moving and unpacking....

I apologize for my absence. Things have been so very busy. The day before Thanksgiving everything was loaded onto the moving truck. It is a curious thing to see your life being stuffed into a truck. Ours filled 3/4 of the moving van.

Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, we started the long drive to Texas. Patrick in one car with his Mom and her dog, me in our CRV with Max and Sophie. I had my camera with me but when you are traveling with one Mother,  two cars and three dogs there isn't time use it. The drive took three days. The mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee were beautiful even though we missed the peak of the fall foliage. In Louisiana we crossed the Mississippi. I thought that bridge would be the worst. I was wrong I10 holds a surprise a bridge that is low but long.... 20ish miles long! Anyone who knows me knows that this was a very traumatic thing. I am still having bad dreams about it. We arrived in Texas in the early afternoon on Saturday. Sunday we hit the grocery store, let the dogs explore their new neighborhood, got the keys to Mom's apartment and waited for the truck driver to call. Monday they delivered our things.

The dining room, kitchen, spare room and bedroom are stacked with boxes. We left the living room mostly empty so that we would have room to work and rest. My sister in law, Caroline, came and helped me quickly unpack Mom's apartment. Once she was settled I could take my time unpacking my things.

I have been steadily unpacking. The kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room and dining room are unpacked but the spare room if full of all of my sewing/crafting supplies, still in boxes and all of the empty boxes that have to be saved for our next move.  In between unpacking we have managed a third trip to Ikea ( it is less than 5 miles away). Dressers were bought and assembled. I have also met with our Realtor and started our house hunt.

Today I am changing my focus from unpacking to Christmas so that I am ready for the kids' visits. Just wait until you see our Texas sized tree.

packing....

Just a quick note to let you know I have not forgotten about my blog. Our house has sold and the movers are packing us up even as I type. We will be spending Thanksgiving on the road, Patrick, myself, mom and 3 dogs. I will post again from Houston.

quilts, quilts, quilts...

I have been neglecting my blog. I am sorry, things have been very hectic. Our house in Maryland is under contract and we are moving in 10 days!! I am taking a break from list making, phone calls and organizing for the movers to post the promised pictures of the quilts from the show.

There were quilts of every kind. The creativity and talent were both awe inspiring and a little daunting.

simple and beautiful

An amazing portrait made completely of fabric yo-yos.

The points on this quilt were perfect.

This quilt was created using lots of small pieces of fabric that were placed
on top of a larger piece of fabric. It was all then covered by
tulle and the quilting was done on top of that.

I love red and white quilts and am collecting reds for one of my own.

The focus of this year's show was Baltimore Album Quilts so applique like this were around every corner.

This hand pieced beauty was made up of approx 23,000 pieces. Can you imagine?

Wow right?

 I saw many,many beautiful quilts, each made my heart happy. This next quilt was awesome and thought provoking. With all that is happening in Haiti and the hurricanes hitting there as I walked the floor of the festival this quilt tugged at your heart. I can not get this quilt out of my mind. Painted then quilted by Hollis Chatelain this quilt brought tears to my eyes. You absolutely must click on the next to photos to see them larger. The painting is beautiful but the quilting is incredible. The quilting shows images of other children...

Amazing!!

some assembly required

I am here in our new apartment. I landed Friday evening, came to check out our new digs and unload the luggage, then we were off and running. We had dinner at the local Rosie Carabbas (apparently the Carabbas family live locally), then headed to Target to begin stocking the apartment. I think I set a world record for Target shopping. I over filled a cart in 20 minutes. After that we headed back to our soon to be  less empty apartment, inflated our air mattress and went to sleep. Saturday morning I put away most of our Target purchases and realized we had forgotten some things. Back to Target. We dropped off those packages and headed for the mall. JC Penney's and Sears were the next to receive a little love from our wallets. A new TV, pillows and towels then back to the apartment. Big shopping in a convertible means lots of trips home to unload the car to make room for the next trip. The cable guy came on Saturday and set up our cable tv, phone and internet. That took a few hours and our new phone is making out going calls but incoming calls are not coming through they are going to voice mail. A project for my next trip. Time for more shopping, this time at Ikea. It was packed!!! They had apparently had a costume contest/trick or treating event. We ordered a bed and a TV stand to be delivered the next morning. We purchased two chairs and a footstool which we took home with us. Patrick assembled those while I ran to the grocery store. It was wonderful to finally have something to sit on when I returned with the groceries.On Sunday morning the bed and TV stand arrived and again Patrick did the assembling. Anyone who knows us know this is not the norm. I am usually the one who put things together. I was happy to hand over the tools. While he built furniture I ran out to the mall for a few other things. By late Sunday afternoon all the basics were in place. The bathroom and kitchen are functional, we have a place to sit, and a bed to sleep in and Patrick has a TV and I have the internet. All in all a good start.

moving

Here we our in our new blog home. I am still not sure I love the title photo but it is as always a work in progress. I considered starting a new 365 blog but with so much going on I decided to just blog when I can. No rules.

Speaking of lots going on, the house has been on the market for just over a month. We have had a nibble and more showings that I thought we would have in this market.

Our Realtor is wonderful and extremely efficient. Once we signed the papers the sign was up the fliers were made and the house was listed on the internet within 24 hours. Keeping the house show ready all the time is NOT fun. The pre showing shuffle must be a funny thing to watch. You get the phone call that someone is coming and you start stashing clutter, vacuuming pet hair and shining tiles and stainless steel. There are toys to pick up and there are always dished to do. I even hide the dirty laundry. It will all be worth it if the house sells.

I went to Houston in August to beginning looking for a place to live. I looked at 10 different apartments some with and some without Patrick. I came back with a pile of information packets and my head was spinning.




It is stressful trying to find a place to live when your house hasn't sold. I knew immediately the first day of my apartment hunting trip when I had found the right one. It was not the practical choice so we decided we needed to look a bit more. So I spent a great deal of time reading the packets and brochures I had brought home. I searched and search on the internet. I spent hours looking at maps of Houston and then the phone rang. It was the apartment community I wanted to rent in calling to say they had an availability. It was even a 3rd floor with a fireplace and vaulted ceilings. I called Patrick and we talked about it. I called the rental agent back and passed on the apartment. Patrick was unsure and I am going back in late October, we would look some more. I was bummed. The next day Patrick and I were going over his schedule and the budget. His schedule is packed and we are already tired of living apart. We talked about the apartment again and I told him that my gut feeling was that that was the right place. It just felt right when I was there. We called them back right then and there and thankfully it was still available. We have a place to call home in Houston starting October 29th. The convertible was shipped to Houston that week and it arrived last night. The move is becoming very VERY real. I am still a little sad when I think of the things we will miss but I am getting excited about our new adventure.