I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You

Is that stupid song stuck in your head now?  Mine too.  I'm so sorry.

Anyhoo . . .

I decided awhile back that I really ought to make myself a new purse.  The one I've been sporting about town is still in good shape/useable, but it's pretty small and doesn't hold more than my wallet, a pen, and a bunch of receipts I keep forgetting to take out of there.

Now, I may be a fabric-aholic but I'm no purse-anista . . . I want one purse.  I want it to be the right size (not too big and obviously not too small), the right amount of pockets, and if I'm going to make the effort to sew it myself it's got to be done in the right fabric.   Is there such a thing?

No really, I have been wondering because I've been thinking about it for about a year now.

A few weeks ago I was doing some fabric perusing online (you don't think I'm crazy enough to take all 3 of my kids into the fabric store with me, do you?!), and re-discovered this gem:

It's Anna Maria Horner's Summer Totem (in Tart) from her LouLouThi collection.  (Yes, this is not a new collection . . . I KNOW.)  After saying to myself, "I forgot about this one . . . I love it I love it I love it I love it!" I ordered a purse-sized chunk.  How odd I felt when I opened the package a week later and immediately started auditioning it for new throw pillows for my couches, new curtains for my kitchen, and as a possible shower curtain for my bathroom.

What about my purse?!

But seriously, I have discovered that Summer Totem is my very own Sue the Napkin.  It honestly, could go in any room of my house.  It's like I had this fabric in my head for the last 7 years as I picked out the comforter on my bed (seriously, every color up there), our crazy red couch, the paint colors for my kitchen (that muted yellow) and curtains for my living room (teal).

Which brings me to my bathroom.  Yes, upstairs we have a half bathroom that the previous homeowner made by stealing a closet from one of the bedrooms.  It's little, but it gets the job done.  A toilet, a pedestal sink, bada-bing bada-boom you can do your business in there.

Because it was so little, Mr. Skooks and I were a little hesitant skeered to put any real color on the walls.  No one wants to feel like they're sitting on the throne in a cave.  As a result, we had one coat of the most boring salmon pink beige color on the walls since we moved in.  Mr. Skooks literally rolled it on, we both frowned, and the project was abandoned for 2 YEARS.  We just could not figure out what the world to do in there to bring some life to the space without overwhelming it completely.

Fast forward to last weekend (and after 8,000 hours on Pinterest) I ran across this image:

Source: lovelifeatleadora.blogspot.com via Skooks' Playground on Pinterest

We have a very slim budget for home projects and we weren't trying to replicate the room, but it gave us a jumping off point.  Mr. Skooks put up some trim in the corners of the room, a little molding about 3/4 of the way up the wall, and we just did it.  White on the bottom and this mermaid-y color on top.  Previously the mirror had been antique white (el cheapo score from Hob Lob not long after we moved in because we needed something in there), but we wanted a nice contrast so we picked up a test pot of a red called Barn and put about 3 or 4 coats over the frame of the mirror.  The shelf/bin/rack thingy is from TJMaxx . . . I wanted something slim in there that could hold some hand towels and the kids toothpaste and stuff.  Nothing major.  I'm sure it's meant to be a magazine rack or file holder or something.  Whatevs.

I'd still like to get some art work up on the walls somewhere, but I'm digging the look as is in the meantime.

The room gets no natural light so the picture looks like turd (I was standing in the hallway to get this super tight shot), but you get the idea.   I would have loved to move that mirror down a scoche (I thought that was a word, but spellcheck is not recognizing it - ah well), but that outlet is in the dumbest place on earth so this arrangement is how it has to be.

I'm not a home decor blogger so there is no before/after pictures to wow you.  And honestly, after 2 years of waiting to see some work done on this room, I wasn't going to slow Mr. Skooks down with "process" photos.  For the before you can just close your eyes and imagine a plain tan box with an off-white mirror, a toilet, and a pedestal sink.  Cause that's all it was.

So anyway, back to the point I was trying to make an hour ago . . . what to do with Summer Totem?  Should I make the purse, or embrace it as my signature home fabric and find something else?  Decisions decisions.



Paint Colors (more for my reference than yours):
-Top: Sweet Rhapsody by Behr (490A-3)
-Bottom: Ultra Pure White by Behr (W-B-500)
-Mirror: Barn by Martha Stewart

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Patchwork . . . PLEASE!

Someday I will find a way to save up enough money and travel to Japan where I will learn paper-piecing at the feet of the master.  Until that far off date, I've got this:

source

I've never been so excited about a book that I've bothered to preorder it, but several months ago I actually did.  Patchwork Please! will get me over my fear of paper piecing (I've decided!), and it arrived last week.  SO MUCH CUTENESS!  I haven't made anything from it yet, so no pictures to share, but Amazon has a good "look inside" preview here. 

I'm getting excited for the Zakka Along for Patchwork, Please! . . . I've been itching to sew up some little goodies since I first cracked the book, and it would be fun to do some of these projects "with" those participating.  With that being said, my time to sew has been limited lately (um . . . can you tell?!) so we'll just say I'm going to do my best and leave it at that for now.

Anyone else planning on joining the Zakka Along?  What have you been working on lately?

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