Easy Fleece Throws

Well, I really took the break from large scale projects to the extreme! My recent completions are simply single cuts of double sided fleece with edges sewn over. So easy, a great instant update and preparation for baby! The hardest part was getting a finish photo. Cody grabbed the striped throw faster than I could unplug the sewing machine. Luke spent the next morning rolling and burying his face into it. I had to roll a bouncy ball down the hallway to get a photo without him! 

The baseball print is for Boy #2 and is a one yard cut of fleece, I got about 3/4 of the edges sewn before realizing the straight stitch may not stand up to wear and washing over the long term, but that's an easy one to fix if it becomes a problem! Luke has a similar blanket but in football print which is 'his' blanket. It's actually from our church's white elephant night, haha! The thing goes everywhere with him! 

I switched over to a stretch zig-zag stitch for the striped throw (a two yard cut), although again I should have lengthened the stitch. Oh well. Obviously it hasn't effected its popularity in our home! A little more on the how-to part: even out the cut of the fabric and fold over/sew the opposite ends first. Then work your way down the other two sides pinning and sewing to give the corners a finished look. And that's it! It really doesn't get any easier than that to sew a blanket.

Trellis from a Window

Two of these old, old windows were left in the back shed when we purchased our home. I wouldn't let Cody throw them out because, well obviously. It was clearly a house warming present from the previous owners right? Fast forward a couple years and I forgot all about them. Re-discovered them and got the eye from Cody so it was time I did something with them or risk them going 'missing' forever!

I knew right away I wanted them to be glassless, the glass was so so thin that it didn't take much pressure to crack and/or pop each pane out completely. I went around each frame with an X-Acto knife first to loosen the caulking too. Much of the wood though is very weathered and I honestly don't think it would hold up to a good sanding/scraping/cleaning I would need to do in order to make them a picture frame or something for inside the house. I figured the next best thing would be to back them with some wiring for a climbing plant since Cody is in the process of building a new deep planter already! We plan incorporate our wedding arbor here too, so a window on each side of it, attached to the fence is getting me all excited!

The wiring is stapled to the back of the frame and there is a bit of tie wire in the middle to hold everything tight to the frame. I'm really happy we went with the green (which we had on hand already making this project 100% FREE!), I think it will blend in easily with whatever we plant.

And here is the planter in progress!! The center area will cut back in for easier reach in maintaining the plants and allow a perfect nook for our wedding arbor. This area is pretty well shaded by our massive avocado tree so I've been heavily researching shade plants as well. I'm not super into ferns. But I think I have found a few that aren't super 'ferny' to help fill the heaviest shaded areas. Luke has definitely been the best thing that ever happened to my black thumb. He is so into carrying the watering can around, its been a great reminder to keep my plants alive!

Hard to describe the finish look we have planned but the planter will be 2ft tall and also act as bench seating. We're getting a better idea of how to make good use of our huge yard now too. Like everything else its baby steps, but having a solid plan is really exciting!