wednesday rewind

It's fun to occassionally re-read posts I made last year in the month we're in.  I just happened to blog exactly one year ago today about dining al fresco.  We ate outside twice yesterday--it's one of the best things about summer.  I have visions, when the kids are a little older, of walking downtown to Matteo's with Rob and dining outside there, they have wonderful seating on the sidewalk.  Rob is going to Matteo's today actually for a lunch meeting.  Mmmm.

Here's to more al fresco dining this summer!

kitchen sink, skinny dippin' and twine

I scrubbed out my kitchen sink today--it always feels so good to have a clean and shiny sink, doesn't it?

I couldn't resist taking these pics of Calvin in the wading pool.  Won't he love seeing these when he's older?  He was walking around the yard picking up random things and throwing them in.  In the top pic are my (dirty) gardening gloves and Lily's flip flops.  Nice!

And I blogged about Whisker Graphics in this post about halfway down here.  I just love her divine twine and am thrilled to see it in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living here.

knackered

lots of playing on the screen porch and in the yard again this week.  It's so good to be outside!  I have a zillion projects I want to do.  One of which involves bricks.  Lots of bricks.  I'm getting loads of partial bricks for free from a historic home here in town, free street bricks from another local town, and also getting free limestone slabs from a friend.  Projects are getting underway--pics to come.

anyway, back to the kids (oh yeah, they enjoy loading and unloading bricks too.  especially when it involves a trip to the ice cream store!)

this little man is knackered.  I love that word--love all the english and aussie slang.  I would totally say 'nappies'  if people would understand that I mean diapers and not a nap.  I love this--fell asleep on my back in the ergo and I oh so gently laid him on the bed.  love.

outside awesomeness...and more pillows

Happy First Day of Spring!  We played out on the porch--lots--this week.

I'm so glad we re-did this porch last fall, it is soooo nice to be out here now.

So I sewed more pillow covers for the couch pillows.  I used only fabric I had in my stash, so I didn't have to buy anything but 3 zippers.  Now it's a hodge podge of fabrics, but a cozy hodge podge I think!  I definitely prefer this to the previous look.

Scenes from our nature shelf-the springtime birdies and eggs and butterflies are out! 

morning sky & easy pillow slipcover

This was my view out of my front door this morning.  So peaceful and beautiful.  Makes me want to freeze time and live in this light for always.

Last night I sewed a super easy square pillow slipcover for Grace's other twin bed.  Long ago I had sewn her an exact same one (back when she only had one twin bed in her room).  So here we go.  I used 2 cotton hankerchiefs, though any fabric will work.  A 20" zipper fits perfectly on it.  Sew one side of the zipper on.

Then the other side (sorry for the inconsistent lighting.  Yeah, haven't got this camera thing down yet).

Now you've got a big rectangle with a zipper in the middle.  Fold fabric in half, right sides together.  Be sure to open the zipper halfway.  Very important.

Sew up all 3 sides and turn rightside out.

That's it!  Slip over your pillow and zip.  Throw on the bed, couch, floor.  Easy to remove & toss in the wash.  Note that you don't really need to buy a pillow form at the craft store, either.  Goodwill has lots of throw pillows that could be easily recovered with this method.  Just adjust for the size.  Oh, and I picked up some bamboo fiber stuffing at Joann's yesterday.  I have gotten wool before (online) and loved it, I always prefer the natural fibers over the polyfill.  It costs more (twice as much) but with a 40% off coupon at Joann's, it was only $1 more.

Happy Weekend!