If I say it’s been rollercoaster summer here in the LightHouse will any of you out there in teh webz accuse me of sounding like a broken record?

I thought you might.  Sigh.  It has though.  We’ve had some awesome highs … and some bummer lows.  Most recently that has included watching our beloved home state of Vermont wash away in a flood of epic proportions.  Our families are safe, but some members are struggling through.  It’s hard to see places you grew up with washed away and know how terribly that will affect the people who live there.

So I’ve been seeking balance as the new school year approaches.  I’m not a huge fan of rollercoasters.  I can be persuaded to take my life in my hands and get on an old woodie once every ten years or so.  But I don’t particularly care for those huge highs and gut-busting lows.  I like balance.  I understand that it’s elusive, but I also know that in seeking it, I will find other interesting, appealing and engrossing things with which to engage my mind and time.

One of the ways I do this is by following creative blogs.  Some are devoted to art.  Others are devoted to quilting.  Still others are devoted to sewing.  And others are a mix of everything.  One of those blogs threw out a challenge the other day and it got me rolling in a way I haven’t for a long time.  The Coletterie issued a Fall Palette Challenge … create a color palette at ColourLovers and use that palette to sew one or more items of clothing for one’s fall wardrobe.

Sooo … I began by creating a palette –

I want to restrict my sewing (and any purchases I might make) to these colors.  Inspiration for this palette came from a tea towel that BlazingEwe gave me one day.  That beautiful magenta-y/plum is in the towel and I built this palette around that.

Then I discovered the engrossing wonders of building patterns at ColourLovers.

I spent hours.  H O U R S playing with patterns and color at ColourLovers one day.  I made my own pattern template.  I played with templates of other people.  What fun that is.  It’s coloring for grown-ups.  When you’ve made something you really like and you love fabric (like … ahem … me), you can transfer your design to Spoonflower and have your design printed on fabric and really make something that you truly designed yourself.  I am utterly fascinated by this.

Here are a couple of patterns I’m thinking of having made into fabric –

All of which brings me to this … my mood board for the challenge.  I’m going to commit to making one of the three items on this board, not sure which one yet.  I might go so far as to make all three.  But I’m gonna make one for sure.  I think I’m even going to post my progress and photos here.  Don’t worry.  I’m still going to post my rantings and ravings about politics, church, human nature and all that other good stuff I like to write about.  But I want this blog to be more reflective of who I am.  And I am a mix of a lot of things … and mostly, I’m not a guy, so I find it really hard to keep all my stuff separate on separate blogs.  So … here’s my mood board:

I think I’ll likely be starting with the blouse, since I purchased some very yummy purple poplin last night. The patterns are on sale this weekend, and I’ll have the chance to get them and begin the process then. In the meantime, I have quilts that are humming along and school to teach with my kiddos. Balance is somewhere nearby … but in the meantime, we are engaged, thoughtful and happy. Life is good!