Waking Up From A Dream

The unfortunate thing about waking up from a dream is that you then have to face reality and many times, it would have been better if the dream had just remained that…a dream.

Thank you all so much for your kind words and support after reading about our serendipitous stumbling upon my dream home.

Although my dream is still alive, at this time it is only hanging on my mere threads.  We had asked our realtor to provide us with the answers to some of our major concerns such as yearly costs for heating, electric, taxes, rural high speed internet, trash collection and any other incidentals that would affect our monthly carrying charges.

We were certainly given a dose of reality to awaken us from our dream when Jenn, our realtor, came back with the answers yesterday.  The brutal truth is that the basic everyday costs to run my dream home would cost us approximately $500-$600 more per month than our current costs, with the majority being the increase in  the cost of heating.  There is a substantial  cost difference between heating with natural gas which we currently have and oil.   What a slap in the face that news was!

The truth of the matter is, unless we can do some serious negotiations with the list price of the house, it looks like our dream might just fade into the proverbial sunset.  We still have time to think about it and to crunch more numbers, but in our heart of hearts, we know that the bottom line won’t change, given the volatile price of oil  and both Mr. Painted Quilt and I are not risk-takers when it comes to this sort of thing.

So I’m prepared to allow my dream remain a dream…until my next serendipitous encounter with a stone house with a ‘for sale’ sign on the lawn.   *wink*

Have a super day and as always…

Happy stitching!  

Kaaren ♥

Is It Just a Dream?

We found it…and purely by accident.

Saturday, was a beautiful autumn day.  The skies were blue, the sun was shining and there was a little nip in the air.  Mr. Painted Quilt and I decided to partake in one of our favorite pastimes…travelling the back roads with no particular destination in mind.

With Mr. PQ behind the wheel, we headed out with nothing  in mind other than to just enjoy the day, each other’s company and the scenery.  About two hours and 100 miles later, we found ourselves in an area of Ontario that is renowned for it’s 150-200 year old stone houses. 

I cannot resist looking at and admiring every stone house that I see.  You can well imagine the heaven I was in being in this part of the country where there are quite a few of them.  Bliss!

After a while,  our stomachs started to remind us that we hadn’t had any lunch and it was nearing two o’clock.  We decided to head into the nearest town to find a place to eat.

As we made our way down the road, there was a sign indicating that there was a curve ahead which caused Mr. PQ to slow down.  As we came out of the curve, we saw it.

My dream home…with a for sale sign!

It must be a dream!  I pleaded with Sam to turn around so that we could drive by it again.  He did and we pulled over to the side of the road and tried to take in as much as we could without leaving the vehicle.  I wrote down the details from the sign and called the listing agent.  Note: The above photo I copied from the listing.  Did you notice the difference in the sky from the one I took?

To make a long story short, we went to see the house yesterday.  It is indeed my dream home.  It sits on five acres in a rural area but is only a short 15 minute drive to town. Located on the St. Lawrence River, Brockville is noted for it’s history and architecture.  Most of the buildings in the downtown core are made from stone as well. 

After spending quite a bit of time going through the house, we came up with a list of questions about the property which our realtor is researching for us and the answers will determine  at to whether this home could become ours.  I am trying so hard to not allow my emotions to take over because I don’t want to be disappointed if things don’t work out.  Hopefully by Wednesday we’ll have an idea as to whether we’ll proceed with an offer to purchase.

To change the subject and to try to get my mind to think of other things, I did manage to complete the October block of Bunny Hill’s Tisket-A-Tasket BOM.

I chose to do mine in wool and exercised a bit of artistic licence and changed a few things from the original design.  Only two more to go!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

So now I’m off to try to keep my hands and mind occupied.  Wish me luck and as always…

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

Catching Up and a Bit of Shopping

It was a busy and productive weekend here at the Painted Quilt.  Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving, so that translated into an extra day off to devote time to some  outdoor chores in preparation for winter.

Mr. Painted Quilt and I spent about two and a half hours in our gardens cutting back the rest of the perennials, putting away lawn furniture and birdbaths, raking leaves and fertilizing the lawn.  The bird feeders are out and the chickadees, blue jays and cardinals are happy once again.  Thank goodness that job is done because winter…we’re ready!

We went to NY state on Saturday to do a bit of shopping and of course a day of shopping wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a LQS.  I managed to pick up 6 yards of some Fig Tree Quilts fabric that was reduced to $4 a yard which is destined to be used as backing for a yet to be determined quilt.  At that price, I just couldn’t resist.

I also found some cheddar and green Civil War fabrics that I needed for my stash.  Somehow, I was lacking in greens but I solved that problem quite nicely.  I also purchased some wide black rick rack and and a subtle fall-themed fabric.

One of my Christmas gifts this year is the Tisket-A-Tasket BOM quilt from Bunny Hill Designs that I am making for my friend Lucie.  I completed the August and September blocks just recently and decided to assemble the nine blocks that were finished in order to save time in December when the last block will be released.  I am doing this quilt in wool on cotton and although there are still embellishments to be added, here’s what it looks like so far.  Of course I had to change the Scottie dog in the September block  to look like Mac, our Westie.

 I hope to be finished the October block sometime today.  Then, two more blocks to go!  I’m going to have to move quickly to get the last block done after it is released on the 5th of December because I would like to hand quilt it and have it wrapped and under Lucie’s tree by the 24th.  Yikes!  But I work well under pressure.  *wink*

Have a super day and as always…

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

 

RAK’s and Stuff…

This post is a bit overdue in some instances but I do have an excuse, albeit a lame one, in that I’ve been working hard on finishing up my swap commitments and FFF (First Friday Freebies) projects.

I know I have said this before and forgive me if I sound like a broken record (now that’s dating me isn’t it?) but I’ve been so blessed since I started blogging with the many friends I’ve made from around this great world we live in…which, BTW, has gotten a lot smaller as a result.

One of the first gals who visited my blog was Carrie P.  Carrie made me feel so welcome back then and continues to even now with her friendship and very giving and sharing nature.   I think the blogging world knows of my ongoing ♥ affair with wool and pincushions, and look what arrived in my post box a while back…

An amazing woolen hat pincushion that Carrie made for me!

Then not too long ago, I blogged about how I ♥ x-stitch samplers and that the only way that I was ever going to own one was to make one myself.  I read what I could find on line about teaching oneself to x-stitch, and I did manage to make two small and not too detailed samplers which I ♥ to death. 

Well I guess Vikki read about my love of samplers, and to my utter surprise, these arrived!

Two fat quarters with a different sampler design on each and some coordinating DMC floss!  I know exactly what I’m going to make with them…but you’ll have to wait a bit.

 Not too long ago, I blogged about a LQS having a 40% off sale and I was able to pick up some awesome Lydia Quigley fabric.  Now how surprised do you think I was when Lorraine,  who distributes Lydia’s patterns under the Rabbit Factory banner, sent me this…

One of Lydia’s patterns that I don’t already have in my collection!

A while back,  Stephanie asked me if I would like to become one of her ‘Supreme Sewers’.  Without hesitation, I most humbly acquiesced.  She sent me her written instructions and my job was to make a bag from those instructions.

My project was Stephanie’s Prickly Pear design.   Here’s the bag I made, following her instructions to a tee.

A few days ago, a package arrived from Stephanie with these inside…

Two of her published Prickly Pear pattern packets,  two Flea Market Fancy fat quarters and some vintage rick rack!

 A short while ago, Jenny and I agreed to a private swap.  Coincidently, as I was making Stephanie’s Prickly Pear  bag, I knew that it was destined to be one of my swap gifts for Jenny.  So as my bag was winging it’s way to Australia, this was on it’s way to me…

One of Jenny’s bags made especially for me! 

Look at the stitching!

I can’t wait til next summer to use my new bag!

And now I’d like to tell you about Bonnie.  A while ago, Bonnie asked me for my snail mail address saying that she had a little something that she’d like to send to me.  Cool!  We all love surprises, don’t we?

In the interim, Bonnie decided to have a surprise giveaway on her blog for her regular visitors.  Completely unannounced, Bonnie did the computerized random selection thing on one of her posts, and I was the winner of her surprise giveaway. 

So just yesterday, these wonderful goodies arrived in my post box.

An incredible Halloween tote made by Bonnie herself, a bundle of fall fat quarters, a fall quilt pattern and a memo pad, along with a beautiful card. 

In the card, Bonnie explained that she came across these painting books which she never got around to using and thought that I might like them.  What Bonnie didn’t know is that one of the authors is a personal friend of mine who I met while travel teaching and doing the decorative painting convention circuit.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As I mentioned above, I feel that am truly blessed to have had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ you all .  Even though I have written to each of you individually, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly  thank you all again in order that I might share your gifts and talents with everyone who reads this.

Thank you again my FRIENDS! 

And as always…

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

First Friday Freebie #2

Today is the First Friday of October, so that means my second Freebie design…’Halloween Hauntings’… is available for your enjoyment, right here and right now!

Please indulge me a bit while I tell you how this project evolved.

Since Halloween occurs on the 31st of October and because I love to decorate for the seasons, I thought that a Halloween themed design would be appropriate for my second FFF (First Friday Freebie).

Initially, my original design started off as a Halloween, sampler-style stitchery and it was my intention to stop at that.

However, my mind would just not shut down and what I finally ended up with is a 33” x 33” square table topper or mini quilt.

For those of you who don’t quilt but love to stitch, you have the option of doing what I had originally intended and that is to make the center sampler stitchery only. I can envision it framed or as a wall hanging or even made into a throw pillow which really was my original intention…honest!

But these other neat sayings and images kept on popping into my head and some Thimbleberries fabric kept on asking to be included so I gave in and what you see is the end result resting comfortably on the sofa in our living room.

The PDF file containing the photos, instructions and line drawings may be downloaded by clicking here. Please respect that I have provided this design for your personal use only and it is not intended for commercial purposes. It is also copyright protected.

I hope that you enjoy making it as much as I did while creating it with you in mind.

So please grab my button, place it on your sidebar and link back to my blog in order that you can share it with those who might not otherwise find their way here. This is my way of giving back to all of you who continue to enrich my life as a result of blogging.

The button will also act as a reminder that on the First Friday of each month I will be posting a new Freebie design to share with you all. Next month’s design is almost done and promise you won’t be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by and as always…

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

P.S. Once again, my sincere and heartfelt thanks to Robyn of Daisy Quilts for her unyielding patience and assistance in helping me with the technical stuff related to bringing you the FFF feature. I could NEVER have managed this without her.