Inspiration Overload!

I haven't sewn a lot this week due to a hug pile of fabric that needs to be folded and put away. I cut out so many charm squares last week... I don't think I'm ever going to want to cut fabric again! lol. :) That and we've been enjoying the beautiful spring weather that has so graciously greeted us this week! It has been wonderful!

The other night as I was meaning to get sewing on some projects that have been calling my name lately, I instead started looking at all the cloth napkins that have been shared in preparation for the Table Top Swap. (I wanted to join this one... but with much self-control, stopped myself. :) Instead I'll just make my own napkins! Which of course means I need to make up my own inspiration mosaic! Idea stollen from Tiffany, aka This Crafty Fox - she rocks! Aren't you so proud of me for stepping out?!?! lol.)

Anyway, I ended up spending all my time finding a million new pictures and contacts and inspiration items... Flickr can be a bad bad thing. heehee. Want to see all my favorites??? I have too many. All the napkins are what I added the other night. Whoever thought napkins could be so lovely?!

Well, I did end up cleaning my sewing area! phew. As well as dreamed up quite the list of items I need to make for my home. You see, we are renting right now, and for some reason the places we rent seem nice before we move in, but then end up being ghetto. ug. (if only you knew the story of our first apartment we lived in right when we got married! and then there was the incident at my dad's house after that. lol. oh my. I'll stop there.) A few months ago however, the people who own these apartments changed rental agencies. The new maintenance guy and I became good friends and he's been awesome in fixing and replacing things! We actually have a shower now that sprays out water, rather than drips water! :) lol. They also just repainted the whole outside of the apartments - a good improvement. When we moved in we never thought we'd be here this long - so I never really had a desire to decorate and make it super nice, especially since it wasn't. Well, now it is getting nice! Along with rearranging things, getting rid of things, etc. I am so ready to do a total makeover. Ok, this is really long, but anyway, here's my list of items that I'm going to be squeezing in between all of my other sewing commitments! I'm really excited!! :)

First up: When you come in the door the level splits to go upstairs and downstairs. The one wall going up is HUGE! I've always thought it needed something, but until Thursday night I couldn't figure out what. Then it hit me! A whole collage of embroidery hoops, with my favorite fabrics would be AWESOME!!! My mom gave me all her old ones about a year ago, so I already have a few to start with. Now to decide which fabrics to use... fun. :)

Source: purlbee.com via Diane on Pinterest

these are plates, but same concept

Source: poppytalk.blogspot.com via Diane on Pinterest

This one is my absolute favorite! lol!

Source: blackberryfarm.blogspot.com via Diane on Pinterest

There was one more hoop picture that I really love, but of course now I can't find it.


I also need (this was a paragraph, but then I decided to add bullets so I could keep track of everything. I am a list kind of gal.) :)

• a new kitchen rug/mat, 
• a rug/mat by our front door, 
• an awesome patchwork? curtain to hang in the window by our door
• placemats for all of us, 
• and matching napkins. 
• I want to make a really nice/large wall hanging for our now empty wall in the living room. 
• A table runner to go on our mini freezer chest that is in our kitchen, 
• and perhaps another wall hanging??? I don't know. 
• I also finally decided that I would LOVE some decorative pillows to go on our couches. Where have I been with those??? We already have huge pillows on all of them, but they are plain brown ones from Ikea that match our 
• couch covers - of which I would love to alter or make/buy new ones. I'm getting tired of brown. (this is probably the LAST thing on my list. Unless of course we just buy new ones - still probably on the bottom of our list of purchases though too.)
• I also need one more wall hanging to go over our fuse box cover in the hallway upstairs. The other day my second boy decided to play in there and flip switches! I'm so glad as a mom I have an extra set of ears to hear what they are doing despite what I am actually doing!

I think the hardest part is picking a color scheme! How do you do it??? I've really been wanting to do my kitchen rug with some bright Amy Butler fabrics. and perhaps the placemats too. I definitely need the napkins to be something that won't show stains easy... they MUST be boy proof. lol. I REALLY love Megan's pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap - this is what inspired me to want a big wall hanging in my living room. I really love how she used white as the solid for the + - pattern. It gives it a whole new look, which I can totally run with. I don't know that I can ever say that I have a favorite color, but the colors I'm always drawn to, and have the most fabric in, are greens and blues. Almost all of my "I love that" fabrics are green or blue (along with yellows and oranges and a hint of pink. lol). Perhaps I should just create a few color scheme mosaics to help me decide what I really like... prepare yourself for mosaic marathon coming up! lol. ;)

Making a list like this does make me worry that my house is going to turn into a quilted mess. yuck. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I think I'm just going to have to be very careful that I do a good job and pick all the right designs, fabrics and colors so everything flows and doesn't clash. If you have any decorating tips I'd love to hear them!! :)

Ok, I think I got that off my chest. Now off to work!! :)