Moving On

We sold our old house today! I didn't want to celebrate until the contracts were all signed, but I can finally breathe! So, HURRAAAAAAH!!! The house was only on the market for a fortnight, can you believe it?!?! I'm still amazed that it sold so quickly... not quickly enough for the impatient hubs though! Haha! 

We'd gone back to the house to walk through and see if we'd left anything behind. I didn't get emotional about leaving our first home... I'm far too in love with our new house and new neighbourhood, I think. It was a great house, but we'd bought it in a hurry and it really just wasn't me. Which is why I never got attached to it. But I hope it's a good home to the new owner, and that he'll be as happy there as we are in our new digs :)

In other news, I bought my first pumpkins since I moved to this country lol! I lived in the other house for almost six years and never bothered to decorate it, but this year I felt the need to buy pumpkins. I also wanted mums but then I remembered I'm quite shit at watering plants. Brown Thumbs McGee, that's me.

I don't really understand the thing about putting fruit on one's porch but I do love pumpkins and the colour orange, so it works for me. We'll see what happens with Christmas and all the other hundreds of holidays!

Ahh my splendid view from my sewing room. Why can't it be autumn all year round? I'd be in complete bliss :)

Home Sweet Home

We're finally home! It's so bittersweet... I had an amazing time with my family and I was so sad to leave. I hate that I live so far away from all my family and I wish I could scoop them all up and take them home with me. But it is kind of nice to be home. Oh how I missed the kitties! Matilda ran to us the second we got home but Isobel gave us a bit of stink eye before finally snuggling with me on the sofa that evening. She's a tough little girl!

So we're starting to settle back to life as we know it. Though I've been waking up at 7am every morning since. Anyone who knows me well realises that this is extremely disturbing behaviour. I figure while I don't have kids, I should sleep while I can, right? But it's nice to get loads of things done in the day... although I'm a night owl by nature, and I seem to fade around the time I'm usually sewing away. We're going to have to do sort this out!

Anyhow, it was so nice to see that spring had sprung while we were away (though all this sun has given my chest and arms a beautiful rash... it's probably eczema). The tulips have held on till we got home... I thought I was going to miss them!! :)

The forsythia have kind of faded but there's still some yellow flowers on there :)

And this stupid rooster. It was there when we moved in and for some odd reason, I never removed it. Now that we're looking to move, I'll just leave it there to scare the new owners hehe!

There'll be pictures of our trip to come... I just had to take these pictures first because it's probably going to be the last spring we'll spend in this house.

Pretty, Pretty Peonies

I'm so flipping excited that my beautiful peonies are blooming!!! Look how gorgeous! 

This year I'm extra excited for them to bloom because I stupidly forgot to check last year and completely missed it.

I put stakes in the ground because they're so heavy that they flop over. Well, the hubs stuck them in the ground because I'm little and weak. I put the twistie ties on though!

And of course I had to cut one of the beautiful blooms for my studio... Ahhh so lovely :)

Gardening... Is Not My Forte

I was feeling loads better so I went to get plants for our window boxes and the little planter on our front step. 

I normally go with my MIL, but I went alone this time. And was utterly confused within seconds. Look at all of that!!! Can you blame me?!?!?! I have a severe case of brown thumb, and my brain lacks that bit that remembers anything about flora. 

Thankfully, I found someone who worked there, described to her the amount of sunlight the front of the house got, and told her to point out ONE option for the window boxes. She said a lot of things, I said whoa easy there, just point please, she pointed at something, I said good, thanks, and put 12 pots of them in my cart.

I'm always so excited at the prospect of brightly-coloured flowers around our house... until I realise I have to plant them. Eww. I put on my new gardening gloves (the old ones were just too dirty so they were binned) to go plant them, and a stupid chipmunk scared the shit out of me. So of course I screamed like it was trying to murder me. And then I spotted the world's ugliest frog two feet from me, and I screamed again. I can't even look at the bloody things, they're so foul. I kept hopping around till it decided to go into hiding. I also spotted a worm, but I'll spare you the details.


Anywaaaaay, I believe the ones in the window boxes are called Superbells. That's what I see on the tab I stuck in the soil. I'm not about to touch it with my bare hands to check, so Superbells they shall be.

(My house is not tilty. I live on a hill and everything around us slopes downward. The upside is that it's highly unlikely we'll ever get flooded.)

And beautiful geraniums in the little planter on the front step. I'd put geraniums in the window boxes but having to crawl halfway out my windows to deadhead them several times a week isn't my idea of fun.

The double pink happened subconsciously. It just seemed like the best colour to go with a light grey house with blue shutters.

So today we have learned that I... 1. am truly not a gardener, 2. scream at wild life, and 3. apparently like hot pink quite a lot.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

I also planted grape tomatoes! I do need to get some stakes to tie them to, because before I know it, they'll be out of control. This is how I know! And I think I'm going to have to get two more planters so each tomato plant is all by itself. I just did a little research and there needs to be a lot more space between each plant than five inches! Told you I sucked at this...

I'm not worried though... there's a little gnome to watch over the tomatoes :) My little sister Aurelia loves gnomes, so I thought it'd be cute to have him there. I might have to move him once the plant grows and overtakes the planter though.

Randomness

- This + this = Awesomepants? (Don't get too excited... I can't do much of anything quite yet, just typing out loud...)

- I told the hubs he looked like Forrest Gump and he wasn't thrilled. I didn't mean it as a bad thing! He essentially looked like a clean-cut, younger Tom Hanks, no?

- We had a new tap / faucet installed. It's giant and I now have to wear a raincoat when I do the dishes. On the upside, crap goes flying off the plates at warp speed.

- I got stung by a bloody yellow jacket yesterday. I was kneeling on the floor, trimming a quilt, and then there was this searing pain in my knee. It swelled considerably for what felt like forever, even after I slapped on a paste of baking soda and water. It still hurts every now and again, but the swelling's pretty much gone. And yes, I killed the living shit out of that stupid yellow jacket. Rest in pieces, you idiot.

You can see the picture of my knee here. I didn't want to scare everyone lol

- The hubs has started wearing Breathe Right strips. And not just at bedtime, either. I have come to the conclusion (it took about 2 seconds to formulate) that they are not sexy. Not even a little.

Around The House

I went around the house, playing with my camera and editing pictures... Between that and Pinterest, I'm not going to get anything done today...

What's Going On Today At Chez Bleu

A few days ago, my darling friend Margie told me to be on the look out for a parcel. She tells me this because she knows the wait will kill me and takes way too much joy in causing me grief.

The parcel arrived yesterday, and she got me this gorgeous necklace! I do love me some red :)

And these whisks. With the squirrels. How. Flippin. Cute. How am I expected to use them? I'd be too afraid to drown my new furry friends. (I clearly have a problem with anthropomorphism.)

Thanks Margie! I love my gifts! :) You're the besterest ever!

I checked on the progress of my beloved peonies... they're budding! Hee! I can't wait :)

Please ignore the disgusting state of affairs that is the underside of our deck. I'm sure many things live under there. Gross.

The lilacs are blooming though! So pretty. And they smell lovely too.

And that was quite enough sun and nature for me. My arm itches. And how'd it get up to 79F??? I don't like this. Don't like it at all. Back to my safe place where I can make a mess and fondle fabric.

See, I still use Gretel. Hedwig's hanging back going "Yeah when you're done messing around and have something to quilt, give me a call. Until then, I'm outie 5000."

I Swear I Got Another Bug Bite

I went outside for longer than two seconds again today. Something still itches. I'm pretty sure the bug hovering nearby landed on my head and laid babies in my scalp. Or it could be my imagination, jury's out.

Biiiiig tulips. And our house.

Okay, so I have the smallest hands of any living adult human (it's 6" from wrist to tip of middle finger) but that's still one humongous tulip, no?

And just for the record, I'd like it to be known that my fourth finger is bending backwards a little. It's not that deformed. Having said that, my left thumb is almost half an inch shorter than my right one. I grew up thinking that was normal. I was wrong. You didn't ask but I rarely need prompting.

My husband got annoyed with me for posting pictures of the weeds in the yard because he says the state of our lawn is embarrassing. That to me just meant 'take more pictures'.

Aaaaand one more, 'cause I'm such a rebel.

Walk In The Woods

Well, in my yard anyway. I don't really go outdoors much (I got a bug bite while I was out there so I'm staying indoors for the foreseeable future) but I saw all the pops of colours and had to go look.

I know they're weeds, but they're so cheery!

The tulips beside the mailbox are starting to bloom. Love that shade of red :)

And one lonely pink one has bloomed in the little garden I plant annuals in.

Proof that I was in the sun. I'm good for at least a month now.

I snapped this picture, heard the stupid wild turkeys gob-gob-gobbling, and ran into the house as quickly as my little legs would take me. And I'm pretty sure I saw something move on the other side of the yard.

First Snowfall

We had our first snowfall yesterday. It's pretty and all that, but it's still not something I'm used to, and I'm a grump when it starts melting and gets all slushy. Plus my boots get all wet and icky. Not cool snow, not cool.

But, while the snow's all nice and pretty, I enjoy it. Here's pictures of the backyard and deck. And my polka dot gardening wellies.

Note to self: Don't wear wellies without socks when going out in snow. Frostbite* = sad Aud.

* No toes were hurt in the making of this post.

Birdie Quilt WIP (The Extended Disco Version)

More Birdie quilt work in progress pictures because I decided I didn't like the binding fabric I got for it. Well not so much dislike... more of a seething hatred. I was asked to use a brown dot for the binding, and it just turned out to be too dark for this quilt. And I hate the feel of it too. So, no.

Anyway, here's the Birdie quilt all quilted and ready for binding.

I've nicknamed it the Pepto quilt because of all the pink dot fabric I used to sash it. I've been staring at it far too long to have an objective view anymore. I think I like it?

This is the back. I like the back. Even though it's still quite Pepto-ish.

And here's the current state of my studio. I haven't done a damn thing to it except shift the two tables at 3am this morning so that they sit right up against one wall. What, you don't move furniture at 3am?

I think the tables like that would serve me better... there was a huge square of unused table the way it was arranged before.

Anyway, have a great Halloween everyone! We're going to a memorial service this afternoon. Fittingly morbid, huh?

Fall Foliage

Isn't this tree gorgeous? It's in front of my house, on the opposite side of the road. I can see it from my living room and I think it's just beautiful. People go on about New England fall foliage, and you can sort of understand why. It pretty much looks like that all around these parts.

Oh fall, how I adore thee.

Our Authentic Quilt Is Done!

My hands feel like little pincushions, but our Authentic quilt is done! I worked on the binding last night, and it's now in the washer. Don't you love that excitement of the promise of a new quilt on your bed?

The hand quilting kept it really soft and squishy -- plus I'm really glad I didn't stipple this because I'd have checked myself into an asylum within the first half hour I bet. 94" square... are you kidding me? My wee little Janome would've grown legs and walked out on me.

Umm, pay no attention to the drabness of our bedroom. Just cast your eyes on the gorgeousness that is Authentic.

The search for a suitable headboard continues. And I'm still in the process of talking myself into painting it before winter. Oy vey.

For the binding, I went with a simple black and white dot fabric. There was already so much solid sashing, I didn't want to do a solid binding too. I love the look of binding when the quilt's all folded and stacked up.

I can't wait to fall asleep under this tonight :)