Tag: gardening

More masks and a small garden.

On By happygingerhomeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m still sewing masks. Not as many as when the stay at home order began. I have a small pile of masks that I can launder and re-use, but masks are fun to sew and good practice. It’s gotten a lot easier and I’m getting used to my sewing machine. My lines are straighter and the machine doesn’t jam as much as it used to. I should say, I don’t jam it as much as I used to! I’m getting into the flow and hoping to start some slightly more complicated projects.

There are so many awesome designs out there, it’s hard to stop buying fabric

I also did some gardening a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have much space to plant so I use a lot of pots.

The woods are right behind my house. A lot of small animals come out of the woods from behind the bench. I’m convinced Saint Francis of Assisi is inviting them to spend time in my yard. I’ve seen cardinals, robins, chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits sitting in front of him. Last week I saw a large hare sitting in front of him!

I can never get a picture, though! I scare them off if I sneak outside and pictures taken through my living room window are that’s OK. I love these little animal visits.

I also love my jack o lantern planter! I keep it out in every season! This is Salem, after all.

The One With All The Flowers

On By happygingerhomeIn Life, The Universe, And Everything, Other CraftsLeave a comment

Sunday was hot and sunny and gorgeous, so I made my semi-regular pilgrimage to the urban Mecca known as Home Depot.  So did a boatload of other people. I like Home Depot. I’m a crafty gal, but I’m not the type of person who can build a deck or redo their kitchen by themselves. No, I like to dip my toes into the kiddie pools of DIY, if you will: such as the paint section, garden furniture, and the gardening department.  For a year my goal has been to dog-proof my deck (on the 2nd floor) so my dog can’t slip under the gap under the railing. Mine was a simple no-frills solution involving 16 2-ft. sections of plastic picket fencing and a bunch of plastic zip ties. I just turned the fencing upside down so the spikes normally stuck into the ground were facing up, with the inverted fencing covering the gap.  I tied it to the deck railing with a zip tie on either side of each fence and voila! Spike can relax and enjoy the deck along with his humans.  I love a good reason to go to Home Depot, and since I needed to make a trip anyway, I decided it was time to give the whole deck a makeover, Martha Stewart-style. That is, if Martha Stewart lived in a triple-decker and had champagne tastes but a TJ Maxx budget. 🙂

Please enjoy my how-to guide for creating a beach cottage-themed deck fairly cheap.  Start with these wooden assembly-required Adirondack chairs. They retail at $49 each but the price seems to steadily decline as the summer wears on. I paid $30 each for them last year late in the summer.  I went back to HomeDepot a week later and they’d been reduced to $20 each. I started the makeover last year with these chairs. I LOVE Adirondack chairs and always wanted to own some.  They were cheap and, a year later, are starting to wobble a tiny bit when I sit down in one.  I may need to invest in some good ones someday, but for now, I’m living the dream.  The pastel mint paint I bought at the same time never made it onto the chairs, and I don’t think it’s ever going to at this point.  I added the cushions later on.

Do you like my coffee table? It’s an old lobster trap. Yay for upcycling! Oldies Marketplace in Newburyport, Massachusetts usually has a few lobster traps in stock in the summer. Mine already had a wooden tabletop put on top of it. All I need to complete the theme is some brightly colored bouys, and most antique stores from Mystic to Maine have them.

The pansies and two of the flowerpots are from Home Depot. The pot with the bees on it is from a local indie florist who has since closed up shop. Here’s a closer look at the plants I truly hope I don’t kill:

Finally, I couldn’t resist this lovely clematis plant:

I love my new and improved deck. I never used it last year but I’m going to really enjoy it this summer.   My finishing touches will be a wind chime and a small outdoor rug. I want my summer reading/knitting nook to feel like an outdoor living room.  This will be a wonderful place to read, knit, spin and just relax.  I have a lot of spinning fiber to work through, so I think I’ll be spending a lot of time out here.