.... for a warm & cozy winter

We have a quite efficient wood stove to keep us warm and cozy for winter ... but it does need a bit of wood to do that.  Yesterday was Wood Day.  DH and the fellows here at the Retreat headed out into the forest to collect wood for the various staff houses here.  They brought three big pickup loads to our house.  Then my brother showed up with a big trailer full of cut and chopped and seasoned wood to add to the other.  What a gift that was!

Oooh, the Cedar sure smells great!

                                                                                

Now to start stacking the chopped wood, chopping the unchopped, covering it all.... sounds like there will be some heat created even without a fire in the wood stove! LOL We have our work cut out for us this weekend ... and beyond.  I'm actually looking forward to it. It's a small price to pay to not have to turn on these old, inefficient, and costly baseboard heaters.

Gwen's quilt

Earlier this year a good friend of mine, Gwen, lost one of her sons and a granddaughter in a tragic drowning. I got together with several quilting friends and we worked on blocks for a quilt for her.  Blocks came in from all over the US, from Canada, from England and even Australia.  It took a bit longer than I had hoped, but we finally got the quilt finished and delivered to her.  Needless to say, she is thrilled.

Until I got all the blocks I wasn't sure what the design of the quilt would be, but I love that I was able to do the large heart in the center, surrounded by all the ones people sent in and signed for her.

Sunday Blessings

I woke up early today to a gorgeous painted sky - Thank you, God! What a great way to start the day.

Just waiting for a new outlet, then the machines will start humming!

This is the kind of outlet we have in our two attic rooms. I've never seen one like it before. This is the one in my quilting room and it is not functioning. DH will be replacing it (soon?) with 3 prong outlets and making sure the wiring is good. That's the last step before I can turn on my sewing machines and give them a workout.  I have curtains to hem and a Cinderella dress to make, as well as a couple orders for thread painted pictures and a swap to get thinking about and ready for. 

I got my quilt room finished and organized today ... well all but some of the "froo froo" things (pictures, etc.). A few are up but I have more I'd like to try to display. For as big a house as we have there is not a lot of available wall space (especially upstairs) to hang quilts, art quilts, photos, etc. 

I have room to keep my cutting table fully open without being in the way.  The only time we'll need to take it down and move it is when we put up the inflatable bed for overnight guests.

It's so nice to have most of my things in clear plastic containers and easy to access. The side walls are 4 foot tall which allows for a lot of items to be stored there. We converted the two tall wire shelf units into 4 short ones and it looks like they'll work out great for my purpose.

I have two sewing tables set up with my thread drawers in between. To get to the attic access we just roll the thread cart out and we can open the access door.

I am going to love having all my thread in one spot and easy to access. I have a lot of room in the drawers for more spools. The top tow drawers are Superior Threads. The third drawer is Connecting Threads thread. The larger drawers at the bottom hold the big spools - the ones on that drawer are also from Connecting Threads.  The next one down has my older Coats and Clark brand thread, mainly. 

  

Looking like home

I finally feel like I've got the upper hand on our settling in to our new home. The main level of the house is 95% done now. So far one quilt is up on a wall, a couple over chairs, and more will be finding a new home. This afternoon after I got back from visiting Mom and getting groceries I headed upstairs to where my quilt room is going to be.  My first task was to put together a couple of tables for my sewing machines and a cabinet I will use for my thread, and other sewing necessities.

I got the tables and the cabinet at IKEA.  I think I am going to like them both and am already thinking about getting another one, or two of those tables.I like the size of them for my sewing machines and I think one would be great for my desk and computer.

Just like the rest of our belongings, I think that they multiplied when they were in storage this last year. AUGH!  I will be going through and whittling down things here too, keeping what I know I'll use and giving away things for others to enjoy and use.

 

Tomorrow I'll head back upstairs and hopefully get things set up and put away and ready to start 'playing'.... once DH changes the outlet in the room. I had never seen a four pronged outlet before, but that is what is up there, in both my space and the room DH will have for his office and hobbies.  Very strange.  At least I have a couple of overhead lights in my space -- unlike DH.  Yep, some wiring and lighting is on our list too.

The weather is much cooler this week and we will be collecting firewood soon to keep us warm this winter. Nothing beats the warmth you get from a wood stove.

Getting Settled - or - Where did all this STUFF come from?

This is just part of the boxes that were emptied today as I found/made/created places to put all the STUFF we have in our new place. What I've learned is that after having lived WITHOUT over half of our belongings for a year, and then having it all again, we still have TOO MUCH STUFF.  When we moved 10 years ago we did a HUGE downsizing. We moved from a 6 bedroom house, with two car garage, and many years of accumulation into a 3 bedroom apartment, no garage, and a small storage closet.  Then when we moved 5 years ago we got rid of a bunch more.  So.... without having accumulated much in the last 5 years how do we now have all this STUFF?  Even my DH is feeling like he still has too much.

I'm filling boxes to take to the thrift stores and have also concluded that when it comes time to move from here there's a lot more that will NOT be going with us. Some will be given to our kids and other things will be donated.

Along with the unpacking, we've been doing some fixing up as we go.  Had to put in a new motor in the fan in the bathroom. Then we searched for the cause of the mildewy/moldy smell in the kitchen (it was gagging me).  Discovered it was up inside the faucet, where the leak also was.  We pulled it out and threw it away and put in a new faucet. Oh... so much better.  We also added some upper cabinets in our kitchen - yep, for all that STUFF I have.  We have a bit more to do on them, but oh my, what a difference they make!

In addition to gathering wood for our woodstove next week, I do hope to start organizing, arranging, and undoubtedly purging things from my sewing/quilt room. It's calling me, but I needed to get the rest of the house in shape first.

We are loving our new place and hope to be here for several years, God willing.

The elusive Baking Powder

Sunday morning our oldest son requested muffins for breakfast. I had unpacked my kitchen and had all my food put away, so sure, no problem.  Into my bowl went the egg, milk, flour, sugar, and .... wait ... where's my baking powder?  I know I have it as I recently bought a new can!  I looked high and low and it was no where to be found. DH ran out to the (very expensive) little store near us and got a new can for me and I was able to continue my baking.  The muffins turned out great.

Yesterday DH went back to our old house to do the final cleaning. He started opening the kitchen cupboards, for a last check and, yes, it's true, there on a shelf was by baking powder, along with some other baking items that I would have eventually missed.  He told me I had to have been a lot more tired than I thought to have missed packing a whole shelf. All I could do was laugh.

We've been busy packing, putting away, and organizing things in our new house. What we have both discovered is that with having lived without at least half of our belongings for a year (they were in storage) that we have too much and want to rid ourselves of even more of what we have.  We are collecting items in a give away box (or two or three) as we unpack. I'm already thinking ahead to when we leave here -- which we hope won't be for several years -- that I'll be not taking everything with us that we are currently keeping. I enjoy what I have, but in the scheme of things it is much more than I truly need.

The sun is out, shining on the hills behind us and there is a light breeze blowing through the trees. Another glorious day here in the "woods".

Sneak Peek of our new to us Abode

Today we went out and did another 'tour' of our new place.

Just four days until we'll be there!