Fall and Football Themed Projects

Fall has arrived mildly here which has been wonderful and has given us the opportunity to continue work on projects outside.  

The grass next to the path has been completed.  My folks helped us cut the sod, level up to the path, and replace the sod so now it's all level with the new path. I'm sure this will make a big difference this winter so the snow won't all melt towards the house anymore.   

The Before by the edge of the path

In progress.  

And the after.  Makes a huge difference.

We made it all the way down the deck with getting it leveled.

We didn't have enough sod at our house to finish, but luckily my folks were putting in a path in their back yard to the shop so we got to use the sod they took out.  Here's the progress on their new path so far.  

Grass cut for their path

Bricks in, path mostly done

Also at our house, my mom worked on laying bricks under the edge of the fence to keep the weeds and such from our neighbor's from coming over.  She almost made it the whole way!  I'm sure we'll get this project finished in the next week or so.  And the best part of both of these projects, they were completely free!  We used the bricks my parents had from taking out their fireplace which worked great, and got them out of the way at their house.

Bricks under the fence

We also started putting blocks in for the flower bed in the dog run.  Hopefully we'll get the brick phase of this project completed before snow arrives.

Start of wall for flower bed

I have also been keeping busy with more gift projects.  Another of my dear friends is due to have a baby boy in just a few weeks.  She loves football so I whipped up some themed gifts for her shower.

To start of course, a blanket.  I found a neat tutorial here which helped me with this and added some of my own flair with my mom's help.  My mom just got a new sewing machine which made a huge difference for a beginning sewer!  It has an adjustable speed and a guide (this was a lifesaver for me, I highly recommend it).  I'm excited for more sewing projects now as I think this one turned out really cute.

The top cut out, in progress

Top piece

Bottom in progress

Completed top view

Completed bottom view

And of course a tag. 

I had been wanting to make a wooden kids puzzle for awhile and thought this was a great opportunity.  So, with a little trial and error it worked out great.  As I am much more familiar with working with wood, this project went significantly faster than my sewing project.  I really enjoyed both of these and am so excited to meet this little guy in a few weeks!  

Staining the pieces after I cut them out

The completed puzzle

We're enjoying settling into fall, have the house all decorated, have had some wonderful fall sunsets, and are looking forward to the projects we have on deck to finish up.