Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Move


Getting ready for the move –

In the weeks leading up to the move I traveled most of the time. It’s not easy going through everything you owned to figure out what would we keep, but to do it while travelling yourself and working full time, it was pretty near impossible.  Imagine my relief when hubby found a large home, with garage and a room to use as an office, instead of the 3 bedroom tiny condos we had been looking at.  I knew then that everything would be OK.  I didn't have to get rid of anything – ya right.  But at least the pressure was off.

I started a new craft to keep me occupied at night while hubby was gone as well.  I had always wanted to do something with the kids event t-shirts, but I knew a quilt wasn't my style or forte, and frankly we had gotten rid of the t-shirts as they became worn or outgrown.  But I had a supply of about 30 Girl Scout and race shirts of my own that I would not likely wear again.  I decided on a multicolored latch hook rug that I had seen so many posts for.  I had all the supplies.  I spent a couple evenings cutting 1 x 4 inch strips.  Each shirt made about 220 pieces.  With the size rug I was making I figured I needed to cut 25 shirts.  Not wanting to end up short and having a block of one color, I went ahead and cut up all 30 shirts.  I tumbled the pieces in the dryer to remove the fluff and mix them up.  If you plan on doing this, clean the lint trap every 5 minutes. Then I dumped everything into a bag.  Got my supplies, looked at a couple of sites that had tutorials, and started.  I discovered this to actually be a good travel craft.  I filled a gallon size Ziploc bag with pieces, and packed the rug, hook and pieces in my suitcase.  Not so good if you are tight on a plane, but I usually check my bag, so it worked out great.  I have about 1/9th complete, and now it sits by my couch waiting to be worked on.  I haven’t touched it since the move.  I think tonight’s the night.

The Move, and the mess

We put our house on the market October 16th.  We thought it would take 6 months to sell.  I spent the first weekend packing up lots of little things, and most of my kid’s stuff, to get the house ready to show.  This also meant cleaning the craft room for real.  I thought I had everything all nicely organized and ready for the move.  We had a pending contract by November 13th.  We still hadn't found a new home and we were supposed to close the first week of December.  Fortunately for me, the bank is slow. 

We moved the week before Christmas.  I had separated out a few crafts that I thought I would work on before Christmas.  I did manage to make a mini scrapbook of all the castles my daughter had visited in 2012.  I haven’t touched anything else. 

After the move, my son came home for Christmas, he declared that he would unpack all the boxes in the office and get it set up.  I was rather skeptic, most of the boxes were craft stuff.  Amazingly, not only did he get all the boxes but 2 unpacked, he put away all my scrapbook/paper supplies and did and pretty good job of it.  After he left I had to reorganize a little, to make it my own.  That left 2 boxes in the office, and 2 more in the garage.  Hubby helped me unpack the 2 boxes.  We discovered the file cabinet drawers wouldn't open or close.  After a lot of effort we got them open and emptied.  The office is a mess, and I still have 2 more boxes to go.  My goal today, get the current stuff put away, and figure out the file cabinet.  Tomorrow will be the last two boxes, and then I craft.  

8 comments:

  1. Hello from swapbot !!! Hope things are going well for you !
    Looking forward to see photos of your new home ! (〃▽〃)

    jellyrabby

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  2. I love the idea of your quilt.
    Jude swap bot Blogging into 2013

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  3. Hi Suzi,

    Hope all went well with the move. Would love to see the finished rug. I've thought of doing the very same thing. I"m visiting from s-b, Blog into 2013 swap (coleenfranks). Following you now too. Hope you'll follow on mine too, even if we aren't partners.

    Happy New Year,
    Coleen, an American in Ukraine

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  4. I can't wait to see your rug. I've tossed around creating a rug like that for my kiddos room. I'm surprised they let you bring your hook on the plane.

    ~j3ss1ca (SB)

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  5. I would have to get rid of so much if I had to move. Yikes! Hope your move went well.
    kraftykj passing thru from swap bot

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  6. All I can say is: congrats in surviving the move!!! I had to empty my family's home and it took me over a month... by the end all I wanted was to give everything away (which I didn't really do). this is Bluegirl from Swap-bot.

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  7. Love this idea, would be perfect to do with my boy's sports shirt, and to keep those memories vivid. Would love to see the finished project.
    megankayden

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  8. Great idea for the t-shirts. I make rugs using strips long, continuous strips of t-shirts and sheets (it's called locker hooking if you haven't heard of it) but I've not tried it just latch hooking.

    jencrutch

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