I haven’t quilted since shortly after making the decision to move in April.  Looking back through my posts, it appears I attempted to work on a top in April, and in early May I put together some “frankenbatts”.  Since then I’ve been packing, unpacking, and looking for contractors.

This past Monday, I did go to a Guild meeting.  Quilters By Hearts’ Desire is an evening guild which meets the 3rd Monday in Brandon, MS.  It’s an easy 15 minute drive for me.  I enjoyed the meeting and believe I’ll be joining this Guild.  There is another evening guild the 1st Monday of the month which I will visit in a couple of weeks.

So, to my sanity.  When the movers unloaded the truck anything related to sewing got shoved into the front bedroom. Or more accurately, if it wasn’t clearly kitchen, dining room, Christmas, books or music, or ‘garage’ it got shoved into the front bedroom.  As it turns out there are “basement” things in the front room – although much of “basement” is fabric related.  Anyway, the Mississippi Quilt Association’s Fall Gathering is coming up October 1st & 2nd.  During the event there will be show and tell for the BOM we’ve been working on. All my blocks are done. All they need is a bit of sashing and a border.  Hum…I could get that done.  Ha!  Step one locate the blocks.

So, because it’s been so long since I’ve played in my fabric, I put together the fabric shelves and started loading them.  They are currently in my living room – not where they will end up.   I have more small totes than shelf space so I’m ruminating on ideas, but that will have to wait.

I finally found my blocks. Originally I over looked them because I thought I was looking in an office box, not a sewing room box.

So, this evening I went to the local quilt shop The Cotton Blossom.  I picked out the turquoise fabric for the border and opted for white as the sashings.

Now the only question is will I get the top done.  I’ll need to find a spot to sew in. For now that’s going to be the corner of my den.

It’s been a busy week here in Ridgeland.  The electricians arrived on Tuesday to start their work.  I think they came in around 7:30. They were back Thursday and Friday at 6:00 AM!  This morning the gutter guys also showed up at 7:00 AM.  Everyone is trying to beat the heat.  Although today has been absolutely gorgeous.  Low humidity and it didn’t get up to 80 degrees until around Noon.

Tomorrow’s plans include looking for a new-to-me washer and dryer to get me through until I redo the kitchen and laundry room in a year or so.

About 2 hours after my last post, we looked at the weather and decided to check out of the hotel and head for home.  We got into Ridgeland around 11 PM with only light showers for the last hour.  We unloaded the essentials and called it a night.

Hurricane Ida came through sometime during the night – the fence gate banged open, but no damage.  In the neighborhood lots of pine straw on the street, but I didn’t see much else when I went over to Ruby’s.  We sat out on her covered patio and watched the rain.  It reminded me of sitting on my grandparent’s screen porch when Camille came in.

Tuesday morning was the big day.  The moving truck arrived. Since I’m on a cul-de-sac, the driver had to back in.  It probably took them 4 hours to unload the truck.  I’m not doing much unpacking since there is so much work to be done on the house.  The bed is made and that’s about all I’ve gotten done.

The electricians have been rescheduled for next Tuesday.  They have work to do due to Ida, and quite frankly I could use the time to clear out the bonus room.  All the garage stuff ended up in the bonus room and I’ve got to figure out where to put it to get it out of the way.

Today, after paying my bills I’m off to order a washer and dryer and maybe buy a small microwave.

Saturday was moving day.  The cats are packed – but they smelled/tastes the meds I was to give them, so they didn’t eat anything before we left.  Gracie rode with me since she was so traumatized.

The plan was to spend one night on the road.  But I’ve chosen to move during a tornado. Needless to say I was on the phone yesterday morning extending my hotel reservation.

The cats have made themselves at home.  Gracie is hiding under the bedskirt on the far side of the bed.

This morning, Gracie & Butterscotch were in the window when I woke up.

Sherbert is checking out the large shower.

My household goods are supposed to arrive on Tuesday. I’m not sure what this hurricane is going to do to those plans.  I guess we’ll find out.

I’m guessing I started sewing when I was in the 4th or 5th grade.  But my first patchwork happened when I was in 7th grade.  I made this pillow cover as a visual aid to a math project. I’ve got the project paper around somewhere.  This was another find as I opened up a box of stuff that I’m not taking to Mississippi.

This quilted pillow cover was also in the box.  I’m dating this one to 1980 based on the inner border.

It’s the same fabric that I used in my first quilt.

Both of these pieces are going with me.

Moving a piano is challenging – especially when it’s a grand piano vs an upright piano.

• The piano has to be broken down to move
• It has to be moved
• The piano has to be setup in the new location

I only found one company that could do all three steps – Modern Piano Moving.  Yesterday was the day the process started.

It took about an hour to breakdown the piano and load it on the truck.  Since this company only moves pianos, there are many pianos on the truck. That means many stops before they get the piano to me.  I think the last estimate is that it will be delivered in October.  That’s not an issue since I need to get the flooring down before the piano comes in. The only question is will I have the floor down by then!

If I can cut a 1-1/2″ square out of a scrap — or get a 3/4″ wide string out of a scrap, I don’t toss it. I started quilting in the early 2000’s and by 2009 I had a huge pile of scraps, plus scraps given to me by friends. By the end of July 2009 I managed to tame all of my scraps.  I even kept them caught up as I generated them until January 2012 when I got lazy again.  So, here we are 10 years later and I’m moving.

As big as my new Quilting Studio is, I have not worked out the fabric storage yet. So, I made the executive decision that any scrap not currently tamed has to go.  After all they do multiply when your back is turned.  I some of the scraps sorted by color, some bags were not.  There was that whole drawer of shirting scraps under the ironing board. I simply cannot believe I have 5 big bags of scraps!

Fortunately with a Facebook post I was able to find takers.

I’ve lived in this house for over 21 years.  It’s now a mad dash to sort through 21 years of accumulated stuff (well, really closer to 40) and get it sorted before the movers show up at the end of August to pack.

I talked to a realtor on April 8th.  Flew down mid-May to look at 3 houses – 2 which hadn’t hit the market and 1 which I was out bid by 2 different people — after I made an offer of $10K over asking!  I ultimately bought this house, even though it needs LOTS of cosmetic work.

This is the room which sold the house – my future Quilt Studio.

I closed on the house mid-June and spent 2 two weeks working remotely — although I work remotely all the time – and working on getting quotes for various projects.  All but 2 outlets were replaced (didn’t know about them), all light switches were replaced, 3 ceiling fans were replaced, the stove switch was fixed, I have gutters scheduled for installation in August, the rotted fascia and soffit was repaired, and discovered the AC for the bonus room is not hardwired.

When I got back to Kansas City, the Great Purge ramped-up with a 96 hour interruption to see just how much water damage there was in the new Quilt Studio.  My brother and I few down to Ridgeland and then next thing I knew the Quilt Studio and Sunroom is ready for the electricians to come in September 1st.

We spent the weekend ripping out the paneling & insulation. Then my brother repaired the exterior walls on the patio side of the Quilt Studio and Sunroom.

While he was at it, he moved the wall into the storage area so I’ll have a 96″ wide design wall.

We took out two windows (left is my office, the right is the den) and framed them for doors.

He also took out the window from the master bath over looking the Sunroom. Other projects that weekend included ripping out the built in bookcases in the bonus area, the bookcases in the Den, all of the trim in the den, living room and dining room, and setting a toilet in the master bath. We also talked to the electrician about wiring the bonus area. Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to Kansas City.

Projects are happening in Kansas City as well.  The last picture I posted of my house the shutters were bright blue.  I had the exterior painted in Sherwin-William “Steamed Milk”.  The painter suggested painting the shutters black, which worked for me as I had not picked a color for them.  He started the day before I got home.  The garage doors & openers were replaced the day I got home.  The rooms which have not been painted recently will be painted after I move out, the hardwood floors refinished and new flooring put in the kitchen. Then the house goes on the market.

So that means I have 28 days to finish the Great Purge of 2021.

I’ll worry about the new house when I get there.

The sorting and sifting continues.  Decisions on cost of replacing vs. cost of storing and moving and maybe using it.  Friday the focus was on batting scraps. This pile did not make the cut.

This week I’ve made 6 ‘Frankenbatts’.  Two of them have been used.  The two on the right I prepped to use with my Easy Breezy quilt tops. – one is 48 x 64 the other 52 x 64.  The two on right are “speculative” batts.  One is 76 x 103, the other 75 x 80. The piece on top is 44 x 50 and is not pieced. I already have a tote bag of 2 1/2″ strips to make jelly roll rugs. More scraps will be generated, so it’s time for the remaining scraps to go.

Since I last posted, I’ve made some progress unpacking and sorting through the boxes in my husband’s office. I finally got all of the books unpacked and sorted through.  There are books in the car to take to the thrift shop along with a bag of shoes.  I have 2 more bags ready to take to the car later this morning.  In the meantime I’ve finally started refolding my quilts to put on the top shelf of the linen closet.

There is a quilt in each of those pillowcases.  From the bottom up.

• Pink & Black Chain of Stars
• Metamorphosis  – a Dresden Plate made mostly from a recycled skirt
• Three Sisters Choice
• Carolina Chain
• QIAD Birthday Swap
• Simply Squares
• Narragansett Blues
• No Blue Geese
• Egg Money Quilt

There is no more space on the top shelf, but yet I have more quilts to prep for moving. The quilt not in a case is En Provence. I still haven’t made the pillowcases to go with this quilt.

These have been washed and need to be stuffed into a pillowcase — once I figure out where I’m going to stash them.  At one point I had quilts in an old glass front stereo cabinet, but I’m not going to take the cabinet with me.

I thought I had all the quilts gathered up, but realized Allietare was not in this stack.  It’s in my husband’s office along with Wonky Dishes and Alphabet BOM.

But there are more!  There are 2 quilts on the sofa which need to be washed, 2 on the daybed in my office, 1 in the dryer, 6 hanging on the walls, and 2 in the sewing room. There are also smaller quilts/wall hangings under En Provence in the closet.  This does not include family quilts which have been passed down to me.  It looks like I need a 4 bedroom home after all  — longarm/sewing room, my room, the office, and a quilt storage room, which will double as a guest bedroom.

Each one of these quilts has a story and memories. And I haven’t gotten to the crocheted & knitted afghans and fleece blankets which have been given to me over the years or I’ve made.