Choices

I have hard time with color selection. Even with paint. My husband painted our bedroom 3 times. In one year. In all fairness, I told him the first time when he'd had 1/2 a wall painted that I didn't like it. He didn't believe me. Let's just say he listens now! So when I went to the store to find paint for my sewing space, it was not something I was looking forward to. I called him on the way home and told him that I'd picked out 4 samples but was already feeling like they weren't quite right. I asked him to go and pick some samples of colors he thought I might like - that maybe he could pick out something that I would love. As always, he was more than willing to help.

Here is the pile of samples. There is actually one missing. As you can tell, he wants to paint this room once and he isn't taking any chances!

Here is what the room looked like when I came home last Friday night. I wanted something different from the rest of the house. Our bedroom is a golden brown/tan color, the dining room is green, a bathroom is brown and J's room is an indigo blue. Our living room is neutral with a butterscotch accent wall in the living room. I've made a selection and a picture will be coming soon! It's a different choice and was surprisingly unexpected. G keeps asking me if I'm sure I like it.

The other side of the room. The colors aren't true but you get the idea. The room does have a very small walk in closet which will be great for storage.

The room is very small. It goes along with the rest of my house which is only 1600 square feet. C had picked out gray with one red wall when it was his bedroom. I liked it - a lot - but wanted something of my own. I'm not thrilled with the ceiling fan but I do live in Florida and ceiling fans are necessary. So it will stay. As far as flooring goes, carpet is not ideal for a sewing room. I'm battling whether or not to spend the money and get it replaced since the room is empty. It's the holidays though and it's an expensive time of year. On the other hand, if I don't do it now it will be a pain to do it later if we have to move everything. If I do it now, what do I put down? It is a bedroom and I like carpet in bedrooms. So much to think about!

There are many more decisions to be made! Hopefully they will be easier!

Squash House Mail & Quakers and Quilts Start

I've started Quakers and Quilts. Progress is slow but I'm enjoying it! I'm about 1/2 way through the first page of the chart. I'm using the called for fabric and thread. Fun!

Last week, I won a contest that Candace of Squash House Quilts was having. Yesterday my package arrived. Full of goodies! Can you guess what is missing from the photo? Chocolate of course! Everyone knows that chocolate is the most necessary of all food groups, right?!

My photos are not the best so please forgive me. It gets dark too early for this blogger to take pictures after work. I didn't want to wait until the weekend to share.

Candace is so generous. She sent a jelly roll and charm pack of Rouenneries fabric. I love red and I'm going to enjoy this fabric! I'd been looking at it online.

She also sent these adorable little salt and pepper shakers! Perfect!

And a pattern for Christmas!

Candace, thank you so much for your generosity! I love it all!

It's kind of freaking me out that Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is just around the corner. I've got to get organized and get busy. Time does seem to fly and another holiday season is upon us. I'm going to try and address Christmas cards (if I can remember to pull them out) and start making lists soon. What does "soon" mean? Probably not soon enough. Does everyone else promise themselves that they'll get it together next year and when next year rolls around they're not any better off? Please tell me I'm not alone! :)

Last Few Days of Vacation

Where did the last couple of days of vacation go? Vacation time just seems to breeze by. It wasn't a productive few days at home but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The only thing I did remotely quilting related was to get these 2 projects ready for quilting and pull the binding fabrics. I never even pulled my machine out. It's still packed in the travel bag from my last class.

A couple of weeks ago, I attempted Swirl Quilting from Green Fairy Quilts. She made it looks so easy! I always have trouble with round shapes looking round. Loads of practice needed (and maybe a bit more breathing)! Check out her video though because it really is cute. I'm going to keep at this and hopefully improve!

Saturday was KnitWitz's 5th birthday so I spent most of the day in the shop. The day was so busy that there was literally no more room to sit and knit! It was wonderful to spend the day with knitty friends. Happy Birthday Knitwitz!

I'm making progress on my Dragon Melody Shawl (Ravelry link here)....about 180 rows to go in the bind off. Considering that the bind off is over 1100 rows, I'm close to getting done and I'm ready for it! Stitching is coming along albeit slowly. I've been in a reading mood lately so I've been doing more of that and less of other things. I'm not really giving much in the way of handmade gifts for the holiday this year so there isn't any pressure for me to finish anything. It enables me to really enjoy the process of quilting, knitting, and stitching. I love the finished products but the process itself is very satisfying to me and I'm glad I get to enjoy it without feeling the pressure to just get it done. It's a good thing too because if I was all about the finished products, I'd surely be disappointed! There isn't much getting finished these days!

Happy Stitches!

It Wasn't All Good...

Vacation with my honey was great...but not everything about it was good. There was what is now being called "The Little House Neighborhood Disaster of 2009". I'll not give details - maybe later. The photo below tells it all.

I'm truly not sick about this. I have not, however, started stitching this again. I will. Probably soon. Just not right now. While I'm not sick about this, I'm also not ready to start this over again either right now. Yes, I need to start completely over.

After a couple of days I pulled out Quakers and Quilts. Looked at it. ...for a while. And then picked up the needle. No pictures as yet but hopefully soon.

Aren't these little balls of Valdani cute?

Relaxed and Refreshed!

G & I got back late last night from a few days in the Smoky Mountains. We had a great time...not as much hiking as we would have liked as the weather turned rainy. This is the third November that we've taken this trip. Here's some pics of the cabin we rented:

This is the best part and the main criteria of a place we stay - a fireplace in the bedroom. I get so cold and this really helps. This year was much warmer until the last couple of days when it was raining. Those days were spent reading, knitting, stitching and just hanging out with each other. It was nice to relax and recharge.

This shows why the Smoky Mountains are called the Smoky Mountains.

I just love evergreens!

This park is one of my favorite places to be!

I'm off today and tomorrow as well. C moved out while we were gone - it is time for him to have his own space. He's accomplished what he intended when he moved back 4 years ago. I'm going to use his room as a space of my own. I need to get paint picked out and the room ready for painting. Everything after that will move slowly with the holidays coming. I don't have a space plan for the room but am excited about moving out of the dining room! Ideas about space planning and organization will greatly be appreciated! In the meantime, I'm going to use the next two days to do what I call "piddle". To me that means doing a whole lot of the things I want to do sprinkled in with a little bit of what I have to do or should do. Gotta keep that relaxed and refreshed feeling as long as I can, right?!