Meeting deadlines . . .

Is is not strange how meeting deadlines can take over our lives?  Lately I have been rushing to meet one deadline after another, after another...  The last one for a while, I hope, was Christmas.  This year the holiday rush was actually a slower pace than we had been moving for a while.  I have to admit though, from where I sit now all of the activity has been well worth the time and energy spent meeting all those deadlines.

I embroidered towels to wrap the holiday breads we delivered to our friends and neighbors on Christmas Eve.

 

 

 

 

 

It is not that the work is done now - in fact quite the opposite.  There is much to be done and probably always will be.  However, for now there are no 'pressing' deadlines to be met like those we have been dealing with.  We will be able to work at our own pace.

I posted a few weeks ago about one of the major projects I was working on - the AQSG Quilt Study biennial exhibit.  Of course, that project is ongoing and I have lots of help from other members of the QS Committee.  In fact, at present there are 3 studies currently active - two of them are travelling exhibits the other is the 2014 Study of Civil War Quilts: 1850-1865 which you can learn more about by clicking the link; so there is no need to go into detail here. 

One major deadline came on December 3rd and 4th when we got a new roof on our house.  Or most of one anyway.  There has some finishing work that had to be done on the ridge in the weeks that have followed but my DH took care of that work.  What made it more challenging than many projects we undertake on the restoration/renovation of our 1870 home is that we hired a contractor to do most of the work.  We had to work with his schedule, not ours.  One would think that would simplify things considerably, right?  It might, except that a flat section the old roof had to come off completely so that a new sloped roof could take its place - over my quilt studio! 

That room under the flat roof at the back of the house is my studio!

It's not flat anymore! The siding will go up in the spring.

A view from the front . . . re-shingling the front porch roof is another spring project.

The upside of all of this that has made the whole mess tolerable is that the wall I use for storage of fabrics, books, etc., gained 3 feet in height.  I will have 42 square feet more wall space for cabinets and shelves! 

My storage will go from these temporary shelves . . .

These shelves were 6' tall to fit under a 7' flat ceiling/roof.

To this . . . (for now you have to imagine the storage shelves). 

The horizontal white plumbing pipe used to be hidden in the old rafter space.

 

 

 

 

In the world of renovation, one project creates multiple other projects.  The plumbing vent pipes had to be re-routed, wiring needed to be run, and the whole project needed to be insulated very quickly because the roof work happened on December 3rd and 4th.  For those two days the weather cooperated by giving us sun with 60-70 degree temperatures, but the very next day the weather changed back to temperatures more typical for December here.  Hopefully this weekend we will be able to start installing the drywall on the ceiling and walls.  After that the flooring goes down - boards we salvaged from downstairs which will match the rest of the floors upstairs.  Then starts the finishing work . . . and so on, and so forth . . . until I am finally able to move back into my studio.  Oh what a dream space it will be!



More about that later.


In the meantime, best wishes to everyone for a wonderful, prosperous, and quilt-filled New Year!

Greta