How Low Can You Go?

No, this is not a post about décolletage or hemlines.  Our recently completed kitchen and family room renovation has made me look at my sewing supplies with new eyes.  Or rather, having workmen doing plumbing and gas fitting in our basement has made me look at my drawers and drawers of patterns with their eyes....and it's more than a little shocking.  Just how many patterns do I need want to have in my space?  I'm not going all Marie Kondo-y on you, dear friends and family.  I am not going to embrace a minimalist life.  I'm more aligned with the Peter Walsh concept of honoring what I do have by using /enjoying/ seeing it or eliminating it to make life simpler and more free flowing.  So the immediate question...how low can I take my pattern collection and still feel excited, challenged and creative?  Right now I am taking a pledge to cut my pattern collection in half over the course of the next year.  Half of what?  I can't be exact because even I don't know exactly how many patterns I have.  But by next summer there will not be any patterns in plastic drawers in my basement.  That's as much of a pledge as I am will to make today.  
Many of the patterns I decide to eliminate will be giveaways at my local sewing groups and on this blog so watch for future months of freebies coming your way.  

The rest of this post is of a more personal nature so if you want sewing pics and such you can move to the next blog on your reader without hurting my feelings.  I've just had several wonderfully relaxing vacation days and caught up on months of blog reading which feels like reconnecting with dear friends at a reunion.  
"Vacation?"  What could she be talking about, she's retired and her day is her own every day?  How right you are, I am the luckiest person on the planet just to wake up each morning.  But I have to admit, this home renovation project felt like a part time management job and I am glad that the "contract" is over and we can enjoy the results.  There will be home dec sewing projects this coming season but for now the major work is done and I am thrilled with the results.  It feels like we have moved into a new home.  Here are the "after" pics...check out this post Post with before pics  if you want to see the previous 1990 kitchen/family room (minus the min-fruit wallpaper, border and window toppers from my Laura Ashley wanna-be period.)

Our goal was to make a space that Mr. Lucky and I could enjoy now and also make it appealing to the family who will buy it in the near far  undetermined future.  Our contractor was wonderful, the annoying snafu with our first refrigerator has been worked out and now we want to entertain and enjoy the space.  

We would have liked an island but our addition was too narrow by about 12 inches so we have this wonderfully huge peninsula with drawers and a 30" farmhouse sink.  Quartz counter top and new lighting since the back of the room faces north.

We used to have no-wax floor here and now have refinished hardwood throughout.  I am going to paint my own floorcloth for this space.

Past the peninsula is our previous kitchen dining set, a sturdy Amish made oak set which will either become a game table set in the basement next year or be sold at a local consignment shop.  I'm considering having our contractor make a dining table with the side panels of an old treadle sewing machine and recycled wood on top.  But first I have to get a rug for the new, "squarer" space.  I'm thinking of a matching striped wool dhurrie rug that I cut down and bind myself.  Another sewing related project.

We have changed from wood-burning to a gas fireplace which I will especially appreciate on winter mornings.  We also changed from a sectional sofa to these four armchairs.  Mr. Lucky and I watch TV together in the evening and I like cuddling.  We do have a sectional and another larger TV in our living room so we were willing to remove the sofa and change to these chairs.  The room is now more cohesive and welcoming. I will be making long window panels for those four back windows.  We don't need any privacy back here since the space heads out to our deck and is quite high.  Watch for future posts about the gorgeous fabric I was able to steal buy over the 4th of July sale at Calico Corners.  

Plenty of other details in making this all happen but this is not a home dec blog so I will close with some pics from our present location.  Mr. Lucky and I are renting a home at Bethany Beach, Delaware.  Last year we invited several friends but this year we were worn out from renovating, traveling and entertaining so we are just chilling, reading, walking, bike riding and slowing down to a more reasonable pace.  I have loved seeing the activities and projects of my virtual long distance blogging friends this week.  This may be a low screen week for us but I am still grateful for this medium and how it brings kindred spirits closer.  Here's hoping that you have some time in your busy schedules to do the same.

Hurricane Hermine brought only rough seas to this part of the East Coast of the US

Sunset on one of South Bethany's canals

Bike trail on old rail trail from Rehobeth Beach DE to Lewes DE...the first city in the US first official state

Lucky the rescue dog loved an evening on the beach, too