What I Sewed for a Real Estate Closing

It's been a few happy, hectic weeks, dear readers and friends.  Our real estate listing went up in mid-Feb. with lovely pictures and we immediately started getting lots of showings and many follow up visits and buying type questions.  The first open house was held the following weekend and we got a good offer and were happy to be able to sell quickly and not have to return back to FL after the end of season for moving and/or closing.  So this past Tuesday we had the walk through and went to closing.  I though I'd share the latest version of McCalls 6201 that I had finished sewing the previous week.  

McCalls 6201

Last time you'll see me or the sweet dogs with this background and I hope the new owners, a charming couple that we met the day, have even more than the ten fun years we did in Florida as snowbirds. 
Will we miss being snowbirds?  Of course.  But life's circumstances change and we have to roll with the punches or make ourselves crazy in the process.  I think solving sewing problems are good small ways to learn how to think creatively around a challenge, try something totally new or outlandish on occasion or sometimes call it quits and move on to the next project.  
I've met so many wonderful friends in Florida and as one of them joked last night, we might even see each other more and keep in closer contact now that we're far apart.  We can so easily be distracted by daily mundane chores and errands that we procrastinate and forget to fit in the things that real matter, friends, family and experiences with them.  

Now it's time to pack our personal items in pods, ship them for a week or two of storage and drive north, making visits along the way.  I'm looking forward to being in Baltimore for early spring and watching each day's unfolding.  We'll stow the boxes in our basement and then I have the headache challenge opportunity of slowly unpacking and weeding out the desirable from the undesirable.  Goodwill, craigslist and my sewing guild giveway table will all be benefiting in the months to come.  

Closing one period and now starting a new one.

More TNT Sewing for Relaxation

It's such a joy to have a hobby that provides a creative distraction and some bright new clothes.  In the last two weeks I've been stitching up a few of these previously cut out sewing projects.  I stashed them earlier this winter when I knew my cutting table would leave so I could stage the sewing room as a combo bedroom and office/craft space.  So nothing new or complicated this past month.....which is good because I'm definitely distracted.  But I do have a few new items in my wardrobe and some nice time focusing on fabric and clothing rather than just real estate.  

Another pair of Elle pants from Style Arc

Another Pamela's Patterns Magic Pencil Skirt

I've also been doing a lot of enjoyable reading.   These are sweet, heart warming books with kind, thoughtful people seeking to share their talents, skills and care with others.  Just what I need right about now.

Well, maybe just some crazy New Jersey sexy fun for diversion as well:

Finally, what makes all of the real estate uncertainty bearable are my wonderful family and friends who are so kind, funny, supportive and thoroughly amusing.  Here are some of the activities that we've been sharing that lift my spirits.   

We've been to the theater with friends and I was captivated by the play Time Stands Still.  Two years ago it played on Broadway with Laura Linney and I was thrilled that it came to our wonderful Florida Rep Theater in Fort Myers.  It's not a comfortable play....dealing with the lives of two war journalists home after nine years covering the mid-east conflicts.  But there are moments of laughter amidst the suffering and I found it very healing personally.  

I've also had a wonderful girls night out in the midst of the real estate listing process, a brief but fun visit with a cousin and his wife and a great visit to the east coast of Florida where I took these pics at the Morikami Japanese Gardens and Museum  Morikami

  

Thank you, Amy, for a wonderful day.

Thank you, Jilly Be

Wow, just when I get myself down in a funk, or up in a panic, along comes another generous person in my life to remind me that all is well.  Thank you, Jilly Be, for being one of those people yesterday.  Jillybejoyful blog  I hope you stop and read her latest entry which is so full of her fun spirit and loving kindness.

Here's the wonderful prize I won when Jilly Be was celebrating her second year of blogging.  It arrived in the mail yesterday and was one of the things that gave me such a lift.  

The other good thing about yesterday was that we met with a realtor that Mr. Lucky and I both liked.  One more realtor visitor tomorrow and then we're making the listing decision but I'd say we both feel comfortable and happy with our choice.  Then we continue to do what we can....in other words,

http://www.etsy.com/listing/74964452/keep-calm-and-sew-on-5x7-illustration

I hope that no matter what is happening in your life, you will get some time to spend sewing and smiling today.

Pillow Accents and More Home Staging

I'm a capitalist and do subscribe to the concept of supply and demand.  So I am aware that what will sell our condo is location and price.....and not these pillows.  But I do like how a simple little touch does brighten up a space and I think the lessons are good for us in our own homes and even our own garments.  Accessories do make a difference in first impressions.  
So here's what I've been sewing up this week in Florida since my return from the sewing retreat weekend:

Two new pillows for the third bedroom trundle bed arrangement, both from stash fabrics and pillow forms.  
I've had that french handwriting leftover fabric (left pillow) for years.  I made a Kwik Sew jeans jacket out of it and my own stamped Paris collage shrinky dink buttons on it.  Now the final remnants of it are being used in this pillow and in my planned sewing machine and serger covers.

The 18" square pillow is a little more luxurious in person since it is silk dupioni with overstitched silk dupioni strips and beads.  I purchased it nine years ago when I attended the Puyallup, Washington sewing expo.  Peggy Sagers had it for sale for $4 a yard on the last Sunday afternoon and I bought the bolt with maybe five yards on it.  I have yet to use it for a garment but now a 19" square became this pillow.

Bead and pearls pulverized on the seam line

I hand basted it onto a darker tan piece of cotton broadcloth.  I chalk marked a 1/2 " seam allowance then took a hammer and went outside to bash the beaded flowers in that seam allowance.  I may have been a little rough (see the small tear in the smashed bead pic) but it's only a pillow for an anonymous buyer.)  I brushed away the remains and had no problem sewing those seams with my machine and a regular needle.  Not necessarily couture but it looks darn good in the end.

East to stitch over once the beads and pearls are gone

On our lanai, I recovered pillow forms with some new Sunbrella fabric, replacing some lovely but faded home dec fabric that I sewn nine years ago.  I didn't do piping as I had in the past but the fabric is nice and neutral enough, in my never humble opinion.  

Even one of Sam's dogbeds got recovered in a tropical but darker fabric that doesn't show dogpark dirt as readily.  

These next pics are not sewing related but some of you readers have seen our previous family room and I wanted to show you the result of our entertainment center makeover.  

Ten years ago our first big purchase was this large entertainment center and even larger Sony honking TV set.  It was a big dark hole in that niche and always kind of bothered me, especially as TVS became thinner and less obtrusive.  
While doing one of my frequent long walks over the summer, I was trying to think of a way to make that space lighter and brighter.  I came up with the idea of lopping off the top of the middle section of the entertainment center (thanks Pinterest for so many furniture remake ideas) and having a slab of granite cut for more of a credenza feel.  When got back here the contractor who had done our master bathroom cabinets came and looked at it.  I thought my idea was so original until he told me he's doing lots of versions of this for clients.  Oh, well, I don't want credit for the idea, I'm just happy with the result.  32" TV from Costco and what a great change.

Lighter, brighter, hooray

Next week I'll start some of those personal sewing projects that I stashed away and start to make dates with my lovely local Florida girlfriends.  This home selling thing could drive us nuts but we're not going to let that happen.  After interviewing a very negative realtor yesterday Mr. Lucky and took a break from the bad energy and visited the thoroughly delightful Collier County Museum.  Collier County Museum Our pledge to each other is to retain our sense of humor and find fun things to do while this whole process is happening.  I hope you have found things to enjoy in your day no matter what else is occurring in your life.

Cold Weather, Warm Hearts

This was the third year that I attended the marvelous winter sewing retreat in Winchester, VA, sponsored by the local Northern Virginia American Sewing Guild Chapter.  Each year I finish by saying it was the best ever.  And this year it was the best ever.  Three days of pure sewing bliss, someone else doing the cooking and giving me lots of yummy choices at each meal, more then three dozen creative women laughing and encouraging one another and then $5 martini happy hour in the hotel bar.  Paradise.  

George Washington Wyndham Hotel Ballroom filled with creative seamstresses

One of my friends remarked that I seemed less manic (she knows me too well) than at previous retreats and I suppose that was true.  Mr. Lucky and I have been working so hard at cleaning and staging our Florida condo that the retreat was a warm, welcome break despite the extremely sudden temperature drop in the Mid-Atlantic.  My flights were timed nicely so that the snows and frozen rains came in between and afterwards.  The first few days in Baltimore were frigid 

Second morning in Baltimore

but sunny so I did get out for a walk.  I loved seeing houses decorated with Ravens team flags and purple lights, all in preparation for the upcoming Superbowl.  I'm not a huge football fan but I do like the excitement of a good party and that's the energy I could feel in my neighborhood.  

I also liked getting out for a walk in order to see this sight.

When I was working full time and having to travel in wintry weather, I was always counting the days until springtime.  I used to mark in my planner the day that I saw my first robin, just to give me hope that spring would come again.  There they are, the first flock of robins I saw, on Wednesday, January 23, 2013.  Spring will come again.

Butterick 5498

Back to the retreat.  I focused my sewing choices and stitched four items but only have pictures of two of them.  My warm up was a Magic Pencil skirt that I cut out last fall before we left for Florida.  The most fun was a simple Butterick pattern, #5498. 

 It's an easy raglan sleeve unlined jacket and definitely fills a void in my wardrobe.  Now that I'm including skinny jeans and pants, I don't have long enough jackets to balance that look.  Here's an easy, flattering woven jacket pattern that will do just that.  I made my first one out of a wool tweed (so old that I think it's from a Jomar trip of years ago) that I put through the washer and dryer.  I lengthened it two inches, added five inches to make it long sleeved and have something very similar, but less expensive at $.99, to a Sewing Workshop pattern.  I had a tough time in late afternoon on Monday getting any pictures on dreary, grey Baltimore weather so here's the best I could do.

Butterick 5498

Since I plan on making a few more....silk burnout velvet is on my mind with rolled edges.  
I also sewed up a mock up of a Burda sweater like jacket that you'll see later this year.  With two flattering jackets in my new repertoire, I tossed that Sandra Betzina jacket mock up that was giving me fits.  You all had great suggestions, albeit contradictory ones, but it was way too much work to make it into a mediocre result that I would resent.  Move on.....
Last project of the weekend was hand sewing the binding to my first quilt, one one designed for the best little dog in the world.  

Pick Up Stix quilt

The quilt is staying in our family room in Baltimore so little Lucky will enjoy it when he heads north in three months.  Here's the original post with the pattern details and picture of our dear rescue dog: Pick Up Stix quilt post  Don't worry, dog lovers,  #1 dog, Sam the basenji, has had numerous dogbed covers made for him in our thirteen years together....he just doesn't show his gratitude, neither wagging his tail nor smiling at us like Lucky does.   
As for the condo sale, we met with our first prospective realtor today.  I'll post some pictures next time of the little sewing projects I'm finishing up to stage us nicely.  A few more people to interview and then we're officially on the market.  Meanwhile, everything is shining and we're trying to live lightly.