And on we go...............

This basement renovation has good news and bad news. The good news is that everything is going according to plan. The packing crew wasn't going to touch the bookcases so they had a carpenter team come in for that. They were here and the bookcases are gone. The painter was here yesterday to see the lay of the land.

The only problem is that these guys arrive with no details. It's like the restoration company said: "show up at this address and ask the lady".  Well, I have no idea what the total plan is and what is covered or not. Like when the painter says - what needs to be painted? The WHOLE thing as far as I'm concerned!!! I should say that!!! But I'm trying to wheel and deal a bit since we're not doing the inside of the storage room where the leak occurred. Anyway - lots of fun and games. Hopefully, the rest of the work will continue as planned.

The POD is filled to capacity. I didn't get a picture before they closed it up and locked it. It's staying in the driveway. They did take boxes from the house to fill it up. I hate to say that with the stuff that is still squirreled downstairs and what's also upstairs, that we could probably fill TWO more PODs with my "hobby".  That's not good!

In case you want to check out the status, here's a link to a video.  Yes - a TOTAL blank slate in that main room. How fun is that?  The condition of the concrete floor looks a wee bit disturbing. And they put down a disinfectant that is horrible! The concrete was quite wet - OK - it was damp when the floor came up. And it's still damp this morning. I'm guessing that by next week when the floor comes that it'll be dry.

I guess this is why we have a vapor barrier between the concrete and the floor - otherwise, that moisture would just seep up into the floor. And what an ugly damp smell. Still - makes you think!

So I had a pretty good day sewing although I was working with a pattern from hell. I'm not going to give more information than that. I don't want to scare anyone by saying what pattern it is. I might later. I even got the designer involved, but I'm not totally happy with the information she provided. I'm going to do a bit more testing this morning.

I'm happy as a clam in Studio U. It's cozy and everything is CLOSE.

I have my serger set up on the second table and I had some stuff to serge. Oh crap - I'm going to need another spool of serger thread. I knew that and I meant to get one before they packed everything up. Now, where is that cabinet of thread?

Going to need a new spool of thread

Cause when you run out? The stitching isn't great.

Oops - ran out of serger thread

I was lucky! Very lucky! I located the cabinet in the living room and while the drawers were facing away from me, I managed to wiggle my way through the stuff and pulled out a spool of thread. I got all my stuff serged. I'll share that with you another day.

But look at my cozy little space. I have my great white cabinet with the sewing machine flat which I love, although it took me a bit to get used to the lower chair height! Behind me is the ironing board and beneath the ironing board is the cabinet with all my needles, bobbins and other accessories/tools for daily sewing.

Cozy workspace

I love having access to all the stuff in the drawer of that cabinet as well. There are the tools to clean the machine - and they are handy!!!

Inside the drawer of the sewing cabinet

I also have this other small cabinet which has a few things in it. Supply stuff. And you notice that orange basket on top. Now what I need to do is go through that basket because there are things in there that need to be put away. That's part of the problem. If you don't put things away or make a home for them, they just pile up. That's a task for later today which shouldn't take long. But being organized - you gotta be organized!!!  Thanks to M for letting me "have" her little cabinet. It works like a charm. Hmm - I wonder if she would notice when her books get packed away so I can put a few necessary books on the shelf for me??  Hmm - when we empty one of the boxes when I unpack, guess what?? Yep!

Little cabinet

While I was sewing, I was a little dismayed. This machine is sure making a lot of clunking and punching. Could the needle be that bad? When the bobbin ran out, I gave the machine a good cleaning, wound five new bobbins and changed the needle. OH GOD - I remember now - I was using a LEATHER needle before I left last week and of course, it's going to punch through my fabric!!! 

Ready for more hours of sewing

The sewing machine was much happier once it had the right needle in it. DUH!!!  I should have checked the setting on the machine because it told me that it was set for leather/vinyl.

If I have Spotify, can I use my Echo to play the radio? Not sure, but no time to figure that out. I have a real radio in the room and it sits on that extra shelf on the sewing cabinet. Actually, I'm loving the extra space. I just need to get that light set up.

I had lots of fiddly stuff that I was sewing yesterday and therefore the need for enders and leaders. Guess what? I got SEVEN of those red/white blocks completed.

Seven mini-blocks completed!!!

So I added them to the ones that were already done. There were 7 in the bag. So that makes a total of 14 blocks. Now, what the heck can you do with 14 blocks?? 

Fourteen blocks in total

However, when I pulled the bag with the blocks out, guess what I found? Yep - a bag of the quarter blocks that I missed. YEAH!!!!!  I didn't count them to see how many were there, but I'm hoping that I can make four more blocks. That would be ideal!!! 

Quarter blocks ready to be sewn into blocks

That was after I had already pulled another project for enders/leaders. Again, it's a miniature quilt. It's was technically a block of the month with Thangles. I found FOUR blocks completed. Here's one of them. This little block is about 3"????  It's tiny.

One of the four completed blocks

The fifth block was ready to sew together so now it's almost together.

Working on the fifth block

Once I get the rest of the red/white blocks completed, I'll move onto this one in full force. Yeah!!!  I'm so excited that I'm getting stuff put together. But why did these projects get abandoned? Because something more interesting came up. Gosh - I have a serious problem with finishing things.

And I'd better get my butt in gear and get some quilting done as well. Oh - by the way, if you have a quilt at my house that you're waiting on to be quilted? They are safely stored in the living room. Away from everything!

After everyone left, I took a quick walk to the library where I returned some books and transferred some more files from DVD/CD to USB. Let's just say that embroidery files are easy to transfer. Video files take a wee bit longer. I must take a book next time to read. How silly is that! Taking a book to the library to read!

So that's the scoop for today. I'm going to try and get videos of that stash room up in the next couple of days. Imagine if that entire room had to be moved? But part of it will have to be moved to repair the floor. I must check the schedule to find out when that is happening.

How the heck am I going to organize myself to get things back in the basement and ready for a sit n sew in July??  I know what I want to go back downstairs and I know what I want to deal with and get rid of. I'll figure something out. Perhaps, I need to clear the office and that excess stuff can sit here instead of going back down and I have to bring it back up???  Got to think about that. I have one week!

On that note, I"m out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!