Monday, October 12, 2015

Fresh Start, or another start

Hello, thanks for stopping by, yes I'm blogging today!!  Whoop Whoop !!!

First, thanks to all who listened to my radio interview with Pat Sloan either live or the podcast.  Pat had given me a list of around 12 topics that we would try to cover during our chat. I was so nervous that we would get through all the topics and still have 10 minutes worth of time to fill, well I guess I was in a chatty mood because we maybe covered 3 of the topics. One topic that I had given some thought and prepared for was accurate piecing.  I plan to cover my thoughts on that topic in an upcoming blog post.

Speaking of blogging, my blogging has been hit or miss all year long, but that's about to change.  The main reason I didn't blog last week was because new carpet was installed in my house.  The last step of a year long remodel job.  My house has been in some sort of chaos for 12 months, but now it's all done.  Or as done as any home and maintenance ever gets. It's sort of like laundry, you're never done, unless you're running around your house naked.

We bought this house 11 years ago thinking we would live here maybe 3 years then move, that had been our pattern for our entire married life.  But a funny thing happened, 3 years passed, then 6, then the next thing we knew, we'd been here 10 years and hadn't made a single change to a house that was 5 years old when we bought it.  So since it seems like we're going to be staying here a few more years we decided to make some changes to suit our needs and give the place a facelift.

Here's a list of what we did, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something:
replaced all the sliders and french doors
took down all the wallpaper
painted every wall, ceiling, and closet and all the woodwork
updated all the floors with new hardwood or carpet
all new kitchen appliances
added tiled kitchen backsplash
replaced all the light fixtures
swapped out the ugly shiny brass fixtures with oil rubbed bronze fixtures
took all the bathrooms down to the studs and started over, replacing everything
sealed and painted front sidewalk and porch
created an office for my husband
moved my sewing room to a new room
customized all the closets (California Closets, I love you)
replaced half the furniture
added new blinds

I've not had pictures on the walls for over a year, and have been shuffling boxes of who knows what that was packed last year from the garage, to the basement, then back to the garage and dusting and dusting and dusting.   When our closets were being updated, our clothes hung on racks in the garage.  So now it's time to finally settle in, unpack all the boxes and enjoy our space.  We've had bedroom stuff in the office and office stuff in my sewing room, any room with extra space has served multiple purposes.

While all this was going on I would start a project in my sewing room, have to stop, then when I started back up start something else.  So I definitely have some catching up to do in that area.

But that didn't stop me from starting something new this month.  Since my favorite daughter thought Lucy would look great in her apartment I sent it her way. Using Lucy scraps and adding some new prints but in the same colors I've started a new Halloween quilt with the same feel, just a little different look.


The pattern is Rise and Shine by Camille Roskelley for thimble blossoms.




And finally, I'm not sure I've ever formally mentioned that I use Instagram, almost daily, look for ThelmaCupcake if you're an instagram user.

So this week I'll need to piece my Snapshots block, it's the car with the surfboard, and I can hardly wait, do a little organizing and settling in, get out a few Halloween decorations, and blog!

Talk to you soon!

17 comments:

  1. You an your hubby have definitely been busy with all those renovations. glad you will have more time to quilt now! Love Lucy and Rise and Shine. Great fabrics!

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  2. I am back to say I just listened to your podcast on Pat Sloan. It was so enjoyable. I felt like I was in your kitchen having coffee with the two of you and listening to your quilt stories. Congrats and looking forward to seeing many more of your quilted treasures!

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  3. Wow, quite an undertaking in the home re-do department! I find re-doing one room quite daunting enough. I'm liking your Halloween themed Rise and Shine blocks, great project for this month.

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  4. I feel your pain on the boxes. It's been almost a year here, too, with boxes and I haven't even started the remodel. It's nice to see a blog post this morning. Your Rise & Shine blocks are wonderful.

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  5. Congratulations on your finished home. Your list was astonishing! Love, love the new quilt.
    Mary

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  6. WOW! You have had a busy year ! Your home sounds gorgeous with all of your improvements
    :-D

    Love how your Rise & Shine Halloween quilt is coming along !


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  7. You practically have a brand new home, Thelma. I'm sure it is very lovely.

    The Halloween colors work well with Rise and Shine.

    I follow up on IG, it's so nice to see what you are up to instantly.

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  8. Wow, you really changed a lot! I can feel your pain I have new windows in really every room (just one left for next year), a new refrigerator last tuesday and a few painters. But a whole new house? Phew, that's a lot of trouble!
    Love your 'new' Lucy it looks great! Better not to show it could be that you end up giving this away, too:-)

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  9. Your home improvements required a lot of moving things around. I've sure you've edited all the things in the closets, etc. We replaced the carpet (we only have it in the bedrooms) a few years back and it might be appealing to sell our house before we do that again. So much work! Makes you realize how many things you have and makes you wonder why you're keeping it!

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  10. What a great Halloween quilt and glad to hear you are going to be blogging more, I always enjoy seeing what you are working on! :)

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  11. What a great Halloween quilt and glad to hear you are going to be blogging more, I always enjoy seeing what you are working on! :)

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  12. Sounds like a whole new house.... bet you are set to stay for quite awhile now. Very stressful moving things in and out and glad you are finally seeing the end of the tunnel so to speak. Love this Halloween quilt and think this was one of your favorite "new" colors.... great blocks.

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  13. oh renovations! wow. I'm tired just reading about it all!! haha

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  14. You're amazing ! I know what it is to have the house renewed and if you won't have tell it I would have never imagine how busy you were that past year. The quilts you made and your post looked apparently so cool and easy... I wish you the best. Enjoy your home ! Thank you so much for all you share with us.

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  15. How did you ever get all that done and still make so many quilts? Congrats,Wonder Woman! LOVE that red sewing machine up top!

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  16. We have a similar list of projects but have yet to begin. It must be great to have so much completed. Looks like a fun quilt you are working on.

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