Two things going on here:

One, I’m finally sewing in the lining on the Little Black Dress I made with my Fall Wardrobe e-course class back in…what, September?  October?  It was my favorite garment that we made with that class, and I haven’t been able to either show it off or wear it, because I hadn’t stitched the darn lining in.  But my husband has made reservations for tomorrow night for supper at a Persian restaurant, and I’ll be steppin’ out pretty.  So, some sewing.

Two, I have begun The Big List of sewing that needs to be done in our new house.  Sick of hearing me talk about the mid-century ranch we bought that needs all kinds of fixing up and will be benefiting from my sewing machine more greatly in the coming months than my closet ever will?  Tough cookies, Cookie, because that’s what we do here now.

To Be Sewn For the New/Old House.  In No Particular Order.

• curtains for the den from the bolt of Lizzy House’s Hello, Pilgrim that I ordered just for me
• bed skirt for the master bedroom, from near-white linen with little embellishments at the hemline
• bed skirt for our 5yo’s bed, not from white linen
• bed skirt for the teen’s bed, from white linen, but maybe without the embellishments
• convert the second curtain from our boy’s set of two into a Roman shade for that funny window that’s up high over his bed
• Roman shade for the powder room–or maybe just a simple shade that uses dowels
• skiiiiiiiny boxed pillows for the back of the sofa in the living room, after it’s recovered in ikat
• accent pillows for the den, of which there will be only three
• postage stampmatching quilts for the girls’ shared room, which have already been cut and begun but are really much too small for their beds
• slip covers for the bar stools in the kitchen, out of something that will coordinate with the den curtains but is solid, textured and punchy
• fabric insets for where the louvers are in the plantation shutters in the kids’ jack-and-jill bathroom
• comforter with hot ruffled accent a la Pinterest, for the teen’s room
• some sort of fabric deer head for the wall of the Mantuary, because the sweater deer I saw has me palpitating
• recover the cushion on the wicker chair in the playroom/sunroom with the Ikea fabric I brought home that just happens to match the rugs my mother got for the kids just perfectly
• some kind of window covering for the master, maybe white tab-top curtains like I made before? some kind of textured fabric?
• a delicious pinch-pleat drape for the teen’s room, to emphasize the drama of her honeysuckle pink four-poster, peacock blue walls, and white ruffly comforter
• new set of everyday table settings–placemats and napkins–for the breakfast room, plus one set of nicer (maybe linen?) table settings for the dining room, which we will be using to eat dinner every single day once we get a dining room table.  And some chairs.
• throw pillows for the teen’s bed, because you’re only sixteen once (she can have wayyy more than three)
• new knitted dishcloths, which aren’t really sewing, but they come to mind

Serious list.  Fortunately, I’ve been thinking about these things for many months, and for the most part, have already chosen fabric.  I’ll be documenting in absurd detail much of the construction, to use as samples as I teach my Sewing for Your Home e-course in the spring–I do so love to be efficient!  The bed skirts especially have been a loooong time coming–it’s so funny how there are just some things you put off doing, and you KNOW they’ll make a major difference, and every day you don’t do them they get under your skin, and then you finally DO them and it’s such a relief, but STILL!  It takes forever to just DO them.

Speaking of which!  Still about 36 hours left to pre-register for 2012 e-courses at a raging discount.  Find the button here and see you there!

The dawning of a New Year always seems to inspire lists, of all kinds, especially for those of us predisposed to List Making.  Hoping you’re making only the best of lists, and excited to see you in 2012!

• We have super spotty internet right now, since we don’t have ANY internet right now, and I’m making do with a shifty hot spot. So this may or may not end abruptly.
• I am going stream-of-consciousness right here, so hang on.
• Man, am I tired.
• We’re moved in!!  Woot!!  We bought the house, moved into it, and are nearly done with the kitchen renovation.  I don’t usually think of it as a renovation, since that sounds so BIG.  I usually refer to it as “having some work done.”  But that sounds like a medical procedure.
• Moving was in the rain, and it was muddy but not too cold.  That makes three moves in a row where it rained on our moving day, if anyone is keeping count.
• The kitchen is going to be amazing.  A.MAY.ZING.  I am really excited.
• For Christmas, my husband wrapped a house key in newspaper and put it under the tree for me.  Love that man.
• My five-year-old is currently watching “White Christmas” for the twelfth time in a week.  She also dearly loves “Singing in the Rain.”  That kid is awesome.
• I have yet to set up my sewing studio at all.  I know.  I’m as surprised as you are.  Partly, it’s because we found some poisonous spiders in the basement, and I got a little scared.  So we sprayed, and I’m sure all will be well.  But I got spooked.  Also, it’s because I realized that as inconvenient as it was to have my studio in the dining room the past six months, it was actually pretty easy to get work done, because I didn’t have to go anywhere.  I was already there.  Weird.
• I’m heading to the Heather Ross retreat in Palm Springs next month, and then the Whipstitch retreat in the north Georgia mountains the month after that.  I’d best get started cutting the pieces for my Tony Danza wall quilt if I expect to take it with me!
• I have four days to complete the sidebars and inset text for my new book, before my editor really goes to town on it and we’re one step closer to having it published.  The patterns are done and nearly ready to go out to pattern testers, and I have made some really lovely things to be photographed, if I do say so myself.  I am looking forward to resting on this book’s laurels for a minute, though, because it’s a doozy.
• There are still some boxes to unpack, but the folks who moved us also unpacked a bunch of them, which is awesome.  They didn’t organize anything, but they took it out of boxes so at least we know what it is.  We don’t have a pantry–we call the dining room “pantry” for now–but we will.  And if I ever get around to actually painting the cabinet doors, maybe we’ll be able to put away our dishes, too.
• I think I have napped more in the last three days than I have in the past year.  It’s awesome.
• We have no real plans for New Year’s Eve.  My husband mentioned something about dinner out?  I hope it’s romantic.
• Oh, and last minute reminder, since it really did just pop into my head: 2012 e-courses are still discounted to just $99 each if you register before December 31!  Button is here.
• I’ll let you know if I think of something else to ramble about.  Over and out.

I need your advice.  So, we’re packing up to move.  Again.  This is what it looked like when I packed my studio to leave the last house: took 32 boxes.  Not even kidding a little.  Now, my husband clearly loves me, because we’ve got some hourly help coming tomorrow morning, and what I don’t know is this: what do I need to keep out, and what should I let them pack away?  What I mean is, what is it in your sewing room that’s totally essential and that you couldn’t wait to unpack from a box because you’d need it too soon?  My brain is fried, and I just know I’ll let them put something totally important at the bottom of some box, and then put a ton of thread on top of it, and I’ll open the big box of thread and I won’t think it’s that important and I’ll say, “Meh, I’ll unpack this box later,” except I won’t, really, which means that this Really Important Thing will be lost for all eternity and only found in twenty years when we move out of this NEW house into…whatever comes next in twenty years.

Do you see why I need your help?  Take pity, world.

P.S.  See that wall color?  That’s the one we picked for the entire house in the new place.  Just in case you’re following along on our renovation progress.  Living room, den, dining room, entryway, kitchen, breakfast area, sunroom, all the same lovely shade of green.  Or, it will be, once I paint it.  Gotta go.

We’re rolling along on the kitchen at the new house over here–plan is to move in next Thursday (eek!) and be in the house for Christmas Eve.  I am in terror any time I really allow my brain to focus on that too much, so instead, I’m focusing on the progress that’s been made in our kitchen!

Since my butter in life is a good Before & After, let’s really hit the mark on this one and see some shots.  This is the original kitchen, on the day of our inspection:

Cabinets are original, we think, but since appliances are not–and the rest of the house had a major interior design make-over somewhere between 1983 and 1986 (as will become painfully apparent when you see other before photos moving forward), I think the kitchen may have had some work done then, too.  We don’t know for sure, but as we peel back more layers, it’s starting to look that way.  The floors, at least, are not original–they’re peel-and-stick vinyl tile over the original linoleum.  I actually didn’t hate the floors, but they’re in pretty rough shape and weren’t going to come clean and white ever again, so they went.  Cabinets will be painted, appliances were deemed unsafe by the inspector (except the dishwasher, which we donated, and the fridge, which the seller removed from the house when we weren’t looking), and window treaments are a nightmare.  Don’t get me started on the wallpaper border and the country blue trim.  Eeek, indeed.

Here is where we were last time you checked in:

We pulled the cabinets so we could cut the wall between the kitchen and den to make a bar/overlook.  We’re adding a new cook top there with a downdraft, and tore out the cabinet overhang that divided the kitchen from the breakfast area to open up the light in there.  Already, at this stage, there is SO much more light, and the whole space feels better.  Since this represents about 1/3 of the house, and about 8/10 of where we’ll be spending our time while we’re in it, we wanted to make it as welcoming as possible.

Here is where we are as of this morning:

The weird double broom closet thing is gone, along with all the blue trim, and will be replaced by a relocated fridge and a new pantry.  The half-wall for the new bar is in place, and the cabinets are relocated up against it–including the desk, which I secretly love.  The soffit cabinet over the sink is gone, the florescent light is gone and replaced by recessed lighting, and the window treaments have been removed over the bay window.

Looking from the sunroom, you can really see how just losing that wall and rearranging the cabinets makes the entire house feel more cohesive, and less like a bunch of dark rooms strung together:

This is the view from the “brown room,” as we call the paneled den, into the kitchen, before the demolition:

And this is the same doorway from the other direction, as of today:

New, prefinished hardwood floors are going in, and since they don’t have to be sealed on-site, the floor will be done this afternoon.  LOTS of painting left to do, but since the majority of the kitchen is done, that will get knocked out next week!

Counters were a splurge, but my husband–who always knows someone–has a friend who recently built a house and has every connection under the sun for discount supplies.  She acted as her own general contractor to save mucho dinero, and has been tremendously generous with what she learned, so we scored white marble counters for our new kitchen at less than HALF of what we were quoted before this project began.  She also found us an appliance guy who got us new appliances for 40% off PLUS a free new dishwasher (which is why when the electrician mentioned he knew a family in need who could use the old one, we were happy to let him have it to give to them).  All that goes in next week, the very last thing before we move in!

Today, since I can’t work on painting the cabinets while they lay the floors, I’m finishing up work on some very (VERY) pretty things for the new book, as well as my do.Good Stitches blocks.  Show and tell to come!

I picked this up at Quilt Market in Houston at Halloween.  I’m a sucker for a Scottie dog, for one thing, and for an enormous hip button, for another.  At nearly 2″ across, I haven’t the slightest idea what I’ll do with it–I might actually have to design an entire sewing project around this one button.

And is it just me, or does the Scottie dog seem somehow seasonally appropriate?  Maybe it’s the plaid?