The Yard notes

Thought I'd give a quick note or two on the suppliers and costs etc. because that's always so helpful to me when I'm looking at other people's projects. (If you missed the original posts see The Yard and The Yard II)

Sod: Chantilly Turf Farms
Actually located in Aldie now, but if you're in the NOVA area it's worth the trip.  The sod is cut fresh daily, they are super helpful, and it's only $3.50 for a 10sq ft roll (to compare, Meadow's Farms is $4.49 for a 9sq ft roll and I was there today and the rolls look pretty sad from sitting out for awhile) and they'll even let you return unused rolls that are still in good condition within 24hrs.
I think we ended up with about 25 rolls maybe 24 so it was about $90 total give or take a couple dollars

Tool Rental: Rentals Unlimited
Also very helpful staff and reasonable prices
Electric Chain Saw to cut down cypres - $35 for the day
Roto-tiller - $45 for the day
Lawn Roller - $7.50
Total again about $90

We chose not to mix in a layer of topsoil because the area we were laying with sod had previously been mulched and had all kinds of plants in it the enriched the soil so it was healthy enough for us without adding anything.

So sod + equipment came in just under $200 at about $180

Not bad I'd say.

The Yard II - goodbye tree hello sod!

As we left you last there was a lot of dirt and a few too many trees. (see The Yard)

Not that you will probably notice but we are actually less one tree in this photo.  A sad little stick of a tree, we thought maybe we could move it over to a better spot in the yard or move it to a nice spot in the back.  So my husband brought out the shovel ans as he put it in the ground once the tree fell over, the "root ball" if you can even call it that was practically non-existant and had not hearty roots.  Not sure how it was still standing and glad we found out that it was doomed to blow over sooner than later before the sod went in so we avoided having to patch it after the fact.

Next tree to take down, the cypress that is precariously close to the house.

We figured we should get it taken care of before the grass since we would need to cut it ip etc. so we rented a chain saw along with the rototiller and lawn roller we needed for the sod.

Good enough for now.  We will go back later to get the stump so I can put some boxwoods and flowers in front of the bay window.

After tilling, rolling to check the grade, tilling again, then raking to smooth, my husband went to work rolling out the new lawn.

So lush, so nice. Hopefullly it will survive :)

Before and After

Heirloom Tomatoes

I decided I wanted to try my hand (or green thumb) at planting tomatoes this season and thought heirloom Brandywine tomatoes would be a great crop to yield so when I walked by a little kit for just that at Whole Foods I dropped it in my cart.  I do feel a bit silly for paying extra for a pail and some potting mix pellets, but it was really the convenience I was paying for and for my first attempt I am ok with that.  The seed packet in the kit actually came with enough seeds for 30 or so plants so I am going to try several (or at least 2) methods of starting the seeds indoors.

For the Kit you add water to the potting mix pellets so that they expand, put them in the pail then plant the seeds.  They suggested planting just 3 seeds, but I am not as confident in my growing abilities as they apparently are so I planted 9 and will use the hardiest sproutlings that theoretically will come up (notice the guarantee on the bottom of the seed packet). I planted on April 7th then exactly seven days later on April 14th . . .

Can you see it? My seeds are sprouting! I was really more proud than I should have been, but the miracle of life, even plant life, is exciting.

By the next day (today) I had three little sprouts.

Then, to hedge my bets I set up  the other sprouting method I am going to try.  I got some helpful tips from Lisa at Amishland Heirloom Seeds.  She said to presprout her seeds she soaks them for two hours then puts them on a damp paper towel and wraps them loosly in an unsealed plastic bag, sort of a mini greenhouse.  Then they should sprout within a few days cutting down the 7 days I waited to see the other seeds come up out of the soil.

Day 1 (4/14/10)

The Yard

Since we moved in I have been working to get the crazy yard that came with our house to a state of functionality that would be useful for our family and pleasing to the nieghbors.  The previous owners had very different needs when it came to a yard and so they mulched the entire thing and put in tons of wild plants and flowers that over time, certainly went wild.  I have been able to clear out the chaos, transplant a few things to designated beds and highlight the wall along the edge of the yard with new bulbs.  I also put in new boxwoods and bulbs in front of the porch.  The rest is dirt, dirt, dirt and more dirt, for now.  The plan is to install sod, but the process of prepping the yard for the sod ourselves has been slow going.  I feel like all I do is move dirt from one spot to another.  No matter how many wheelbarrows full of dirt I remove, it just looks like a big mess of dirt.  I have started to see it all leveling out some as I removed 4 more wheel barrows full of dirt this afternoon and have hope that we will be able to get the sod laid by the end of the month before the summer heat hits.  This is the progress as of today and I will be excited to post udated pictures as soon as possible!

Frozen Buttercream Transfer

This year I decided I wanted to try something new for birthday cake time.  In the past I have used a 3-D sports ball cake pan to create a soccer ball and a train cake pan to create, well, a train.

So this year I decided I didn't want to use a shaped cake pan, but to decorate a regular sheet cake using a great technique I found online called Frozen Buttercream Transfer.  Then my husband gave me a suggestion that took it one step further - use a Carvel ice cream cake - yum!

I bought the cake at our local grocery store, it had balloons and "happy birthday" on it so I scraped off the baloons and it left the perfect space for my transfer - Lightning McQueen from Disney Pixar's "Cars"

I reversed an image of McQueen on the computer, printed it out, taped it to a piece of cardboard, then covered it with wax paper.  I then traced the picture with buttercream icing and put it in the freezer for half an hour.

Out of the freezer I carefully removed the cardboard and printed image then turned it over onto the cake and peeled back the wax paper, added a road to hide where I had scraped the baloons off and made a few minor touch ups.

I had a very pleased little boy.

(There are a bunch of great tutorials on FBT with step by step pictures if you google it)

Easter Outfits

Several years ago on the way back home from a trip to Charleston, SC, I stopped in NC to visit my sister's mother in law's sister (my sister and her mother in law were with me) and she gave me her old Singer sewing machine and table.  It still runs well and it was free!  Well it sat unused in my home for sometime until I needed to recover our glider and ottoman for our daughter's nursery (the blue pin stripe just didn't fit) and once that project was finished it sat again, unused for awhile.  Then as Easter approched this year I realized that now with two children and especially with one of them being a sweet baby girl, I could make coordinating Easter outfits for them to wear to church! Am I the only one thrilled by this? Anyhow,  I pulled that trusy Singer back out, ordered some fabulous Amy Butler fabric and went to work.

I modified a traditional pillowcase dress by lining it and putting elastic at the front and back and making my own bias tape to line the armholes and create a tie at each arm instead of running ribbon through the whole neckline so as to avoid a choking hazard.  For the tie I used a great pattern I found on the Purl Bee Soho website

Becuase little boys are little, the back of the tie ended up longer than the front when tied around his neck so we just tucked it inside his shirt through the space between his button holes and now there is plenty of room for this tie to grow with him. The elastic and ties on the dress also leave room for my little girl to grow and possibly even use it as a shirt one day.

Fabrics: Amy Butler Fresh Posies Fuscia from her Midwest Modern line and Halfmoon Tangerine from her Lotus line

Kid Furniture!

I had been dying to try out some plans from Anna over at Knock-Off-Wood and decided my son's 3rd birthday party was the excuse I needed to get started.  I wanted to organize the kid corner of our living room better and provide a little activity area for the kids to color and do puzzles that was out of reach of my 9 month old.  I own basic tools and a good electric screwdriver/drill, but needed some heavier duty items so I borrowed a miter saw, air compressor, nailer and some countersink drill bits from some friends and headed off to Lowe's and Home Depot.

The bookcase is mdf framed in pine, I think next time I would use plywood (though slightly pricier) in place of the mdf becasue I did have some issues with splitting.  I used left over paint from my daughter's nursery to finish.

The kid's storage chair I modified from the plans for a Land of Nod knock-off by hinging the seat and adding the storage compartment under it instead of near the bottom of the legs.

The table was the simplest project of them all made mostly with scraps from the other projects.

Averaged out over the four pieces (there's a pink chair just like the blue one that has yet to be assembled) the costs came out to about $37 for the bookshelf and $30 a piece for the table and each chair.

I was able to get the three pieces shown completed in just under a week working almost exclusively during my kids naps and at night after they were in bed.

I have plans to resand these and fix some not so well finished spots and screw holes and a few bumps and bruises it has already received then prime, repaint and seal.  I ordered Safecoat primer and Safecoat Acrylacq sealer that I am so excited to use.

The primer is made without all the yucky stuff and "the least toxic product of it's type" and the sealer, oh the sealer, not only has low VOCs itself, but seals in outgassing from what you're putting it on!

Ice Damming

One morning during the crazy winter we were having, I went to get my son up and the floor near his window felt unusually cold.  Later that day when I put him down for nap time, water pooled between my toes as I stepped in the carpet in that same area.  After inspecting the walls and ceiling we ended up pullin back the carpet and pad along the wall and discovered a good bit of water that was coming in from under the base board.  We were surpirsed to find that it was not coming in the window at all, but instead through the walls as the ice built up in the gutters was causing the melt to find other drainage routes.

We set up a fan in his room and had him take his nap in our room while we broke off the huge icicles hanging over the gutters above is wondow.  How did we do this you ask?  We hung ourselves out the window and smashed at them with a broomstick and some parts with a hammer and chisel.  Not the safest solution, I know, but keeping the icicles in check every couple of hours for several days , fixed the problem and the floor and carpet dried out without issue.  It does still need to be tucked back under the base boards, but nothing was permanantly damaged and we are glad for that.