My new route home

I am so much closer to work now, 33 miles each way (it was 57 miles each way, facing the sun). I take a rural 2-lane highway all the way. A very easy drive. I spotted this eave on an old house being re-habbed:

Love finding colorful spots like this!

A quilters acronym list

Check this list out: http://with-heart-and-hands.blogspot.com/2010/11/quilting-acronyms.html.

Cute, huh!

Found my camera cord!

And to celebrate, a barn quilt near my new home:

(on Transou Road, near Reagan High School in Winston-Salem, NC)

My new sewing studio space

Well, we are here! Living together, under our own roof. I am so very thankful! We have been in the house for a week now and I am seeing less boxes now and more space!

We made a foray into Black Friday yesterday to find bookcases. We have more books than we realized. We are major readers and do re-read the books so we need a good place to keep them. The previous house had big built-ins which held our library. We found a style we liked and bought 2 at Target yesterday. Al got them assembled and loaded up. And yes, we need another.

My new studio is the "bonus room" over the garage. It is not yet organized, but I have been sewing a bit, and unpacking to get rid of boxes and see what I've got to deal with. I am going to buy simple metal shelves for this space. And I need to make a design wall. But, it has 12 (yes, 12!) electrical outlets so I have a lot of options for placing my machine!

The dogs seem to be adapting well to the move. Sarge has really started to warm up to Al and that is so good good to see. I believe living at Meme's and being exposed to more people has really helped his socialization.

I already love this house. I love the space and how it is arranged. I love being with my hubby full-time again.

If I can find my camera-computer cord, I will post more pix!

Moved...

...but still no internet. Love the house and neighborhood, LOVE living with my hubby and our hounds! More later!

I see quilts everywhere!

Not a fabric quilt, but a quilt made of glass:

Here in the conference center at the MGM Grand.

A very busy time ahead

I am posting this from Las Vegas, where I am attending the Healthcare Design Conference at the MGM Grand. I arrived this afternoon and leave on Tuesday morning. The next 2 days are jam-packed full of seminars. I am looking forward to it, as I am new to designing for this market. I will be in the office on Wednesday. On Thursday, Nov 18 at 10am, we are going to start signing papers to close on our house. Then the work gets more intense! We met our agent and the home inspector over there yesterday. We are buying the house from FreddieMac so we are purchasing "as is". We felt that it was prudent to have an inspector go through everything before we move in. Fortunately everything was great! Just a few minor cosmetic items. Whew! It was nice to spend the 2 1/2 hours in it yesterday. I had forgotten lots of details. It is prettier than I remembered and there are more closets than we thought. It was also nice to see how the sunlight comes through the windows. The space felt really good. I can not wait to make it our home.


I have scheduled the movers for Friday morning, the Internet for Friday afternoon and the TV dish guys for Saturday morning. Hubby is taking care of the water and power which can all be done ahead of time. We hope to set up the expanded kennel area and move the hounds on Saturday afternoon.


I have mapped out my remaining vacation time for the year and I am not working a full week for the remainder of the year! Those Fridays off will be good for sewing, shopping, and settling in. Then the Christmas holiday will be here and I am off for 11 straight days. My pent-up sewing desires will have time to be realized! That and stash building! Ohh, doesn't that sound marvelous!


Why all this drivel from me? Well, as you can tell there hasn't been and will not be much quilting time in the next week or so. BUT, as I stood in the room that is going to be my new studio yesterday, the time will come and I am going to have a great place for it! And a lot of fun setting it up. I have never had this large of a space for my creative activities.


I have completed a quilt my MIL started years ago and added FMQ to it. She loves it! I have tried to keep doing a bit here and there while "living in limbo" but that is about to end (Thanks be to God!) So, posts will be spotty for the near future. Wish us luck!

Quilt Shop Visit

Meme (my sweet MIL) and I ventured out to Creative Crafters Quilt Shop one recent Saturday.

This gorgeous fall day way enhanced by this great new shop in Statesville, NC! A small storefront gave way to a huge, varied, colorful selection of great fabrics. They carry Kaffe Fasset, Moda, beatiful batiks and lots of patterns. What really got me going were many beautiful samples handing around!

Check them out here.

Why yes, I did buy some fabric! We are now 10 days away from moving in our house and I need to build my stash for some intense sewing! 

Meme's Christmas Quilt

Meme's Christmas Quilt, originally uploaded by kheli.

In the upheaval of the past few months, I do not remember, nor can I find, where I may have posted this quilt. It is from the book "Carpenter's Star"** and I made it in Christmas fabrics for my MIL. Gave it to her for her birthday in September. She loves it! I love the pattern and definately want to make another. I echo-quilted around the colored arms of the star and densely stippled the white areas. I am really happy with how it came out.

*The book is "Simple Stars Beautiful Quilts" by Debby Maddy available here.

Batiks, Etc.

Yes, I am so excited about our house and really anxious to get in it, but, I have to wait! Don't worry, I will post inside pictures. But for now, more on the quilting side:

This past Saturday (a beautiful, sunny, late October day) I went along with my mom and here friend Janet to Wytheville, Va, to visit Batiks, Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics. Mom had been before (and has the frequent buyer punch card to prove it!) but for Janet and myself it was a magical entry into a jewel box full of beauty!

Love this ladder display in the hall!

Batiks to left of me and batiks to the right, batiks upstairs in the Sale! room. Fat Quarters, Layer Cakes, Charm Squares, books, tool, gadgets, everywhere I turned there was a new delight! I bought charm square packs, FQs and 2 books along with batik yardage for a quilt I am planning for my living room wall. I will post on the books later. Mom got 108" wide batik baking for a friend along with additional fabric for her stash (my mom loves batiks, really loves them!). Janet bought fabric and patterns. We had so much fun with the lovely ladies working there. The customer service was fantastic and judging from the raucous laughter coming from the class room, it would be a fun place to take a class! Make a trip to Wytheville or buy on line, this is a great shop with a fabulous collection of batiks.

Our new house!

Our new house!, originally uploaded by kheli.

I can finally share this! We close on our new house on Nov. 18! This was taken the first day I saw it and fell in love. See the window over the garage? That is the 'bonus room' which will be my new studio. This house is so cute, I will share more shots once I get the keys!