (my dear friend) and I need to do some Fall shopping...

But in the meantime I have a major overhaul of my backyard going on so I thought I would share some of the progress so far.

We tore out the old deck which was enclosed in the front and had steps only on the left side. Then my brother built this awesome deck with steps leading out directly into the yard. Much more open and now gives direct access to the pond and the patio.

The pond was actually installed a year ago but due to improper installation by the contractor became less peaceful and more headache. In the spring we drained it down and fixed the problems ourselves (thanks Geoff). We also had a UV light installed recently. Peace has been restored and the fish are growing, healthy and happy.

Ahh... the new patio. Because the patio was built up in a round shape, it presented a bit of a challenge for the landscape crew. Thanks to Hunter and Kyle, it was figured out and installed. Good job guys! Its about a 16 foot radius and additional soil, plants and mulch will be installed around it.

The next step will be to bring in more soil and plants to tie all the hardscape elements together. Installing the plants in the early fall will give them time to get rooted before winter and by spring they should be ready to grow. I'll post more pics when the installation is completed. By the way, that little black poodle cutie is my girl, Isabelle.

Seasons of Change

September has arrived and Summer seems to be drawing to a close. The kids have headed back to school which allows me to finish up a few projects that were on hold and begin new projects.

I finally stitched out the woodland deer towels for my newly painted downstairs bathroom. I love them! I actually like them better stitched on the chocolate brown waffle weave towels than I do on the solid white background. Anyway I think they look totally sweet....

I sewed up some cool cool fabric coasters from a tutorial I got from www.makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/2009/03/drink-coasters-from-scrap-fabric.html. I liked them so much I am planning to make some in different designs for my etsy shop as well.




And, check out the cool necklace and earrings I made during a beading class I took with my friend Nancy...

I hope to delve a little further into jewelry making in the future but I thought this was a good start.