Garden knots add magic to your outdoor garden decor. Their long history is associated with larger houses and palaces, which has been brought very much to life in recent years with the restoration of excavations and replanting of quite a number to the original plans, and the planting of entirely new ones following traditional methods.
Knot gardens were almost invariably sited close to the house, their symmetry and formality being in keeping with the building. Many are best viewed from first floor windows. They were frequently areas for walking, a little gentle outdoor exercise and fresh air before dealing with the next roast ox! Despite their rather grand ancestry, it is perfectly feasible to create your own knot garden.
Choose a site that is easily visible from the patio, it can be close by or at a distance, depending on the shape of your garden. A very small knot could be incorporated into one corner of the patio or could border one side of it. Size depends on the site and personal choice. Even two or three square meters could support a small knot. The basic idea is to produce a permanent pattern from miniature hedges in an unending scrolled or geometrical form. Adding decorative elements around the knot like garden wind spinners will create interesting areas.
The interstices are planted up with varying – usually much smaller – plants for seasonal color and interest. The whole seems almost closer to embroidery than gardening, but done well the effect can be peaceful and pleasing.
Getting the hedge work right is vital, but almost as important are the paths; the design is heavily committed by these two features. The usual manner is to have permanent paths of washed pea gravel or chippings. Grass is allowed although what with mowing and edging, requires more work than you may want to invest. If gravel or similar material is chosen the next decision will be whether the paths are to be curbed with brick, rope or other manufactured edging stones. Obviously such an undertaking will add very considerably to the cost.
Curtain making is a useful hobby. It gives you hours of fun, and you end up with something that’s both beautiful and functional. Making your own cheap curtains lets you save money while working with your hands.
To begin with, choose your fabric. Pick discounted curtain fabric, since this brings your cost lower. You could buy the fabric in bulk if you are making a lot of curtains for one room to bring the price down even further. Measure the length and width of the window, to decide how big your curtain will be. Your curtain length can be as long or short as you like. Long curtains look more stately than half-sized ones but shorter curtains take less fabric and are cheaper. For curtain width, you need several widths of fabric so that you have enough for twice the width of the window. The reason for this is fabric never hangs straight across. It will always have gathers and pleats, so you need a lot of material to fully cover the window space.
Curtains look neater in pairs, so you should sew two separate curtain panels, each for half the width. If you like, you could hang the curtain on the curtain rods using tabs. Tabs are narrow loops of fabric stitched to the top of the curtain at even intervals. You will need an extra foot of fabric to make the tabs, however you save on the total width and amount of fabric as tab top curtains need to be just one and a half times the width of the window.
Hem the top, bottom, and sides of your curtain panels, to neaten the raw edges and prevent fraying, which leads to wasted fabric and ruins the curtain’s appearance. You can slip pennies into the hem, as these improve the overall drape of the curtains. If you don’t want to stitch the hems, you can just use hemming tape to neaten the edges.
If you are using tabs, decide how many tabs you want. Usually 15 or more are ideal, so that the curtain hangs firmly, but it really depends on how much stitching you’re willing to do. Cut the fabric into strips of 6 to 8 inches and hem the sides before stitching them onto the top of the curtain. You can now hang your work and enjoy the bragging rights from making cheap curtains at home.
Trips which require long periods of sitting still while you are traveling to that destination are the worst. Don’t you wish that you could just skip all of the time you spend in getting to the destination? Unfortunately there is no way to bypass this. However, to make the ride more relaxing, you might want to consider getting for yourself an inflatable travel pillow.
Travel pillows are designed to help you fall asleep and stay asleep on the long train and plane rides until you arrive. Do you remember when you were a child and you couldn’t fall asleep if something you were looking forward to was the next day? These pillows were designed to be as comforting as they can possibly be in order to allow you to fall asleep easily, counteracting the little child in you who cannot fall asleep.
These pillows may be used on practically every kind of transportation. They can be used on long car rides, trains, public buses, airplane flights. Roads tend to get pretty bumpy at times and knowing where to place your head for sleep is a difficult task in and of itself. These pillows are designed to conform to your own neck, which keep the neck supported upright and allows cushioning on each side. Without the proper support, you can just have your neck fall to the side, which will cause aches and pains when you wake up from your nap.
In order to guarantee yourself a comfortable travel to the destination of your choosing, you might want to purchase one or two travel pillows for the journey. You can try it for yourself and understand that this is the best thing for your neck when you are on one of those long trips. It is guaranteed that you will be deeply satisfied with your new travel pillow for your next business trip, family vacation, or day trip.
