Something to Report!

This has been the toughest 7 weeks!!! We arrived in DC on September 7 and made an offer on the house within the week. We have been waiting ever since for the house to close and move in. We nearly gave up more than once - considering rental instead.

But finally wrangled all the parties, lit a few fires (one or 2 will be singed when all is done) and moved out of the hotel on Friday October 26th into this: (the one on the right).

Yes, a townhouse. We didn’t find many (detached) single family homes that met our needs…. in a price range or close enough for DH’s commute to work without sitting in traffic 1-2 hours each way each day.

We are in Leesburg Virginia. A beautiful little city, with small town feel, well so far at least. Near the country and not too far from the city. We both have a little family in the area, so we will be connected again. We are sleeping on a borrowed bed… from family, otherwise it would be the floor!

The house has 4 levels…. and too many bathrooms. See those 2 windows at the top? That is my sewing space. Not as large as I had in Nebraska or Chicago, but much larger than I had in South Africa. It runs the depth of the house and about 14 feet wide. There are lots of built in shelves, a walk in closet, a desk and a full bathroom! The windows in the picture face east, and 2 facing the west, so there will be natural light all day. Only a few townhouses have 4 levels, so I will be in the clouds by myself… most days. DH has his own space on the lowest level of the house as well. The only losers are the dogs, as we won’t have much of a yard, but we can walk to the Potomac in nice weather (so they say) and we will try going to the dog park to keep them sane. Although we can see a huge difference in their attitudes with the added space of the house over the hotel room(s).

Tuesday, the house stuff from South Africa may be delivered (storm may cause us to push that back). With that the kitchen, sewing room and our bed will be here!!! Not sure when the house contents from Chicago will get here, but hopefully still a few weeks off. We would like to get the main level painted before the furniture arrives!

Since we have been back, we have experienced 2 tornado warnings and now ‘Frankenstorm’ is upon us. Originally news reports were that Sandy would make her landing in the Virginia area, but now the New York/New Jersey area will be hit hardest. The wind and bands of rain on the western and southern edges will cause us the most difficulty…. I have a camp stove, several cans of propane and lots of soup, cheese, bread and snacks to see us through a power outage.

As Always- More Later, Beth

A Little Out and About

Since we arrived in DC…. its been mostly staying in…. aside from eating out. We both have a bit of family in the area. I have an Aunt ‘S”  and the DH has a sister (and her family) that live a little off the beaten path. They have had us out to their house twice for a break from the hotel. It was very nice to be with family!!! They have even offered to let me bring the dogs. I haven’t seen my Aunt yet, but I plan to remedy that this weekend.

The only other 2 things that were on the ‘town’ was a Nationals Baseball Game on September 20th. DH has a friend that is also a baseball nut and he and his wife invited us to attend a game with them. Great Seats and wouldn’t you know it was the night that the Nats clinched a place in the Playoffs and a run toward the Pennant!!! DH has part of a Season Ticket , so, for the next few years I will be seeing some baseball again.

I also have attended a Quilt Guild meeting on September 25th. It was a chapter of Quilters Unlimited (click for more info). There are about 7 chapters, each functions individually but has a role to play in the big guild as well. It sounds very interesting. This group meets twice a month, one meeting is business and the other is program.

I picked the best night to attend!!! It was Program! The speaker was an amazing quilter, but not only that she is a surface design artist and she prints her own fabric! Yep amazing. Diane Rusin Doran (click on her name for more information) has some amazing quilts. She plays in Photoshop to create her fabrics, and prints them out using on her printer. Most of the larger quilts are 5 widths of fabric (8.5 x 44 inches) stitched together. Her work was just spectacular, my pictures do not do it justice.

The quilt (just a section) below was done as a collage in Photoshop and then printed. It was stunning and very bright.

Detail photo below!

All the photos in this post were taken with the iPhone 4s, most of the quilts were being handled/touched so some pictures are not the best.

More Later-Beth