Project 333 for Autumn

Today I officially start my project 333. Although mine is always different from the original. But, it's about making it work for you. So, keep that in mind if you want to do this for yourself. It has to work for YOU. It will never be perfect. Something I have to tell myself constantly. And your preferences and style will change over time. So, updates are allowed. Just as long as they are thoughtfully considered and not just a spur of the moment buy or a mall grab because you feel bad. (Honestly, I hate the mall. Especially the one here in MN, it is too huge!)

I debated on color schemes for autumn.  (My favorite season.) Should be colors that I feel good in and that look good on me. I love olive green and it's the closest I ever get to a neutral. I was originally going to go with that. I have shoes, a jacket and a skirt in that color.
But olive green isn't my best color. It's too warm for my complexion. I realized that I don't really have a lot of neutrals in my wardrobe and it does make it hard to match things so I went shopping. I love pinks, mint green, raspberry and lilac and they look good on me. So I was looking for those colors. Wouldn't you know that they aren't in season/style right now! Classics never go out of style. But I'm looking for a specific color. Boo.

I'm building off my summer wardrobe. At the moment I've got too many clothes and I need to weed some more out. And yet, I went shopping...It was thoughtful. I tried to look at the pictures I took of my wardrobe on my phone, but it's hard to match that way. After much thought, I have added in the mint green and taken a little of the olive out. I am making some room for the shorts to be rotated out and pants or more sweaters to be moved in. When you live in Minnesota you have to think of these things early. :)

My trusty purple Fluevog bag is of course staying. :)
I'd love to get some turquoise Malibrans (pictured left) to go with it, but...it's not in the budget yet.

Also I've looked over my brown boots and I'd like to get a quality pair next year. They are fake leather and flaking off on the inside part of the leg side of the boot. So, I save for these things for next year. Or maybe someone reading this will get them for me for Christmas. (Fluevogs I wear a 10.5, most other things I wear a 10)

I've made some adjustments to my summer wardrobe to keep it going. I've realized that a lot of the colors I was wearing were...a little dark.(like the olive and black!)
In the seasonal color palette (to see more about this look here) I am a light summer.
This is my best color palette.

It's mostly pink and blue and some pastel colors. But I like the light purples at the bottom and the pinks and raspberry with the greens. This green shirt I have on in the picture is not in the palette exactly, (pretty close!) it's a spring color. Yet, I like it a lot on me. I took this picture to show how long my hair was getting.
I never did order the 'Joker' Tee. I like it a lot, but I'm not sure it rounds out my wardrobe. And, I really don't need another Tee shirt. I have a hard time going through the ones that I already own.

Deciding on a specific color palette is hard! I noticed in my closet that I had a lot of patterns and not a lot of solids and a mix of colors so that nothing really matched anything else. I find this to be my greatest problem with project 333. Making sure everything matches or at least mixes well with the other articles of clothing.

So this in mind I have rearranged my wardrobe to reflect this revelation. So here is what I decided. Only 33 clothing items will be counted, not to include sweaters for warmth, shoes,  clothing for exercising or purses. I did pare these down previously, so I feel good about it. And they all (except the shoes) fit in my dresser space.)

Now on to my selections. Please keep in mind that all of these look better on me than on the hangers. 

1. 

 Pink dress. I wore this dress on our engagement photo shoot. One of my absolute favorites!

2.

On the hanger this looks weird right? But I made this dress from a 50's vintage pattern and I love the pattern of the fabric. 

4.

I actually love this dress so much I wore it in our engagement photos last year.

5.

 Shirtwaist dress. 

6.

 Denim jumper. Looks better on me than the hanger.

7.

 Raspberry dress.

8.

  Reversible raspberry and olive skirt

9.

 You can't see it, but this has pockets! Love that detail. Also matches a lot. 

10.

 This is from a store in Charleston, SC. I don't know if they are still open or not. I loved wearing the hippy styles in my college days. The fact that I can still wear this makes me smile. The bottom has a lot of color and matches a lot of my shirts. 

11.

Zips in the back, vintage knit shirt. Matches everything because of the neutral color.

12.

Super comfy mint shirt. I really wanted to infuse this color into my wardrobe. This will layer really well. 

13.  

  Lucky 13. My Chambray shirt. I bought this last month after realizing that I had so many patterned things in my wardrobe and not enough to match with them. This fixed a hole in my wardrobe. It was an intentional and well thought out purchase. Even the color I debated on for awhile. The soft blue denim looks better with my skin tone than the darker ones. 

14.
I made this shirt as well. I love it because it's linen and soft. 

15.

This shirt is a workhorse in my wardrobe. Matches so much.

16.

Longs sleeve linen shirt. Needs to be pressed, but I love it and the soft color. 

17.

Long sleeved white linen shirt. Are you noticing a pattern here with the linen? I love it so much!!

18.

Bright green spring shirt. (I call it my lucky shirt.)

19.

I thought this would look nice with mint and other things as well. It is cute with the mint shorts. 

20.

Brown cardigan. layers, layers, layers

21. 

blue checkered shirt. I don't know what it is made of, but it is soft on the skin and the blue is muted and looks good on me. 

22.

Just bought this one and I'm looking forward to wearing it this season.

23.

Pink Sweatshirt material shirt. Comfy for lounging or going out. I sometimes work out in it, but I also go to the store in it too. 

24.

My Ariel Shirt. It's fun, cute and hey-I like it. 

25.

 Green peplum top.

26.

27.

 Raspberry shirt. Matches a lot. Love the color, not crazy about the fabric.(poly blend)

28.

 Pink and purple 3/4 sleeve shirt. Needs something underneath, because it is somewhat a sheer cotton.

29.

 I love Marie Curie. She is one of my namesakes and she did a lot of work and helped Women's Rights move along. DH has a job because of her work.

30.

BraAaains..... It's another just plain fun shirt. 

31. There will be pink pants here. I just haven't found them yet. I can't decide on raspberry or light pink. 

32.

      Khakis. Not my favorite normally, but these I like. 

33.

These are my sexy jeans. (So my DH tells me.)

So, this being my second round of project333, I will be trying to take a picture of my outfits as I go along. There is a challenge to post the first 33 days of outfits on the project333 website.
What do you find to be the hardest part of project333? Are you thinking about minimizing your wardrobe??

We got a camper!!

Ok, so living up in MN it is apparently a thing to go up to the head waters of the Mississippi and camp.  We won't be able to do that this year but maybe next?

We're also going to IL and SC once it's fixed up nice and water tight. 

So here is the big shocker…we got it for FREE!! 

Granted, it has some issues that need to be addressed still. But all in all we are pretty happy with it. Especially because it was free. 

Ok enough of my blabber, here it is.

It's a 1985 jayco. 

My DH is waiting on me to help him put on the last tire. 

Welcome to our Camper. Let me give you a tour. 

This is the Kitchen. It is to the right when you walk into the camper. It needs work all over, but I'm up to the challenge. :) 

There is an oven inside. You could live in this thing full time! I always talked about having a tiny house, but I don't really think it is feasible for us. Still, its nice to think we can do it occasionally in our camper. The top folds down to make a larger work surface too.  Most of the older campers this is broken. So I was really glad to find it still in working order. When it folds up it acts as a backsplash. 

DH was walking around the outside while I was taking pictures. Also the old fabric here makes this cute dinette seating area look tired. No worries, I'll have it spruced up soon enough.

Over the back of the seat there is a small storage space. I'm not sure what  I would want to put in there yet, but once it's all cleaned up maybe. 

DH wants to (of course!) keep the "nice wood look" to the camper. UGH, I agreed to it in the house so here I told him no! I want to make this camper look nice. I can't understand why he wants to keep it all wood. Not to mention that it keeps it looking dark in a small space. I seems to be real wood, and I feel a little bad about it...but not bad enough not to paint it.

The whole kitchen and dining area view. It really needs some elbow grease before anything. Those curtains also...they make me want to hurl. I can't wait to take them down. This small space needs something airy in it. 

Here he is again! That silly husband of mine. I'm also pleased about the sink cover/cutting board being intact still. It looks awful, but even if I just use it for a template for another one I'm good. I'd really like a butchers block or wooden one here. I'll see what I can do about it later.

What is this?? I know what it is really, but LOL. I don't know if it works, but based on everything else in this camper and the way the people took care of everything I really suspect that it still works. I'm not sure if it will be staying or not though. (If it does, at least I can hide it!)

From the kitchen looking into the back of the camper. The fridge is open and blocking the view a little, but you can still see a good bit. Into the living room we go.

Can't you see the potential here?? And look...more wood. That clock is pretty cool. We think it just needs a battery to work. I LOVE all the glass work and the mirrors and the small touches like the clock(above) and the etched glass (left and below) in this camper. I'm suspecting that when it was new, it was top of the line. That couch folds down into a full or queen sized bed (can't remember which right now.)

 This is right next to the main door, but I think it's part of the living room. It would make a cute 'bar area' or just storage for things that need to be grabbed fast. It could be extra towels and/or sunscreen if we're at the beach or lake. And bug spray if we go up to the mountains or in the woods.

Next we see the mirror on the door to the bathroom. Isn't it beautiful? The mirrors and glass in this camper are really pretty. Into the bathroom. It's a little scary still, but we'll have it fixed up soon enough. 

Repairs needed here! This fan and the whole panel needs to be replaced.

Yuck right? It will be fixed up right. This is the first thing that we are doing. 

Strange light and ugly curtains. I alms like the wallpaper...I can't decide yet. What do you think? 

This hurts to look at doesn't it? Lights, curtain and shower curtain all gone!

Right outside of the bathroom is a massive storage area. I think the camper has enough space to sleep 6 people and hold all their stuff in this space. They might be a little cramped for sleeping arrangements, but they could stay if they wanted, or if they were children. 

From the hallway we turn right into the bedroom. The only real bedroom that is in the camper, but it'd just for me and DH and the dogs. We don't really need another one. And once we have children they can sleep on the pull out couch and the dinette set folds down too.

 The headboard idea is cute, but it is now outdated and stained and must be replaced. Along with those curtains.

The biggest problem? There are wasps in between the door and the screen in the bedroom. The glass/plexiglass on the door seems to have a space in it. So that will need to be fixed too. I hate wasps. They have been plaguing us at the house too. In MN they seem to be everywhere.

This concludes our tour of our new (old) camper. 

Come back to see what updates I do to it!!

Joining a community instead of checking out.

It's been weighing on my mind that a lot of homesteaders or just people who live in the country want to 'check out' or leave society all together. I'm all for having some alone time, trust me I need it sometimes. But, if you work with your community and your neighbors you can get more work done. A lot of people will even barter with you for what you have using what they have or what they can do. I LOVE the barter system. I have rabbits for meat and my neighbor has tomatoes and eggs we can decide how much of each to trade and we are both happy. He doesn't have to raise rabbits, but can still get some meat and my tomatoes are golf ball sized where as his are approaching basketball size. (OK, not really, but they are enormous)

I have another neighbor that I have never met, but other neighbors tell me that he will talk to you but then tell you that he doesn't want to be your friend. I can't comprehend that. OK, I know you aren't going to be friends with ALL your neighbors and yes, there are going to be people that you just don't get along with very well. But, don't go around telling people that you don't want to talk to them and just be rude! Seriously?

So, I decided that I wasn't doing a great job of integrating into the community as I was so focused on getting my homestead up and running. Well, the winter that's coming scares me. I don't want to have to deal with too much in the way of animals outside or building projects when I'm about to freeze to death. Moving from SC to MN, it's a change. My blood is not thickened up enough to deal with the fall weather, I'm worried.

So, I joined the community Volleyball League. It's fun and I meet people and get some exercise. YAY for me right? So, I ordered some volleyball kneepads and some shoes. The first night I went was game night. They don't practice or workout together or anything, I asked. But, most of the ladies are really good. I haven't played in a long time, so I was rusty. But, it was fun and I met some new friends. Even though our team lost I had fun getting out there into the community.

I've also gotten out there at the church we are going to in town. They had a fall fest a few weekends ago. I helped with setup; made some of my chocolate cupcakes for the bake sale; helped organize and move things for the auction and we participated in the auction. We got a really cool cedar chest, a bike for DH, and a lawn spreader.

Fall/Winter projects

I'm looking into making some things inside for the rainy part or fall and the coldest part of winter. Since I'm new to the wintery north, I figured that I needed to start making quilts again.
Honestly the only one that I've ever made was when I was in high school with my Mom. I loved using the fabrics that meant something to me. Things that were used for projects and things that Mom or I used to wear. I have a photo of both of us wearing black velvet dresses that were used in the quilt ( I think I was 8?) When we made the quilt her black velvet dress was getting frayed and worn so she donated it to my quilt project. When I slept with it I always found myself rubbing the black velvet pieces. It reminded me of Mom and it still does. Even though I don't sleep with it.

 Now that I am older I don't use the twin sized quilt much anymore. There is no more fabric to make a matching one for my guest room beds. (hopefully one day, I will have boys in that room and we can finish the actual guest room.) Also, the backing is getting tattered and soon will need to be replaced.

Until then,  I continue with my quilting. I was going to work on my pinwheel quilts for now. But, I got a little nervous when I had trouble with the cutting wheel. So, I'm practiced my piecing by making 4 placemats for our house. They are yellow, red and blue. They should help the colors flow better in the kitchen and dining room area. Now I can move on to the blanket sized quilts.

I picked out a pattern that looks fairly simple, and bought the required fabric. I am doing a blue, green and yellow motif with the 2 twins. I bought enough fabric to do two of them in matching, or at least mix and matching fabric. I do love the colors that they picked out for this quilt. But, I painted the room light blue. SoI want to try and keep with that theme. Plus, I'm envisioning it as a boys room.


I also have found a good pattern for a quilt for my Mom for Christmas. (Although it's looking like it might not be done until NEXT Christmas.) She said she wanted, blue, gold, tan, or green and a tiny bit of red for options of colors. I eliminated the red completely. I couldn't see how I would add it at all. The gold is the backing and binding parts. The rest will be tan background and blue and green for the patterns. I am not going to show a picture as my Mom reads my blog. (Hi Mom!!) But, I am satisfied with the fabrics I picked for hers more than I am for mine.  And as soon as I finish another project I am working on I am going to start cutting out my pieces. I hope to get a few photos of it when it is finished and some after I give it to her to share with you all dear readers.

For my 2 twin quilts I found a pattern online for free that I am going to follow. Which you can find here.

I am doing blue instead of violet that was used here. (I did not make this quilt.) But I think that it is going to turn out very well. I will be surprised when I finish it just as much as anyone else. A lady at the fabric store told me that quilting is fun, but you don't really know what it is going to look like until you are done. I think that is a strange way to sew, but I love quilts and I'm sure that mine will be cherished by myself and all who are warmed by them, if for no other reason than they do not have to sleep without a blanket. 

My DH seems to think that I should only have got enough for one project at a time. I figure this way I have less temptation at the fabric store. I did one trip and spent $250 and got almost enough material to make 4 quilts. Here's how: Mom's quilt is planned, the 2 twin guest quilts are planned, and I have extra materials that I could use for a scrappy quilt most likely for our room or a gift. I'm doing traditional styles and while I am not doing everything by hand, Amish quilts go of upwards of $800. I can make several quilts for that price.I figure that if they can do it, so can I. I am excited to start quilting more. We are going to need more quilts living in the great white north.