There's No Place Like Home

 

Well it's official...we are moving BACK to Arizona!!, the beginning of June when the twins finish up the school year here in Texas. Now I know I haven't posted in almost a year...there is a perfectly good reason for that, moving then unpacking and trying to get everything to feel like home etc...well truth be told although Texas is a great place it just never felt like home to us. We spent over 20 years spreading our roots and making Arizona home that well, Texas just didn't have a chance in our hearts.

 and definitely couldn't compete with this,

 or this,

 

or even this :)

Good thing we didn't sell our AZ home because that is where we will be heading back to.

Chris will still be working for Epsilon but was given the go ahead to work remotely from AZ. So the Texas house will be going up for sale in April. 

Also while in Texas I just haven't felt like doing much quilting...the TX quilt studio ended up not being as big as I thought it was once I started putting every thing in place, which means I wasn't feeling very creative this past year :( I need to be able to like the space if I am spending lots of time in it, lol I did take pics of the TX quilt studio and will be posting pics of it eventually though, just not today. I also have not purchased ANY new fabric this past year which also could be for my lack of creativity...who knows

I am however looking forward to moving back into my old office and quilt studio...making a few changes with the office furniture and where things will be placed because I did purchased a cutting table and additional IKEA pieces for the studio though. Also I will have to get to work making new quilts to hang on the AZ walls because last year when we were moving to TX I gifted most of the wall quilts to one of my besties.

DH has also been asking me if I am planning on reopening my longarm business since we are moving back to AZ... don't know yet, maybe, I need to think about it some. While I've been in TX I am still getting monthly quilting requests from people back in AZ looking for longarming services. If I do it won't be until the fall at the earliest so we can resettle into the house and get things unpacked. 

Texas

We are now in Texas, and this is our Texas house! More pics will be coming in the future as I get my new quilt studio the way I like it. Let me say this....moving a quilter to another state is not an easy thing to do. My fabric stash, sewing machines, long arm and all things quilty (books, rulers, notions etc..) took up 1/2 of the largest U-haul truck that you can rent (I think it was either 16 or 18ft truck). I have always sewn, took a home-EC class in high school but didn't start quilting until around 2004, and that's when I started accumulating all my stuff including the stash. Big eye opener on just how much stuff can pile up over a decade or so! Needless to say I am inspired to use and sew from my stash for awhile to get it down so when we make the move back to AZ (when DH retires) it will be 1/4 of the truck or less, lol! 

My blog will be a reflection of a semi-retired quilter, meaning that even though I am no longer quilting for the public, I will be sharing more of my own stuff plus more family things going forward. 

Shortly after we arrived in TX I received a call from my oldest brother in regards to my dad, he is 79 and was having medical issues but refusing to go to the doctors to get things checked out. Then one day my brother was visiting my dad and my dad fell and couldn't get up. My brother called the paramedics and they went to the hospital....after being admitted and many test that were run it was determined that my dad had suffered a minor stroke, had a broken rib and has lots of blood clots in his legs and lungs. He was put on blood thinners for the clots, cancer was ruled out from the many test he had and after 2 weeks of being in the hospital has been cleared and moved to the rehab floor of the hospital so he can get stronger and be able to do more things on his own. When he is able to do more, my brothers, dad and I will be re-evaluate his living arrangements, whether it will be in his best interest to move back to his own place or somewhere else that will be closer to my oldest brother so he could check in on him daily and be able to drive my dad around to do his errands (dad won't be able to drive for awhile because of him having the stroke). 

Just wanted to pop in here to update everyone since I haven't posted in awhile. More to come soon.... 

Ideas For My Texas Quilt Studio

I hate packing!!! Yup, it's my least favorite thing to do. But I will be packing the house up soon for the move to Texas. The only thing that will help me get through the "moving" process is the fact that I will be able to design my new quilt studio! Thank goodness there is Pintrest where lots of inspiration runs freely. Here are a few ideas that I want to incorporate in my new studio....

 

Love this sign...must have!

 

I have lots of tins that I would like to do this to.

 

I love this wall color, thinking of painting the studio walls this color.

 

Love the concept of an over stuffed slip covered chair and foot stool, IKEA sells this with removable slip covers, so I could take it apart to use a pattern for using my own fabrics/ colors.

 

I like the idea of upper white cabinets over my IKEA desks (will have 2 in the new studio...taking the one that my DH was using as his old desk and the one in my current studio). 

 

Love these jars, would use them on a shelf to hold 2 1/2" charm squares for my scrap user system. 

 

Been wanting to remake my ironing board into a quilters ironing board for a while now.

 

 

Love theses over-sized buttons, to hang on the wall among mini wall quilts.

 Love these IKEA cabinets.

 Never thought about Framing my design wall, but cool look.

 

 Will have space to add a cutting island in the new studio.

  

Guess I will be putting DH to work on this DYI in the near future.

 

Would make a cute accent table next to the comfy chair.

 

Love the look of old spools in jars.

 

and I love the this idea but displaying different pincushions. 

 

This would be an inexpensive way to do a cutting table. 

 

Love these glass upper cabs!

 

Great way to store old buttons!

 

Parson chairs would be a nice comfy look as sewing machine chairs instead of office chairs. Could also coordinate fabrics.

 

Awesome idea to add a power strip under the ironing board.

 

Love this cabinet to store quilts in.

 

Must find a way to keep my current scrap user system in the new space.

 

Good idea to add peg board to back of the closet doors for rulers...

 and notions.

So Much Has Happened Since I Last Posted

So I have been missing in action on this blog since the end of September...with very good reason, that I am now able to share with you. Shortly after my last blog post my DH (Chris) told me that he was looking for another job...sure, OK, fine, he told me that one before ;) but then he said he had applied for out of state jobs...WHAT!! So he had interviews after interviews some on the phone and 2 that flew him out for follow up face to face interviews. The first one (which would be his dream job) was for a "Director of Identity and Access Management" position out of Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth area). All went well and he was told that he was the top candidate for the job. He came back home and waited for the job offer to come but it was being pushed back so when another company offered to fly him out for a face to face interview he said why not. This 2nd one was in South Carolina!!! Within days of Christmas the South Carolina job made him an offer and the week after Christmas we were on a plane heading to South Carolina to look at houses to buy. Found an area where we wanted to build a house and was in the process of filling out the paper work for it when Chris gets a call from the Texas dream job saying that the delay was resolved and if he would be able to phone interview with 2 more people within the week. Of course he said yes. In the mean time with out an actual job offer letter in hand from Texas we decided to proceed forward with South Carolina so Chris put in his notice to Honeywell. The day after his last day at Honeywell the TX phone interviews happened and was invited to another phone interview with the company's CISO (chief internet/security officer) the following day. When all was said and done Chris had an offer letter for his "Dream Job" in TX. So now he had to call the South Carolina Company and give him his regrets (but they knew that he was also waiting for the TX job offer so it wasn't a complete 

shock). 

Now with the destination finally confirmed, and his start date being February 8,2016 We needed to get a few things taken care of, like housing. So off we went to the Dallas/ Fort Worth Area to first secure a short term lease on an apartment  asap and then look for housing for us and the twins when school lets out in May. Oh and 2 days before Christmas Chris totaled my 2014 Ford Mustang (it was the other person's fault she turned left in front of him).

 Here is the picture of my totaled Mustang :(  No one was hurt and the other driver's insurance company claimed responsibility. So we purchased a 2015 Ford Edge to replace the Mustang.

 We broke the new car in with a road trip to TX :) and this is the house we are buying. It's in the Fort Worth area and we asked for a delayed closing so we could close on it in mid April, Then the twins, our 2 dogs and I will be moving there the end of May. The house is smaller than our current house but has 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a formal living & dining room, a family room, a fireplace, a loft, and....

 this massive game room/media room with a door and 2 walk in closets!!

This will be my new Quilt Studio!!! The room is 18' X 20'

Now you are probably wondering what is going to happen to Gecko Quilts and our current house here in AZ. 

Well, Gecko Quilts will no longer be accepting anymore customer quilts after March 31, 2016. Once I get settled into our new house in TX, Gecko Quilts will be switching gears and will only be only selling finished quilts from my web site or from Etsy (haven't figured that one out yet). As for our current house, well it will be going up for sale before the end of 2016. Our 3 adult kids will be staying in AZ, our son moved out back in October and our 2 older daughters even though they still live with us would not be able to take care of the large house we currently have. So after it sells we will be purchasing a smaller house here in AZ (which our 2 older daughters will live in and take care of it while we are in TX). This way we will have a place to come back and stay when we visit our kids and the smaller home will be the house we come back to live in once Chris retires in 12-15 years. Yup we are getting rid of our current big house and will have a mid size house in TX and a smaller one in AZ. I plan on keeping my blog going so you will still be able to see what I am up to in the future. 

I had a hard time staying off this blog while everything was working itself out,  I wanted to wait until every thing was finalized. And now that my traveling is done until school lets out, the customer quilts that are waiting to be quilted will be getting done asap within the next 2 weeks. The past month has been extremely crazy for us which was why I said that the quilts being dropped off this past December wouldn't be done until sometime in January (the last week of January/ the first week in February I will have them done, for those waiting for your quilts to be finished, I appologize for this delay but you will be recieving a call from me soon to schedule a pick up).

 

Meet Ares, and UFO Update

 

Ares is the new Grand-puppy :) he is a red husky puppy with one green eye and one blue eye.

 

He belongs to my daughter Rachel and her boyfriend Zach.

 

Until he is a little older we need to keep Hosa (our other daughter's dog) separated from him because Hosa plays too rough with him and has sent Ares yelping in fear.

 

He loves his toys!

 

and he howls when his momma goes to work and I need to keep an eye on him. 

 

Anyways, besides the new puppy I had to cut some more hexagons to work on my 1/2" hexie project. I still don't know how large it will end up being, whether it will be a lap quilt or a king sized bed quilt. I guess I will just keep plugging along on it until I get tired of working on it and what ever size it will be, will be.

 

Back in November, while I was waiting for the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt to start, I started Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads Quilt (It was her very first mystery she did on her blog). Nothing helps get you in the mood for working on one of Bonnie's mysteries than working on one of her patterns. I now have the center completely pieced together all that is left to do before quilting it, is to add the inner and outer borders to it or just 1 more day of working on it.    

 

This is one block from the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt.

 

Last but not least is this little project...OK, I know that this was not part of my UFOs (the other 3 are though) and in my defense, well....I was in the mood to work on something for Valentines Day

 

So I pulled red, cream, pink and white fabrics from my stash and started to play. I just took it off my longarm yesterday...it turned out so cute! but since it's a valentine quilt I thought that I would save the final reveal for Feb. 14. 

Santas' Naughty List

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... EXCEPT 2 naughty dogs! We have 3 dogs, well 2 and a grand-dog that is, and early this morning 1 of our dogs (Sandy) and my daughter's dog (Hossa) were up to no good. They found a couple of their Christmas gifts and decided to open them early!

 

 This is what I found when I woke up this morning

  

 When confronted this is what I got... presents, what presents, I don't see any presents.

 

  and from this one, I was here the whole time. At least they only took 1 each and it had their own names on the wrapping. I know my other dog had nothing to do with it because he needs to lifted into bed and he was still in bed at the time this was going on.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! I have been told that we will be blessed with another grand-dog later today...Rachel & Zach will be picking up their new Husky puppy!

Spring Construction

This past spring we had some construction going on around the house.

We finally added a pool...had one at the old house but had to wait 3 years to put one in here. It was finished in time for Rachel's graduation party, here are some pics of the new backyard prior to the party.

 

   

 

 

 

We can seat 30 comfortably back here now...great for our large family.