New Arrivals

So much has happened since my last blog post! DD#1 and her three kids arrived!

The cousins have been getting to know each other.

They've been great at sharing, especially at sharing the stomach bug that's going around! All five kids have had it, and now DD#3 is sick with it. Five sick kids in the house can make for some interesting times. Brings back memories of raising our five kids.

My niece got married, and she had a beautiful wedding. This is the niece who got the purple and silver quilt.

We now have a South African cat in the house. She thought she was traveling by suitcase...

...but that wasn't allowed so she came in a pet crate.

She's adjusting to life in the USA quite nicely.

Work on the home addition continues.

First some framing...

...And the start of some walls...

...the beginnings of a roof.

Weeks of work left to do, but it's well begun now. Today there was lots of jackhammering, as they get ready to add plumbing where there was none before. I am really excited about the master suite addition, and I love watching it come together. 

Sonograms

I remember when I was pregnant, back in the day, sonogram pictures were fuzzy outlines. DD#2 just had a bit of a scare with her pregnancy, but thankfully, all is well. She just got this sonogram pic.

How crazy is that? Now we know this little guy has daddy's nose before he's born!

DD#1 just landed on US soil, and DH is in Dallas meeting them. A few more hours, and I'll get to see them!

Anticipation

I feel like it's been forever since I blogged! I was up in Phoenix for almost two weeks, helping DD#2 get moved. I went up there after her baby shower here in Tucson. I got home last Thursday, and got to work on preparing the house for DD#1 and her kids to arrive. Before I tackled their areas, I had to tackle my bedroom first. 

I'm much happier with the looks of these shelves now they they don't look so chaotic. I also managed to move several things out of my bedroom, so this is something I can live with.

The room my grandsons will be in now looks like this.

I tried to set up my daughters room like an efficiency apartment. She'll be sharing this room with her little girl, and eventually with her husband, if he arrives before the addition is finished. Once the addition is finished, they can have our bedroom, and DH and I will move to the addition. 

As for the addition, the work has started, and the foundation will be poured first thing tomorrow morning!

I took this photo after they made the forms for the cement footers, but before they arranged the rebar and wire grid to reenforce the concrete. The inspection was this morning, and everything is a GO!

Here you can see they've removed the outer wall from what was a storage room, but will be the master bath. The white door will be moved 90 degrees, to that short wall, and the brown door will be moved about 3 feet into the house, and that door will go from the new master suite to the kitchen. I am so excited to see this project started. DH and I have talked about doing this for years, and it's finally becoming a reality!

Sewing? Nope, not a stitch. BUT...I did pin-baste a quilt today, and I've got another quilt laid out to pin-baste tomorrow. If I have any pins after that one, I'll try to pin-baste another on Friday. DD#1 and the three grandkids arrive on Friday evening, and I could use the distraction. Hopefully DSIL won't have to wait too long for his American visa, and can come join his family before too long. 

I still have one quilt I'd really like to finish this year, it's the one I pin-basted today, the fairy and stars quilt. During the time our house is so full, I'm not sure how much time I'll have for sewing, but I do plan some alone time sewing for sanity's sake. I don't know about you, but I get grumpy if I don't get any sewing time. 

I have my 2017 quilting plan mostly figured out. I have a couple deadline quilts on the list, one I'll make from my pre-cuts, one is already cut out. My pre-cut strips and strings are easily accessible, for when I'm really in the mood to piece, but overall, my plan is to make 2017 the year of the UFO. Working on UFO's allows me to clear my plate a bit, and I can keep out the least amount of stuff and still have plenty to sew. I can get to my yardage, it's just in the room DD#1 will be staying in, but my fat quarter through one yard pieces are buried under the stairs with a lot of my dismantled sewing room. I kept my UFO's easily accessible, and I could stay busy with what is easily accessible for a couple years! I'm trying to avoid a lot of cutting, since I have no good area to do that now, so concentrating on UFO's and pre-cuts eliminates cutting being a problem. To sub-cut my pre-cuts, I just need a tv tray and a small cutting mat. I've got both of those, so I'm good. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with my house full of blessings!