Librocubicularist- May 2015

This past week seems like it has gone on forever. It has been raining almost non-stop and there have been thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, and flash floods in the area. We have been really stressed out due to water pooling in our yard, near our foundation, making us afraid of flooding, as well as the fact that Gil doesn't like the weather. He doesn't like to go outside when it's raining but at the same time, he doesn't want to be cooped up inside either. On top of all that my husband was working extra long hours due to some issues at work and involved in making arrangments to try and fix some of our financial issues. The past two days have mostly sunny and I've never been so relieved by the weather in my life.

In an effort to distract me from the weather, my Mom and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and I found out they have some cool DC comics charms and lockets. I'm really broke right now so I can't buy them but I'm trying to think of something really cool I could make. I definitely need a Wonder Woman locket.

Wanderlust Quilts: 10 Modern Projects Inspired by Classic Art & Architecture by Amanda Leins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The quilts in this book were not quite what I expected. . . although to be honest I don't really know what I did expect. I checked this out from the library because the idea of quilts inspired by architecture intrigued me. The designs are based on a variety of features from egg and dart molding to patterns in ancient floor mosaics. My favorite quilt is the on inspired by the look of draped fabric on Greek sculptures. It manages to capture that flowy look on a flat quilt which is pretty cool and the resulting quilt has an irregular shape which looks like it would curve just right to tuck over your lap on a chilly afternoon. Because so many of these projects use either irregular shapes or fancy stitching I felt they were above my skill level and I admit I didn't really read much of the instructions so I can't speak to how well-written they may be. Overall, while I won't be making any of these anytime at all soon I still found this book to be interesting and inspiring.



Amy Butler's Style Stitches: 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags by Amy Butler

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


While this book has great instructions, most of the bags are just way to big for my taste. Like a 21 by 17-inch handbag big. I actually think a lot of the bags featured in this book are cute I just don't know when I'd use them. The purse I currently use is 5 by 7 and it holds everything I need for every day. I do occasionally use larger tote bags for things like grocery shopping and hauling library books so maybe I could make on to use for that.

Celebritrees: Historic & Famous Trees of the World by Margi Preus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This a fun little book about famous trees around the world including General Sherman in Sequoia National Park and the Tree That Owns Itself. There's a short story about each tree and it's age, then a section at the back with more general information about the types of trees. There's also additional material about conservation and how to learn more about the trees presented in the book. Even though it's intended for kids I really liked this book. I like nature and the outdoors, especially trees and clouds, and the idea of a tree that owns itself is really cool.



The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is all about how to love the house you have. It focuses on working with the house you have and a budget you can afford instead of putting things off, waiting for the perfect house, or being frozen with indecision because you are afraid of making the wrong choice. The author covers a variety of topics such as deciding the purpose of your home, learning to take risks, and how to stop your fear of imperfection.
There is a lot of information about changes that are renter friendly as well as money saving. The overall emphasis is on just doing something. If you don't like it you can always try again, it's easy to repaint and redo a lot of projects. It has actually inspired me to get back to work on our house. We have several projects that we've been putting off for a variety of reasons, including simple indecision, which this book addresses very well.
On a final note, I should mention that I found this book in the religion section of my library, not the decorating section. Throughout the book, there is a message of learning to be content with what you have and making the most of what God has given you. Only the final chapter of the book actually focuses on the religious aspects and I felt that it added to the overall effect of the book instead of detracting. However, if you are extremely anti-religion then it's not going to be a good book for you.

On of the things this book has inspired me to is to fix our living room curtains. They actually were perfectly acceptable the way they were except for one thing, they were difficult to open. Due to being located behind our giant sectional sofa they are difficult to pull so we rarely opened them making our dark living room even darker. We thought that adding curtain rings would make things easier but I could never decide what type or color of rings would be best. Last week we had a mark down at work and a bunch of curtain rings were clearanced. So I bought a few pack and put them up and I'm very glad I did. It has made the living room much brighter. Not only do we open the curtains more but they also pull farther to the side so they let in more light than ever. We are also thinking of painting our hallway, something we haven't done in the 6 years we've lived here because I could never decide on a color.

I'm super happy with our changes so far and can't wait to get started making our house more awesome.