More Progress on our New Digs

Hubby and I were home last weekend and I wish I had taken pictures. We are having a wall taken down in a spare bedroom which is adjacent to our kitchen. This will become our new dining room. Our house is a split level so the  "new" dining room will actually be up a few stairs from the kitchen and it will have a railing across the wall opening.

While we were home we shopped for a new dining room light fixture and an electric fireplace for our living room.

The fireplace is an entertainment unit and there are places for the cable box, DVD player etc. and some glass shelves on each side for display. Although I do like it very much it really was my husband choice. We having my grandmothers furniture reupholstered, the chesterfield in chocolate brown and two chairs in rust, both in a microfibre which is lovely and soft.

  

We had our kindred group Christmas Luncheon Sunday. We have a pot luck which always includes soup, home made butter buns,cold meat, salads, cheese and fresh fruit. Because it was Christmas we also had lovely Christmas Cookies, the batch above was Margaret's (in the red) Empire cookies.

We exchanged small gifts all of a quilty nature and I can tell you they were all lovely presents.

My friends above are Margaret, Brenda, Kelly, Sandra and Elizabeth. As I am moving to Peterborough next month which is about 2 hours away, I expect this might be one of my last group get togethers for some time. 

I sure will miss them.

 

Interesting

When I was home last they had drained the river to make repairs further up at a lock (Trent Severn Waterway) Here are before and after pictures.

Truely Sorry

Sorry that I have been absent so long but you all know how busy it is this time of year. The renovations to my Mom's house are complete and she is now moved in. The place is absolutely gorgeous. Here are some photos. These are before and during the move. The tv is now mounted over the fireplace and the bookcases filled with books and ornaments.

As you can see there are still no draperies but we are moving along. Each time I go down to help I need 2-3 days to recover. Thankfully we had movers and my Mom had some lovely friends who came and helped us put the kitchen in order.

I have a few things on the go right now but know of them I can't blog about because they are mainly Christmas gifts and my friends and family have a habit of reading my blog. Nice of them!

I can say that there are a few handmade gifts but not all made on the sewing machine.

We now looking down the home stretch to our move and packing gradually. Still alot of calls to make on my TO DO LIST.

Hubby is selling his car as we have decided that we don't need 2 cars and my Mom has one as well. So if you know anyone in the market for 2002 Ford Mustang? 

Our New Home - Decorating

Here is a picture of my Mom in her now living room, soon to be my living room. I am currently thinking about how and where I plan to put my furniture.  In the basement of house we saved my grandmothers chesterfield and a couple of her chairs. I have always loved them and we are planning on having them reupholstered before we move, so they will be ready for us when we arrive. I sort of have this dreamy picture in my head of what I want it to look like but somehow I don't quite have the decorating savy to put it all together.

I am so happy to be moving back to my home town. I think that it will be funny for a while being the home owner of the house I grew up in, but I am sure we will can figure it out.

Here is the sofa and chair I am going to have recovered.

 This final picture is the view that my husband and I will have every meal as we sit at our kitchen table. Now you can see why my mother didn't want to move so we added on to her house.

IT"S SOLD

Yea, we have sold our house and are very happy. We don't close until the end of January but that is fine with us. It will give of lots of time to pack and I have to help my Mom pack and move over to her side of the house. Once that is over there are some renovations that are going to be done to our home and then have all of the carpets cleaned before we move in, so I will still be very busy. Then throw in Christmas, New Years etc and I think I might have a thing or two to keep me busy.

The construction on Mom's Granny flat  is well past this stage. The outside is complete and they are drywalling and finishing the interior now.

We had some other good news today our niece has become engaged. No news on a wedding date yet.

Finally at Long Last Ta Da!

It is my weekend of my Mom's 80th Birthday and she is here spending it with us, so I can finally unveil the quilt that I have been making for her. I made the quilt with the help of my friend Kelly.
The Quilt is a variation on the chinese coin pattern. I started with the floral fabric and pulled other matching colours. Once we have them together we decided we needed the navy strips to make the other strips pop. I quilted it on a longarm at our local quilt shop.

We also got Mom an original watercolour by Nan Sidler a very talented painter in Peterborough.
Sorry that my photographs of her work aren't  the best but please go to her website to see some of her work. sidlerart.com

The pale yellow rose backing seemed perfect for all of the other colours.

I'll have more to update in the days to come. Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians.

Simcoe County Quilt Show

I spent a couple of hours at the Simcoe County Quilt show with my friends today. The weather was beautiful.
It is an annual show at the Museum and there is lots of place to sit outside and eat. The food is all prepared by a local church and the prices are right. We sat outside and enjoyed the sun after viewing the show.

 There are two quilts which are the same pattern but treated differently, both beautiful. The quilting on the bargello was fabulous it looks like thread is dripping off the fabric. There were some real beauties.

Update on construction

Mom's addition is coming along nicely.

I am going out to the Simcoe County Museum for the annual Quilter, hookers and embroiders show, It is usually quite good. I will try to post a few pictures tomorrow.

........and a Few More

Here are a few more of the blocks that I have made.

Baltimore Album Quilt (more Blocks)

I was at the dentist today. I have sensitive teeth and when I have them cleaned I have to have about 6 needles of freezing before I can let the dentist work on me. It is kind of stressful, but it is the only way I can manage it and  it's over now for another 6 months.

So far we have had about 12 couples come to look at the house and only one offer (not the right one), I keep praying that the process won't take too long, because it is rather worrying but I am sure in time we will have the right buyer(s) come along.

Here are a few more of the Baltimore Album blocks that I have finished.

Once I finish two more blocks than I will have to decid on simple border pattern. I have just about every book that Elly Sienkiewicz ever published, so I should be able to find one.

Baltimore Album Quilt

Sorry I have been so remiss in keeping up to date on my blog. Our house has still not sold yet and it keeps me busy keeping it tidy. I know it has only been two weeks but it does tend to worry you a bit even though logically I know it will take time. I was home last week helping Mom choose fittings, fixtures, carpet and flooring for her new digs. When I got home I started looking at some of the UFO's. One in particular stands out. My Baltimore Album Quilt. I have about 14 blocks made and I need another 2 at least to make a proper size quilt. I have three more blocks started but I am not so happy with them now.  I think I will start a new one and then perhaps it will spur me on to finish. I will share a few with you over the next few days. At first I decided I would be true to Baltimore and go all red and green. Then later on I added a paisley and some others reds and greens. So it will be colourful. 

The first block we did was a "Papercut" in this simple "Fleur de Lis pattern.

The rose wreath was my favorite. The simpler rose wreath was a class I took with Elly Sienkiewicz "The Queen" of Baltimore Album Quilt Teaching. and if you look hard you can see that she signed block in the upper right hand corner. That was a real treat.   

Construction has begun

Mom sent me a picture today of the hole dug for the basement and foundation of her new granny flat. Now if we could just sell this house.

I Think I Am Hooked

With the house up "For Sale" and wanting to keep things rather tidy, I did not want to get my sewing machine out so I have started making hexagons and so far I have only done a few but I think that I have been bitten by the bug.

For Sale

Officially up for sale. I had a little cry when I saw the "For Sale" sign on the lawn this morning.