August the month that kept on giving ...antibiotics?!?

Normally, I hate to see September arrive as it brings with it the end summer which is my favorite season. This year is another story... August couldn't be over fast enough! It gave us a run of nothing but health issues. I started the month with a head cold that turned into Bronchitis and a sinus infection. 10 days of antibiotics cleared me up then Chris lands in the hospital with a perforated colon from diverticulitis. Thankfully he responded to high doses of anitbiotics and was released after 5 days and was off work for another week. His work is very physical and with 13 hour shifts I won't say it's been an easy road the past weeks but at this point I don't think he'll need surgery. He has a follow up with the surgeon this week, hopefully with the major dietary changes that have happened while he's healing then once healed high fiber lifestyle minus nuts/seeds or corn/popcorn for him will be enough to prevent another bout.

My day job has been more insane than usual but since Chris being discharged we've been walking in the evenings which is really helping me shake off the stresses of the day.

On the sewing front not a lot to report but and I almost have the top of the surprise quilt done after a power session over the long weekend. Hopefully I will get it finished next weekend.

Most of our spare time has been spent looking at the house with a critical eye and discussing how to make our house work bether for us. The want list is high and many are on the someday plan but a few have made it to first priority list. More on that when the ideas are more than a planning phase.

Hopefully next post will be full of quilted goodness

Tales from a slacker

My title pretty much sums up my last month. During the workday, I look longingly at my sewing machine and never make my way back after dinner. My days off, I couldn't get my butt up to my sewing room. This week has been the exception....

My husband put a project on my plate (probably to motivate me). I'd post more but it's a gift and he keeps telling people to check my blog. With my luck that one person would see the post. He even bought a fat quarter bundle online last week which arrived Thursday.  The fabric is bit dark so on Saturday afternoon I bought some orange for the background to brighten it up. Again, this quilt has stars (not really a big surprise I love stars!).

Also getting me going was starting an fmq sampler. A few months ago I joined the facebook sit down free motion quilters group, I hadn't done any of the exercises but enjoyed looking at what everyone posts. A bunch of new followers got together to do the sampler that was first released when the group was created. This all happened Tuesday and I responded I'd do it as well, I check the post around 8pm Wednesday and apparently it started that day. I got my whole clothcut sandwiched, printed off the work sheets to build muscle memory and worked those for a few days. I finally got ready on Saturday and I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. A bit shakey in areas and some holes but overall not bad for my first attempt. More importantly I'm looking forward to the next lesson!

Lastly, just a quick kid brag moment. My youngest graduates from high school at the end of June. She finished her self directed classes early so she has 2 spares out of 4 classes for the rest of this semester. Long story short she asked the art teacher if she could do a painting just to burn time until her last class of the day started. To the left is the result of that few hours.

Busy busy busy

It's been awhile since my last post. My new sewing room/office has had a bit of jigging, hutch moved out second design area put up and a new to me sewing machine has moved in.  

Mom has been holding on to her mothers sewing machine for over 30 years and decided it was a shame for it to be unused. My Grannie Jean bought this machine in the 60's brand new and was her pride and joy.  Its a Singer touch and sew model 600. She was self taught sewer, knitter, crocheter. She made most of their clothes (8 kids) and was an incredible smocker. All the pieces are in the accessory box and in a cabinet she bought for this machine with knee control. The stool is a trasure trove sewing box full of needle, pickers, pins, thread, etc with a few things added by my mom over the years . This machine needs some minor TLC (oiling, cleaning) but is in fabulous shape considering it's been sitting since her death in '83.

Sewing box 

This Thursday (May 19th) would have been her 102 birthday.  She was an incredible woman and I think of her everytime I see this machine. I am very lucky to have received this incredible machine

I have made some progress on M's Petal patch quilt and my leaders/enders project. More on that next  post!

Sewing room relocation part 2 with pictures

As I mentioned last post, my sewing room prep was finished by Thursday and after work Friday we kicked into high gear to get my stuff upstairs. I had high hopes that I'd be able to fold and organize as I set up, but that was too slow with so much to move. So it was more of a whirlwind of activity of grab and stuff. By 8pm we were fizzled but we had most of big items in the new space. Pictured Chris and his constant entourage.

Friday night

Saturday morning we were back at it. As we went,  Chris suggested some changes to the arrangement of furniture - design wall covering the closet, pfaff moved between the shelves, hutch on opposite wall. The minute it was out of his mouth I could picture it because we'd pushed the pfaff against the shelves Friday night to keep the room free as we brought more up and the having that extra space kept the room feeling spacious. Saturday night I put M's Petal Patch quilt on the design wall and am feeling inspired to get working on this again. I'm really spoiled to have this space!

Tested my Internet, hardwired I got 145 mbps (megabits per second) download 11.5 mbps upload and in my new room which I currently can only use wifi... 60 mbps download and 10.5 mbps upload. Still pretty nice speeds, we will be figuring out how to get a LAN cable up from the basement to the room, but in the meantime I'll be roughing it LOL there's a prime example of a first world problem. Can you believe dial up was 56 kbps (kilobits per second) and until we became hispeed junkies that was awesome!?! I decided to try putting my monitors on the high shelf - previously my desk was switched docking station was under the shelf and monitors on the single desk. I also got rid of the keyboard tray and raised my chair. It's an easy switch back if I don't like it.

MT left his 21 inch tv, he bought a 4k 50" tv that was on sale for half price. I decided that it was all I need for my room. We attached a chromecast, connected Netflix and called it done. Chris thinks we need a a larger tv but thats not high on my priority list. On the same shelf are my Georges. I might have mentioned before I love monkeys, but I'm especially partial to Curious George receiving my first George at 4 when I went to the hospital for the first time. The three closest to the tv represent a time when I needed strength/comforting and we're given to me by my mom. The little one was the first gift my youngest R bought for me on her own - she found him at a garage sale and brought him home. The angry birds the furbabies found in the back of the closet and they thought it made a great chew toy.  That needs to go in Mt's treasure box.

My cold is at its worst today, I'm completely exhausted. My room is done and I really want to sew but I can't find the energy to cut fabric. I thought about working on hexies but I have a whack of 2.5 squares that I'm using for leaders and enders. I set my iron up right beside my sewing machine and I'm hoping these will help scratch the itch

Sewing room relocation

With MT leaving the nest, his room was up for grabs. Our home was built as a 3 bedroom with bonus family room on the upper floor. It was perfect for our large family. Originally this room was shared by the girls, Mt had the smallest room & CJ and B shared the other when they came over every second weekend. As needs changed, the 3 that lived here full time were moved into their own rooms and the basement was finished for the boys. MT grudgingly took the largest room because both girls felt it was too big. This 16 x 19 foot room is over the garage and has big windows that let's in a lot of natural light during the day. (Picture below was taken around 8:30 pm so lighting is yellowed )

One major item I want but just can't do at this time is put in hardwood flooring. So here is the plan -  as mentioned before we did a complete paint job & steam cleaned the carpet. Once carpet was dry we put up shelving on one wall. The other wall is going to be a design wall, my primary machines will be in the middle of the room and my cutting table in one corner with some shelving mounted above.

Here's where we were waffling - should I move my office upstairs and what to about lighting. Moving my office would really make my days brighter with all the natural light and I could even sit facing the window, but it's going to eat up real estate lol. This room has its own hallway leading into the room, so Chris suggested making my design wall smaller & using the hall walls for additional design walls (seeing I always have multiple projects on the go) then I can switch them out as wanted. This should give me space for my office. For lighting, he is thinking multiple overheads across the cathederal ceiling that daisy chain to the light switch.

This weekend we move everything up and find a solution for my Internet. For work I prefer to be hardwired, we have some spotty areas in the house and this room seems to be the worst. There must be something in the walls interrupting the signal ??

Unfortunately, I've been popping Advil cold and sinus pills since this morning. I have a cold starting and I'm fighting tooth and nail not to let it kick my but but I know the minute the med start wearing off and it's not pretty. Fingers crossed I can keep going because I'm hoping to have everything done by Sunday so I can get sewing :)

Mt's Big Move

Well, the big move is done. It was harder than I ever realized it would be to leave without him. Chris had taken the truck back around 1. My dad and I stayed to finish up - Dad and Mt putting furniture together and me washing & setting up the kitchen.

When we were all done my dad turned to Mt and said ready to go? After a second or two of silence we all had a quiet laugh. For weeks we'd been focused on this day and had spent all day unpacking Mt and in that moment reality hit. From our front door to Mt's aptartment is only a 20 minute drive, but pulling away felt like he lived much further.

Mom called me shortly after dad got home and we made arrangements to take Martin out today (Sunday) to continue our search for curtains. We started off at Ikea and picked up a few things like dish rack,  plastic mat to go under computer chair but no luck on curtains. Off to Walmart, we did find curtains in colours that would work in his apartment but no ceiling mounts.

My Dad thought about a drapery store he saw in one the malls near by. We found the hardware we needed but boy they were expensive. Back to his apartment he and dad installed the curtains while mom and I did some dishes and small things. It was hard leaving again but we've left him in a really great place so I'm trying to stay focused on that.

Chris took advantage of the cold day and started working on my sewing room. He got the pin holes filled (my kids really love tacking stuff all over their walls), walls wiped down and had just started painting when I got home. By 7:30 he finished the entire first coat.

I washed the windows and scrapped the Crayola window clingers off the windows. Those were originally put up by the girls years ago. We did try taking them off at one point when Martin moved into the room but we didn't get very far - they had baked on and I was concerned I'd break the window so we left them to deal with another time and forgot abut them. Chris looked through his tools and found a razorblade scraper. It took over an hour of scrapping to get those sucker's off. It must have been loud outside, everyone who walked by looked up and waved. LOL I think they thought I was banging to get their attention. As you can see, we still have a few things to clear out of the room. Chris has some touch ups and wants to start the trim after work tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll be able to steam clean the rug Wednesday night. If things keep moving, we might be able to start moving stuff up next weekend!

Hope every has a great week!

Well that was a waste

I am no further along on Mt's quilt than last post despite being off last Friday through Tuesday. Last Saturday I did chores and running around, then all the kids were home for pizza and blueberry birthday cake for Chris (blueberry is his favourite). Tuesday Mt booked the day off work, inspected the apartment and got the key. My dad and I helped him move in his boxes (books and kitchen stuff) and a few tables for the living room. We went out with mom to pick up some things we missed and looked for curtains after dinner. This Saturday is his official move out day when we move the big things bed, couch, computer, excetera. Chris is off work so I doubt I'll have to do much heavy lifting. I'm really excited for him and trying to supress all other emotions I'm having.

Mt's kitchen

Thank goodness Mt laughed when I told him his quilt wasn't going to be ready. He's not too concerned seeing he plans to bring his laundry home regularily. He's not impressed with the thought of $5 per load to use the facilities in his building. He has also extended an open invitation as long as we give him 24 hours notice. While he's not an untidy person - dishes are his least favourite chore. It's a clean building but it's also an older building and the implications of not having a dishwasher didn't sink in until after he signed the lease. LOL I can just imagine the dish washing frenzy that will be going on before every visit!

Of course as soon as Wednesday morning hit I was itching to get in my sewing area. More running around after work the past few evenings so sewing has been on hold.

So what did I do Friday, Sunday and Monday??? They were wasted days where I lived like a zoned out couch potato thinking about all we have to do over the next few weeks and coming up with game plans for each step. I thought about working on hexies but even that seemed like too much effort.

Next post I hope to have some pictures of Mt's new digs all set up and progress pictures of my new sewing room! I would love to say there will be actual quilting progress but that's unlikely until my sewing room move is complete.