April Showers Finally Brought May Flowers

With all the rain we had in April...and we had so much rain, I am happy to finally be able to start planting flowers.  Mother's Day weekend is usually when we begin our planting efforts.  It just seems like the nice weather took so long this year to show up.

  Bought this blue/green pot from Home Goods...

 

Plan on planting these flowers in it over the weekend.

While I was at the nursery, I had to buy a hydrangea plant.  Hydrangeas are my FAVORITE flower.

I already have two hydrangea bushes around the pool area.  Not sure where I will plant this one yet...but I do know that each year I want to add more.  I could look at these flowers all day long.

The backyard is starting to come together.

We have owned this Japanese Maple for eight years or so.  In the "old" backyard space, it used to be right up against the house. It was barely noticed.  I love where our landscaper moved it.  It is now a focal point.

You can see the Japanese Maple right behind the truck in this picture.  It's so much better in it's new location.  In fact, everything is.  All of the landscaping was transplanted when we redid the patio.  We really didn't have to buy much...everything was re-used.

My kids bought me this statute one Mother's Day.

The fountain will be cleaned and set up this weekend.

I'm looking forward to planting the rest of my annuals over the weekend and then on Sunday we are hosting a Mother's Day brunch at our house.  How will you be spending your Mother's Day weekend?

My Swing into Spring party is still going on.  You can click here to join in the fun.

-Judy

Restoration Hardware Baby and Child Knockoff Pillow

I was flipping through one of my favorite catalogs, and saw this pillow.

Image from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

My son's favorite number is 5, so I thought I would make him one of these pillows for his bedroom.  The originals are made from wool felt.  I don't know why, but for some reasons I found a yard of wool felt in my stash of fabric, in an ivory color.  I had to laugh...what are the chances of me having exactly what I needed in the house?

Whenever I make a pillow, I always like to start with my trusty square.

I traced a 13" x 13" square onto the felt and then cut out two from the material.

I then cut out a length of fabric long enough to go all the way around the square (13" x 4) plus an inch for seam allowance by 5" wide.  Using leftover fabric from my son's valance I made years ago, I made welting.  Welting is very easy to make...all I did was cut a strip of fabric and sewed it around cording using a zipper foot or a cording foot.  The trick is to sew as close to the cording as possible.

I then sewed the cording to the right side of the fabric all the way around, clipping the corners of the welting to make it fit easier.

I printed out the #5 on my computer  (using a light ink setting so as not to use up all my toner).  I then pinned it onto a grey piece of felt and cut it out.

I then pinned and sewed the number onto the right side of one of the pieces of fabric.

I then pinned and sewed the edges to the front side of the pillow...right sides together.

This is what it should look like before the back gets sewn on.  Then pin the back onto the sides...right sides together.

Be careful when you sew the side piece onto the back not to sew something you don't mean to.  Sew slowly.  I start at the bottom about an inch in, sew the other three sides and end about an inch in on the bottom again.  This way I can turn it easily.

 Once I turned it right side out, I stuffed it full.

Using my favorite fabric glue, I glued the open edges together.

Voila!  This pillow was very easy to make.  It was a bit more time consuming because it is a square pillow with sides, but still easy.  Felt it great to work with.

The best part is that my son loves it.  The second best part is that it cost nothing since I already had everything I needed in the house.   What do you think?

Don't forget that my Swing into Spring party is still going on.  The link will stay open through Friday.
-Judy

Swing into Spring - It's a Party - #14

Welcome to this week's Swing into Spring party.  As the weather warms up I'm going to have to come up with a fun name for the summer months.  Any ideas?? As usual, your linkups never disappoint.  Last week's party was filled with so many creative projects.  It's always difficult to just pick a few.  Here are this week's featured projects:

This pillow was created by The Exchange.   The pattern on the fabric was created using screen print paint.  Look at how gorgeous!  You must stop by to see all of the other patterns she made.

Look at this super cute sewing bag made from scraps of fabric by Sarah over at Fairy Face Designs.  You know I just love creating things using what I have in the house.  Sarah is very talented.  Please go check out her blog and check out what else she creates.

I love the board and batten treatment done by The Blooming Hydrangea.   When you drop by Ange's blog, you can check out the rest of her little boy's room.  It's perfect!

I love these boxes Linda displays together at Delight.  It all started with a box she got in Paris.  She had me at Paris.

See this pretty Barbie doll - well it's a princess cake!!  The dress is made with fondant.  My daughter would love this as her birthday cake.  I may have to try following the tutorial Laura gives over at the Corner House.

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.     I will keep this link open through Friday.





<a border="0" href="http://www.diybydesign.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJQ57UTTqP5H3ArJ4thAR7igkiq-H0DDqAFEPsF2LEEpbjH1V23WLACxNrrAJ-rl_ihObi7VRgtkVATLnOiXb94vFCFyE0hgeEzKWc5xlCrCAq-G59ysA1KWMwE4tk3dg_eaayqN5zU-K/s128/None.jpg" /></a>

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower.  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Decorating with Lanterns

Have you seen all of the lanterns they are showing in home decor stores?

image from Pottery Barn

image from Pottery Barn

image from Restoration Hardware

image from Frontgate

Are you loving these lanterns as much as I am?  There's just something about this...I knew I had to incorporate this into my summer decorating.  Of course, all of the images above are very pricey.

So while in my favorite store, Home Goods, I came across this beautiful lantern.  I loved it, but didn't buy it.  I left the store and couldn't get it out of my head.  I went back the next day and they were gone.  That's the thing about Home Goods...if you see it...buy it.  You can always return it, but once it's gone it's gone.  Two weeks later I was in another Home Goods and there was a display of the lanterns.  The same lanterns I had passed on two weeks earlier at my local Home Goods.  This time I bought two.

I bought three candles that were on clearance and placed them in my lanterns.

I've tried them separated...

...and grouped together.  

I think I like them grouped together the best.  

I love how these lanterns have updated my mantle for the summer.  What do you think?  I'm loving the weathered look.

Don't forget that my Swing into Spring party opens tonight at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you all then.

-Judy

Outdoor Decorating

The weather was just gorgeous here this past weekend.  Sunday we had the house power washed and it was finally time to take out all of the patio furniture.

We have our outdoor furniture stored in our shed and in our pool house.  The whole family worked together to bring everything out.

Once we took everything out, I started arranging the furniture.  With the new patio, everything is different.

We decided to move the seating area to the other side of the pool deck.  I love how it looks with the landscaping behind it.

That whole seating area used to sit here.  Now, with the new countertop area it no longer made sense to have the huge umbrella and chat area here.  Notice the umbrella in the granite.  If we kept the seating area here, the two umbrellas would be on top of each other.

What became clear is that we need to buy some more furniture.  We knew this already, but until we laid everything out, I wasn't exactly sure what we needed.  Now I have a better idea.

I found this set at a local outdoor furniture store.  Wouldn't this look great sitting to the right of the sliding glass door?  A few issues...one - this is the only fabric they stock it in and I don't know that I want browns and taupes... I wish it had a more neutral fabric.  Second...it's over $5,000!!!  I'll have to continue my hunt for the perfect sectional (or try to find it somewhere else for less).

We also need two to three counter height stools.

image from Hanamint 

Probably this one from Hanamint to match the small table and chairs we bought last year.

We also need better chairs for around the fire pit.  Those chairs are not in great shape anymore.  They were originally from Bed and Bath and are close to ten years old.  Not bad for cheap chairs.

image from Frontgate

Finally we need two nice chaise lounge chairs.  We threw out four slingback lounge chairs that had rusted and gotten gross over the past few years.  My only issue is where they will go.  The lounge chair area used to be where we just moved the chat area.  I'm going to have to spend a little more time planning out this space today.  Maybe it's just me, but I am shocked at the cost of outdoor furniture.  We have bought inexpensive furniture in the past (ie the outdoor chat area at the pool is from Target).  Unfortunately those sets really don't seem to last more than a few years (and we put all of our furniture away for the winter).

Next step in conjunction with adding more furniture...adding some color.  Way too much grey already.  I'm looking forward to picking a color scheme.

What do you think so far?  Any outdoor decorating going on at your home?

-Judy


I've been featured over at At The Picket Fence.  Please stop by and take a look.