I Can't Decide!

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with color and design decisions? I'm feeling a little that way this evening.

New blog background. I realized last night that I had Easter eggs on my blog. Hello!? Easter's SO over! So I quickly shopped around for a different background and came up with this one. I think it's kind of okay, but not that great. Kind of ho-hum, you know? I need to find something I like better but it's hard to decide. I think I'm just not really in the mood.

Front garden. We've finally gotten to the point where we're selecting plants for our front "no lawn," low maintenance yard. I'll show you a photo of a few of them set out in place--I know it doesn't look like much so far!

Soccer Son laid the patio and built the pergola during the fall and winter months; now it's time for planting. We have a black wrought iron "gate" or fence section that will go in front of the pergola with some spiky/grassy looking plants in front of that to partially screen the patio, and I'll have more plants around, here and there. Soccer Son and I are looking for a small tree to put in the yard, and although we'd certainly LOVE a Japanese maple, they're kind of pricey and, more importantly, they don't really tolerate full sun in our Sacramento summer heat very well, so I'm thinking crepe myrtle. Maybe. I want to leave an open area in the center of the yard and look for some kind of artsy focal point to go in it--some kind of "found object," I think. Something cool, but not so cool that someone steals it. Gotta find it though. Anyway, I'm mostly going with spiky, grassy plants and some low, spreading plants (particularly near the dry stream bed) in purples, blues, whites, and a little bit of orange thrown in for a bit of POP! But it's hard to stick to a plan, and the plan keeps changing. Normally, I'd see that as a GOOD thing, but for some reason, right now it's just frustrating me a bit and I feel a little lost--like I'm going to end up buying all the wrong things and will hate the result.

Schnibbles Tagalong quilt. I've been working on this month's Schnibbles for the past several days. I love, love, love the new Garden Party line by Blackbird Designs and that's what I decided to use for this quilt, but once I got the blocks made, they seemed to fade into one another with no real definition. What to do? I considered sashing and decided that wasn't what I wanted. Then I turned the blocks on point and thought I'd add plain squares--but what color and what fabric? I cut and positioned three different colors--brown, mustardy yellow, and finally the cream (the brown in the setting triangles is what I started with). Here's how it looks so far, with the blocks stuck onto the design wall:

I think I like this version best and I may well stick with it, but it's frustrating when nothing turns out the way I envision it. Heck, I just either wasted a bunch of brown and mustardy yellow fabric, or I need to come up with a quilt that calls for brown and mustardy yellow 5" squares!

Maybe my eyes and my brain need a little break, but I don't think I'll get it just yet. Hubby and I are going to hit another home improvement store and a nursery tomorrow to try to finish up our plant shopping. Right now I'm thinking that stuff the doctor sucked out of my armpit? It was probably my creative juices! ARGH!