Thanks to blogging ...

One of the things that I love about blogging is that it keeps me motivated - I have to be creative so I'll have something to write about.

I mentioned in my last post that I couldn't seem to push myself, but putting a goal in writing and out there in blogland set me in motion.

I said that I wanted new chaise covers 

and when you see the new ones, you'll wonder what the difference is.

On Tuesday, after I hit post on the blog, I actually got busy - what you see isn't yards of purchased fabric, but an old floral duvet and a matching pillow with the striped back of the pillow showing.

Lulu was kind enough to model the two fabrics - both covers were made from old duvets, but the old covers on the left have worn thin and faded.

The first part of the project was simple - I added a pillow form to the large sham and plopped it on the garden bench.

Next I essentially made ruffle edged throws for the chaises and added the very faded matching pillows.

For more color, I tossed the pillow on the second chaise backwards.

Lulu gave her seal of approval to the new covers by taking over my seat today when I popped into the house for a minute.

I had hoped to just laze in the garden the rest of the week, but that hasn't happened.

When I should have been gardening, we've been enjoying the outdoors - the hillside and wildflowers were calling.

The little strip of beach you see below is the area of town where we live.

And now, because writing down that I wanted to make new chaise covers got me motivated, I'll show you my next goal.

If all goes as planned, I'll be showing you plate racks on our dining room walls soon.

We're not tackling the racks -  a neighbor said he was up to the challenge so I'll be lying right here while Joe builds the racks.

Happy April!