Goals - Week 14

I was bad earlier this week about not posting updates to Goals, Stash Busting and the quilt class.  Its been a hectic week to say the least.

Goals from Week 13:
- Post pictures of quilt class blocks and Starry Night sewing. --  Posted quilt class blocks, but not the needlepoint.  Its coming along fairly well though.
- Wash fabric for baby quilt -- I was able to wash the fabric on Monday or Tuesday evening.  I also cut out everything and even started sewing a bit.
- Setup fixed sewing machine and quilt commission quilt -- Bust!  The sewing machine was setup, but not fixed properly.  Back to the sewing mechanic.  I have it back again today (4/8), but I haven't put it on the frame yet to see if it will completely behave.
- Complete all 4 Flying Geese blocks for quilt class -- COMPLETE!!

So I did fairly well last week.  The only items I didn't complete were items I couldn't (broken sewing machine) or I really didn't get around to (Starry Night needlepoint).

I'm not really sure where all the time went this week.  Somehow its Friday already, which is usually a good thing. ;-) 

Work has been a bear lately.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have 7am meetings at work.  Tuesday and Thursday I have 7:30am meetings.  yuck!  This means that every day during the week, I'm up at about 5:30am and out of the house by about 6:30am.  I used to be able sleep until 6:30am. ;-(

A few of us at work have noticed things getting earlier and earlier in the morning.  When I first started 4.5 years ago, it was rare to have a meeting before 8am.  Now, 7:30am meetings are routine and meetings are being pushed earlier to 7am.  Before I know it, 7am meetings will be routine and I'll be coming in at 6:30am for certain meetings.

The sad thing is...with the meetings being earlier and coming into work earlier...I'm still not leaving any earlier.  I still leave around 5pm or 5:30pm in the evening.  So the company is getting another hour out of me every day.  I get paid for 40 hours per week, but I'm routinely working closer to 50 hours now, which pretty much stinks.  It would be nice to get back to working "normal" hours again, but that probably won't happen for another 2 months or so.

Anyway - on the house front, we are closer to closing on selling our house.  We are about 80% packed right now with the stuff that's unpacked being items that we use frequently or can't pack up yet (files).  We're looking at a rental house again this weekend, so hopefully it will work out for us and we can start renting it soon in order to move some stuff over ahead of time (yay for renting from our builder's dad who is ultra-accommodating).

Goals for Week 14:

• Post pictures of quilt blocks from week 5 of class --
• Post pictures of needlepoint progress --
• Post pictures of baby quilt for cousin --
• Quilt commission quilt with fixed sewing machine --
• Pack some more  ;-)  --

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Goals - Week 13

Last weeks progress...

Goals for week 12:
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph -- Done - Finished page 17 and photographed.  I just have to post the new picture.
- Wash fabric for cousin's baby quilt -- Didn't complete.
- Clean up and pack extra fabric/quilting patterns. Organized and packed a whole bunch of fabric (didn't realize I had THAT much).  I also cut up some of the excess small pieces into 2.5" squares for my scrap quilt.

Last week was another busy week.  We found out our buyers are approved for their mortgage pending a bank appraisal (which happened on Friday...we'll find out early this week if we "passed") and pending verification of funds....from BRAZIL!  These people are only putting down 3%...so like $5000 and the bank has to verify that they have enough funds in their various accounts, one of which is in Brazil.  So they have to get a letter from the bank in Brazil and then have it translated because it will be in Portuguese.  It won't stop the closing, but may delay it a bit.

I suppose the delay is good because we're still struggling with finding a place to live.  We looked at one apartment complex this weekend and while their terms are really good (3 month minimum lease, no down payment, month-to-month leases after the initial lease, etc); the apartments themselves are really depressing and crummy.  So we're still looking....

So Goals for Week 13 (lucky 13):
- Post pictures of quilt class blocks and Starry Night sewing. --
- Wash fabric for baby quilt --
- Setup fixed sewing machine and quilt commission quilt --
- Complete all 4 Flying Geese blocks for quilt class --

Hopefully I'll get most of these things done. ;-)

Goals - Week 12

Last week's goals:

Goals for Week 11:
- Test quilting panto on "Tumbler" quilt -- Completed
- Make 4 pinwheel blocks for quilt class -- Completed
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph -- I did do some sewing, but no photos.
- Complete quilt top for commission quilt -- Completed piecing this, but not quilted yet.
- Purchase backing material for commission quilt --Completed

This past week was very productive.  In less than a week, I got a complete quilt top made and ready for quilting.  Unfortunately, I ended up breaking part of my MegaQuilter sewing machine, so its in the repair shop and I won't be able to do the quilting on the commission quilt until I have the sewing machine back.


We also passed our house inspection this week, including the radon tests.  So now we just have to make sure the mortgage for the other people goes through.  We've started packing up a few things at this point, but part of us doesn't want to get too far down the packing road and then have something fall through.


We also checked out a rental property.  We've been having trouble finding a house rental because everyone wants at least a year lease, but we only need 6 months.  We don't really want an apartment because it will mean storage for everything.  However, an apartment may be the answer.  The house we looked at belongs to our builder's dad.  The layout is kind of wonky, but the biggest worry is that there is no central air and the place smells kind of musty/moldy.  Since I have pretty bad allergies, we really don't know whether the place will bother me or not.  If it does...it will be a VERY long 6 months.


Goals for week 12:
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph --
- Wash fabric for cousin's baby quilt --
- Clean up and pack extra fabric/quilting patterns.

Goals - Week 10

I didn't get nearly as much done last week as I thought I would.  It was a hectic week with showings at the house and trying to determine if we were going to get an offer and whether we should stay with our current agent or not.  Here's the progress from last week:

Goals for Week 9:
- Finish quilting "Tumbler" quilt --  This is about 1/2 quilted at this point.  I've been playing around with my own pantograph design, so its taking a little longer to get it quilted.  Plus, the woman who pieced this top did a pretty poor job and there are ripples everywhere and the top is SO not flat.
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint -- I was able to sew a bit on this.  Its kind of my "go-to" project when I don't have a ton of time to do something.  I can pick it up for 15 minutes or 1/2 hour and make some steady progress and it takes a whole of 2 minutes to put away.
- Wash and prep backing for "Shine on Bayou Cane" -- didn't do this at all, but I have the backing! ;-)
- Finish quilting "Purple Squared" --  didn't touch this one at all either

So what do I plan on doing this week???

Goals for Week 10:
- Finish quilting "Tumbler" quilt --
- Make 16 log cabin blocks for quilt class --
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph --
- Wash and prep backing for "Shine on Bayou Cane" --

I'm leaving "Purple Squared" off the list for now since I can quilt that on my regular sewing machine...which I will always have available.

House -- So on the house front, we did get an offer from a couple.  Their initial offer was a complete low-ball offer of 20% less than our asking price.  Considering the asking price is under $250k, that's a lot to take off the price of the house.  We countered with dropping the price by $1,000.  We've been going back and forth the past two days and we almost have them up to the price we want.  Right now there's a $2000 difference between the prices.  We really want to get them up to $240k, especially considering we put $2000 of custom wood blinds in the house that are staying with the house.

If we do accept the offer, we're going to end up having to rent somewhere, which is why I am pushing to get things onto the quilting frame and quilted.  We're not sure where we will rent yet, but it may not have room for the frame to be setup.  If not, then I won't be able to quilt anything (easily) until we move into the new house, which will be in the October/November time-frame.  So I'm really pushing to try and get some things done so that I can keep the frame up as long as possible.

Goals - Week 9

Goals from Week 8:
- Sew 6 baby bibs --  Done!
- Sew 4 hours needlepoint "Starry Night" --  Done! Will post a picture soon.
- Load eBay "Tumbler" quilt onto frame --  Done.  I even started quilting it, but only have one row done.
- Pick out panto for "Shine on Bayou Cane" --  :-(  Didn't even look this week.


I think the biggest goal I have right now is actually to sell our house.  We've been trying to sell for 2 years now and while at the beginning we were over-priced (with a bad real estate agent to boot), we have a very competitive price at this point but people are just afraid to do anything.  We had two showings on Sunday.  One was a couple who are relocating to this area, but need to sell their house before they would even entertain buying one here.  The second showing was very promising.  The wife had been to the house earlier in the week and loved it, so we had a 2nd showing for them with the husband being present.

The verdict at this point is that they may put in an offer tomorrow.  What it is...we don't know...will they actually do it....another question mark.  We've been here before where we've been told an offer is imminent, but nothing came in.  We're trying not to get our hopes up, but we really want this to work so we can start building.

So goals for this upcoming week:

Goals for Week 9:
- Finish quilting "Tumbler" quilt --
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint --
- Wash and prep backing for "Shine on Bayou Cane" --
- Finish quilting "Purple Squared" --

Here's a snapshot of the partial quilting on "Purple Squared".  The white on the quilt is Miracle Chalk that I haven't removed yet.  The beauty of Miracle Chalk is that you don't have to wash it out.  Just a steam iron and the chalk disappears.  Love the stuff! ;-)