DIY Planter Chairs - A quick and easy project

The idea for chairs repurposed as outdoor planters came across my pinterest feed back in March, and like most things I pin, this idea gathered dust for a while before I decided to commit to it.

In part because annuals are on sale at most places right now, and given that I have two sets of broken-seated chairs in my garage awaiting a new life, it seemed like the perfect crafternoon activity post-work on Monday.

I had originally planned to remove the broken caning from the seats and simply drop a couple of old hanging planter pots into the openings. . . easy enough, but where's the challenge and fun in that? Not to mention that once I got the pots out and surveyed the amount of plants I had brought home, I realized that there wouldn't be quite enough space in the pots for the plants to be happy enough.

Plants!

Thing 1 and Thing 2; both seats in disrepair!

Early July Blackberry Pie

I'm ashamed to admit that this blackberry pie is my first pie of the summer, back in early July.

June Garden Update

Once spring hits full stride and starts the stretch into summer I find it hard to spend too much time inside. And now that school has ended for the year, I've jumped right in to my summer gardening gig, so of course I end up taking care of mine in the evenings and weekends.

I'll have some crafty updates soon, but for now, another tour of the gardens - it's been a busy month for all of the green things. The nice thing about the gardens is that most of the plants have come to me for free. Even today I was planting more hand-me-down's from Mom and moving around some Narcissus bulbs (SO many!).

Strawberry Bed: Revisited & Revised

Remember back in May, when I made this for the strawberry plants that my students had planted (then abandoned when school ended) in the spring of 2013?

little strawberry plants, all tucked in - they're practically lonely with all that space

Hanging Out

This:

thank you REI dividend!

The Veggie Garden Update & Flower Beds Tour

Nearly two weeks later, and the veggie garden is coming along. Almost everything is starting to come up, although I replanted some cuke seeds, added some pea and bean seeds, and the spinach. The cukes, peas, and beans are new seeds this year whereas the spinach are a few years old. One hill of beans are coming up and about half the peas are, so it's not a big deal if the other respective halves don't make it. I can always find greens at the Farmer's Market, so I'm not so worried about that seed stock, either. The carrot seeds seem to have migrated between the rows, so I might add more of that in the next few days, too. I've added some onions, leeks, a pot of mint (absconded from an out-of-control patch at a gardening job), and as of this weekend, sweet basil and nasturtium. I also put down burlap bags over the garden cloth, they were free, which beats buying wood chips! All-in-all, everything is pretty happy so far!

Fashionably Late to the (Veggie Garden) Party

I've been meaning to get a couple of veggie beds in for a while now. I even staked one of the plots out when I set up my strawberry bed. Now that we're past Memorial Day, when it's generally safe to plant, I have been feeling more motivated. And then I went and bought these the other day, which obviously need a home:

seeds!

So after several weeks of staring at the front lawn, and twice mowing the area I'd selected, I decided it was time to commit. My neighbor had offered to come over with his tractor and tiller attachment, but we never seemed to have the same 10 minutes available. Another friend offered the use of their small garden tiller, so on Wednesday I finally went to pick it up. On Thursday evening I did a quick go-round to scratch up the grass on the surface (and make sure that I could get the tiller to work).

Summer Knitting Projects

I haven't done a ton of knitting this summer, but have been keeping busy with a few projects:

The string-of-lights is slowly growing. . . twenty-five lights are knit, five more are set up, and I have more than enough yarn to create more strand and lights. This will be done by Christmas for sure!

two yards and counting on the string of lights
(and a sneak-peak at the front porch and front yard)

Summer Project #2: 30 Days of Photographs - Recap & Favorites

And done! 45 days later, the 30-day photo challenge is complete. A few of my favorites are posted below. Click on the "30 Days of Photographs" tab above (or click through here) for the entire challenge with narratives of each photo.

day 2.

Slow day (month) at the office . . .

Not much crafting going on these days, unless you count packing to move, which it could be argued is a craft in itself.

"pantry" waiting to be packed.

Summer Project #2: 30 Days of Photographs.

from:
http://littlebennet.com/
 

This idea came across pinterest a while ago: a month of taking photographs. The pin linked to a blogger who found their inspiration on the 'net and came up with a list of things to photograph each day. My plan is to use from now (starting July 1) until school starts in mid-August to complete the challenge. It won't necessarily happen over 30 consecutive days, but over 30 days total. And I'll go off the list here, which I've also printed off so I can keep track. I'm pretty sure I can get through all 30 by giving myself this 45-day(ish) window!

Another bonus to this? You'll get pictures from a few different states. I have a trip to CO planned mid-month, a friend I plan to visit in NY one weekend, and a trip to ME planned sometime between now and school starting.

I'll collect the photos on one page, which you can find in the menu above (or by clicking through here). I debated doing this with film photography, as I do have a great 35mm SLR that I got for college graduation, but that may have to wait for next time as I need to make sure I have film for it.

And before the challenge starts, a little glimpse at the incoming storm from earlier this evening; don't worry, you'll get the "real" cloud picture on day 3.

Summer Project #1: String of Lights

Despite having a lot of my stuff packed in boxes in the storage unit in anticipation of moving out of the dorm apartment, I did leave out a few projects and miscellaneous craft stuff. One of the projects I decided to work on this summer is one that I'd seen a friend knitting several years ago, a string of lights. The pattern is part of a set of patterns from Knit Picks, called Winter Wonderful, which now comes as either the pattern alone, or with the yarn; when I bought it a couple of years ago, I bought it as a kit with the yarn included. Of course, I really only love a few of the patterns, and in retrospect probably could have figured out on my own how to make the lights. But I like the yarn colors that were included in the kit, and I already have some ideas for using them up down the road.

five lights done:
dark blue, light grey, light blue, white, blue.
repeat.

The pattern is essentially a long I-cord with the lights coming off at regular intervals. I started with the string itself and it's now just over two yards long (measured very accurately using the nose to fingertip method), with space for about 30 lights. You can see the loop at on end, and the stitch holder at the other end. The safety pins are holding the stitches that will start each light.