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