Like a jigsaw puzzle

I made a small patio!

We bought the concrete stepping stones a while ago with the intention of making a small patio under a bench we have in the backyard. Like many projects, we had good intentions but other stuff stood in the way, like  weeding under the bench just so that we could get to the point of being able to put down the stones. Here's what the area looked like before we hired three guys to save us from the weeds:

I'd like to get a few more of the concrete stepping stones and fill in some more area in the front of the patio but I'm too pooped to go out to the home improvement store to get more. It's a beautiful day today and just the right temperature but it was still hard work to make the area level and lay down the stones. I took frequent breaks and enjoyed the pretty blossoms in the yard.

The bees like the cherry blossoms too

The Wisteria is blooming and smells wonderful

I even let two of the cats out to have a romp. Felix loves to roll in the dirt.

I can tell I will be sore tomorrow from the digging and raking and lifting. I'm already feeling it, so I think I will finally try out that new air-jet tub we put in and have a soak.

Where have I seen this before?

This looks a bit familiar, don't you think?

I'm in no way saying Indygo Junction stole my idea because I absolutely do NOT take any credit for the design of the pincushion I show in my tutorial. I copied that pincushion from one my mother made me in the 70's. I'm not sure where she got the idea from but I know she made them to sell at a craft fair to raise money for the Boy Scouts, I think. Anyway, if want to make a pincushion to hold the long thread spools, now you know where you can get a pattern...or how you can adapt the design to accomodate them. ;-)

Weed-be-gone

The house projects continue. Work on the guest room/sewing room #2 will begin in a couple of weeks and we also took the first steps toward landscaping the yard.

On Friday the backyard looked like this:

And after two days and three guys we hired it now looks like this!

It's great to see the raised vegetable beds again and with everything cleared out we're inspired to put in new plants and flowers. Although I do like the very green "before" and the flowers were pretty, they were all weeds. Lots of weeds. The guys also weeded the front yard and removed two big juniper bushes, so they did a lot of work in two days! The next step is to put in large flat stones to mark the paths through the yard. There is no grass in the backyard, which is just fine in this climate where there is no rain at all from around May to October. The last window in the above picture is the window in the bedroom what we'll be replacing with French doors. After that work is completed next month we'll have a brick patio put in that wraps around the side of the house. And there's the front yard to work on too. Slowly but surely we're getting it done.