I'm still kicking, but that's about all I have to say. We were fortunate to sell our house less than a week after listing it for sale this past summer, but that's where our good luck pretty much ended. We sold about a third of what we own, put most of the rest in storage, and moved just clothes, food and bare necessities into my dad's house at the end of the summer. "Bare necessities" includes toiletries, computers, financial documents, and, for me, one sewing machine, a basket of notions, two WIPs and some fabric scraps.
The rest of my sewing room - fabric, books, notions, and every quilt I own - is in a storage unit in North Carolina somewhere, along with all our Christmas decorations, furniture, personal memorabilia, kitchenware, family photos, etc., etc. I'm far more fortunate than the refugees I see in the middle east fleeing their homelands for safety with only the clothes on their backs, but I do worry that I'll never see my belongings again.
Neither of us has had much luck finding work in the almost seven months since my husband was let go, despite job searching being our full-time jobs during these past three months since the move. We are grateful to have a free roof over our heads but the stress is leaving us struggling to find hope - rather than fear - in what might come next. I have little momentum and space to sew, so if life doesn't change for us soon, this blog will probably end up being pretty pointless to maintain.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
What to work on when you don't want to work on anything
As mentioned in my previous post, life has been chaotic. There have been some times that I find myself craving the type of self-care that quilting gives me, but feeling completely overwhelmed in my sewing room. First of all, there is all sorts of home dec project material laying around waiting for me to pick up again, so going into my sewing room feels like an obligation and not a getaway. Secondly, even if I manage to ignore it and set it all aside, I just have TOO MANY PROJECTS in various stages of completion and I become absolutely flummoxed as to which one to pick up and work on. And if I begin something new? I remember again how much I have in progress when I decide I'm done for a while and want to put it away and have all sorts of project boxes already stuffed full.
It's not relaxing, which is what sewing should be.
Finally I decided to bite the bullet and just do "maintenance" work. Namely, I decided to trim all the bonus HST units I've set aside from various projects. Actually, not ALL of them, since there are a lot, but all the ones paired with a white rather than black or another color. This is what was left after about 650 HSTs:
Now they're all nicely pressed and trimmed and ready for use in a project. I'm thinking a baskets quilt much like this block from 101 Patchwork Patterns:
But first to finish other projects ... assuming I have enough time before another move to do so.
It's not relaxing, which is what sewing should be.
Finally I decided to bite the bullet and just do "maintenance" work. Namely, I decided to trim all the bonus HST units I've set aside from various projects. Actually, not ALL of them, since there are a lot, but all the ones paired with a white rather than black or another color. This is what was left after about 650 HSTs:
A number of these in a variety of colors, set on point like this pattern from Quiltmaker, is what I have in mind.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
chaos
About a year ago today, I was still dealing with the news that we were going to have to sell the house we'd just purchased and move from Virginia to North Carolina as my husband's company was relocating its executive office employees. We spent six months in a rental apartment while getting to know the area and finding a new house that suited us, and we closed on our new home in mid-March. I had some good job interviews and came close to working, but no offers.
Two months after moving in, my husband went into work to be told that his position was being eliminated effective immediately. Although he negotiated a severance package that leaves us able to make ends meet for the near future, I will be spending the third summer in a row preparing a house for sale and moving. Obviously, we are both annoyed that they couldn't make this decision before we bought the home. In the long run, I think it will end up being a good thing, but I won't be able to say for certain until we land elsewhere.
We will most likely return to the Baltimore-Delaware-Philadelphia area to be closer to our kids and family. We'd really like to sell the house during the summertime when people are relocating before the school season starts, and the market has picked up since we purchased. Still, we had a lot of plans for this house and have to finish up the things we've started and take the direct route to being ready to list for sale. My sewing room has not seen any quilting happening, as I've been focused on curtains and other home decor projects instead. It has been challenging to find the emotional energy to do something fun like quilt, especially if I wonder how long it will be until I can unpack in a new sewing room somewhere again.
Two months after moving in, my husband went into work to be told that his position was being eliminated effective immediately. Although he negotiated a severance package that leaves us able to make ends meet for the near future, I will be spending the third summer in a row preparing a house for sale and moving. Obviously, we are both annoyed that they couldn't make this decision before we bought the home. In the long run, I think it will end up being a good thing, but I won't be able to say for certain until we land elsewhere.
We will most likely return to the Baltimore-Delaware-Philadelphia area to be closer to our kids and family. We'd really like to sell the house during the summertime when people are relocating before the school season starts, and the market has picked up since we purchased. Still, we had a lot of plans for this house and have to finish up the things we've started and take the direct route to being ready to list for sale. My sewing room has not seen any quilting happening, as I've been focused on curtains and other home decor projects instead. It has been challenging to find the emotional energy to do something fun like quilt, especially if I wonder how long it will be until I can unpack in a new sewing room somewhere again.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Post-Christmas productivity
Christmas has come and gone and I managed to meet all my sewing deadlines on time. The green and white quilt I featured in November was given to my sister-in-law who had been dropping not-so-subtle hints for some time that she wanted one!
Her husband has been hard at work finishing their basement into a media room with wet bar, home office, gas fireplace and powder room, with lots of green tones, so this was perfect for them. For my other sister-in-law I whipped up a set of placemats with this easy pattern from Sew Biz called "Set the Table, Mabel!"
And then for my 11-year-old stepdaughter, I bought her a bunk bed set for her two American Girl dolls and made some bedding to match what she likes and has at our house.
I note also that the doll on the top is wearing a pajama set I made her last Christmas (with a matching set for my stepdaughter, each of whom have their first initial appliqued to the white t-shirt in flannel).
As usual, my well-trained family gave me a nice variety of quilter gifts - fat quarters, a half dozen charm packs, a jelly roll, two Accuquilt dies, and Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Designs book (in print).
Now my husband is off to see his daughters for the weekend (although we just said goodbye to them all Wednesday) and I'm going to have to go through my sewing room, cleaning up from hurriedly-made gifts, putting my gifts away, and deciding what to make with my new goodies.
I do wish my sewing room had better lighting. It's fine during a sunny day, but there are no ceiling lights and floor lamps only go so far. We have not yet made progress on finding a new house, but, happily, our old one is under contract, through inspections, and scheduled to go to settlement in mid-January. So I suppose the next part of getting settled here in Raleigh can move more quickly. I'd love to find a job soon too, but so far no movement on that front, either with temp agencies or applications. Frustrating. More sewing time, I guess.
On the plus side of staying in and nesting, TCM's Star of the Month is my favorite classic film star, Joan Crawford. Sadly, my DVR only holds three movies before it's full, so today I had to set my alarm for 6 AM to start watching before it tried to record a fourth at 7:15. Of course, I'll have to make sure there is sufficient room for the start of Season 4 of Downton Abbey beginning Sunday night!
Her husband has been hard at work finishing their basement into a media room with wet bar, home office, gas fireplace and powder room, with lots of green tones, so this was perfect for them. For my other sister-in-law I whipped up a set of placemats with this easy pattern from Sew Biz called "Set the Table, Mabel!"
As usual, my well-trained family gave me a nice variety of quilter gifts - fat quarters, a half dozen charm packs, a jelly roll, two Accuquilt dies, and Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Designs book (in print).
I do wish my sewing room had better lighting. It's fine during a sunny day, but there are no ceiling lights and floor lamps only go so far. We have not yet made progress on finding a new house, but, happily, our old one is under contract, through inspections, and scheduled to go to settlement in mid-January. So I suppose the next part of getting settled here in Raleigh can move more quickly. I'd love to find a job soon too, but so far no movement on that front, either with temp agencies or applications. Frustrating. More sewing time, I guess.
On the plus side of staying in and nesting, TCM's Star of the Month is my favorite classic film star, Joan Crawford. Sadly, my DVR only holds three movies before it's full, so today I had to set my alarm for 6 AM to start watching before it tried to record a fourth at 7:15. Of course, I'll have to make sure there is sufficient room for the start of Season 4 of Downton Abbey beginning Sunday night!
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