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!