Construction Projects

Hello! I know, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. This year has been a year of more surgeries with lots of recovery time. Breast reconstruction after breast cancer is nothing to sneeze about! But after the reconstruction surgery in May and a revision surgery 3 weeks ago, I think I'm done! Yay!

What are you looking at below? It's our new dock at the lake house. The old one was damaged in a storm a couple of years ago, the wood was rotting, it was time for it to go. This work can only be done in the winter when the water is down. We are so glad to have this done! We still need to have an electrician come hook up the boat lift again.

And what's this below, you ask? That will be our new house. This picture was taken from the back. I don't have a recent photo from the front. 

We decided the cottage was just too small. I need more storage for my quilting stuff! Haha! We put the cottage up for sale by owner in August. Within 2 days we had 2 full price offers. Boom! The buyers we picked wanted to pay in cash and close fast. So a couple of weeks later we put all our stuff in storage and moved to our lake home. And that's where we've been.

The new home we're building will be ready in a few months - the sooner the better! We have a grand baby coming in the Spring and hope we're in the house in time for that. Yes, that's my other big news!

Here I was a few weeks ago, about to have my third breast surgery.

And now...I'm doing a lot better! I'm still a bit sore in places. I must wear Spanx (up to the bra level) and a sports bra 24/7 for a couple of more weeks. And I must not lift more than 5 pounds for the time being. I'm looking forward to getting stronger!

One of my goals while living at the lake this winter has been to learn to use my embroidery machine. I'm happy to report that after lots of struggling (lots and lots of struggling!) I have finally succeeded.  I can now monogram and appliqué. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm making progress.

As far as quilting...
I've mostly been hand piecing this year. I've been working on Jen Kingwell's Marshal. More on this soon. With weak arms, hand piecing has been wonderful for me. I have made one baby quilt and a pillow to match. Can't share yet.

I hope 2020 brings much more quilting for me. And for you, too.  Happy New Year!