Years ago Farmer John asked me to make him an apron to wear while processing chickens. I made him 3. I’m sure he loves me for that.

I chose to use feed sacks for the material for a few reasons. One reason being that I love the idea of repurposing material. Number two, they didn’t need to be fancy aprons – the chickens, nor Farmer John care. Number three: they are super simple to rinse off. And, four, the price was right.

Whenever I use feed sacks I find my biggest dilemma is how to get the slippery material to not slip while sewing. If you can figure that out, then this project will be a cinch.

The aprons require very few materials and basic sewing skills.

Required Items

• 2 feed sacks (same design)
• 2 30″ pieces of webbing
• 1 26″ piece of webbing
• thread & sewing machine
• scissors and/or rotary cutter

Preparing the Feed Sack

Rinse the feed sacks and let dry.

Cut off the bottom edge of one sack. You can discard that piece, you won’t need it. Then, cut up the middle of the back. The sack now opens to one flat piece of fabric to use for your apron.

Creating the Apron Shape

Find the middle of the front of your sack and fold the sack in half. Trim off about an inch from the side. Pin the sack together.

With a pen, make a mark at 7″ in from the side. Make another mark 10″ down from the top. To make the arm hole shape, I made a straight line a few inches long from the top. I also made a straight line a couple inches in from the side. Then free formed a curve, connecting the straight lines. Using a rotary cutter or scissors, cut along the pen line. Since the sack is folded in half, you should be cutting through both sides.

Open the sack and see the lovely apron shape.

Sewing the Top Section

Cut a few small slits along the curved section of the arm holes.

Fold over the arm hole edges 1/4″ – 1/2″.

Fold over the top edge 1/2″, then fold it over again.

Tuck both ends of your neck strap under the folded top edge. Then flip the strap up and pin in place.

Starting at the side of one arm hole, sew around the arm hole, along the top edge, and down around the other arm hole.

Making a Big Pocket

From the second feed sack, cut off the bottom and cut up the middle back just like the first sack.

I don’t have exact measurements on where to cut the sack for the pocket. It varies a bit depending on the design on the sack. But, it will typically be about 1/3 to 1/2 up from the bottom of the sack. I just pick an area that looks pleasing – like not through text or animal faces. Once you find your optimal pocket top, cut 3/4″ above it. You will now have a rectangular piece of fabric.

Fold over 3/4″ along the top edge of your pocket. Straight (or zig zag) stitch along the top edge.

Pin your rectangle pocket piece to the main apron.

Sewing the Bottom Section

Lay the rectangle pocket piece on top of the main apron. They are now acting as one fabric piece.

Fold over the remaining unsewn edges 1/2″, making sure the pocket edges are folded too. Fold the edges over again.

The bottom corners get quite thick due to the number of layers folded. I trim off a bit.

Fold the corners so they come together nicely and pin in place.

Tuck each side tie under the folded side edge. Then flip the side tie out and pin in place.

Starting at the top of a side, sew down the side, along the bottom, and up the other side.

And, Done!

The apron is now ready for all those sloppy chores.

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On my quest to find ways to use all the feed sacks, I came up with bags to grow herbs and greens.

Making them is very similar to sewing the tote bag. The differences are size and no handles.

This is a fairly easy sewing project. My biggest problem, as always, is using the feed sack as fabric. It is slippery and sometimes jams the needle in my sewing machine. Going slow seems to help.

CUTTING THE BAG FOR HEIGHT

Trim the top and bottom of the bag to 12″ high.

CUTTING THE WIDTH OF THE BAG

Using scissors, cut the back of the bag down the middle.

Fold the bag in half(ish), centering the front.

From the center line, measure over 14″ & cut.

ADDING EMBELLISHMENTS

These bags were meant to be placed in my kitchen window and/or front porch, so I wanted to add just a little something for a homey feel. I have quite the lace and ribbon stash, so I chose to use them for the added decor.

It is easiest to add the lace and ribbon while the bag is one flat piece of fabric. I prefer to sew on the pretty stuff prior to sewing the bag back together.

To hold the lace in place while sewing, I first used a bit of fabric glue. It wasn’t totally necessary, but, it did help.

I chose a medium width ribbon, so there was enough to fold over the top of the bag. This created a nice, finished look to the bag.

SEWING THE BAG BACK TOGETHER

Fold the bag in half, inside facing out. Sew along the open edge about 1/2″ in. I sew a double line for extra durability.

Arrange the bag, inside out, so the seam is in the middle of the back. This ensures that the design on the front of your bag is centered.

Sew along the bottom edge.

BOXED CORNERS

The boxed corners are tricky to figure out at first. But, once you figure out how to fold the bag, they’re a cinch.

First, fold/push the bottom of the bag at each side to create a corner. The corner you make lays flat, but don’t expect the rest of the bag to.

I prefer these herb bags to have a wide bottom, so I create a fairly large boxed corner. On each side of the pointy corner, measure and place a mark at 3.5″.

Draw a line connecting the marks.

Sew along the line. Again, I do a double stitch.

Trim off excess fabric.

Repeat on the other side.

Turn the bag so the pretty side is out.

A PEEK INSIDE THE BAG

When done, the inside of the bag should look similar to this:

THE BAG IS COMPLETE

FILLING THE BAG

I put about 2″ of gravel at the bottom of the bag to help with drainage.

Next, I added dirt & compost.

Finally, I added plants. I started plants from seed earlier in the season, so I used those in the bags. Some bags had herbs, some had lettuce & kale.

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This may not be the most exciting table ever, but I love it for a few reasons. One is that it has a crisp, clean feel. Two, is that it is functional. And three, it cost me nothing.

In a hallway near our kitchen is where our recycling goes. It is the most obnoxious, untidy area. This isn’t even a good obnoxious photo. Usually there is so much recycling that it’s overfilling the bags and spilling all over the floor.

The space was in desperate need of tidying. I asked Farmer John if there was enough scrap wood laying around to build a small table. He found 2 closet doors and got to creating.

One door was used to make the table top. The other door was cut to make 2 36″ tall legs.

The doors are 18″ wide, which is a couple inches wider than I would prefer for the hall. But, it works just fine.

The doors obviously have a hole for a door handle. We cut that section off the leg pieces. But, chose to leave it for the table top so we can put cords through it if we ever needed to like for a slow cooker or Christmas decor.

Using a drill and countersink, Farmer John screwed the top piece to the legs.

The door had space for hinges, of course. But, we just placed that ugly side towards the wall.

Since the doors are hollow, the ends are open. We have old matting in our garage that Farmer John cut to cover the openings. It’s not fancy, but it worked.

He also used the matting to cut gussets to stabilize the table.

The triangle gussets were stapled to the back of the table.

The finished thrifty, yet functional, table!

To try to keep the recycling mess organized I labeled each container. Hopefully the family follows the labels and it actually stays organized.

As an added bonus the table is perfect for my cookbooks and old cookie cutters. I was also able to hang mine and Farm Girl’s aprons near the table. Win, win!

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Years ago we acquired a 3 barrel garden fountain. I liked it, but we didn’t have a place for it. We finally have a patio and a nice place for a fountain. However, I wanted to try herb gardens on the patio and these unused barrels seemed perfect.

Two of the barrels just wasting space in the yard.

GETTING THE BARRELS READY FOR HERBS

The main purpose of the barrels was to grow herbs. But, I envisioned our new patio with lights, so the barrel install included posts for hanging lights.
Top Left: Metal posted cemented into an old plant container. The container is placed in the barrel.
Top Right: Gravel spread at the bottom of barrel for drainage.
Bottom Left: Barrel filled with dirt & compost.
Bottom Right: Tomato cage placed over the post and into the dirt to support climbing or vining plants.

THE HERBS

I started many of the herbs from seed. I also bought a few from a local nursery.

HERB BARREL

The herb barrel and surrounding pots include:
Basil – Siam Queen
Lemon Balm – Melissa officialnis
Marjoram – Golden
Oregano – Sicilian
Parsley – Italian Flat Leaf
Rosemary – Simplyherbs & Tuscan Blue
Sage – Salvia officinalis & Dwarf Green
Tarragon – French
Thyme – Dot Wells French

extras:
Morning Glory – just for a tall, pretty element
Cucumber – that I didn’t plant (on purpose anyway)

the label:
black paint on brick

My original plan was to create three herb barrels. Somewhere along the way I altered the plan. One barrel is primarily herbs. One of the others is a pizza themed barrel. And the third barrel has a taco theme.

PIZZA GARDEN

Basil – Dolce Fresca, Sweet (Ocimum basilicum),
Chives
Oregano – Sicilian
Tomato – Costoluto Genovese, Aunt Ruby’s, & Black Plum
Thyme – Dot Wells French

the label:
sharpie on broken terra cotta pot
Next to the label I added a love rock. I put the rock here mainly because it makes me happy. Plus, I love pizza. And Italy.

TACO GARDEN

Coriander – Santo (Coriandrum sativum)
Peppers – Ancho Tiburon, Jalepeno Conchos, Cayenne Ring of Fire, & Anaheim
Tarragon – MexicanTomato  – Black Plum

the label:
black paint on a rock
There is also a rock with a tomato label painted by a child in Farm Kid2’s class.

PATIO LIGHTS

Each of the barrels has a cemented post with lights hanging from it. I wanted lights that could withstand our windy, rainy weather. I ended up getting the ones from Costco. They’re quite heavy duty and weigh more than I imagined. This put more strain on the posts than I was anticipating.

Two of the posts handle the pull from the lights well enough to be left alone. But, one of the posts leaned more than we were comfortable with. The temporary solution for this summer was running a guy wire from the top of the post to a chunk of wood. It’s not fancy, but it’s working.

The lights. The herb/pizza/taco barrels. They all turned out awesome. I love it!

This set up really has worked perfectly. I’m using fresh herbs more than in previous years since they are right out the kitchen door. Also, for some unknown reason the deer are leaving the plants alone. Score!

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I love to travel, whether it’s road trippin’ the US or traveling abroad. For years I’ve been wanting a way to commemorate our travels in one place. This Wanderlust Map is what I came up with.

THE BOARD

I bought a board at Home Depot and painted it a variety of colors. The paint effect is random with a slight textured appearance. I was going for an overall tan color with highlights of other colors. A basic blue background, representing the oceans, would have been nice too.

WANDERLUST TEXT

I used a Martha Stewart stencil set for the text. It worked out perfectly that no letters were used more than once. So I taped the stencils together and dabbed paint over the entire text. Then waited for the paint to dry and went over the letters again. This worked very well. However, I don’t love the R and the U letters that came with the stencil set. I wish I would have used an upside down n as the u, then use the n again, blocking off the section that wouldn’t work, as an r. Oh well.

THE MAP

I found a cork world map at Michaels and loved it.

I mixed purple, pthalo blue and black paint to create a dark navy color and painted the cork.

When the paint dried, I assembled the map onto the board. The map has adhesive on the back, but I found not all of it stuck well to my board. So, I used gorilla glue to help it stay attached.

ADDING PHOTOS

The photos are 3″ x 3″ with a skinny white border.

One tack is placed at the vacation location & one tack is on the vacation photo. They are connected with twine.

I wasn’t sure how crazy I wanted the final product to look, so I didn’t add every single place we’ve been. But, eventually I will add more photos.

FINISHED PIECE

I love it – especially because it highlights various points throughout our relationship. Hawaii, where he first kissed me. Our honeymoon in Mexico. Tropical destinations as scuba divers. Road trip as a family of 4. Then again as a family of 5. Etc, etc. etc.

How do you commemorate your travels?

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NOTRE DAME

I love Notre Dame. It is breathtaking inside and out.

In 2002, Farmer John & I quickly admired the main level. It was amazing and when we brought the kids to Paris in 2015 it was a place I definitely wanted them to see. Plus, let’s be honest, I wanted to see it again.

This time we climbed the stairs to the top of the towers. We arrived early, but there was still a long wait. It was worth the wait.

I enjoyed the entire experience – the enormous Emmanuel bell, the view, even the narrow spiral staircases. My favorite thing, though, was getting to see the chimera up close.

GARGOYLE VS. CHIMERA

Only recently did I learn the difference between a gargoyle and a chimera. The first 30 years of my life I used the word gargoyle to describe both. Very naive, I know.

GARGOYLE
Gargoyles are functional. They were built on the end of gutters to prevent rain water from dripping on the walls and eventually ruining the building.

CHIMERA
Chimera are decoration. Weird, yet awesome, decoration. These ones on Notre Dame have a great view of the city.

The building of Notre Dame occurred and changed over hundreds of years. The chimera were added during the 1800’s.

The guy in the upper right is Stryga, probably the most famous chimera.

CUTTING 3 WOOD SQUARES

I bought a long pine board that was 5.5″ high at Home Depot.

I wanted the wood to be square, so using a table saw Farmer John cut the board to 5.5″ wide. Then, he cut two more squares.

BACKGROUND COLOR

I used a simple gray color to paint the 3 wooden squares.

Then, I used a piece of sand paper to both smooth the surface and roughen the edges.

ROUGH IT UP

As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I rarely paint just one color. These squares were no different.

After the main background paint dried, I used a variety of gray paints to add a bit of interest to the wood. Instead of a brush, I used a natural sponge to lightly apply the color.

After that layer of paint dried, I sanded the edges to give them a rough look.

ADDING THE PHOTO’S

The original photos are in color. Using Photoshop, I changed them to black and white.

I cropped and printed the photos to a 5″x 7″ size. Then I trimmed the photo to 5″ x 5″.

Using mod podge, I glued a 5′ x 5″ photo to each square.

3 SQUARES IN A ROW

I chose to make three squares and place them in a row. It would also be a fun project to have 4 squares, but place them 2 x 2.

Anyone else think the chimera are as fascinating as I do?

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Years and years ago, before we had kids, the hubby and I spent one day & one night in Paris. We climbed the stairs of the Eiffel Tower and were rewarded with a great view of the city. The photos I came home with were lovely, but lacking one key feature of Paris since we were standing on it. So this last time we visited, in 2015, I was determined to get photos of the amazing city with the Eiffel Tower in the shot. We ended up making it to two famous landmarks with great views, the Arc de Triomphe & the towers at Notre Dame.

SUPPLIES

• 2 – 16″ x 20″ canvas
• 1 – 16″ x 20″ photo
• 1 – 12″ x 18″ photo
• Dark gray acrylic paint & paintbrush
• Mod podge
• Bling on a roll
• Hot glue

PAINTING THE CANVAS

Using dark gray acrylic paint I painted the sides, as well as the edges of the main part of the canvas . I was being frugal and didn’t see any reason to paint the section of canvas that wouldn’t be seen.

DECOUPAGE

I applied mod podge to the back of the photo and centered it on the canvas. Then, as a layer of protection, I brushed mod podge over the top of the photo and canvas.

ADDING BLING

Have you seen this? Bling on a roll! Brilliant.

This particular roll had 4 rows of bling connected. Four rows was too thick for my design so I cut the bling to 2 rows.

After the mod podge dried, I used a glue gun to attach the bling to the canvas.

AND, REPEAT

I repeated the entire process for the other photo and canvas.

FINISHED PIECES

I love how the pieces are matchy-matchy… but not perfectly matchy-matchy.

I would love to see how you display your vacation photos.

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There was a blank space on our Travel Gallery Wall that fit a 20″ x 16″ canvas perfectly. Since Germany was only represented once on the wall, I was hoping the canvas could be German themed. I absolutely loved this view of the river when we were in Nuremberg, so it seemed an easy choice.

SUPPLIES

• 20″ x 16″ canvas
• 18″ x 12″  photo (I had this one printed at Costco)
• Acrylic paint
• Wood letters and wood shape
• Distress ink
• Mod podge
• Craft glue

PAINTING THE CANVAS

I rarely paint a canvas color straight outta the bottle. I prefer the not-so-perfect look of color blending. However, one color would work just fine.

The main background color is a mix of 7 different paints (left photo). I was going for a barn reddish gray.

After the background color dried, I went over the top of it dry brush style. I chose an orange color to bring out the roof on the building and a light yellow green to highlight the tree.

WOOD LETTERS

I picked these wood letters up at a craft store and love them. They were priced reasonably and I’ve used them for many projects already.

They are easy to paint. This time, though, I wanted the wood to show through to match the wood bird I was planning to add. So, instead, I rubbed the edges with a brown distress ink.

GLUING ON THE PHOTO

Sometimes when I glue a photo onto canvas I do it decoupage style – putting mod podge on the back of the photo to act as glue and also putting mod podge on the front to protect the photo.

For this project I opted not to put mod podge on the front of the photo. I did use it as glue, though, to adhere the photo to the canvas. I used a foam brush to spread glue on the back of the photo and also spread a little on the canvas itself.

I eye-balled where I wanted the photo and carefully set the photo in place. Then I gave the photo a little push rubbing it onto the canvas. There wasn’t anything supporting the canvas, making it a tad irritating to rub on the photo. So I flipped the canvas over and rubbed the photo on that way. It’s much nicer to press against a hard surface.

GLUING ON WOOD DECORATIONS

I used craft glue to attach the wood pieces to the canvas.

Again, I just eye-balled where I wanted to place the wood pieces. But, I did line up the top edge of the photo with a red line on a ruler to make sure the letters were parallel with the photo.

FINISHED CANVAS

Another home decor item of a memorable family vacation complete. Woop, woop! A feeling of accomplishment for the day.

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The area around our coops has always been a muddy mess. Way down on our list of to-do’s was to fix it. Then, within an hour or so, it moved to the top of that list.

We had cement poured for our back yard patio and there ended up being quite a bit leftover. We weren’t prepared for another section of cement being poured, but it was going to get poured somewhere. So, Farmer John threw together a quickie form of mix/match wood pieces in front of our Chicken Hut turned goat home and a cement pad was poured.

PATIO SECTION 1

The beginning of this project was a last minute cement pad. We had the cement dyed brown for our patio, which is why this pad is brown.

I was thrilled! During the rainy months the entire area is a mud pit. In the cold weather, ice sits on top of the mud. I slip every time. I haven’t fallen yet, but I kept waiting for it to happen.

PATIO SECTION 2

The second section I worked on was to the right of the newly poured cement pad. This area is in front of another chicken hut.

It was a bit tricky making sure there weren’t tripping hazards. This chicken hut sits lower than the other one. Any cement pieces obviously had to be lower than the door. So this section has a bit of a slope on one side.

It is a mosaic of pieces. Somebody nearby had cut up an old cement pad of their own and were getting rid of the chunks. We grabbed the ones we could. They are thick and crazy heavy. I loved them, though, once I got them installed. They are really sturdy.

I had a few leftover pieces from when I completed our cement path, so I added those here.

The final pieces were bricks we had laying around.

I didn’t get too perfect with installation. Since the pieces varied in thickness, the most difficult part was getting the pieces to be level on top. Once all the pieces were layed, I filled in the gaps with play sand.

PATIO SECTION 3

This section in front of our chicken tractors took the longest to install. I dug out the grassy bits and poured sand over the entire area.

I used a variety of new bricks, old bricks and hand poured cement stones.

Once I got all the pieces organized and layed in place, I filled in the gaps with sand. These bricks and stones aren’t quite as sturdy as I would like, but it’s not a heavily traveled area so it should be fine.

Wouldn’t ya know, just a week after I had it complete a damn mole came through and pushed up a number of the bricks. Blah.

AND, DONE!

Once I had all the sections complete we had a load of gravel delivered and made the entire area level-ish.

It’s a wonky patio and perfectly us. Ok, let’s be honest, it’s perfectly me. Farmer John just puts up with my wonkiness.

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The summer of 2009 was spent installing a cement path in our bird village. I could complete 2 forms worth each day while Farm Girl napped. By summer’s end I had a 4′ wide path meandering between the bird village and our little meadow. At the time the path didn’t have a good place to end. So, it just stopped on the backside of the meadow. My idea was that one day we would have a deck or patio at the back of our house and I would continue the path to wherever worked best to go with the deck/patio.

It took 7 years, but we now have that patio. Next up was completing the path – which we just did a couple weekends ago. Woo hoo!

My Method

Let me preface this post by saying nothing about my method is perfect. The path itself is not absolutely level. It’s level enough. The path is not perfectly straight. It’s straight enough. It’s slightly wonky and rustic, which fits right in with the rest of our yard.

Materials

This section of path is 4′ wide by 20′ long. Here are the list of items we used:
• 20 – 80 lb bags of concrete
• 2 – 50 lb bags of play sand
• 1 – Shovel
• 1 – Broom
• 1 – Walkmaker Form (we used the Country Stone Pattern)
• 1 – Trowel
• 1 – Finishing Trowel (or board at least 2′ long)
• 1 – Mini Cement Mixer (or Wheelbarrow)
• 1 – Gloves (cement is horrible on your hands)

Prepping the Area

Using a flat bladed shovel I “leveled” the path-to-be area. Because the cement will creep into low spots I didn’t worry about making the entire area perfectly level. I made sure the path would be at an equal height where it met the patio and also where it connected to the original path. Other than that I just eye-balled and dug out a gradual slope between the two places.

Making the Path

I mixed all the cement for the original path by hand. It got the job done and I love the path. But, I wasn’t stupid enough to do it again that way.

This time Farmer John rented a mini cement mixer. Together, we completed this section of path in an afternoon – as opposed to it taking me all summer.

I don’t know the ratio of cement mix to water we used. Farmer John just added water as needed. When I mixed the cement by hand I added more water then he did in the mixer, but it’s really just personal preference.

I would line the form up so the top was level with its neighboring cobblestones. Sometimes this meant digging out or adding a little dirt to get the form level. It’s not a difficult task, but it can be time consuming.

After Farmer John poured the mixed cement onto the form we used a trowel to push it into the different spaces, making sure to push the cement into all the corners. We have a finishing trowel to level the cement… but an old board was closer so we used that instead.

When moving along the path, we rotated the form a quarter turn to vary the directions of the cobblestones.

We repeated these steps for hours. Align the form, mix cement, pour cement, squish cement around to fill in all the cavities, level cement. Repeat section after section. I knew the process was slow. However, the turtle speed drove Farmer John bonkers.

Combining the Two Paths

It did get a bit tricky where the old and new path came together. I knew there would be a space at the beginning or end of the path where the Walkmaker form wouldn’t fit perfectly. I chose to start this new section at the patio end of the path so any space where it didn’t line up could be better hidden among the already unperfect cobblestones as opposed to the straight edged patio.

Sure enough when we got to the old section of path there wasn’t room for the form to fit, yet there was a big gap that was going to need filled. My solution for the majority of the gap was to use the form just as I had with the rest of the path – except I had to move the form away from the path so it could lay flat. After the cement dried a bit, I picked the pieces up and moved them to the path. It worked fine. It was just a little more difficult digging out the ground to make sure the top of the cobblestones lined up so there weren’t major tripping hazards.

Even after moving the individual pieces there were still small gaps to fill. I made cardboard forms to fit in those areas and filled them with cement. It’s not perfect, but I am probably the only person who knows about the inconsistency.

Finishing the Path

After the cement dries (I waited 2 days), the final step is filling in between the cobblestones with sand. I dumped 2 bags of sand on the path, then used a broom to push the sand in all the crevices.

And, Done!

The photo on the right shows the problem with completing this project 7 years later. There is a definite difference between the cement recently poured and the original path. Oh well. I’m so happy to have the path complete, it hardly bothers me.

The Original Path

I started out making the path one form (2′) wide, but soon realized it should be wider. So, the path is two forms (4′) wide.

I purposely added curves to the path. I used a similar method to what I mentioned above when I combined the old and new paths. However, now that I’m done I notice on the Quikrete site they show an alternative (probably better) way to create a curve.

In the original path I tried stamping words into some of the cobblestones. It only worked so-so. So, I didn’t bother adding words to the new section.

I repeated the Walkmaker form over 50 times to create the first section of path. It was worth it.

This original path was one of the first hardscaping projects I started when we moved here. It feels fabulous for it to be complete!

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