Home at last...................

Well, yes - technically I've been home for almost a week. What I should have said is "back to normal - almost."

I have a substitute mouse at the moment so that makes life easy. I took pictures on my regular camera and I edited them on the desktop. Life is good! Yes - there are workarounds, but I like things to be the same - most days.

E-mail is only accessible on the laptop at the moment and that's OK.

Yesterday was a glorious day! The weather was amazing. I'm not sure if it hit zero, but the sun was out and the air was warm. My kind of day!

I'm not complaining - just comparing but my new sewing room is significantly different than the basement. I have tons of light in the day, not so much at night. It's warm up there - I practically have to strip down whereas, in the basement, I often wore gloves on a warm day when the furnace wouldn't kick in.

The bottom line - I could sew anywhere and be happy. Having the sunlight makes me just a wee bit happier!

I did a lot of sewing yesterday but gosh - I don't seem to have a lot to show you this morning. I'm working on a project that I can't show you yet. I had put it off and put it off because it involved something new and I was procrastinating. However, when I got to it, I didn't have any issues. Funny how we keep procrastinating about something because we think it's going to be challenging and then it turns out to be easy as pie. That project should be finished today.

I did get the binding made and it's half sewn on that panel that I quilted the other day. I'll get that done today as well. The next quilt is loaded and I'll work on that later today.

My Fitbit is going to be operating in overtime while this mess exists. I need a thread color? Down two flights of stairs for that. Oh - I need to put some fabric away - down two flights of stairs for that. Perhaps that's why I was so hungry yesterday!!!

Curiosity has gotten the better of DH and he has popped his head into the new sewing room on several occasions to see what I'm doing. I think he's having a conniption about yet another room taken over by quilting. While that is technically correct, it's a perfect use for a room that has sat vacant for over 3 years. Why let good real estate go to waste. And I'm NOT expanding - nothing new is going in that room. Only getting things completed that already exist. I'm totally adamant on that - consumables are allowed to be purchased and fabric needed to complete a project. Anything else? NO buying.

Even after the floor gets replaced, I'm thinking I'm going to keep some sewing machines set up in that room. Why? When I have a Sit n Sew, I need to take the machines off the tables. If I leave them set up in that room - they don't disturb anybody. Oh yes - I love this.

Since the room is technically mine now, I puttered away yesterday to get it a bit more to my liking. Here's what happened.

The colors are super bright in that room. I'm not going to bother painting. That can happen another day.

All the walls in the room were covered with clippings from magazines or posters or whatever. Over the past three years, I've slowly been removing it. There is still one wall that's densely covered with stuff. Hey - I didn't want to shove my kid out the door that fast. But I didn't want a shrine either! As I was going through stuff, I came up with an idea which I hope to work on later today/tomorrow.

The last wall covered with magazine pictures

I removed everything from the counters and some of the mess is gone, some of it is on the kitchen counter and some is still in the upstairs bathroom. I'm slowly working my way through it all.

I decided that it's time to get rid of the stuff on the walls. Do not let your children stick things to the walls. There were some mirrored words that were stuck to the wall. Those are gone (and a wee bit of paint in the process). There were stickers on the light switch, there were bits of blue tack on the walls. I started with ONE wall. That very small one by the light switch in the corner. I had to get the GooGone out and then washed that one wall.

Start small - on the wall on the left

I have had these canvases forever and they have never been hung up. I love words and I love the inspiration in them. It's time to hang them up so I can enjoy them. I had to walk down to the hardware store so I could get a hanger for the back and then I was in business.

I got one hung on the wall that I had cleaned up. Oh dear - those white spots? That's where the paint came off when I removed the mirrored things. I may have that paint color in the basement - I might get it out once I'm done in the room. It really needs to be repainted. Oh - let's just say that it's a wee bit tight to get to the spot where the paint would be stored.

An inspiration on the walls

No quilts will be hung in that room. The sun would damage them within hours. So I'll surround myself with words to live by.

The previous day, I had cleaned off half of that long desk. Isn't that just an invitation to put a sewing machine there?

An open space

And now there's a sewing machine occupying the space. I'm hoping there's enough space that I can use the embroidery feature in that spot. Some of the hoops are big and I need to be careful they don't hit the back wall. A test later today or tomorrow.

A perfect spot for the sewing machine

Those chairs are a wee bit short for that desk. I must try my purple cushion to see if that makes any difference. If not, I'll have to bring up another chair from the basement.

But seriously? Isn't that just the perfect arrangement???  I'll take a video later and show you.

I'll be loading the video from the basement later today.

I was off to yoga yesterday. I absolutely love that class. It's called Surrender and it's very slow - you hold the poses for long periods of time. I feel absolutely great after class. Then I popped into the sauna and did a bit more stretching. While I have way more movement in my neck, it's still pretty stiff and sore.

There's only one major problem with the new sewing room. That window is way more distracting than the television! My neighbors are coming and going and I get to see everything that transpires on my street. Someone comes to my house - I can see them when they arrive. Kids coming to and from school, people walking their dogs - I get to see them all. Where I sit, they can't see me. I'm kidding - I'll get used to it, but I'm in love with that room.

Had to laugh when I chatted with M yesterday for her birthday. I asked her to guess where I was. "In MY room", she says. Yep - but it's not your room anymore. Now she has an apartment with a view of the mountains. I don't think she misses her room too much.

I've heard of this before and I seriously want to be able to participate one day. I think it's the perfect solution for seniors as their partners pass. How perfect would it be to share a space with your friends instead of hitting a retirement home???  Sign me up!!!!   Here's another article about that foursome in the one house.  They have a CRAFT room. Definitely sign me up!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. Got a lot of stuff to do today and I want to get started.

Have a super day!!!


Ciao!!!