3rd Time's a Charm

First of all, I want to apologize for my long absence, and my lack of responding to comments....things have been beyond crazy for me this past month or so.  Thanks so much for your support and all the nice comments you have written to me, despite my complete lack of new material/conversation.  I just can't keep up with everything, and have pretty much been offline in every way except to research houses, communicate with our realtor, and look up pricing for house stuff.

Speaking of house stuff, I think (hope) we FINALLY have our housing situation figured out!  In answer to all of the kind North Carolinans who have queried about where in North Carolina we're headed, Steve's job is in Elizabeth City (just below the Virginia state line) so we've been focused on finding a property in that general area.  Not too close to any of you, unfortunately, but maybe when I get settled I'll be able to have an open house/sewing party for the orphans and you can stop by on your way to Outer Banks!

Okay, in a nutshell, here's how our house buying search has gone:  1st house, the buyers backed out and decided not to sell their house after all.  2nd house, we ended up backing out at the last minute due to a number of different factors.  3rd house, hopefully all is well!  It's a beautiful, brand-new home that was abandoned by the builder halfway through and so the bank eventually took it back and finished building it.  Having a brand-new home is VERY exciting, considering all the drama that we continue to experience with our vintage age home here in Virginia.  There are several design/layout choices in the new house that are, um, frustrating, but nothing we can't either change or live with.

One of the best parts about this house (other than being brand-new) is the location, and the fact that it's on 3 acres!  Whoohoo!  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to all that space.  Having grown up on a farm, I've never quite gotten used to neighbors 20 feet from our house on all sides.  I grew up being able to go outside on my front porch in my nightgown, cereal bowl in hand, and bask in the morning summer sun without any chance of anybody (other than my family) seeing my outrageous bedhead.  :-)

Needless to say, with all the unexpected difficulties in finding a place to live (and multiple trips down south to figure things out...thank goodness it's only about 4 hours from here!),  we've been slow to finish our house projects here in Virginia. 

I still have to trim out all the doorways and the staircase in the basement, but at least the kids' playroom is presentable!  Before we realized we were moving, I had planned on doing beadboard wainscoting, crown molding, and a really fun color on the walls.  Now that we're moving, I had to dispense with the extras and just make a nice neutral space for the renters. 

And no, I haven't even started doing the tile on the master bathroom - it's still in its glorious, gutted state.

Back to the basement: I put some of my quilts on the wall to liven things up, and

don't you just love our vintage red velvet sofa?!  I was very excited to find this $80 sofa on Craigslist - other than some cat scratches on the arms, it's in great condition!  :-)  The kids don't care about the scratches, and I love how it brightens up the basement.

I made some quick artboards to display some of our favorite masterpieces by the kids, and they're so proud to have their artwork on display.  I bought big pieces of 4' x 8' insulation foam board (the higher quality kind with yellow foam and foil paper backing, not the white compressed pebble stuff) at Home Depot.  I brought a box knife with me to cut them in half at the store so they would more easily fit into the van.  Just score the foam with the knife, then bend it backwards to create a crease on the opposite side of the board which you can then use as a guide to cut the paper backing on the other side of the board.

Once at home, I wrapped the boards with polyester quilt batting and then the white muslin to create a neutral background for all their art.  I hotglued a piece of twine which had been knotted at both ends, for extra holding power, to the backs of the boards in order to hang them on the wall.  And that was it!  Instant kid's museum.

My quilts love to be shown off on the red sofa.

So do my pillows.  Sorry the light is so funky - no time to tweak the colors in Photoshop.

I've had some requests to know where to buy my fabric...and to be honest, I don't really know.  I'm not involved with any of the marketing/selling of my fabric line, that's all handled by Benartex.  I've heard from friends that they've seen it in some shops in Utah (I don't know which ones), and it used to be on Fabric.com but it was clearanced out pretty quickly.  The pictures on the online shops didn't do the fabric any justice at all, and if I were somebody who hadn't seen it in person I probably would never have considered buying any.  (It's much better in person, I promise!)  In all honesty, my fabric line has pretty much flopped as far as I know - the royalties I have received have been far less than hoped, and I have not even made enough to cover the expenses incurred for computer programs, travel to Quilt Market, and printing my sewing patterns.  Most shops that I have spoken with have never heard of me or my fabric line = pretty hard to buy something they don't even know exists!  Plus the scary economic conditions, the high price of cotton, and the super-oversaturation of designers and new fabric lines in the quilting industry make it really challenging for quilt shops to stay afloat, and to know which fabric to buy.  It's much safer to buy lines that are by veteran designers that they know will sell well = less risk.  Sooooo....it has been a pretty discouraging time for me considering the years of work, dreaming, and planning that have gone into making my fabric line dreams come true.  At least I can say I was able to do it once, right?

At this point I'm trying to decide whether or not to throw in the towel (at least for a year or two, until my kids get a little older) or to keep trying to establish myself as a fabric and pattern designer.  Life has certainly been crazy for me this past year, both with all the house projects/moving and personally at home (including having my sweet little boy finally diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD), so maybe this is all part of the Big Plan.  I know of several other women with young children at home who are successful at juggling motherhood and a fabric designing career, but perhaps it's just not meant to be part of my life right now.  Those words are really hard for me to type, let alone say out loud, I can assure you. 

Anyway.  See what happens when I don't blog for a long time?  You got much more than you probably bargained for when you started reading this post!  :-)  Hopefully I'll be able to settle in relatively quickly in North Carolina and I'll be able to figure everything out. 

In the meantime, here's a peek at yet another project waiting in the wings until I can get our house fixed up...Craigslist is awesome, isn't it?  Addictive, but awesome.  I got these for our new house - right now they're dated and beat up, but they'll be so pretty when I'm finished.  It's turning into a bigger project than anticipated, as always, but it'll be worth it!  I'm too embarrassed to show you the dressers, kitchen table/chairs, and coffee table that I have been collecting at super bargain prices, all for the new house...you'd then have enough proof to convict me as a certifiable Craigslist Addict and take away the keys to my van - if my poor husband doesn't beat you to it!

Now if I can just get this house done in the next 3 weeks....

 

 

Comments

[May Wheeler]

Wow! Reading this one post reminds me why I wanted to be like you when I grow up. :) You are amazing, I don't know how you do it all AND have time to blog about it!!! My head was spinning just reading about everything. I hope you are doing well and taking a moment to breath and pat yourself on the back. Miss you and look forward to seeing what you do to those beautiful chairs.

[Whitney W]

You are an amazing woman, mother, and artist! I am in awe in all the you have accomplished. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Best wishes for the move, I know they are not fun.

[Jen Nicholson]

Good luck with the move! That is a lot of stuff going on at once. One good thing about our move back to Plymouth is that we already had the house! I've been showing Clay your renovation pictures in the hopes that it will inspire him when it's time to do our kitchen. And you will definitely have more time as the kids get older--there is no way I could have gone back to school any earlier than I did!

[Emilie]

Yay! You're back! Good luck with the new house. All that room sounds incredible! Can't wait to see it all Shelleyfied!

[trina caudle]

I don't know if you remember me from Girls Camp WAY back when, when we were kids - I saw you on my brother Eric's Facebook page (and then I canceled my Facebook account) and then came to your blog. I've become a crafting blog junkie and added your's to the list.

Anyway, all this to say ... I saw your posts about your fabric line and was really excited when I came across it last fall on fabric.com - I love it! I immediately bought some to make skirts for my girls for Easter. I'm glad I did then because now I want more but can't find it! I hope there's more coming - good luck!

And good luck with your family's move! We've been in Mississippi for 3 years and are planning to move later this year as well, but don't know where yet.

[Joy]

I hear that is a pretty are. As soon as Zac gets back from Afghanistan we will be spending a week in Duck, NC. Good luck with your "new" house. New houses are fun.

[Sarah Cresap]

Yay, for finding a wonderful new house with lots of land for the Dettons! I love your kid art boards. I may try to copy that. Are you going to advertise on militarybyowner.com? That's how we rented our Memphis house. Speaking of websites, Additude.com and Additude magazine have been nice resources for us working with Talmage's ADHD and Aspergers. There are so many helps for these guys, thank heavens for No Child Left Behind! (no thank you, Obama, for trying to kill it!) http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/plan_iep_goals.html Is also a great resource for building IEPs. Good luck! Love, me

[Jane]

Still, as always, I stand all amazed. You get an amazing amount of work done. Your new house is gorgeous - love that long lovely shaded front porch!! Best of luck with the move and settling in, in your new location.

[Linda Beam]

Baby steps, just take baby steps...you are doing great! Welcome to NC! Hope it is a wonderful move for you and your family.

[Beverly Atkins]

You ARE amazing! I'm so happy to see your post. It sounds like perhaps the marketing was the problem with your fabic. I'm so sorry to hear you're thinking of putting off doing more fabric. But you can NEVER go back and raise your children. They are your heart and soul. They come first. Looking forward to more posts once you get settled.

[Pat]

Sounds to me like you are over-worked and need to take a deep breath. Everything is for a reason and you'll know what the right move is at the right time. In the meantime, keep on sketching, designing and sewing. Good luck on your move.

[Edith Songer]

Shelley, I have meant to comment on this latest post for a while. I don't really have anything to say other than--I hope everything settles into place for you with your move and Hyrum's new diagnosis, etc. I look forward to seeing your new house. In pictures, that is.

[Wendi Lane]

Shelley first off I LOVE your new home it looks so beautiful and I am sure that you are going to LOVE the extra land.

Aidan is still waiting for his testing. Hyrum is an AMAZING young man and will be very successful!! Aidan misses Hyrum and always says that he needs to see his BEST Friend it just maks me smile:)

I also wanted to say Shelley that you are not giving up on your dreams just because things are not working out right now it does not mean it will not in the future. As someone once told me...there is a time and place for everything and kids are only young once :)

Hang in there and "enjoy" the move.....

[Kim]

My LQS carried your fabrics and I bought some for a small project. Haven't gotten around to it yet, but your fabrics are beautiful.

[Tamra]

Could you tell me what product you used on the dresser?
I love the color!