complete & born again.

In my life, I leave too many things unfinished. Projects, books, knitting, crafts, the gallon of milk in my fridge (due to me not eating at home that often). I’m a procrastinator my nature, which means I know I will put almost everything off. On the upside, I know I will complete them, but maybe not in the ideal time . All the things I have mentioned previously I do intend to finish…some day. For instance I finished, with the help of Jill/Mom, Clementine’s dress! It was too big for her when I started it, but Clem’s a growing girl and now the dress is complete and it looks adorable on her (most everything does).

More projects I left unblogged: My fabric pumpkins. These I actually did finish, but I always intended to write a how-to blog about them. No tutorial for now (maybe next year), but here’s the finished project and I love them! I love the miss matched patterns and it was an opportunity to use some old scraps I had laying around. The pumpkins are fairly easy to make and they made wonderful gifts! I also wanted to blog about wreaths. Yarn wreaths were a trend I could definitely get on board with this year. The one I made is still hanging up! This leads to my next point. Another thing left undone is my Christmas decorations. I will admit, my Christmas decorations are still beautifully displayed in my apartment, and I’m ok with that, but someday (soon) I will put them back in the boxes stored under my bed and await the next change my apartment will undergo.

Its hard for me to move forward when I have left things undone. I’m sure there are many things that are still unfinished in the “Life of Jenny,” but I’m ready to move on. These were a few of the beautiful projects I wanted to share with you before I did. With completion, comes change. With change, comes new opportunities. I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but since its still January and lots of things are changing in life, I’d like to acknowledge the changes and refocus my direction for the year (and maybe even finish a few things). I want new inspiration, new ideas, new conversation. To sum things up, I want new things to influence my life so I can be used by God to influence others. Also so I can learn new ways to love others the way God loves me. I’m hardly ever comfortable with change. God has given me way too many reason why we shouldn’t be anxious about change. Change is needed for our lives to actively continue to grow more like Him. He provides what we need for the change and gives us faith for a better future.

Completed in 2011: Finished a book…completely. (What’s so Amazing about grace? Visual Edition, by Philip Yancey)

Changed in 2011: bought a half gallon of milk at the grocery store, rather than a gallon, and hopefully none will go to waste..ha

So far here is my stack of new inspiration for 2011. I hope it keeps growing. Feel free to contribute.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when ever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

destination: where are we going?

So I have this thing with maps. I LOVE them! Vintage maps are pretty much a dream to me. The ink, the paper, the technique, the smell….its awesome. Some days I’d like to be a cartographer and sit around and draw maps all day. I got a taste of this at one of my various jobs this past year. Most days during the month of March I would sit for hours drawing and tweeking maps for apartment advertisements. They were simple street views of cities, but I still enjoyed drawing them. I secretly wanted to move to Chicago after working on a downtown view of Chicago for a couple weeks. I learned the streets, did the research of everything and anything to do in Chi Town. The city is artsy and seemed beautiful from “my view.”

Maps also relate to my love of travel. I love keeping track of all the unique cities and countries I’ve visited or lived in. Really getting to know the Metro map in London was a great talent of mine while there. My map knowledge probably saved my mom and I a time or two. (Good thing I knew where the hospital was, right mom?)

The other day while I was at Anthropologie with a friend of mine, we stumbled across an napkin in the sale section. A napkin? Yes, a napkin. Easiest and cheapest way to make a pillow. Its already square and finished out. Sew two together or find some awesome fabric for the backing and you have your very own pillow! What drew me to this napkin was, of course, that it was a map…but not exactly a map. Its a map of all things you would find on a map. Everything is labeled: city, gulf, peninsula, etc. I loved the print and I knew I could find something to do with it! Here it is! It had been awhile since I broke out the sewing machine, even for a little project like this, but it felt so nice to make something beautiful again!

The ironic thing about maps is that they are leading you somewhere and I don’t know where I’m going. Something that is always in the back of my head (that I wish wasn’t there) is that I need to have my life mapped out. The world wants me to know where I’m going and what I am supposed to be doing every second of my life. Right now, probably more than ever, I don’t know where I’m going. God is weird in the way he works and I have faith that he is leading me to a greater purpose. I just pray for open eyes and a push from God when I’m supposed to jump on his opportunities.

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good spirit lead me on level ground.”      Psalm 143: 8 & 10

So here’s the first picture of myself on this blog (your welcome mom and thank you Jill for snapping my pic on this beautiful day last weekend)…I don’t know where I’m going, but this is where I am right now!

this ampersand that.

All projects are in the works, but I thought I would at least share my latest fabric finds! So my mom and I discovered a new fabric store that is, oh ya know, 3 minutes from my house. You know those stores that you pass by literally everyday and never go in? Well, mom went in, told me about her discovery, then I went the next day. This store has a great selection of designer fabrics, which is what I have been searching for. It was pretty hilarious to compare what my mom and I picked from the store. Our fabric personality is completely different. Ha! So anyways, yay for new fabric and yay for discovering new places! Oh, and I’ve decided I’ll just become a professional fabric buyer. Oh the life.

Tonight I was looking through my inspiration file on my computer and came across one of my all time favorite amersands. Then I realize “hmmm, that looks familiar.” No wonder I love my new fabric so much! Just look at the fabric and the ampersand next to each other. They look as if they were inspired from one another, or maybe just created to inspire me! This should definitely be a “this & that” on Oh Joy! More info on this ampersand and the artist to come! For a sneak peak check out Katie Daisy.

weekend update.

So the weekend was enjoyable and an intermission in the story of my life.  To save myself from being too personal and to save you from repeating a conversation I already had with you (my loyal reader…ha). I just wanted to share a few thoughts from the weekend! Above are my new fabric store finds! I have a few ideas for the fabric…but I won’t tell you yet unless everything ends up in the scrap pile….lovely scraps though. The possibilities seem endless with these fabrics! They are all so different, but all speak to my personality!

Here’s something else I came across recently. Takes me wayyy back. If you don’t recognize what these are I will explain. These are plastic paper plate trays (find them on Etsy here). They were popular in the…I don’t know…60s or 70s? How do you use them? You slip a paper plate under the little tabs and you are able to have a sturdy plate at picnics…or in the living room at my Grandma’s house! I remember always wanting to get them out of the cabinet to use them when I visited my Grandma! Oh the joys of my childhood! Really makes me want to go on a picnic…maybe with some fresh peaches.

In honor of the new iPhone announced last week, I will leave you with this wonderfully awesome video of the iPad. This makes me so happy.

(I can’t get to video to embed, so click the image above or the link below!)

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.