Resurfacing

I have been very absent for quite a while, and have received many emails wondering where I've been. It's been a tumultuous eight months for me, containing many life changes. I want to start by thanking my absolutely amazing friends and family for being the best support a girl can ask for. Girlfriends are THE BEST, and I have the absolute creme de la creme of girlfriends.
I have spent the last few months in the throws of house searching. I looked at over 40 houses (thank you to the best realtor EVER, Anne) and finally found the one that had the most features and potential that I wanted for a decent price.
It was harrowing dealing with completely awful listing company, the bank and what not, but after 40+ houses, I knew this was the one for me. And being relatively stubborn, ahem, make that persistent, I kept my eye on the prize and reached waaayyy down to channel my inner patience and eventually persevered and the house was mine! It had exactly what I was looking for, wood floors, space for a double oven (I have decided that I can not live without double ovens ever again), and a sewing room on the first floor with windows.
This house has all that, and a killer hill in the front yard that took me 4 hours to mow the first time with my used 20 year old lawn mower!!! The next day all the neighbors stopped to tell me "Oh, we watched you mowing the lawn yesterday, that looked like really hard work!". I guess the bonus is that had I fallen down the hill with the lawn mower, everyone was watching so I'm sure someone would have called 911 for me! I have since invested in a self propelled lawn mower, it still takes me 2 hours, but I can get over the tree roots and rocks now. I'm calling it the buns of steel yard.

I have some before pics, but haven't stopped long enough to take decent afters yet, so here's a couple to show just a wee bit of what I've done. Keep in mind they are 'in process' pics, so the colors aren't great and the rooms are messy!

Fireplace room before

Fireplace room w/some new paint, but not finished



Kitchen window before



Kitchen window and cabinets before



Kitchen window after.
The curtains are just tacked up with pins right now,
 but I just couldn't wait to see the Rouenneries Bird Toile against my new walls!!!

Master bedroom hallway before

Master bedroom hallway after



And the most important room of all, the sewing room before.
The green room through the French Doors is my sewing room!!!

I've been busy sewing, so I haven't taken any 'after' pics yet. I'm going to try to take some good ones tomorrow and this weekend to share. I'm quite proud of how much I've accomplished with the help of family and friends in a couple of short months. 

And I have to totally do a special shout out of thanks Ashley, Pattie,Pat, Michelle, Lorrie, Paige, Kelly, Shelley, TJ, Amy and Emily for your patience and input with the crazy decorating decisions from the myriad of choices I've thrown at you all for the last several months!

It's so satisfying when everything turns out exactly as I envisioned it. I wanted serene and peaceful and by jove, I think I've got it!

I had to take a break on the crazy house stuff for a bit because I have deadlines on a couple of quilts. I just pinned this one last night:

I'm calling it Wild Kingdom. The zebra is two different kinds of minky.

The next quilt deadline involves these fabrics:

And since I don't want to move all of my fabric collection, there will be another QUILT FABRIC GARAGE SALE in Algonquin, the weekend of August 17-19. So mark your calendars and check back here for details!!!