Resting & Nesting

We have had a crazy busy week followed by a teaching Saturday, so I have been trying to recuperate and recharge today. I had 10 fabulous, wonderful ladies in my FMQ beginners class yesterday. They were attentive, supportive and willing. I had a great time! Then I took my mom to a late lunch and dropped by to help my dad with some computer questions. A good day. Today, instead of sewing, I decided it was time to get the sewing studio in shape.

Remember the before?

Here's the after:

I got my wall rack that my son made up on the wall. On it I have tops ready to quilt.

The other side of the window I put new shelves and got my batting and fabric stash out of bags and off the floor:

Ready to get back to sewing!

In our living space, we hung "Wildfire". I love it!

Still settling in

You know, unpacking, folding, searching and finding. Need to sew, but need to feather the nest a bit more. So, to get me the the holiday mood, a little eye candy:

I bought this for my sweet MIL and gave it to her for Thanksgiving. she loves pink and this poinsettia was definitely pink! Got a beautiful deep red one for my Mom.

We are beginning to feel at home. More space and less boxes. I like a lot of calm space and all this moving chaos and clutter has to be tackled before I can resume a normal (?) existence. Right now I would rather "make a home" than anything else. I know all this experience has been full of stress, and I am decompressing more and more each day. I can see a difference in myself. My eyes are not as puffy and swollen and my skin has more of a healthy color. 

I am just going to be patient, settle in and let my mojo recharge. 

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!

Living with less****

***a "Life in Limbo" post


Nope, no picture. One of the concessions to living with less of my stuff. No home computer to process my digital pics. Yes, I have gotten in some (a tiny bit) sewing, but since I do not have a sewing room/studio/sweat shop I have to get everything out and put it back so sewing involves a lot of prep.


I will admit, at first I was hesitant about staying for this extended time with my sweet MIL. She is a delight, but comes from a background of living through the Great Depression on a little country farm which means she saves things. Everything. I love her truly, but Meme is a pack rat. We spent all last Saturday clearing out drawers in our room so we could unpack. We still haven't done the closet, but we have to space this out. It can get tense while we are convincing Meme that she can give things to Goodwill or even throw them away if they are past their usefullness. So what does this clutter story have to do with living with less? Well, this is her house, so we are not taking up a lot of space. My hubby actually brought more clothes and shoes than I did! But given the situation of moving, I had not refreshed my wardrobe and in fact had purged quite a bit. So, I am living with less clothes and shoes. Right now it is okay, but if it gets cool, I will need to get a sweater! This lessened wardrobe has greatly simplified my dressing each day. And while I am quite good with my wardrobe situation, I really am missing the sewing. Overall, I feel so much less stress than the last few months. We are so glad to have the house selling behind us. We are working on purchasing a new home, but the one we want is in foreclosure and that process takes a while. So, in the interim, we are making do with less. And we are fine.

Scrap management

Okay! The scraps have taken over!

I have to do something with them!  I can't toss them, but they are overwhelming me in their current state!

I am going to spend some time organizing them, and whipping them into shape. I am pressing and cutting them. 10" squares, 5" squares, 2 1/2" by 12 1/2" strips and 1 1/2" by 12 1/2" strips.

After I get them all cut, I am organizing them by color. Too OCD? Maybe, but I hate the mess and clutter. And this makes them look like the pre-cut kits, and makes them easier to store. And since I have to keep the house "show-ready" it makes my studio neater as well. And it is a good break after all the quilting I have been doing.

A little Marketing mojo

I have put this hand-out together for the agent's open house tomorrow. Not too bad, eh?

On the quilting front, I have revised my lesson for my Free-motion class. I think this is going to be the best yet!