Possessed and Possessions

It's official--- the sewing machine I took to the paper piecing class is possessed.

I plugged it in last night, determined to fix the problem, and it ran like a charm. I tried a billion different ways to get it to do what it did at class, but no luck....figures. This is the sewing machine version of taking your car to the mechanic for "that noise" that never happens when anyone is looking at it. Oh well, it has been an incredible machine (it is a Brother NX 200---the least expensive of the line, but an incredible machine at any price) so I guess I should give it one time of being temperamental....However, it did cause a little bit of trouble--- if it had behaved, I never would have touched the little featherweight, which in turn means that I would not have spent time eBaying...oh yeah, and I wouldn't have bought one....OR--maybe my "little brother" realized that paper piecing dulls needles and wanted to save me money by forcing me to get a machine strictly for paper piecing...Great, I am imbuing my machines with the ability to have cognitive reasoning....
I know. I need more coffee.

Quilting Class

This weekend I took a paper piecing class at a local quilt shop in Derby and really had a good time. Actually, the first 2 hours I was really frustrated and ready to throw in the towel because it was just not clicking. Couple that with the fact that my sewing machine that had been running perfectly during the last week, decided it was not going to cooperate at all. We had the most amazingly patient instructor though--he let me use his little Singer Featherweight. I had never seen one before--I thought it was a toy. The instructor said he pieces all his quilts on this little 11 pound machine from the early 50's/late 40s. It only does one thing--sews forward...but I completely fell in love with it. There is apparently quite a following among quilters for this little machine. The instructor said he paid $300 on eBay, so I figured I'd scope it out. I bid on three and got outbid--they went for $340+. I finally found a good auction and in the last 2 minutes, I put in a bid for the highest I was willing to go---I got it for a really good price--far below what the others went for....And far below what some of the other auctions ended at. This machine will be good when I am going to a quilt class that doesn't require any fancy stitches--just straight sewing. I already have fancier machine for other purposes.....I like the pattern we got in class-it is comprised completely of scraps and snippets. It will be a good block to piece as I start working on more quilts and get more scraps...I am looking forward to moving and having space to put up my machines in a permanent spot so I can work when the urge hits me. I will have a corner with all my yarn and knitting stuff too....it's all good.

On the housefront, we had the inspection and they found a couple things wrong--the deck definitely needs to be redone--it comes off the second level where the kitchen is and leads to the yard, so it is key to the house. And then windows need to be replaced along with the downstairs patio door. Water has seeped into the corners....We haven't heard anything from the owner on what they intend to do (options will be to fix or lower price of house so we can make repairs needed...). I hate waiting. More news as it comes in.

This has been a really good day for just hanging out in pajamas and getting boxes packed....The kids are off from school tomorrow, but I can be sure there is not going to be a lot of productivity going on in the house when we are at work...However the trash man is going to be really unhappy when he hits our house.....Why did we not do this before now?

The mystical legacy socks

I was feeling bad when I realized I constantly whine about the infamous legacy socks and yet no visual proof exists as of recently....so here! See--they are real. Today was Jeremy's piano recital so not a lot of time to actually work on these...but I did think about them. Does that count? Oh well. Here are pictures of both the recital and the socks in progress. Yes, I am working on the pair at the same time instead of doing one, then the other. My reasoning was that would keep me from getting the dreaded second sock syndrome, but I think the correct terminology should be "completed pair syndrome"....

Random Ramblings!

We are in the process of trying to pack to move in June--it suddenly seems like the more we pack, the more there is? It feels like we have had a possessions zip file and as we get things in boxes, the rest of the things DECOMPRESS! I am starting to ask hard questions about how much we want to take over to the new house--even if it is twice the space! I am sooooo looking forward to the move--it is more than a month off and it feels like eternity. I am starting to feel how really small this house is! How did we cram 5 people in this small of a space for 12 years. Granted, the twins were little and so was everyone for that matter (!), but HOLY SMOKES! I am really looking forward to having the extra space to have people over and to entertain. I can finally take advantage of the cookbooks I collect!!!!Good things all over! The only thing we are waiting on is the inspection of the house. That happens Wednesday. Hopefully all is well. The deck is the only thing that looks like it might need replacing, so we will see...It leads off the top floor from the kitchen(the house is a bi-level), so it is pretty impotant to the design of the house....

On the flip side, I am seriously thinking about taking a summer class at the local junior college this summer. I have college algebra and speech left to complete my degree and I have been putting it off for quite some time. I had collapsed my hours at work a while back with the intention of going back to school but then took on extra hours in a department that is my main love, so that got put aside. My hours in mediation have collapsed, so now I have time to do a couple classes. I think just one class would be done easily in the summer--especially speech, since the class would be smaller. While I have no problems presenting speeches to groups, for some odd reason, the thought of a formal speech class has always terrified me. Time to get it done!

Jeremy has a piano recital today. Hopefully I will have pictures -if my camera cooperates. I am seriously considering getting a different camera this month. This one is nice, but it takes quite a while for the shutter to snap the picture--resulting in blurred pictures often. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

On the knitting side--I completed an extra round on the legacy socks today. I HAVE to turn the heel or my son is going to end up with a pair of thigh highs--and we all know how cute that won't be on a teenage boy!!! They would have to be presented with a side order of psychotherapy!

We Bought a ........

HOUSE!

We have been renting for almost 12 years at this same spot but last month the landlord announced he wanted to sell. The price he is asking is a bit too high for this amount of footage, so we decided to bump up our price range when we saw two houses one block over for the same price. One has 1,800+ square feet and the other had 1965 sq. feet. The smaller one had a FIREPLACE, which was a big plus, but my hubby loved the huge walk-in closets of the other, so we put a contract on it. Move in day is June 2 (the other party doesn't close on their new house until then). Now begins the task of purging.....do you know how much junk accumulates in 12 years?! I am purging a ton of yarn so I don't have to move it to the other house (reality: I can rebuild my stash...the other just sounds better.)

Yikes....we bought a house......