a cool take on tomato cages

This weekend I built some tomato cages for Mon Cheri,

as a father's day present.

If it does not sound like a cool present,

it is for this weekend gardener!

Because we have so much shade in our backyard (and dogs)

we have a small area in the front yard for some gardening,

and because it is very present, it needs to not be too ugly! 

Here is my second cage, very simply made out of exterieur grade 1x2,

I used 4 of these (~$1.50 a piece), and followed this tutorial from Ella Claire Inspired.

Of course I changed it a little but it is the same idea.

It is a very easy and fast built,

but I thought the raw wood stood out a little too much,

so I stained it with some blue stain (old navy or something like that)

that goes with the navy chair by the front door.

It holds the tomato very nicely and looks like it belongs in the front yard. And more importantly Mon Cheri was surprised and happy! Now we need to cover everything with a net, the neighborhood deer think it is a salad bar!
Happy crafting!

the perfect pie carrier for a picnic

I love baking, and especially pies and tarts,

the more fruit, the merrier.

(apple, peach, lemon, plum, strawberry: click on the fruit for the recipe)

It is no surprise that I usually bring one to parties,

but it is not always easy to carry them to gatherings.

So I sewed this neat pie carrier, that wraps all around the pie, protecting and making it easy to carry:

I followed this tutorial by la chouette,

it is in French but google does a good translation!

it is pretty easy, I used a laminated cotton for the inside for easy cleaning.

I changed the way the long handles is attached,

but everything else is the same.

It has been very convenient so far,

and it works with all my different pie pan sizes.

On the puppy side, Bosco is growing well, bugging and biting everybody, especially Lou, who seems to handle it pretty well:

 we are looking forward to the end of puppy teeth...

Happy sewing!