A quick trip Part 1

The first Friday in May I packed up my car and hit the road.  I met my BFF from high school at the half way point between our two homes. She lives in North Carolina. Our Dad's were career Navy. We met on the first day of high school. We got our first jobs at the same place. We had our first serious boyfriends at the same time (and they were friends). Lots of history between us. But I digress... we met in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. On derby week end. It rained on me all the way through Indiana with is most of the trip. I hit Kentucky and the sun came out. It warmed up. By the time we met at the hotel it was beautiful out. We had lots of plans for the week end.
Saturday morning dawned or rather did not dawn, but stayed cold, dark, and rainy. We went for a walk at the mall. Then we went to a quilt shop. We stopped into the tourism office to find something to do indoors. The lady there recommended a small town with lots of cute shops and antique stores. We grabbed umbrellas and headed out. It was a cute town. I saw lots of quilts. (Will post those later).

Sunday we awoke to more of the same, but not raining as hard. Luckily I brought my laptop so I grabbed a map and started looking for more indoor stuff to do. We headed for Bardstown. We walked around the square and the town and stopped for lunch at the Old Talbott Tavern. The original part of the building was built in 1779 and is known as the oldest western stagecoach stop in America. We ate in the original building. It was so cool. Some pics of downtown.

 

 

Then we went museum hopping. We went to a Civil War Museum, The War Memorial of Mid-America, and Women of the Civil War Museum. Gives such a life to all that history studied in classes. Our last stop was Old Bardstown Village, a reproduction of a 1790 frontier community. Most of the buildings are original, some over 150 years old. Of course they were moved to the current location. I sure would not want to spend a winter in those tiny buildings.

Monday we still hoped for good weather, but it was not to be. I hit the map and the laptop again and found Pleasant Hill which was a Shaker community in the  1800s and early 1900s. . We got our tickets and started off to see the village. In most of the buildings there were people in Shaker dress to give some history, and answer questions. It was fascinating. I really did not know much about the Shakers beyond the furniture. This Shaker community was mainly agricultural. They farmed, raised chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. We saw a sheep being sheared. later we saw the washed fleece, saw it carded and spun, and then dyed. Being a knitter I was of course excited to see the process.

In addition to the yarn, they still produce woven fabric, shaker brooms, and shaker wooden boxes. Of course Shakers no longer live there, but all of the 'manufacturing' is still done with the original tools and methods used by the community so long ago.  It was just an amazing experience to learn about their way of life.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny. Of course it did, we were leaving Kentucky. ;) We did manage to do the driving tour of historic buildings in Elizabethtown before we hit the road headed for home. Sad to part, but happy to have had the time together.
Happy stitching everyone!

Starting to sew

The end of April I finally started to sew again. Not a lot, but at least I feel like I might be able to be a quilter again.
I have been spending time online looking at quilting sites and seeking inspiration. While doing that and playing on blogs Craftsy was having a sale. I went there and looked around. I signed up for some classes. I signed up for the 2012 Block of the month and the 2013 Block of the month. I decided to just do the 2012 one this year. And I am not trying to 'catch up'. I just started with the first blocks and will try to do the two blocks every month. Here are the first two

I spend a lot of time on Pat Sloan's online forum too. There are so many wonderful quilters there. So much inspiration and encouragement. Anyway, Pat is doing some sew alongs and I am doing one from her newest books. Here is my first block. I still need to stitch it down. Not sure if I want to do it by hand or by machine.

It is time at the shop to start new classes and programs. I had planned to have a new Block of the Month for beginners started by April. That was before the move of course.Now it will kick off in June. I have the blocks cut and ready to go. I also started a McKenna Ryan quilt that will be a Block of the Month for 6 months. It is a Christmas pattern called Heaven and Earth. This will be the first block presented.

I have more to tell you. A short trip. More quilty stuff. Some very cool bags.

In the middle pics

The actual physical part of the move went smoothly. The movers arrived on time and started to work. The way they pack the truck is totally amazing. Just over 2 hours later and the house was nearly empty. Another 2 hours at the apartment and the truck was empty. I must say they were no where near as good at putting things into storage in the basement.

Since the apartment was not really ready for prime time, we decided before the move that we would go back and sleep at the house. We left a TV and a chair. We had the air mattresses in the rented storage space. The DH was too tired to go get the air mattresses, said he would sleep on the carpet upstairs. I got us some food (Subway) and myself a camp chair. Just like camping, but without weather. The next day we started living at the apartment.

I will not bore you with all the details of living in a tiny space during reno, and painting. I just tried to put away what I could. I unloaded the whole basement storage and redid it so everything fit in it. The DH is still amazed. LOL

Things are not completely done yet, but I thought you might like an update. The Living room is mostly done, I have curtain rods going up tomorrow and a replacement for that cracked window has been ordered.

The kitchen has new stove and fridge. It has the "shells" of cabinets. I used two of the shelves from the linen closet to make a counter top for the microwave. I can not wait to get a sink.

The bathroom is done, except for a vanity light and a back splash for the sink.

Remember my favorite light fixture? Well this is the new one.

I am still changing the sewing room around trying to find a comfortable work set up. I think I might have found it.

Yesterday I went to the rented storage space and got a bunch of yarn, knitting books, and quilting books. There is still a ton more there, but there is still a little room here so I can bring some more home. It made me stupid happy to put that stuff in my room.

I will be back at work this week, and I hope my friends can help me find my mojo. It has been gone a long time this time.
Thanks to all my blogging friends for your support and encouragement.

Happy stitching.

Before pics

Hi everyone. Still packing here. I am now well known at the local Goodwill drop off center. I have used up so many trash bags. I even have those huge Construction grade bags as well. The storage space is filling up.

I thought I would share some pics I snapped at the apartment this week. Our "guys" are hard at work in the apartment. So far the whole place looks worse. LOL. They had just finished sanding the hardwood floors in the living room and hallway.

The kitchen is sort of command central. Yes that is the toilet in the kitchen. No that is not where it belongs.

The bathroom is under construction. I really hope the plumber does not hit any delays cause you know where the toilet is right now.

I just couldn't resist showing you my favorite light fixture. ;)

This will be my sewing room. I am going to have to downsize some more I think.

The movers come on Tuesday. I am seriously considering running away from home on Monday.

Moving On

I grew up in a Military family. We usually moved every three years. I always hated leaving my friends, but I looked forward to new friends and new adventures. When I got married we moved about every three or four years. Luckily most of those moves were in the same general area. We did venture down to Florida for four years. 20 years ago we left Florida and headed back to Illinois to family and friends. 19 years ago we bought a house that was a repo and cleaned it up, painted it and settled in.
Recently the DH has been wanting to sell the house and move on. Finally after dragging my feet as long as I could, the house was listed. It sold in 8 days. The buyers want position in 30 days, which is March 31st. I am packing. Not happily. Not looking forward to a new adventure. But packing anyway.
Last year we did a lot of work on the house. My favorite...my sewing room.

 

The kitchen isn't bad either.

Leaving it all behind for a tiny apartment with microscopic closets. Hopefully we can find another house to fix up. Maybe the next house will help me stop feeling sad over leaving this house. Well I better suck it up and go pack something. Wish me luck.

A little Yarn

I like to knit. I am not fast. I am not an expert. But I like it. I find it sort of zen most of the time. I used to crochet all the time, but stopped when a Dr. told me the motion was making my neck worse. Using my arm at all makes my neck worse so I am going to crochet again. In moderation.

Just like with quilting I am always looking. Trips to the yarn store are almost as much fun as trips to the quilt shop(s). When I went to Portland for my niece's wedding in 2011 I found a lovely yarn shop. I picked some yarn, a pattern and needles. Didn't start on it while I was there. I did start on it last fall. Then stopped because I didn't think I could do the pattern. I let it rest a bit and the pattern got easier. LOL. This is my shawl in progress. I hope to finish it this year. It is a complicated pattern for me so I tend to work on it for short periods of time.

(BTW on the same block where I found the yarn shop there was a bead shop and a quilt shop...heaven) .

Every other year the guild I belong to has a quilt show. As a part of the show we raffle off a quilt and a doll. The doll is an American girl doll complete with as many outfits as the guild can get made, a bed, a clothes rack and a set of plastic drawers to keep all her stuff in. I really am not very good at garment sewing so I usually try to knit something. For the show coming up this fall I knit a dress
(pattern from Ravelry).
And a shawl in case it gets cold out. (I think this was a free pattern, but not on Ravelry).
I also found an adorable skirt and a cable top I want to make before the show. It is in the fall so I can do it.

I am working on some Christmas gifts too. Maybe I will get them done before December.

I won a magazine from Sue (here) She designed the cover piece! How cool is that? I am going to try making this one, but I think I need to dust off the crochet hook first.

Happy stitching

Update: When I took the picture of the shawl, I saw I made a big mistake way back . I will unravel and start all over again. Thee mistake is a whole row and very obvious. :(

2013 UFO Busting

Two years ago I happened onto the Pat Sloan quilting forum and I have had so much fun every since then.  So much quilty inspiration. Pat has challenged us to bust some of those UFOs. She will be giving tips along the way.
I pulled out all of those UFOs.

I looked at each and every one of them. I knew that I no longer loved all of those projects, but I just could not seem to part with any of them. I realized that my UFOs were starting to impact my desire to sew. I was just feeling so very overwhelmed that I just moved projects from place to place and stopped making progress.  Something had to go.
Projects barely started like this tree of life class I took. Way too fussy for me and I know it will never progress from this point so out it went.

BOM from Joann's years ago. I quilted the pieced blocks and stopped. I have looked at this so many times and concluded that while I like all the colors and even the blocks. I just don't want to finish it. Bye bye.

A speaker at guild showed these fantastic animal quilts. I bought the Westie pattern. I pulled fabrics. Much later I prepped the fabrics and put them back in the bag. I know mine will never look as beautiful as hers did, normally that doesn't bother me, but this time it did. Outta here.

The guild is collecting scraps for resale (as a fund raiser) in conjunction with our quilt show this year. I have a stack of fabric for them. I don't mind sharing fabric. I don't mind donating fabric. Just can't toss it out.
Ended up with this bin of completed tops with backings.

This is quilt tops that still need backs and batting.

A not full bin of projects started that I do want to finish.

WIP (works in progress, like current BOM do not count as UFOs.) Unstarted projects do not count either. Lucky for me.
My tally:
8 quilts that need to be bound
29 that are completed tops, need to be quilted
2 applique pieces that need blanket stitching
18 projects in various stages of completion that I do want to finish
I do have 13 WIP.
I have 90 projects not started, and 35 wool projects not started.

I will not even get into all the cross stitch, needlepoint, punch needle, and knitting projects. I do have to go through those too.

Do you feel better now about your UFOs? :)
Happy stitching