Close Ups and Complaining…

I had this sudden urge this morning to take a few close up photos of one of my favorite corners in the house. It’s in the living room. It’s where I keep all my small travel trinkets of places I’ve been (or want to go, since I’ve never been to Paris). I love looking at all these pieces and the memories from each trip. Good and bad, since I didn’t have the great time on a few of the trips.

It’s also where we keep some of our little toys and collections… though why lie, there’s actually toys and trinkets all over the house! Which I am beyond happy about. I spend A LOT of time in this house, so I’m glad I can just walk around and find things to make me smile. As of late, I really need that.

I have this constant urge to rearrange, paint, build and more these days. It’s like my mind is being super cruel to me. I don’t have the energy to do such things, but for some reason it’s all I want to do. Ugh…

More on why I’m so tired…

my gluten sensitivity test / endoscopy was moved about 20 days from its original date due to the fact that I had a horrible cold and they can’t do a scope when someone is sick. This means I am STILL eating gluten everyday, and STILL feel super sick and tired. I seriously consume way too much caffeine just to keep up with CT, and I hate that. I just plain out hate being sick.

I have this plan to completely change my food intake and possibly TRY a paleo lifestyle change (not a diet, since it’s mostly not by choice) once all this crap is over. I have a dairy intolerance and a gluten allergy, so it’s right up my ally. I’m also planning on taking a lot of sugars and processed foods out of my daily diet too (since I notice even the gluten free stuff hurts my stomach) Not all of it though. I’m not the only one living in this house, so I can’t keep all that stuff away. I’m not going to deprive my family the foods they love just because I can’t eat them anymore. Plus we really like frozen yogurt (and our local place has soy options) and it’s a fun family outing.

I know I got off topic there, oops. It’s just been on my mind NON STOP.

Anyway, would any of you readers be interested in posts sharing my adventures into clean eating? Successes and failures?

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Which Way Is Up Quilt

About a week and a half ago, in the middle of the night, I had this idea for a paper pieced quilt. An outline of a house, in black with different tones of blue as the background. Luckily I’ve been finally keeping a habit of having notebooks all over the house, so I jotted it down real quick and went back to bed (you can see the original sketch in the above left photo).

The next morning I woke up before CT and went straight to my computer, I drafted a paper pieced pattern so I could test out my idea. I was very happy with the results, and as you can see from the photo on the right above, it worked!! I was so excited I set out to make 24 more!

Well, after searching through my fabric stash, I just couldn’t find 24 fabrics that matched the first one I did. So I narrowed it down to 12 total. I made each house block 10″ square, which meant I should end up with a quilt about 30″x40″ if I didn’t add a border, and a bit bigger if I did.

I spent a few days finishing up the other 11 blocks, doing four at a time (I feel like I get up to iron less and it takes less time, to me). I was on a roll and was set out to finish this quilt as soon as I could. So last Tuesday I finished all 12 blocks! I laid them out on the floor and didn’t quite like the set up as all house outlines. So I turned a few around, and a couple upside down, and ended up with a bunch of arrows pointing all different directions. Perfect!! I also decided at that point that I was going to add 2″ white strips in between all of the blocks and a 2″ white border around the entire edge. Now it was 40″x50″, a nice lap sized quilt. I needed one of those.

I pieced and quilted the entire thing Wednesday afternoon, and then added binding Friday Morning. I took photos Saturday, and here I am on Monday showing you all my finished quilt…

I’m calling it the “Which Way Is Up” quilt.

I LOVE the way it came out, and I love that each time I use the pattern it will be a totally different quilt! I can subtract the white and do all solids, so the arrows (or houses) will be subtle and surprise you! or I can switch the white and the patterned fabrics? Or I could be super crazy and actually have them all houses!! Ha.

Well, I’m so interested to see all of the different ways you could make this quilt too, so you can find the pattern in my shop!

I’m not including instructions on how to paper piece. I have no idea how to write it out in words… Yet.  If you’ve never tried it, I suggest searching for some videos on YouTube, that’s how I taught myself. Fresh Lemons Quilts blog also has a great tutorial if your not into watching videos.

If any of you do make a project using this pattern, I would love to see it (and maybe even share it on here).

I feel like I’m on a quilting kick now, so expect to see more sewing and a bit less of everything else…

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If I Had Unlimited Funds: September 11th

I enjoyed posting the things I found and wanted online last week. So I decided to share some more. This time I picked items that I’ve pinned on Pinterest for either myself or my home.

1Girl in Boots Leggings – by ZIBtextile /// 2Wood Veneer Sunglasses by Tumbleweeds Handcraft (I didn’t link to a specific pair because I myself can’t decide which ones I like the best!)

3Large Liberty Satchel by Dr. Martens (I have been wanting this bag ever since I purchased these boots)

4Mega Munny 18-inch Glossy White Edition by Kidrobot (I think this would look awesome in my library, as is) /// 5National Parks Checklist Map Print by Ello There

6The Atwood Sofa by Gus Modern … We currently have the Karlstad three seater in Isunda Gray by Ikea, I love it! But it’s already wearing bad and light gray really isn’t the best color to have with a toddler in the house! I’m not saying teal is any better, but whenever the Karlstad dies, I’m hoping this or this will be the replacement!

A girl can dream right?

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