I'm still alive, I promise!

Renovation. Renovaaaaation. Aside from the cripplingly bad cold I've caught (I really should be in bed) I've spent the last few weeks out at the new house. We have had to get quotes in from builders (our builder sings and I quite like him!), electricians (charmingly called "sparkies"), and plumbers.

On top of that, we've had a few things to do before we get anyone in. Like demolish the existing kitchen to make room for my sexy new nook. But I had some great helpers. My lovely husband is a king among men. Look at him destroying this kitchen! That's my equally awesome father-in-law making those cupboards understand who's BOSS.

And hey, I haven't been so idle, either! Check out what our old windows looked like BEFORE I got my stain-killer paintbrushes busy...

And after.

I am shocked at how much this has changed the way all of the rooms feel, and they are only undercoated. I have two more coats plus the Aquanamel to put on before everything is white and crisp on all my edges! We have a lot of paint to work with though. No worries about any errant paint-spills in the car...there was no room for any of that nonsense with all that paint packed cheek by jowl!

That's not even ALL of it. I still have to buy kitchen paint and laundry room paint and decide what colors the third bedroom and the study/sewing room will be. For now my focus is the front of the house, which is fine, even if it means I spend hours caulking, spack-filling, and sanding so every surface is smooth and perfect. Not to mention scraping paint drips. You try to be careful but sometimes there's a squidgy bit extra....yikes!

Every time I get cranky though, I just take a deep breath, and go look at my kitchen plans.

Ahh. So nice. It will be my little nook. Everything is purchased (except the bloody dishwasher, Ikea you rats) and the boxes are lined up in bundles against the walls in the third bedroom, looking and smelling so gorgeous. I have a pantry. I have a microwave cupboard. I have a mothertruckin' porcelain farmhouse sink. And the best thing of all? Caesarstone benchtops. I just. Can't. Even. I am the luckiest little gal this side of the International Date Line, for having a husband who only sighs and shakes his head and then says, "Well, okay..." Many grateful smooches and cuddles ensued.

Anyway, as promised, this blog has become a renovation blog, but I SWEAR! I have still been trying to write...and sew.

Naturally, being Type-A and a glutton for punishment, I have agreed to begin a challenge with the lovely Pinky! I am so excited to do a proper challenge and with such lovely fabrics. It will be fantastic...if I ever find the time! I did whip up a few of these Modern Pinwheels though...

It was my first go at paper-piecing and while they are sweet and different, I think I will use them as corner posts. I still need to design and sew the quilt (gulp!) before April. I already know it will be stipple...that is just how I roll these days. The rest is a bit of a scared whirlwind at the moment.

As for writing, well, I was deeply inspired by our trip to Southern Oregon. I'm from those hallowed hills, and when I write, I always find my characters crunching pinecones with their hiking boots and swimming in icy snowmelt rivers. Almost everyone I write is of the pale, blue-tinted dirty-blonde variety of people I grew up with, or at the very least, is related to them. So going back was a giant kick in the writerly shins. I needed to soak up the smells and sights and re-center myself, and the whole time I was there I kept pointing places out to my husband from the book: "That's the bar they go into. That's where she works. This is the road she lives on. This is where her grandmother died." All real places, all quietly borrowed, and all secret. No, I won't tell you. I'm just glad I got to spend an afternoon (that was all I had) realizing my story's setting.

Even flying over the state is highly intoxicating. I'm sorry, are those just some amazing mountains hanging out underneath my propellor plane?

Oh why yes madam, there are a few little hills there among the Cascade Range. Just a few!

And on my parents' farm, just walking up the driveway is enough to make me catch my breath.

I wish I could see this all the time, mostly because I wish I could see my family all the time, but also because this is just stunning.

And finally, one thing I have missed even more than pine trees and icy cold rivers and actual mountains: fog. I love me some fog. The way it safely blankets a place, makes it ghostly but still welcoming, all of it just speaks to me. Fog and I are BFFs. Sydney is sorely lacking in this.

Just a view from like, the hotel parking lot or whatever. Not even kidding.

So: writing is slow but steady, sewing is sadly neglected, my poor kid thinks my friend Ellen is the bee's knees since she is spending lots of time over there with her friend Baby Olive (while I paint! ugh), and my house is slowly, surely coming along.

And I'm still alive, despite the chest cold and my blogging quietude. I'll try and post more often, I promise. For now, thanks for sticking with me as I undergo these changes. It's a crazy old life and this is just an extra crazy bit!

Ta-ta my lovelies! xo