Pretty fabulous summer fabric

I wish honestly sometimes I could just have someone transcribe my thoughts onto this blog because it's so hard for me to sit down sometimes and write - yet I like doing it.  So who knows....my mind works in crazy ways as we all know  :)  I do have a lot of stuff to put on here though - projects I've been working on, books I've read, baby sister's prom, and celebrating one year of sobriety just to name a few. 

Last night I had an insomniac night.  Up until 3:30 am.  Lovely huh?  I wasn't worrying about anything and nothing is going on - my brain just decided it wanted to be the Energizer bunny and there seemed to be nothing I could do to stop it.  Therefore, I am exhausted today.  Hopefully that means tonight I can get to sleep at a decent hour!

So since I'm so tired I'll start with an easy post to try to get me in posting mode.  As you know, I've started learning how to sew.  I really honestly enjoy it and I never thought I would say that.  I used to always say, "I have no desire to learn to sew.  I don't like it."  Well how did I know I didn't like it having never tried it?  It was fear.  It was me being an alcoholic and having fear - fear of not being able to do it perfectly, fear of not being able to learn how to do it, etc.  But today I know that it's okay if it's not perfect.  I am doing my best with it and enjoying learning so that is really all I can ask for. 

I really wanted some pillows for our front porch so off I went to JoAnn Fabrics with my coupons and picked out some really fun, bright, summer outdoor fabric.  I was a little nervous because I decided I was going to sew in a zipper on the pillows also to make covers so I could wash them.  Maybe getting a little ahead of myself thinking I could sew in a zipper but I thought, what the heck.  Why not?  I let it sit for a couple of days until I worked up the nerve to start the project.  But once I started, I had two beautiful pillow covers in just one afternoon's worth of time!  I absolutely love them and they are so pretty on the porch.  I did manage to sew the zippers in and though they are NOT perfect, they are functional and they look pretty okay.  :) 

 My "not so bad but not perfect" zipper  :)

 One of the pillows hanging out in the porch swing.  The other one is in the rocker.

So after making two pillows I had enough fabric leftover that I knew I wanted to do something with it but I wasn't quite sure what.  I have been obsessively looking at sewing ideas on Pinterest and had seen a lot of tutorials for tote bags and they looked pretty easy.  And can you ever have enough tote bags?  I think not.  I use them for everything.  And the outdoor fabric would be perfect for one since it's thicker than the average home decor fabric.  I realized I didn't have enough fabric for the body of the bag and the handles so I had some thick ribbon laying around that I used for the handles.  It turned out really cute!!  I love it.  So glad I let go of the fear and just did it  :)

As I said, I have a ton more to write but not a ton of time today.  I'm going to try to write every day this week even if just a little bit so I can get all of my thoughts out and get updated with our life on here!  Hope everyone is having a great week!

Projects in the Meadow

Happy Saturday everyone!  It is kind of a dreary, cold day here so I decided to post about some of the recent projects that I have been working on.  I kind of go through stages as I've mentioned before....and right now I am totally in DIY project mode.  I just love making things for our home and for other people.  It keeps me busy which is a definite plus and things are so much prettier and SO much cheaper when you make them yourself (most of the time anyway!).  I have a lot of projects that are in the works but here are a few I have finished recently!

First up, I saw these adorable pinwheel wreaths on Pinterest and just knew I HAD to have them for my front doors for spring/summer.  These are super easy to make and SO fun.  It was a pretty cheap project.  You just need a styrofoam wreath form, ribbon to cover that if you chose (I just used cheap sheer ribbon in purple), and scrapbook paper to make the pinwheels.  You thumb tack the pinwheels on once you make them an viola!  Here is a great tutorial on making them if you would like to add some color to your doors! 

My cousin recently asked if I would make birthday cakes for her little girls' birthday parties.  Of course!  I love to get to bake and decorate pretty things.  I usually stick to cookies but I'm starting to dabble into cakes so I thought, why not?  I made these pretty little princess cakes for them and they loved them! 

 Now my biggest thing going on recently is that I'm learning to sew - yes, ME.  Learning to sew.  I never thought I would see the day.  But I bought a sewing machine and thought, no time like the present.  I wanted some curtains for our breakfast room but couldn't find a darn thing that I loved that wasn't an obscene amount of money.  And I'm not all about paying an obscene amount of money for things.  My Granny and my mom both sew, crochet, you name it so I knew my mom could teach me.  We spent a day learning to use my machine (it's computerized....she wasn't used to that!) and then we set to work once my fabric came in!  I went for very basic, easy curtains for my first project.  I found that the most time consuming part was the measuring, cutting, ironing, etc.  The actual sewing part wasn't bad at all.  Here I am looking like I just rolled out of bed when mom knocked on my door fabulous working on my project! 

 Here are my pretty-ful (I like to make up words) curtains hanging in my breakfast area!  I used clips to hang them up on the rods as I like this look.  They turned out perfect!  I'm so ready to do another sewing project now!  These were much cheaper than what I would pay for something that I loved.  I would say I have about $120 in this whole room of curtains right now including the clips (thank you JoAnn Fabrics for your coupons!). 

I have a few more projects that I'll be working on in the next week or so.  I am going to sew some pillows with outdoor fabric for our front porch AND my big project - painting a dresser.  I just bought a dresser on Craigslist so I could paint and distress it for our basement.  I paid $75 for a huge dresser and mirror and I just ordered my Annie's Chalk Paint to use for this piece of furniture.  I absolutely cannot wait to get started!  I'll post pictures as I go.  I just found out about this Annie's paint (I'm a big behind I guess) and it looks AMAZING.  No prep work?  Sign me up.

Momma's Sewing Class: Day 1

Well, since I am laying here on the couch with my back still hurting, I figure I might as well go ahead and blog again. Two days in a row!

This morning I woke up and felt better as it pertains to the back. I didn't feel GREAT, just better. So I decided I would sweep the floor and pick up the house a bit. Maybe not the BEST idea? I don't know. I just HATE sitting around doing nothing! My mom got to my house and we made our list for JoAnn's and off we went to purchase the things I needed to get started on my sewing adventure. Now, keep in mind, I've NEVER sewn anything in my life. Okay that is not true. In middle school home we had to sew these lovely nylon duffel bags...I believe mine was purple and turquoise. I have NO idea how I did that without hurting myself. I'm a bit accident prone and clumsy if you haven't picked that up yet. :)

Our trip to JoAnn's was fun as always. I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars in there. Easily. They had the cutest Easter and spring things out!!! It so puts me in the mood to "springify" my house. I was trying to not get distracted by all the cuteness because we had a mission - buy my sewing stuff. I already had the machine but I needed supplies. This to me was like grocery shopping. LIke not super fun but I knew I needed the stuff. That is until I found out that I needed a sewing basket. Um, I can get into choosing one of those. I like pretty things. So I picked up this little gem on sale.

The rest of the supplies weren't quite so fun for me but I knew I needed it all. Looking at the fabric was fun for sure. My first actual project is going to be curtains for my breakfast nook. Just simple panels, nothing crazy. I found several fabrics that I liked so we ended up after much debate just buying 1/2 a yard of each of them to bring home to hang up so I hopefully make a decision. By the time we got out of there I had a cart full of sewing supplies, some Easter goodies, and some supplies for a birthday cake I am making this weekend for my cousin.

We came home and set up the sewing machine which was somewhat interesting because mine is computerized and mom hadn't dealt with that kind before. We figured it all out eventually and after watching her I started sewing on some scrap fabric that we had (leftover from our wedding 5 years ago actually!) It was a lot easiers than I thought. The intial setup was kind of time consuming but the sewing part wasn't so bad. I definitely have some practicing to do before I sew on a real project but I feel a little better now knowing how to get it started at least. Me and my little alcoholic mind of course had so much anxiety about even beginning the project or buying the stuff so it was a sigh of relief when I found it to not be so bad.

In the meantime we hung up fabric samples all over my breakfast nook windows so we could gaze upon them during our sewing adventures. I am down to two that I really like and I just can't decide. They both match my house perfectly but they are kind of different looks so I am struggling. One is more springy I think so I am leaning towards that one. That is the one here:

However, this one below has a gorgeous purple color in it and I am loving that. They both go with my colors and my style so I'm just not sure. I have left them hanging up for the hubby to look at when he gets home. He says he doesn't really care but yet he always seems to have an opinion so we we will see HA ;)

I'm hoping to actually start sewing on these in a week or two. It's going to change that room so much having curtain in it! I can't wait!!

That was pretty much the extent of my day. Will had his first practice tonight for the traveling soccer team he is going to be on but I didn't go because of my back. Should be interesting fitting that in with Tae Kwon Do and baseball. We always seem to manage it okay though!

Hope you all had a great Tuesday!