New home . . . new beginnings

So sometimes a long silence is necessary . . .

College, and work, and study abroad are my reasons! I recently got back from traveling to Spain (and a weekend trip to Ireland) and studying in Spain and I've just moved into a house with a few friends. It is such a blessing to feel more settled in this city. After living in a dormitory for two years, it was time to get more settled and practice more adult habits (i.e. cooking normal adult food on a regular basis).

This post will mostly be about settling into my new residence. I'll talk later about Spain and those adventures. 

Last weekend, I found an adorable bedside table and a quilt rack from The Venue with one of my roommates. 

This lamp was a hand-me-down from my piano teacher, Shelley. I painted the brass base with white paint and I found the lampshade at Hope of Glory, a local thrift shop for $1. 

Most of the boxes have been emptied. Thanks to several friends (and family), my bed is assembled, and almost everything is settled. 

The desk and chair are actually both from Restore. I repainted the chair to match the desk.  I was amazed how much a few coats of paint can help an older piece of furniture. Unfortunately, because I was too eager to get started on the painting, I neglected to take a before picture. It was simply an average kitchen chair with worn out and scraped off finish, a honey wood color. It would have been pretty before the several years it has seen in someone's kitchen, so it was definitely time to paint it. The quilt above the desk is one I posted about a while ago here. I started that quilt a while ago (more than a year ago) and it finally has a place to go in my new bedroom. The purple quilt on the rack was my first quilt when I was fourteen. The pink one was made for me as a little baby by my grandmother. 

I found this little succulent at the Umbrella Market (basically a mid-week farmer's market with tents over the tables) today. It fits perfectly in the kitchen sink window next to our cow salt and pepper shakers and my little candle. 

My life has become very busy with the routine of working, which is great. I work from home in the mornings for an editing job and in the afternoons, I work at the gym. So I've been cooking and nesting in the mornings, and learning how to make food that packs well. After not really having access to a kitchen for two or so years, cooking is awesome. I've made spaghetti (from a can of sauce with adding lots of my own vegetables and meat), banana bread with chocolate chips (and applesauce), plenty of salad, sandwiches, beer can chicken (more on that later), and chicken pasta salad. Currently, I'm making whole wheat pita bread pockets and tzatziki sauce, which I will complete as a gyro with some chicken, lettuce, red onions, and feta cheese (seriously, this stuff is the best). We also had some fresh blackberries from a nearby farm from the Umbrella market. 

 If any of you have suggestions for good meals to make on a budget or meals that pack easily, please leave a comment! :) 

Crafting Progress and Fails

Even though today was difficult, I was able to get some therapeutic sewing time while hanging out with a sweet pit bull, Durham, and talking to a friend on the phone. 

And I'm having to lean on the promises that God made to His people in Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order to that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

Isn't she sweet? I took this picture yesterday when we went for a long walk at the park. 

I worked on quilting together the layers for this quilt. It went well and I am definitely making progress. I hope to finish up tacking the layers together so that I can put the binding on next. The binding is a solid black from Elegant Stitches, a cute fabric and sewing shop in Cary.  

My project failure is still cute, but not functional. Hopefully, just temporarily. It's one of those sewing kit in a mason jar. I have my thread scissors, sewing needles, thread, measuring tape, and seam ripper. My pins go in the pincushion on top that is hot glued to the lid. 

And that where the problem comes in. I followed the instructions on MomTastic but it didn't work. Ok, that's not entirely true. I tried to use superglue at first because that was what I had. For the record, there was a reason the instructions said to use hot glue gun. Superglue does not work for bonding fabric and mason lids together. 

So a friend loaned me her hot glue gun so I could do this properly. Because of the hot glue and the fabric, the lid no longer screws onto the jar. Which means I can't put the top on and actually have a secure jar to carry around. 

I found an exacto knife to try to pare down the thickness of the glue so hopefully it will work. Otherwise I will have to go buy a new lid to glue a new patch of fabric onto and try again.

I hope you all had a good Friday!

Next Sewing Projects

I have been without a sewing machine for a few weeks now. A friend just offered to loan me her machine, so I am getting excited about having one to borrow for the rest of the summer! 

In this process, I'm looking at projects I could do simply so that I could actually finish them and not have more half-finished projects (which is what I was clearing out previously). 

Here are a few of the projects I've been thinking about.

A glasses case to miniature sewing kit from Tea Rose Home:

An extra-large men's shirt to a fun, casual summer skirt from Little Bit Funky: 

A simple, maxi skirt from Individual Rivalry:

And maybe, this styled sweatshirt-turned-sweater from DIY Project Network:

Depending on how much thickness the sewing machine I'm borrowing can do, I might also finish my scrappy purple and green quilt. It's mostly done. :) 

If you all have any favorite, quick and easy sewing project suggestions, please leave a comment!

Happy Wednesday!

Crafting, Moving, and Decluttering :)

These past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. I decluttered and packed everything, I moved in with a friend and her family (she has the cutest little kids), reduced my crafting boxes to a bag of fabric and this little box, and went to the park and the Museum of Life and Science with the kids. 

My favorite part of the Musem of Life and Science was the butterfly house. Aren't they beautiful?

My friend has a dog (Charlie), a golden retriever/chow mix, who is a lot of fun. He just wants attention and his really sweet. 

Before I moved out from home, I made a lot of progress on a quilt I was making with purple and green scraps from all the other purple and green quilts and sewing projects I have done. It was enjoyable to go back through each fabric and remember what I used it for. My mom always thought I was crazy for saving all those bits and bobs of fabrics, so I finally decided to do something with it. I don't currently have my own machine, though, so the quilt is just going to have to hang out and wait for a while to get finished. 

I've reduced my crafting piles to this little box which I found at Target a few weeks ago. It's perfect for organizing the different pieces I have: buttons, stamp and ink pad, stationary, favorite knitting needles, and two balls of yarn. 

You knitters will probably think I'm crazy, but as part of my cleaning out, I threw away almost an entire cabled sweater that I had been working on for two years. I had a back, one completed side of the front, and most of the second front. The pieces weren't going together, it was no longer something I could see myself wearing, my gauge (tightness of knitting) had changed throughout the years I'd been working on it, and it was starting to be a source of frustration and guilt that I had let it sit in the back of the closet for so long. It was really freeing to tear it off my needles and toss the whole thing in the garbage, swatch, pattern, and everything. 

I donated to Dorcas an entire sack of yarn that just wasn't my favorite and I didn't have huge aspirations for. It was mentally freeing to de-clutter and stop saving all the yarn and glassware that I was saving. I had this idea that I was saving it for my future house, but I realized saving it all indefinitely was not feasible. I kept my favorite things from my grandmothers, but donated the rest. It was time to de-clutter and it was great!

 

(before)

 

(after)

I also got a haircut at a fun, artsy place in downtown Durham called Rock Paper Scissors, http://rpssalondurham.com, on East Chapel Hill Street. I hadn't ever been to an artsy place to get my hair cut before, so it was a good, new experience.

One of my sweet friends from college, Martha, drove over to visit me today and we went to Blend Cafe (http://blendthecafe.com) on East Main Street. I would highly recommend this cafe. I had a great roast beef sandwich and some amazing decaf coffee (and not many people make great decaf). It is located in the Golden Belt building next to the Scrap Exchange and several art studios and a hair salon called Moshi Moshi. It is a great area to go exploring. 

I hope you all are doing well. Happy Thursday!