learning FPP

Aside from watching the flowers grow, I have also been succeeding in catching every illness that Taylor brings home from the office (she hasn’t caught a single one, she just gives them to me). Which has meant that I’ve been making my health my #1 priority, since my immune system is obviously struggling at the moment (I allowed too much stress into my life, and it’s left me compromised). I’ve just survived a not-as-horrible-as-it-could-have-been-but-still-very-not-good case of what I suspect was strep, and thank God for essential oils and Epson salt baths.

But despite my body testing my patience, my mental health has been doing pretty well.

I’ve had to take a little break from work over the past few weeks (what’s new), since sitting hunched over my desk all day has exacerbated all my symptoms, so although I’m still taking orders (and have some patiently waiting in the queue), there will be a slight delay before I get to starting on them.

And if you find yourself starting to wonder: don’t her parents care that she’s not working?? Just know that I was originally very uncomfortable with taking more time off work (and also living with a much smaller income), and it was my dear mother who suggested it and encouraged it, because health and happiness are of paramount importance in our house.

it’s hard to pick a favorite, but the goldfinch is definitely one of them

But of course, anyone that knows me knows that this is when I thrive.

I know a lot of people who need the structure of a good ol’ fashioned job to keep their life on track; even if they don’t want to admit it, they really do better with that daily routine. But when I’m not working, and simply doing every-day tasks and projects, I am the absolute happiest — even when I’m sick!

I’ve been calm and relaxed and content; when I’m not working, I even find happiness in the mundane task of folding the laundry. It’s like I was simply created to be a stay-at-home housewife, who does stay-at-home housewife duties, and yet here I am: in my happy, free, single girl era (not to be confused with my sad, longing, single girl era).

At this point, I might just live with my parents forever.

And at this point, I might just be okay with that.

the currently collection, soon to be made into pillows: Carolina wren, barn swallow, titmouse, oriole, bluebird, blue jay, cardinal, chickadee, goldfinch

Mom, Taylor, Riley Mae, and I are all currently in the springtime-fresh-start mode, and we’re all doing our own things to freshen everything up, while also bartering with each other along the way. I’ve been sewing Mom new curtains out of vintage bedsheets, and in return I get to keep the extra fabric (I might post pictures of them in another post, since they’re so cute). I’ve also been paying Mom back in advance for helping to paint my room (hopefully happening next month!!), by making her new throw pillows for the couch.

She simply asked for some plain and simple pillow covers. Nothing fancy, just clean and crisp. But my newest project as been sewing foundation paper piecing patterns (or FPP for short), and I got a bit overzealous. I’ve never sewn FPP’s before, but when I recently saw a pattern while browsing on Pinterest, my interest was piqued…and I haven’t stopped making them since.

it should be mentioned that each black stripe on the blue jay’s wings and tail are individual pieces of fabric. That bird definitely took me the longest to complete, and I’m not sure I’d want to make a repeat of it right now!

So far I’ve just been working with patterns from Paper Piecing By Erin, since she has a whole collections of beautiful birds, for super affordable prices. And even though I’ve successfully sewn eight of them (the number of pillows we need for the couches), I simply cannot stop there! Because I haven’t made a starling yet! Or a downy woodpecker!! Or a barn owl!!!

It’s currently looking like we’ll end up with twelve pillows.

They’re a lot of fun, although they can be a bit tedious at times (I typically work up a sweat while I’m sewing them all together), and the end results are quite satisfying.

Each one is made out of individual pieces of fabric, sewn in a certain order onto the pattern paper, and once you’re done, the paper is pulled off the backside of it. It’s ingenious, really. I tip my hat to whoever came up with this idea.

my least favorite part is the part where you sew all the finished sections together, because this is the part where everything could go wrong. I work so slowly to try and line everything up right

The next step is to sew matching brown borders on all of them, and sew them up into pillow cases with zippers on the bottom.

(I have a few finished now, and they came out better than I even expected, but I don’t want to post pictures until the whole collection is done and on the couch!!)

I’ve decided that after I’m done with the couches, I’ll be making some for my bed, because I want to look at them all the time. And I have a whole collection of FPP patterns in my Etsy favorites to choose from!

The possibilities are endless.