Settling In

In quiet moments when I'm too cold at the computer (I can't believe I said that!) I get up and work in my sewing room to warm up. Just puttering, I have no goals until June comes.

I set up all my quilting books and magazines in a nightstand. Looks like I have room for a few more. ;) The plug strip that the iron is in has a switch, so that'll make it easy on and off for ironing. And thanks to the weight of all the books, it won't likely be as fearful if I accidentally bump into the nightstand. Whereas if I bump into the ironing board, it's sure to knock over the iron! :P


I've been going over "Create Your Perfect Quilting Space" by Lois Hallock. She really stresses on having a "work triangle" set up, to make quilting easier. It's a lopsided triangle, but it's there. ;)

The sewing chair was stolen by my husband so he could play the drums on Rock Band 2. That was pretty much the only thing he asked for his birthday this year, and he was gifted enough cash to cover it all. Except for a new chair. :)


I'm pretty wiped out right now. I've been spending a lot of evenings cleaning up the old place. I seriously boo-boo'ed and accidentally got Oven-Off on the vinyl flooring. It left horrible brown splotches that put me into panic. Rubbing didn't do a lick, nor pouring straight bleach. Finally I took a moment to read what in the world Oven-Off is made out of... lye! Oh, ok, vinegar should counteract it. Sure enough, vinegar took out 98% of the brown spots. If you look really closely, you'll still see a few spots... but let's call it "wear and tear", ok? ;)

Leah

Half way there

Still moving! The weather hasn't been in our favor. It's either over 90 degrees or it's raining. :P I'm happy if we make two trips in one day.

The living room. No couch or computer yet. We'll be returning the TV this Sunday - it's just not working out for us (poor picture quality) and thankfully Costco has a great 90-day return policy. :)

Oh yeah, I "snuck" a sewing machine in the living room. Currently it's a plant holder, but I'd love to have it stacked high with quilts.


The sewing room. I ended up switching around the cutting table and (invisible) ironing board locations.

And one huge mound of batting! I'm promising myself that I'll get cotton next time, and I'll have 500 quilt tops waiting! Ok... maybe not. ;)


The bed(less) room. All three bookshelves fit on one wall, yay!

I spent some time unpacking books last night, and ran out of room. Rats. I think I'll use the top of the bookcases as another shelf.


My plants are doing well. Less than a month ago they were just little sprouts.

Hopefully next year I'll have all four Earth Boxes lined up at the railing, growing beautiful greenery. :)


Plenty of aches too. I have 10 bruises from my knee to thigh on my right leg. I have no idea how I got any of them, except the one on my knee - whacked it into the steering wheel. But my leg looks like an overripe banana. :P

Leah

It'll be this Friday

Eeeps! The big day is coming up. :) We swung by the apartment for a looky-loo this afternoon.


The living room, with a bit of the porch.

There's two plugs outside, so we're considering putting the chest freezer outside. It's our biggest relocation item that we're having trouble with. The porch is much bigger and nicer than we expected. I can easily see us spending many hours outside, especially since we won't be getting a lot of direct sun.


Next is the kitchen.

Hopefully the adjustment to no dishwasher will be smooth. I think it'll be ok, because I never put my pots and pans in the dishwasher. It takes several days for enough cups, plates and bowls to fill it up now. I'm the dishwasher now! ;) On the bright side, I won't mind using the good China so much, since I'll have to hand wash anyhow.


My quilting room.

Playing out an arrangement I could do. I'm not sure if I want the ironing board on the right side... but there's a handy plug right there. Who knows, I may find a much different arrangement once I actually have my quilting items in the room.


Peek of the quilting closet and the guest bathroom.

Very small closet. I think I'll just have to set up a bunch of wire shelves and line up my fabric on the wall. But I still have one problem. My monster batting roll!!! Can't stuff it in the closet like I'm doing right now. :P Gonna have to crank up the swamp cooler and keep finishing tops.


The master bedroom.

I'm hoping to jam all three bookshelves into the master room. Currently two of them are in my quilting room, but I do all my reading in the bedroom. Maybe two bookshelves in the bedroom and one in the living room.


I'll have to get more pictures when we move in. The master bedroom closet/bathroom has a lot of storage (we almost thought about putting the freezer there), but when there's nothing in that spot, plain walls look really boring. Trust me. ;)

It'd be very nice if I could get all the moving done before my husband's 30th birthday, which is May 23rd. That'd be a GREAT gift in my book, and I'm not planning on getting him anything as it is. :D

Leah

Hair Today

For an April's Fool joke on my husband, I got my hair cut. (Never mind that it took me a month to get the after photo!) Here's the before:

I have no memory of those curls and waves! One of the biggest reason for cutting my hair was to encourage more curls.


This is the shortest my hair has been, since I was four or five. And no, my hair's never been dyed, I am freshly out of the shower in the second picture.

I opted for a layered style, and it was important to me that I could be able to tuck my hair behind my ears if I wanted to. Took me about a month to adjust to it. I can squeeze it into a high pony tail for the gym, but buns and twists don't work out so well. I probably won't have it that short again, but good to know what it's like. :)


Our plans to tour our new apartment tomorrow got bumped... because they're installing new carpet and flooring. Yippee! So we'll swing by on Tuesday. And we're still moving in 8 days. Yikes!

Still haven't done that much packing yet. I did make another run to the thrift store to donate a small bookcase, a bag of clothes and a bag of fabric that didn't get taken by the quilt guild ladies. Crunch time now. :)

Leah

It's official!

Every thing's been confirmed and signed... we're moving! It's a mixture of excitement and panic. I have officially 13 days left to pack!

No sewing for me in the next few weeks. See the gray bin? I've overflowed two of those with fabric that I'll be giving away at the quilt guild meeting next week. Then this morning I got my guild's newsletter and the next two meetings are about scrap management and scrap busting quilts. Then there's a workshop in the middle of the month that strongly encourages you to delve into your pile of scraps to make the quilt they will teach.

Me? I'm taking the easy way out and letting my unloved scraps and fabric become somebody else's problem!! :D It's worth it to me, especially if it means that I take away the guilt of feeling like I need to put the fabric to use somehow, someday.

Next Friday we'll get a chance to tour our future home, and I certainly intend to have the camera with me. ;)

Leah