It seems I can't keep up more than a single blog - so I've switched over to a more family friendly blog that catalogs our activities. Unfortunately stitching isn't high on that list of activities lately since we're working on the house primarily but there will be halloween costumes up shortly since i'm working away feverishly on those.

If you want to continue to follow my life the new blog is located at:
http://groudasfamily.com/nicolesblog

So this may be goodbye for my blogger blog - we'll see. 2 months away from blogging here is indicating that it's too much for me to maintain a second one :)

Finally a picture!

I framed the baby sampler yesterday - the baby's first birthday just passed so I thought this would be a good gift for her. I decorated the matte a bit because it just looked so plain when it was just white.


in other news we just finished up our vacation last week to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! I can't believe it's been a year already! This time last year I was in Hawaii! Man how things change. This year we spent most of our vacation working on the house.. details with pictures to come of course! We also went down to NYC for 3 days (well really 1 day with travel on the other 2 days). And this week it's back to work and craziness but I'm just holding out for Labor Day weekend when we go camping with the whole family!

A wonderful weekend!

We worked on the house all weekend again, it was great. My husband installed the new bathroom window Saturday while I stripped paint off of the siding we removed. I also vacuumed the basement and sprayed it with a spider deterrent which will *crossing fingers* hopefully work!

Sunday the stripping paint work continued - as well as some sanding of the siding so it's ready for primer. I think I want to run over to buy some Benjamin Moore primer instead of the Behr we bought if I have time tomorrow when I'm working from home. Then we can prime the boards we have stripped so they're ready to go back up.

This week - the main goal is to get the house clean for company, just hitting every room with the vacuum and cleaning the bathroom, nothing fancy but just finding time for that alone will be tough with everything we have going on.

Running...

I haven't seriously worked out in over a year now. After the wedding craziness and the weight I lost on the honeymoon I wasn't in bad shape weight wise but this spring when I started trying to run outside I realized how out of shape I was - from the itching!

It turns out there's some condition that occurs in some people when they are out of shape - I'm susceptible because of my allergies and such anyway. So when I run or exercise hard and the blood is released into my muscles - it makes me itch -uncontrollably! I was allergic to exercise essentially!!!

So i did some research and the recommendation I found was to work up to running by walking. I've never been a big walker, it just wasn't much exercise for me - but I did it - 40 min a day for a couple days a week. Sometimes getting two walks in a day. I gave myself a goal that if I worked out 4 days a week for 4 weeks in a row I could get a massage. Now it's been since May that I made that goal and next week I'll finally hit 4 weeks in a row! But that doesn't mean I haven't been working out, just not as consistently as I wanted.

AND - as of yesterday - I can finally run! with no itching! I went for my walk and instantly just "wanted" to run, my body wanted it - so I did! My legs are a little sore today but I'm hoping to run again today! This will be a record week if I keep it up - since I hit 4 days yesterday (and I've been doing 2 walks a day a lot in the last few weeks).

So I'm back in physical shape enough to start really getting in shape and I'm very excited I just had to document it somewhere. There is hope and if I keep up the exercise I hope to get in good shape before winter laziness sets in :)

A weekend at my sister's house in the sweltering heat! Well the attic was definitely sweltering at least and that's where we were.

Projects included installing lights in a bedroom, closet and hallway. Installing outlets in 3 bedrooms. Installing a new light fixture in the hallway. - these projects were completed by my dad, my brother-in-law, my husband and I.

My husband also found time to cut down a small pine tree for them and my sister and mom worked in the gardens all weekend.

The weekend was rounded out by some good food and good conversation. We got home for dinner sunday night and have since been working on stripping paint from the siding we removed from the house and filling the nail holes.

This coming weekend will find us still stripping paint, also probably hitting the stripped siding with a sander and a coat of primer. My husband wants to try installing the bathroom window if we have time.

July Goals:
1) Finish baby sampler for coworker (frame) [nope - still need to buy a frame!]
2) Finish Leanne's Quilt block 9 [nope - no embroidery this month]
3) Start Leanne's Quilt block 10 [nope - no embroidery this month]
4) Work on Celtic Banner (Maine trip coming up!!!) [YES - more than expected!]
5) Wire bathroom and tv room [nope not yet]
6) Finish (stain/poly) new door for tv room [Yes]
7) Install new door in tv room [Yes]
8) Install fan/vent in bathroom [nope]
Other projects included removing the siding on the house and starting to strip that siding down so it can be reinstalled after the windows.


August Goals
1) Finish baby sampler for coworker (frame) - must get done now!
2) Install fan/vent in bathroom
3) Finish stripping paint off of siding
4) Prime siding
5) Install new windows
6) Replace siding around windows
7) Install electrical in tv room (exterior walls) and bathroom

This month it's all about the house - no real crafts going on, must focus!

A weekend working on the house, socializing and I think life is back to normal again (after vacation).

Last weekend was very productive, as productive as it could be in sweltering heat and humidity! We removed the siding from the driveway side of the house (first story only) where the windows will be replaced once they arrive. This went pretty well actually and now we just have to strip down all the boards we saved.

I've set aside Celtic banner for now (oh... pictures to come because i worked a little more on it last week) and last night while watching TV I picked up my old Knotwork piece - the fishy! The fish itself is finished, so it's just filling in the background with colonial knots but it's relaxing so I'll try to keep at it in my free time (haha!).

And I can't believe July is almost over! This weekend we're going to my sister's house to help work on HER house for a change, I'm looking forward to that (and to seeing my whole family again). And only 2 1/2 weeks left of work until we take a vacation!!! Really looking forward to that!

I just got back from a 3 day vacation in Maine with Sarah. The 3 days included the drive up and back which is significant (just over 4 hours) but we got a lot of stitching done. We decided to continue the tradition of stitching on Celtic Banner which we started together in Maine 4 years ago.

Progress was definitely made!
This is the picture I took after stitching Sunday and Monday:
And this is after stitching on Tuesday:

The piece is getting very long and it's hard to show much of it since it is on scroll rods but it is 4 pages long and we are more than halfway through page 3!

While stitching we listened to Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder (Glass series book 1). This is the same author (and many of the same characters) as a long time favorite of ours the Study Series. While the story was very interesting the reader was very distracting, mis-pronouncing almost every pronoun which was beyond frustrating. I was however motivated to go back to the Study series directly after and I'm happily more than halfway done with the first book in that series again.

Wow the month is half over and I haven't blogged at all.

What have we done this month so far?

Well July 4th weekend we went up to Lake Pleasant with my husband's family - it was great fun. We drove up friday and stayed through sunday. The weather was great for being on a lake but we made the best of it and had a blast. My niece is absolutely adorable and so much fun to spend time with that it really doesn't matter what we're doing as long as we can get her giggling.

I spent the following week after that finishing the new door we had ordered for our future TV Room. I stained it and then polyurethaned it all week (had to let it dry between coats and sides). It was all ready to be installed this past weekend when my family came out for our belated fireworks celebration. We spent Saturday at my uncle's house ending with our annual fireworks craziness (30 minute show it's up to now). Then Sunday we finished the install of the new door which looks great!

Oh and most importantly - I did some sewing last week (while finishing the door) - I should have pictures shortly so I'll give details then!

Goals - okay I missed June but I'm trying to get back into this:

May/June Recap:
1)Work on baby sampler for coworker - [done - just need to mat/frame now]
that's really the only crafty thing I plan to do this month. most of my goals are house related:
2) Finish framing of bathroom done
3) Replace bathroom window not done
4) Figure out Doorway in tv room done
5) Wire bathroom and tv room not done
6) Prepare for insulation guy and set up appointment NOPE
7) Set up roof repair appointment done - and roof repair done
also done:
- hemmed and adjusted bridesmaid dress for my sister
- worked on Leanne's Quilt block 8!

July Goals:
1) Finish baby sampler for coworker (frame)
2) Finish Leanne's Quilt block 9
3) Start Leanne's Quilt block 10
4) Work on Celtic Banner (Maine trip coming up!!!)
5) Wire bathroom and tv room
6) Finish (stain/poly) new door for tv room
7) Install new door in tv room
8) Install fan/vent in bathroom

Okay sounding like a broken record but we've had a very productive weekend again ;)

Friday night we started right out with a bang, removing the aluminum siding on the lower left side of the house where we will be replacing the windows. We needed to do that so i could measure the windows and we could get an estimate for ordering new windows that will fit perfectly hopefully.

After cleaning up in the dark we just crashed Friday night and slept late Saturday. Then after I measured the windows we went to Marvin and gave them the information, I'm still waiting on the quote which I was hoping I'd get that day. Maybe monday.

Then home to spend the rest of the day in the basement. While my husband finished taking the aluminum siding off the porch (3 sides left on the turret to go) I cleaned up and organized the basement.
Here was my completed task list that I was feeling quite happy about:
- Organized the aluminum siding into bunches by size and tied together
- Organized storage in the basement with some new shelves we purchased (after I put them together)
- Vacuumed the basement.

The goal is to make the basement easy to work in next weekend since my brother-in-law is coming to do some plumbing for us, we don't want him to have to deal with cobwebs and stuff lying around so we're nice and organized now.

Then today we removed the old drain pipes (cast iron) from the downstairs bathroom, saving my brother-in-law a step in the plumbing project. We should be all set now for next weekend.

And to complete the weekend I'm now logged on to work to finish up some stuff. We have a deadline Tuesday that we're trying to meet so I figure i"ll work today and maybe i'll take next friday off to clean the house.

Another extremely productive weekend...

It has been a while since I really blogged consistently, it's difficult because work is busy, house stuff keeps me busy and everything in between.

This weekend however my parents came out to help and help they did! My husband and I got started Friday night (actually I worked Thursday night too)...

Thursday night - I continued moving the pile of dirt away from the fence back to the foundation
Friday night - finished with the pile of dirt! Removed more aluminum siding off the front of the house (started that project last weekend).
Saturday morning - dump, Lowe's, dump, aluminum siding, parents arrive. Framing (2 doorways) and Electrical (removing old stuff in the basement).
Sunday - Electrical and more electrical (it's a slow going project) while my husband did some more framing and other odd jobs.

All in all a VERY productive weekend and I felt so good Sunday night falling in to bed! Hopefully next weekend my husband and I can keep up the momentum and the following weekend my sister and her husband are coming out to help with some plumbing!

I've been following this blog for a while, she's extremely creative and some day I hope to be able to whip up these adorable outfits when the inspiration arises. This skirt is just very fashionable!

Milk Weed Skirt

And now she's linked to another sewer... a new blog to check out for sure:
Loose Teeth Sundress by Loose Teeth

What a great weekend, I love weekends with family and getting stuff done all mixed in.

Friday night we bought some more flowers for the garden and planted those (in the dark) :)

Saturday we worked on framing, then had company, then worked outside some more.

Sunday we finished up some framing, then I worked outside on gardens and moving dirt. It was a productive but relaxing weekend all in one.

We also had some roofers come Saturday and start on the project of repairing our slate roof. It's actually in really good shape for the most part, just one area was losing some slate and they repaired that, and the chimney we removed needs to be patched with slate. Plus our "turret" is leaking but it's not the slate that's the problem it's the "flashing" type metal gutter or something like that, we're trying to decide what to do there because it's very high up.

Unfortunately I've been fighting some serious neck pain/headaches the last few days, it's very annoying and I'm not sure what exactly is causing it but meds don't help. Hopefully that will clear up soon.

Celebrations weekend!

Well it wasn't as big a weekend for me as it usually is but I just bought a house so I have other things to celebrate as well as xstitch :)

Saturday my friends came up to my house, then we went over and shopped. The shopping turnout was actually a little smaller than usual but we each found something we liked. I usually have a hard time not spending too much but it was actually kind of hard to find things I wanted to buy this time unfortunately :( Our favorite shop was not there again :(

I did however buy 3 things - a french book of fantasy patterns which is adorable, a Scandinavian pattern that I've been meaning to get for a couple of years now to do up as a gift, and a kit which wasn't actually in stock but the shop will mail to me this week. It was the only thing I saw that just grabbed me.

Hopefully next year will be bigger but for now it's good I saved some money because this weekend was pretty expensive. We had to buy a lawn mower finally and mowed the lawn. Sunday I did some more work outside, put up our Compost bin I ordered and moved some dirt to our fill area by the foundation. I also cleaned our demo area up a bit and started doing some paint stripping last night.

I'm really looking forward to next weekend, I believe we're doing all house related activities. It may be the only weekend we're both home to get the framing that's left done and maybe start on the electrical. Then I can work on the rest of the electrical next weekend when my husband is away.

May Goals
1)Work on baby sampler for coworker -
that's really the only crafty thing I plan to do this month. most of my goals are house related:
2) Finish framing of bathroom
3) Replace bathroom window
4) Figure out Doorway in tv room
5) Wire bathroom and tv room
6) Prepare for insulation guy and set up appointment
7) Set up roof repair appointment

April Goals Wrapup
1) Hem cousin's bridesmaid dress [Done]
2) Finish flower girl dress [Done]
3) Work on baby sampler for coworker [not really]
4) Complete demolition in tv room and bathroom downstairs [Done]
5) Build trusses and complete framing for blue room [Done]
6) Complete wiring of blue room for inspection [Done]

Celebrations this weekend!

Due to the new house I did not sign up for any classes this year but I plan to go and shop on Saturday for sure! I can't wait!

My sister's wedding last weekend was great, we had a wonderful time and took the scenic drive through VT home Sunday. This week has been a mixture of work and car appts (new tires and such before my inspection). I really can't wait for the weekend, get some stuff done around the house, get some outdoor work done on Sunday - should be fun!

Only a few more days until my sister's wedding!

As I had planned, I managed to hem the last bridesmaid dress last night. It went very quickly as it was an easy hem. I also restrung the pearls for both my mom's bracelet and a pearl necklace I wore at my wedding reception. I hope to re-knot the bracelet tonight and the necklace soon.

Also tonight I got a new task added, I need to adjust the underskirt from my wedding dress to fit my sister so she can wear it under hers. My dress was an empire style and hers has a waist so I need to take out the zipper and adjust it so the underskirt only comes to the waste, then add elastic or ribbon to secure it on her. It shouldn't be too difficult and it's my last "wedding" project!

Then it's one more day of work (tomorrow), some grocery shopping and then the drive "home" to start the wedding pampering! Nails Friday, Hair and wedding Saturday - I can't wait!!!

A wonderful long weekend!

And a great birthday! I took Thursday and Friday off last week to work around the house. We now have 3 rooms demo'd. The bathroom needed a new subfloor due to rot, so that's down and we started reframing the bathroom since it was lacking some studs...

Friday afternoon we spent outside starting a small garden for my new birthday rose bushes. We'll see if i can get them to grow :) Of course all the while we were doing all this I was fighting a nasty cold :(

Saturday I slept in and relaxed most of the day which was great because i think it helped me get over the cold finally. Sunday I spent the day cleaning (fighting dust from the demo still) and then sewing. I finished the flower girl dress and my sister's jewelry for the wedding. I also adjusted the straps on my dress for the wedding.

Tonight I'll pick up the last bridesmaid dress to be hemmed, hem it tomorrow probably, and i have a bracelet for my mom I want to restring (pearls) for her in case she wants to wear it. Everything else is all ready for the wedding I think!

No house work will get done most likely until after the wedding - so maybe next week we'll finish the framing and supports we're adding.

Well the month is moving along quickly - Easter is coming this weekend!

We are having all the family up for Easter weekend, going to my Uncle's house for Easter dinner (saturday night actually), but everyone is sleeping at our house to celebrate my husbands' and my birthdays which are next week.

I'm excited to have everyone up, I wish I had more done around the house but time is moving too quickly. We have yet to finish cleaning up the yard, got some good work done on it Sunday but I spent so much time picking up broken glass that I haven't finished raking!

And all the time I spend cleaning for guests means I don't get anything else done around the house. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow I can get some work done though!

Ack and the wedding is fast approaching - luckily I have next weekend off so I'll finish up my sewing that weekend for sure. Plus I'm taking a few vacation days next week to work on the house. I can't wait for the break!

Well this month we will definitely be working on the house so those goals are mixed in :) Plus my sister's wedding is at the end of the month so all sewing for that must be completed!

April Goals
1) Hem cousin's bridesmaid dress
2) Finish flower girl dress
3) Work on baby sampler for coworker
4) Complete demolition in tv room and bathroom downstairs
5) Build trusses and complete framing for blue room
6) Complete wiring of blue room for inspection

March Goals Wrapup...
1) Hem bridesmaid dress [done]
2) Hem other bridesmaid's dress [done]
3) Finish flower girl dress [not yet]

Well I also strung a pearl necklace for my sister and started the baby sampler for a coworker so March was very productive all in all!

Some more unpacking!

We had a great weekend, we went back to my parents' house, spent time with family. My dad got us looking into spray foam insulation instead of fiberglass for our renovations, it depends on the price (if we can afford it) but we're looking into it now.

Back home on Sunday I started doing some more unpacking (really just moving things around) and we put furniture up in the "office/guest room". I left room for a mattress which we hope to go buy tonight, so we're ready for guests at easter :)

The goal is to get the large red room downstairs cleared out after easter to start demo in there and the bathroom. That way we're doing 3 rooms at once and can maybe afford the spray foam insulation that way. We definitely don't want to do one room at a time with that stuff. So we'll see how this all goes. We'll continue to work on the blue room until we demo the rest after easter.

And in sewing news - both bridesmaid dresses are hemmed! I also strung the pearl necklace for my sister and knotted it. I just have to add the clasp now so I'm very excited! Next on the list is to finish the flower girl dress maybe this weekend and adjust the straps on my dress.

I love spring! (except i wish the sun would come out today...)

Allergy shots...

So it has been determined that allergy shots would be a good course for me since I suffer from allergy attacks (while taking allegra every day) about 80% of the year. Because pollen season is about to kick in, we are starting very aggressively and I go twice a week for 4 shots! Tonight will be my second time going.

I hate needles, i hate shots, but this isn't so bad (yet anyway). The nurse is quick and efficient and the pain is minimal (although the pain isn't what bothers me).

In stitching news - I stitched the rabbits (they just need eyes and tails) on the baby sampler I'm doing. All that I have left is to chart out the baby name/details and stitch those, then figure out how I want to frame it!

In sewing news, I hope to hem my bridesmaid dress tonight and the second one tomorrow night. I marked mine and determined I need to take 5 inches off! So tonight I'll finally cut it (around the 4 1/2 inch mark and try out my rolled hem foot I bought for my machine.

In other news - well there is no other news :) Time to get some work done and have a very busy evening later!

Demo update...

We had a very productive weekend with help! My husband's parents came out (surprised us!). It was wonderful. His dad is a demo maniac and basically did 3/4 of the demo himself! By dinner time Saturday night the room was completely demolished (ceiling too). Sunday we finished the cleanup and pulled out the old wiring.

We did hit a few unexpected things that will be a little more work but all hopefully manageable. Plus after demo we found that most of the walls are 2x4's, just the one interior wall is 2x3's so that makes things easier.

Now it's time to start putting things back together, we won't be putting up drywall as soon as we had planned as we have some extra framing to do but I'm optimistic that we'll have the wiring done by easter for my dad to inspect and then we can do the drywall after that.

That was pretty much our whole weekend. I did get my craft room set up though, even though i haven't used it yet. Maybe tonight i'll get some sewing done... except this nagging headache all day may put me to bed early :(

Happy Ostara!

With stitch night last night I needed to start something new - it has been too long since I stitched! So I started the sampler I'll be using for a coworker's baby sampler (born last august but I was busy with wedding stuff so I gave myself until the baby's first birthday).

Here is the start of The Rabbit Sampler by Elizabeth's Designs:
Stitched on Silkweaver's Everglade on 28ct Lugana. It's the perfect piece for the first day of spring. It's also an extremely quick stitch! All I have left is the bunnies and the baby's details (i'm replacing the alphabet with name/date/weight). I love the colors and the stitches, I can't wait to finish this piece up!

Now i'm going to head outside for a short walk to downtown (have an errand to run) and I really want to enjoy the beautiful weather just a bit :)

Demo has begun!
We're starting with the blue room... first we removed all the trim (trying to save most of it), then had to open up one of the walls just to see what we were in for.
Behind this wall are 2x3 studs. This house is old!
Here is step one of stripping the trim down. We did two coats of stripper and got down to the wood. Still need to do some serious sanding to get them paintable. This is the side trim for the doorway.
And here are the windows, we removed the trim and the weighted windows. The plan is to redo the windows and possibly keep the weights (update them a bit and add insulation though).

yea this will be a big project, but so far we're just taking it down and putting it back up (with insulation). Hopefully we won't hit too many surprises.

Surprise #1: The wood floor was laid down after the baseboards so the baseboards really can't be removed without being pretty much ripped apart. So much for saving the baseboards. Maybe we'll have better luck in the other rooms.
Surprise #2: The studs are 2x3's instead of 2x4's. Not sure what type of things we'll run into with this.
Surprise #3: The walls are 2 layers of plaster board or something EXTREMELY hard to break through. Demo is going to be a slow process!

Unpacking...

That's what my life mostly consists of. This weekend we moved everything out of the blue room so we could start the demolition in there. This meant moving more stuff upstairs and strategically arranging things all over.

Sunday I finally organized both the kitchen and diningroom. All our food/dishes are in cabinets, hopefully in spots that will fit them for a long time to come :) It was a tight squeeze but I got everything put away (including my new wedding china finally).

So step one or two of unpacking is complete. Next on the list I think is putting clothes away! That's a tough one since we're lacking in the closet space for hanging up clothes!

More info on demolition to come with pictures...

Whew! That was crazy but our furniture and most of what we own is now in our new house! Things are no where near organized and unpacked but I've started!

It was so great having the whole family over for the weekend, and room for them all to stay with their dogs even! I really love our house! I got it cleaned up (and mopped) Thursday so the floors looked great. I also cleaned out the cabinets with a wet rag. With no electricity all day I had just water (at least warm water) at my disposal. Worked out great.

Unfortunately days of being on my feet moving and packing and unpacking stuff really wore my feet (and hands out). My feet were hurting really badly and swollen, so were my hands. I had to take it easy a couple of times.

Saturday we got all the furniture moved in, leaving mostly just the basement stuff for me to move. We also did some small repair projects around the house with everyone's help. It was wonderful. My soon to be brother-in-law is a plumber so he fixed up some leaky pipes for us, helped put in a new toilet and new sink faucet. My dad puttered around and unlocked doors, fixed a light, showed us things for our future work with the windows and doors. He couldn't sit still, always doing something.

Then some great news, we took a peak under the aluminum siding and the original siding and trim are under there! Under the porch they're in good shape too! So this summer we'll be checking that out and repainting under the porch (and the porch). We're very excited, although we have no idea what kind of condition the rest of the siding is in yet.

Our new washer and dryer came on tuesday, the washer is all hooked up in the basement. The dryer we are going to move upstairs hopefully this weekend and get hooked up. They sure are purrrty!!!

And it's back to work for me this week. Working some long hours to meet some deadlines friday but looking forward to this weekend when we plan to actually start some demo so we can insulate the walls in the back room!

6 day weekend coming up!

Just have to get through a long day of work today. I took 4 days off work this weekend to facilitate everything we need to get done around the house. I'm so very excited!

Thursday the electrician is coming and I'll mop the house and clean the kitchen while he's there.

Friday I'll mostly be moving things in.

Saturday the family is coming and we'll move all the furniture in and be officially moved in (cable gets switched too!).

Sunday is for visiting with family, unpacking and relaxing.

Monday will be unpacking for sure and I'll go over and clean the apartment.

Tuesday my new washer/dryer will hopefully arrive! I'll unpack and figure out how to hook them up!!!

I couldn't be looking forward more to a busy 6 days! It's all really happening finally. So you probably will not hear a peep from me until next week :)

Our House:
I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share as we start working on the house. This one was taken the second time we went to look at the house. We've already made some improvements (cleaning being number 1). The outside improvements will have to wait until Spring/Summer. With my sister's wedding in April I'm thinking June will be the earliest we do any real outdoor improvements.

Even doing all the work ourselves, the current estimate for just supplies for all the work we want to do inside the house is up around 60,000 dollars! That includes a kitchen remodel and putting in a master bathroom.

This is why we need to redo the kitchen eventually:
Number one - no room for a dishwasher! We're going to have to cut out some cabinets to put one in pretty soon and eventually we'll redo the entire kitchen, put in an island, new cabinets, new appliances etc.

First project however we're starting small - we're redoing a back bedroom:
This bedroom will be our home gym for now. Maybe in the future it will be a library or something but for now a gym. We have to redo the electrical throughout the house so this will be my first try at that, we need to put in new windows. Take down the plaster, add insulation and then dry wall.

We're so excited!

February Goals Recap:
1) Make favors for sister's shower [Done]
2) Bustle sister's wedding dress [Done]
3) Hem my bridesmaid dress [not yet]
4) Make flower girl dress for sister's wedding [almost done]
5) Make ring bearer pillow insert for sister's wedding [Done]
6) Stitch something (bead Barnabee's Quest maybe) or start baby sampler [not yet]

March Goals:
Keeping this really really simple since there's so much to do with the house:
1) Hem bridesmaid dress
2) Hem other bridesmaid's dress
3) Finish flower girl dress

Now that the shower is over, it's just wedding stuff left to do and I've gotten a start on those things. Even if I don't get it all done in March I'll have time in April but April weekends are getting pretty packed already.

We Did IT!!!!! We bought a house!

We're so excited. It's a beautiful Victorian style house, 2600 sq. feet approximately with a full basement and full attic (room to grow). It's currently set up as a duplex but we'll convert it to a single family. It's got lots of charm (including a 3 story turret running up the side!).

The first project is to switch the electrical from fuse boxes to circuit breakers. We have an electrician coming to do that this week hopefully. Then I'll be removing all the knob and tube wiring and rewiring the whole house. We'll slowly redo the downstairs, room by room, replacing the windows and insulating as we go. It will cost a lot but it will be so worth it!

We've always wanted to have a house we could make our own. This house has beautiful wood work which we hope to restore and just so many details we love. It's going to be busy for while!

So far all we've done is cleaned (I vacuumed floor to ceiling upstairs and downstairs) and changed the locks. Next up is to clean the basement and attic. Then do a wet rag cleaning of baseboards and everything. Then this weekend we officially move in (been moving stuff over there slowly so far. I do not anticipate a lot of non-house related activities getting done in March :)

2 more days!!!! And we'll own a house!

We're closing at 11am on Thursday so really - 48 hours left to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some weekend sewing...

First I made up the new inside pillow for the ringbearer pillow my sister will use - it's the same hardanger piece but I made a blue insert instead of purple to match her flower girl dress.

And speaking of flower girl dress - I finally did it! It's almost done - I haven't added the zipper, done the handstitching on the inner lining or hemmed it but the hard parts are done! My sister is undecided whether there will be white ribbon around the waist or white roses at the neckline. I'm bringing it home this weekend for the shower so she can decide.
I really like how it came out, the top is very neat for a change, I didn't hit any issues this time - usually however my messups show up around the zipper stage so maybe there are some I don't know about yet :)

Finally pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I completed this a while ago but here are some pictures of the Necessaire from Celebrations - 2008? maybe 2007?

I made some color modifications - using purples instead of pinks was the major change. Here's the back with my initials - see I was unmarried at the time :)
Here it is all opened (the inside) pockets...

And here's the whole outside, please ignore the crease on the front - I couldn't iron it out and I was using silks so I didn't want to use water. It's not that noticeable in person :)
I can't believe how long it took me to get pictures... but finally I'm done and more pictures coming!

1 more week and we'll be proud (very proud) homeowners! I think we squared away the last of the details (i hope) and we're just waiting to hear for sure if that's the case.

I started the bustle on my sister's wedding dress this week. I added the hooks last night and I'll do the eyes tonight. Then that will be done!

Tomorrow i'll measure the flower girl so I can get a start on her dress this weekend. And I bought my shoes so I can now hem my dress for the wedding. Hopefully I can stay motivated this weekend to get it all done.

Oh and I get to see my niece-puppy this weekend when I go down to bring my sister her dress. Her puppy is getting big and it's been a long time since I saw her (more than a month now!).

Very good news - the house passed for FHA financing!!!! We are going to be proud owners as of Feb. 26th.

For Valentine's day we celebrated by going shopping at Home Depot for a couple of things we need right away, couldn't wait and had a gift card from the wedding to spend so I got a shop vac with accessories! I'm so excited - now I have a reason to pack pack pack!!

We will officially be moving March 7/8th. Posting will continue to be sporadic is my guess for now. This weekend I hope to do some sewing though so I will try to do some pictures of anything I can (can't post a pic of my sister's wedding dress obviously).

I have a good reason for being bad about posting (two reasons actually) -- I really wanted to have pictures the next time I posted (still haven't taken them) OR I really wanted some news about the possibly house purchase (no real news).

We are still waiting to hear if the appraiser approves the house for FHA financing (this is very risky so we don't want to get our hopes up without this). We SHOULD hear by today or monday - i'm guessing monday at this point. IF it somehow manages to pass, then our closing date should be Feb. 26th! I REALLY hope it works out but you really can't tell at this point :( We could be back to square one trying to find a house!

So I keep trying to stay focused at work but it's hard because i can't stop worrying! Haven't been able to stitch or anything either!

January Goal Wrapup and February Goals:


1) Finish Leslie's NRR and mail it. [YES]
2) Make a birthday gift for mom [nope]
3) Make fleece pants for dad's birthday [nope]
4) Pull out something fun to stitch [YES - finished a few things]
5) Make invitations for sister's shower [YES]
6) Make favors for sister's shower [not yet]

I finished Kate's Necessaire (putting it together) and beaded my Shepherd's Bush purse which I need to buy fabric for before I can finish it!

The house closing has been pushed until March so I should have some time this month to get some stitching done:

February Goals:
1) Make favors for sister's shower
2) Bustle sister's wedding dress
3) Hem my bridesmaid dress
4) Make flower girl dress for sister's wedding
5) Make ring bearer pillow insert for sister's wedding
6) Stitch something (bead Barnabee's Quest maybe) or start baby sampler

Kate's Necessaire (from 2007 Celebrations)..

Picture coming soon but I finally finished this! I spent time on Sunday putting this together and really enjoyed it. It was very relaxing and I'm so happy that this is finally completed!

That ended a weekend of babysitting all three of my little cousins! It was a crazy weekend but they were on their very best behavior and we had a good time baking cookies, playing games and watching movies.

Well work continues to be busy but I'm looking forward to more cross stitch time finally in the evenings!

No news on the house front yet, waiting for the water to be turned on so we can get the inspection, still keeping fingers crossed that we get approved for financing!

Leslie's Neighborhood RR finished and on it's way home! I stitched Little House Needlework's Cherry Tree Inn (modified it a bit). I love this patter and it was a delight to stitch. I chose to do a bunny instead of the person because a person didn't fit in with the rest of the neighborhood.
And here is Leslie's RR to date. She's going to unpick block one and Marie kindly agreed to stitch a house for her there. It's a wonderful neighborhood and a great one to be my last in this group!

January Goals

First the goals for this month - it's a busy month with trying to buy a house so I'll keep it to the important things...
1) Finish Leslie's NRR and mail it.
2) Make a birthday gift for mom
3) Make fleece pants for dad's birthday
4) Pull out something fun to stitch
5) Make invitations for sister's shower
6) Make favors for sister's shower

2009 Goals (after January)
1) Hem my bridesmaid dress for sister's wedding
2) Hem other bridesmaid dress for sister's wedding
3) Make flower girl dress for sister's wedding
4) Finish page 3 of Celtic Banner
5) Make baby sampler for coworker's baby by first birthday
6) Work on Amish Quilt
7) Finish embroidery on Leanne's quilt blocks

Currently the house we are interested in buying is going to be a large project for us so I'm not sure how these goals will go. Last year was not a xstitch year, I'd like to get back to that though!