We will have to arrange and pay for the electrical, plumbing, tiling (backsplashes), painting and flooring separately, although they will all work together seamlessly (in theory). And the designers from the cabinet companies provide timelines and work with us to help shepherd the other trades (be the General Contactor, so to speak) on the project. But all I see now is the costs go up and up (think of money growing wings and flying away). We’re actually starting with some plumbing things this week - too long and involved and boring to go into here. But I’m sure getting an education! And right now we’re looking at a finish date of August or September. It’s going to be one eventful summer!
CRAZY BY DESIGN
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Rain, Remodeling Bids, New Friends, and Even Some Sewing!
We will have to arrange and pay for the electrical, plumbing, tiling (backsplashes), painting and flooring separately, although they will all work together seamlessly (in theory). And the designers from the cabinet companies provide timelines and work with us to help shepherd the other trades (be the General Contactor, so to speak) on the project. But all I see now is the costs go up and up (think of money growing wings and flying away). We’re actually starting with some plumbing things this week - too long and involved and boring to go into here. But I’m sure getting an education! And right now we’re looking at a finish date of August or September. It’s going to be one eventful summer!
Saturday, April 20, 2024
A Week in the Life of a Crazy (by Design) Woman
I admit to being crazy. It’s a benign crazy, harmless and I’m sure it’s even sweet to some sympathetic onlookers (who would be much younger, I imagine). But I truly believe I’m losing my - well, YOUTH for one thing (and there go the marbles!) and my “edge” for another. My mind? I think it’s in the danger zone…
After the move, which was full of list-making, planning, cleaning, phone calls, worrying, sleepless nights and packing (ad nauseum), I decided to take a vacation from that hectic life and ease into the new life of retirement. Except that in my efforts to just glide along and not overplan or overthink, I keep hitting bumps in the form of chores, errands, must-do’s, appointments and new “adventures”. I can’t resist me a new challenge it seems. But first, let’s dive into the Rainbow Scrap sewing I did this week. I’ll be linking this post to Scrappy Saturday in the morning to join in with our international friends who are also working on yellow blocks for RSC’s Yellow April.
I actually managed to finish the rest of my planned yellow blocks for April, as well as a single 6” block of crumbs I never sewed for Red February (no picture of that). But below are my three yellow crumb blocks and two 12” scrappy Star blocks in yellow.
I also used a lot of crumbs and bits and strings to make one 4” x 60” yellow column. Eventually I’ll have enough colorful columns (of varying widths) to sew into a decent-width quilt.
With my April RSC blocks done and the backlogged blocks caught up, I plan to turn my attention to the Anne of Green Gables gift quilt (story and picture of first blocks here) I want to work on. Also, I’m going to try to baste at least one of the quilts in the closet that’s waiting its turn. I have a backlog of three tops with backs, five community quilt tops with backings donated by others for me to quilt, plus three new tops received this month, plus a set of Zipper blocks to sew into a top, PLUS at least a half dozen RSC block sets to make into tops.
And you may remember that last fall I numbered all my quilt “kits” (self-made bagged sets of matching chunks, scraps and yardage in coordinating themes/colors). Thirty-six of those, and my goal was to make up three of those kits each month into quilts. That happened in January, but then all hell broke loose with the packing and selling of the house, the moving and unpacking, etc. I’m still traumatized and trying to get my groove back. So, that quilt kit plan is totally off the rails. And I’m feeling overwhelmed….
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Last Saturday we shopped for bathroom light fixtures and a patio umbrella and stand. And I picked up paint chips to begin selecting bathroom colors. On Sunday, my friend Ruby came over to sew (Cousin Kimmie was sick). It was a beautiful day, so we first sat inside and talked, then sat outside on the patio and had lunch and gabbed, then went for a walk, and only then - in the early afternoon - did we sew!
On Monday, Bruce had a doctor appointment with his head doctor and was finally able to get his ADD/ADHD meds refilled. It’s been a loooong 8 months, but the manufacturing shortage is apparently over. He feels so much better and can focus on things again. His 12-year-old attention span has reverted to an adult attention span. I attended the monthly meeting of our HOA’s Board. I was asked to make some remarks about our New Owner experience, and made some observations that apparently led them to like me (or see a sucker?) I was visited by three different Board members during the week and have been asked to join the Board. I believe I agreed to it - hence the doubts about my sanity. But more on that as the situation develops.
Here are some pictures I took of the wild area around the HOA Clubhouse on Monday. The green area and creek are a short block from our condo along the west side of our 72-unit condo complex. The creek is Little Cottonwood Creek - the same creek that runs through Wheeler Farm that was a block away from our old house.
Tuesday was Weight Watchers for me, a good meeting but I didn’t weigh in. Now that I’m a Lifetime member at goal, I only choose to weigh in once per month, although I attend the workshops weekly. In the afternoon, Bruce and I both treated ourselves to pedicures because - we deserved it. It was a first for Bruce, and he enjoyed talking with the salon owners and workers about Viet Nam, their home country and where Bruce served in the US Army for 8 months before returning to the States to serve out his remaining tour at the NSA (National Security Agency).
On Wednesday we both worked around the house hanging pictures (me) and organizing his shop (Bruce). We were also on the phone and the computer - making address changes to various places (all the un-fun, big hassle stuff like insurances, voter registration, drivers licenses, health plans, etc).
On Thursday we had an electrician in to install new lighting fixtures in the bathrooms (yay!) and consult with us about ideas and needs for the kitchen/dining area remodel. We’ll be working with him as we move forward. I spent that afternoon up at the Clubhouse playing cards (Hand and Foot) with the ladies. There are about a dozen regulars.
Friday - today as I write this - was grocery shopping, laundry and sewing. It was a good, “homey” day. The Billy Joel musical special was re-broadcast on CBS, so we watched it again tonight as we had done on Sunday night. That first time they aired it, the network cut off the last two minutes, and apparently they were flooded with complaints from all over the country. You don’t mess with the legions of fans of a musical icon! (A lesson that a certain orange person could stand to learn).
One more picture - the sitting area just beyond the kitchen/dining area of our condo. I had a picture of the living room as well, but it was too blurry.
I took this picture - with nothing on the wall above the couch - to show my son Shane where I want to hang a painted cityscape that we’re commissioning him to do. He used to paint portraits and cityscapes before he got into computers, but his heart is still in art.
Starting next week, we will meet here with three cabinet company designers to begin getting ideas and design plans roughed out and get bids for the kitchen remodel.
But other than that, there’s nothing going on…. Haha. See you next week!
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Sew and Sow - Well, Almost!
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Settling In
We have moved from our house of 21+ years to the condo. Whew! It was a monumental undertaking. Bruce had been clearing out his workshop all winter, while I worked on the rest of the house. We made weekly trips to the thrift store, gave lots of stuff to family and friends, had two loads of junk hauled away - and that was all before the move. Since we have moved, there has been another trip to the thrift store with donations and another load hauled off by the junk dealers. I’ll go into more detail later in the post so those who are here only for the quilting stuff can be spared! 😁
I’m woefully behind on my sewing goals, but I plan to take the rest of April and May to catch up. To that end, my first thing to share is the twelve string blocks I made in purple, which was the March color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC).
I still have a couple other things in purple that I need to tackle - crumb blocks and possibly a column of purple coins. Oh, and a red crumb block too. Sheesh! Nevertheless, I began sorting and sewing yellow, the RSC color for April.
First up - Color Stix blocks. The pineapple one was my prototype block made last fall. I’ve added another yellow and a gold to bring my count up to three of these blocks for April.
My plan is to hit the scraps hard this week to get caught up on all my RSC blocks. I’ve also got two quilts ready to baste and quilt, and eight (8!!!) donation quilt tops to turn into quilts. Yeah, that will keep me busy through May!!
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The Move
Well, we got through it. It was rather The Move From Hell, mostly because of the buyers’ real estate agent who, once the deed (or title or whatever it was) was recorded, was on our cases to hurry and get OUT. Our movers arrived before 8 am (there were 4 of them) and we were not done at noon, the goal time. She was trying to talk the buyers into charging us rent by the hour for the additional 2 hours it took to get everything out. To their credit, the buyers were having none of it. After all, we left them the refrigerator, the living room TV and remote (it was mounted on the wall), most of Bruce’s machine shop machines and work benches, a roto-tiller for the garden grow boxes, garden tools and a daybed and mattresses (their request). I was helping the movers and both Bruce and I were driving carloads-ful over to the new condo to help. The agent was really a downer for us and the movers. Plus, our friends and neighbors were stopping by saying goodbye or offering to help, etc.
To add insult to injury, when the buyers and their parents went out to lunch, their real estate agent started going through Bruce’s workshop and saying “they don’t want this” and “they don’t want that” - stuff that we thought we’d agreed on previously. So a desk, a filing cabinet and two bookshelves had to be added to the stuff we were trying to cram into the already-full moving van.
And on the condo end, it was an unloading frenzy. We bought the movers lunch (pizza) and they threw in an extra hour of work for free because we “were the nicest people they’d ever worked with”. Ha! By 6:30 pm, they were able to leave. The cats were rather freaked out and skittish for the first day and night, but they’ve mostly adjusted and have seemed to enjoy exploring their new digs. And every night, as usual, Alfalfa is in Bruce’s lap and Darla is in mine.
We’re about 95% unpacked now and we found we didn’t get rid of enough stuff! Having to bring along those 4 workshop pieces, plus getting rid of a couple junky cabinets that were left here, means we had to call the junkers again this week.
We had a flooring contractor over on Wednesday to check out the floors here in the dining/ family area, which feel uneven. It turns out the subfloor is fine but the unevenness is caused by a formerly nice, thick carpet pad having been worn down in high traffic areas. That was a relief!
Today we’ll meet with our family contractor to rough out a kitchen/dining room process and timeline. There is NO lighting in the vicinity of the dining table area or over the kitchen sink. In addition to the kitchen remodel, we’ll put down hardwood floors in the dining/family room and down the L-shaped hall. I’ve got to draft a design plan and start shopping for materials - cabinets, lights, a new dishwasher, etc. So much to do!
Here is just a sneak peek of my sewing cubby room. Small, but it works!
And the other priority for the day is getting our internet hooked up. We’ve been using our telephone hotspots, which are not dependable at high traffic times - hence this post not being published until late this morning.
Talk to you next week, friends!
Friday, March 15, 2024
Rainbow Parade Giveaway Winners
I’m dropping in briefly this morning (it’s actually Friday evening as I write this) to announce the winner of the Rainbow Parade pattern giveaway from last week. Preeti and I thank you all for the great response! Without further ado, Mr. Random Number Generator chose the number that corresponded to:
Crazy Mom!
Crazy Mom, (and I love anyone else who admits they’re crazy too!) I’ve sent your information to Preeti, and she will be contacting you with your free Rainbow Parade pdf copy.
But wait! There is a “consolation” , or should I say a second, prize winner! I offered a selection of Choice Scraps to some lucky entrant. And that person is:
Miss Pat
Pat, please get back to me with your mailing address. And do remember that Bruce and I are in the process of moving, so it will probably be closer to the end of the month before I can get it out to you!
My Saturday plans include attending a National Quilt Day (also called World Wide Quilting Day) event locally with Cousin Kim and friend Ruby. And in the evening Bruce and are going out to dinner to celebrate the March birthdays with my son and DDIL. Another busy but fun day! And it sure beats packing!!
I DID sew several windmill blocks this week in purple for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s color of the month, but I forgot to photograph them. I’ll be sure to get a picture of those and any other purple blocks I manage to sew at National Quilt Day for next post.
I don’t know if I’ll have internet at the new condo next weekend to do a blog post. I’ll try it using my cell phone hot spot, but just wanted you to know in case I can’t get my act together. If I’m not here for Scrappy Saturday next week, you will definitely see me the following Saturday.
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Another Crazy Busy Week
Oy. What a busy week it’s been! Crazy-busy. The sale of the house continues, as well as the purchase of the condo. We’ve passed all the inspections, all problems or issues have been corrected and it’s All Ahead Full. The closings are in less than 2 weeks.
The ancient water softener in the new condo has been bypassed by the owner’s plumber and the water service safely turned back on. Our house passed all the inspections for water, electrical, HVAC and mold, although not without a substantial investment in a new electrical panel by us. We later learned it was not totally necessary, but we went ahead with it to assuage our consciences. On Wednesday, the electrical work required us being without power from 9:30 am until 5:30 pm. We were so creative keeping ourselves entertained for the day away from home; canceling the storage unit we will not need after all, having a Barnes & Noble coffee date, visiting our financial advisor, going out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, seeing the Bob Marley movie One Love (good music and acting, but too hard to understand the thick Jamaican accents), and hanging out at Wheeler Farm.
On Thursday, my friend Ruby and I packed up the kitchen and dining room. That is progress! I feel that we’ve now entered the third trimester (hehe) of the selling and moving process. The “births” will happen March 21 and 22.
In the middle of the craziness, there was a definite bright spot. And I mean that both figuratively and literally: the release of my friend Preeti’s new pattern, Rainbow Parade. In case you didn’t catch my Wednesday post, here’s a picture of my Rainbow Parade quilt.
You can read all about it on Wednesday’s post. And while you’re there, don’t forget to leave a comment on that post if you’d like to enter the giveaway for a free PDF Rainbow Parade pattern!
I managed to get some purple sewing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge done somehow. First up, three Color Stix blocks. I wasn’t thinking when I laid these blocks out, because it looks like one long piece. But it’s really just three blocks hugging each other!
Then I separated my purples into red-purples and blue-purples and made a 16-patch star win each color way.
That’s it from here for now. Do check out Scrappy Saturday for this week’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge!