Trick or Treat!!

We are headed to Disney World today!

I LOVE Disney on Halloween! Last year was our first time but it was so much fun seeing all the wonderful costumes. Whole families would dress up. We saw at least 50 of the 101 Dalmatians (all one extended family), all seven of the dwarfs, the whole cast of Little Red Riding Hood with the daddy being the big bad wolf dressed in Grandma's gown! Too cute!

I wonder who we will see today.

Later,

Diane

Houston we have a problem...

This looks like I am organized doesn't it?
Slightly...I could use some work in here, but I am pretty well organized...

I thought! Do you see the clear box below with everything all neatly arranged?

I have NO CLUE what I was suppose to be making! There is no picture, no instructions, nothing! Do you see the blue piece of paper? It has writing telling me I need 160 wide triangles (note no size just wide), and 256 narrow triangles (again no size just narrow). It goes on and on with no sizes. The real kicker is, it isn't even my hand writing! LOL It is my sister-in-law's writing! At least I think it's her writing.

So much for organization!

I did have a thought...if it is what I think it is, it is a project I started when I lived in the panhandle of Texas, over 12 years ago! Oh man! If it is that project I will NEVER finish it because that was before I understood 1/4" allowance.

Why did I even open the box? Now this is going to drive me crazy until I figure it out.

Later,

Diane

Are you thinking about it?

Christmas

Can you believe it is so close? I am having a hard time believing it is almost here.
I have been thinking lately about what I would like to buy my family for their presents.

I hate giving gift cards but I think at the stage of life my children are in they would appreciate and could use that more than anything. Not so fun, but useful.

My husband on the other hand I have thought of several things I would like to get him. Of course I can't put it here since he sometimes reads my blog.

My list...I have some things I would like. I have wanted a Digital Velocity Iron since a my friend Joanne got one. I love to iron, but only when my iron has lots of heat and tons of steam.
Joanne has the DV 95 and I tried it last year. It has both!

I would love to have a sewing table that is sturdy and heavy. Right now I am using a 2' x 4' adjustable height table I bought for my business. It is great, but if I am sewing fast it bounces. I would LOVE to find an old teachers desk and have it fitted for my machine. That would be perfect! I have looked at sewing tables sold in the local quilt shops but man they have a big price tag.

What is on your list?

Later,
Diane

What's this?

I'm actually in my sewing room working!!!
And if you look closely you will see I am drinking...a Pepsi Max. I know, I know, never did you think you would see me, Diane, drinking anything but the "real thing", Coca Cola, but when your husband is losing weight like crazy and you are eating the exact food he is eating and not losing any you do crazy things! I have two Quilts of Valor tops cut out and ready to sew together. I am using the Bricks & Stepping Stones pattern by Bonnie Hunter. It is so fast and easy and really looks nice. I am making it with all blue bricks and red and white stepping stones. I hope they turn out good.
I have also been listening to one of my favorite preachers, Chaplain Jim Fisher, Ph.D. on his church's website. He was our Pastor when we lived in Alabama, then he left to finish his doctorate and pastor in Indiana then go off to be a Chaplain in the Army. I sure love that family!I would like to finish the tops and quilt them and send them to Bro. Jim. Since he is one of the Chaplains on his base he knows many soldiers who could use a quilt. I really need to get organized and get more made.


Night before last I could not sleep to save my life! So I ironed a bag of scraps so I can cut them into usable pieces. Well I did the ironing....the cutting is not interesting me though. I really need to cut them so I don't put them back in the bag and have to re-iron. I am really bad about that.

As you can see I still have stuff I have to find a home for. Ray said he was going to look at the closet shelf situation and see if he could remove one of them for me so I can get my other black shelf unit in there.

I want to head to Lowe's and price the stuff I want to put up for my design wall, but I want to sew. I have had this discussion going on in my head for a week! I want to go to Lowe's, but I want to ______ (fill in the blank). It has been everything from sleep to cook to unpack a box to work in the yard. I tell you I am getting really bad! I have left the house ONCE by myself since we moved in. When Ray is home he takes me to run whatever errands needs to be run; groceries, library, bank, I'm trying to think of anything else I do but can't think of any. I am a BORING person! LOL But I love it!

Later,

Diane

P.S. I'm making my Christmas list!

Finally!

I was able to get some work done in my sewing room. As you can imagine even though I have the same square footage in the room, nothing will fit like it did in the lease house. The closet is smaller and has these shelves that are meant for clothes (of course) and so not much good for my fabric. Ray said he could take the one on the right down so I can fit the other black shelf.

To the left of the closet is a recessed area that I am using now for my dyeing supplies.

I only had to load and unload and reload the book shelves a total of four times to get them in the best places. Oh my aching back! I really need to get rid of some books.

I replaced the lights with my daylight bulbs and everything is so bright and cheery. The way everything is laid out now I will have one whole wall for a design wall. That may be overkill, but I have always wanted a whole wall so I will give it a try.

More pictures when I get the quilts on the walls.

Later,

Diane

Still no sewing...

There is still no sewing going on around here. there isn't even a sewing room for that matter. I'm getting closer to getting my room set up though.
Today was hazardous waste day. Our county offers this once a month (how cool is that?) so you can get rid of stuff you can't put in your trash. What a blessing to be able to get rid of old computer monitors and old paint and stuff like that, since I have been holding on to it for such a long time.
Now I just have to find a storage area for my Christmas decorating stuff and I will have enough space in my garage for my truck! WOO HOO!
This is a big deal. I have had the garage FULL to over flowing. But slowly Joseph and I have gotten boxes unloaded and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope before long I will have some sewing room photos.

Later,
Diane

Today was a good day...

even though I got NO sleep at all last night. I finally saw the dawn coming and laid on the couch and fell asleep for a few hours until my friend called.
While we talked I worked in my bedroom doing more unpacking. Then after we ended our call Joseph and I worked in the garage for a couple of hours until we couldn't lift another box. The heat is the worst. It just zapps all your energy. I heard on the news we might get a cool front this weekend. I hope !

I didn't mean to be so grumpy yesterday. I really am thankful for my house and I love it.
I really would like to get to my sewing room though! :)

Later
Diane

I'm still alive!

But barely! Nah, I am fine, just still working night and day trying to unpack everything and fix things we are finding that are broken.

I tell you, that Mr. that we bought the house from sure was sneaky. We paid for so much stuff that was good enough to pass inspection, but really needs to be replaced. GRRRR!

We have already had the kitchen faucet replaced, the bathroom shower needs a new shower head, the instant on water heater is flaky, the dryer (that I didn't really want, but he wouldn't sell the house without it being included, the washer also) only works on two settings, high heat and fluff. UGH! Two ceiling fans MUST be replaces ASAP since they make so much noise you can't sleep in the same room with them.

I'm only telling this because I think people should be aware that not everyone in the world is honest. I think Mr. was afraid we were going to try and steal the house from him so he tried to cover all of his bases to keep as much money as possible. I understand him and his fear, but I am upset I am having to foot the bill to repair things I will be paying for in my mortgage payment each month FOR YEARS! No one item is a whole lot of money, but you put them all together and it is a chunk of change.

ENOUGH OF THAT!!!!

Do you remember when I said we were starting to have cooler weather? Well I lied! We have been having record breaking heat for over a week now. UGH! It has been anywhere from 92* to 95* everyday and NO rain.

Oh well I can't do anything about any of the things I have fussed about today so I might as well hush!

We (Joseph and I) are going out for pizza tonight. Ray had to go to West Palm Beach for a meeting in the morning so we are able to eat whatever we like and not feel guilty.

Later,

Diane

I knew it would happen...

I knew this day would come, but didn't know when. For the first time Ray actually realized how much "stuff" I had in my sewing room. Oh man!

Since this was not a company move but a personal one we moved ourselves. Which means every box that was packed and removed from the house Ray handled. On about the third truck load (all from my sewing room) he said to me in his most authoritative voice "If you ever ask to stop at another quilt shop or fabric store I am going to just pass on by." Then he said " I used to think you had enough stuff to open a quilt shop, but now I KNOW you have enough, this is ridiculous."

I just kept my head down and kept on packing.

Now in my defense I had a whole truck load of stuff that is the remains of my business. Tables, dyes, fabric, dyed fabric, patterns, books, thread, etc. I have just absorbed all of that into my sewing supplies since I won't be in business any time soon.

The rest of the stuff, well there is a lot, but some of it is BIG stuff like sewing tables (2), ironing/cutting tables (2), books shelves (2) and need another one, sewing machines (6, what? when did I get so many?), three shelf units of fabric and approximately 25 plastic boxes in various sizes of projects. This doesn't include the plastic drawer units of various sizes and boxes of batting...you get the picture.

He hasn't said anything else about how much I own, but I have been smart and started unpacking the kitchen and bedroom first instead of my sewing room.

WOO HOO! Ray just came in from checking the mail...I got the FIRST piece of mail! From my friend Karen in Mobile, she sent me two patterns that I LOVE! Thank you Karen!

How appropriate...they both have something to do with home. What a wonderful surprise!

OK, I have to go get some more work done the plumber will be here in a bit to replace the kitchen faucet...more on that later.

Later,
Diane

October 1st

Finished! We are completely out of the lease house. Ray said we had until midnight last night to be out and we finished at 11:04 pm. Goodness we were tired. Ray had some men from work come help him move my giant armoir from the livingroom and than one came back last night to help him with the washing machine, but other than that we did it all. We made about 50 trips in our truck (not exagerating) to get everything over here. I am so thankful it is finished.

Today we are doing absolutely NOTHING! Well we are going to go get something to eat in a bit, but other than that I am not moving from my recliner!

We have noticed this house has more square footage, but it has almost no storage space. I think the difference is the bedrooms are larger and there is an office. We all three talked about it and decided we are going to cull again. We still have too much stuff and we are not using everything we have, so off to Goodwill or Free cycle.