The Hunting is Finally Over!

Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that for the best part of the last year we have been house hunting. At the start of last year we intended to move to Auckland and spent the first 6 months house huting up there - with no success. After a 3 month break over the winter, we began house hunting here in Wellington after the DH changed roles and began spending all his time in the South Island.

We came close a few times but always missed out to others with more money to spend. A few weeks ago though on a summery Wellington day we popped in to view a home in our neighbourhood after work. Everything about the house was pefect and more. Except the agent anticipated that the property would sell just outside our price range. Slightly disheartened we didn't talk anymore about the property. The following day the DH went to the South Island for work and in the late afternoon the agent called to let us know that they had put a deadline on offers - the following day at 5pm.

We decided to give it a go all the same, encouraged by the agent when I asked if it was worthwhile given the amount we would be offering. And within half an hour of signing the offer, we got a call to say the place was ours!

So here is our new home...

The kitchen needs a little work eventually. It will be nice to put our own mark on the house :) We move in less than 3 weeks so we are knee deep in boxes. Before we move in we intend to paint the blue room. I'm off to get paint swatches today!

It's extrememly exciting! I am anxious at the same time. This will be a huge financial adjustment for us. There won't be a lot of fabric buying happening now! Nor will be able to use the LAQ without saving first! This will of course cramp the size of my projects... so I am thinking that there will be lots of smaller projects made around here. Cushions, baby quilts etc.

So there you go! Our new house! Our first house! Happy sewing everyone.

Hearts for Christchurch

A while ago I posted about some WIP's that had been lying around unfinished. I was going to send them to Cat to finish and donate to Christchurch. Then after meeting Cat in person for dinner last year I learned that in most cases she was finishing the quilts off herself or funding to have them finished. I felt a bit guilty for offloading my WIP's and knowing that they'd need batting, backing and binding fabric too.

I thought it would be much nicer to send finished quilts to Cat instead. That way she could bundle them up and send them off to their new homes to be loved. I purchased a cute backing print, coordinating binding print and my favourite cotton/bamboo mix batting and finally finished up the Sherbet Pips DNP. The LAQ quilted an all over loopy heart pattern in pink. It's very sweet. Hopefully not too sweet.
Here it is all finished and ready to be posted...

"Hearts for Christchurch"

I hope these cute playful pups on the back bring someone little hope and happiness.

I also finished up this quilt too...

There's nothing like a blog to keep you honest. I started this quilt in January 2010. Embarrassingly it's been sitting around for that long! It didn't take too long to piece the backing. I chose my favourite all over quilting and used the last of my chai chai snips to bind the quilt. This one is a lovely lap size and I thought it would suit any female of any age. Hopefully!

I hope that these two quilts will go to lovely people and help provide them a little comfort. Aftershocks keep affecting Christchurch and it will be some time before their beautiful city is rebuilt. I am so happy to have sent Cat finished quilts! It feels so good to have crossed these off the list!

I also finished up the third little quilt that I had posted about but this one managed to make it's way onto our couch... Poor Oliver had a few home days a couple of weeks ago after having a nasty cough for some time. Turns out he had whooping cough. Which was subsequently followed by Fifth Disease. Poor little man. Anyhow, I started making this quilt for him last April after he'd asked me desperately for a new quilt. I think he'd been feeling a bit left out as Gus had just got his new postage stamp quilt. Oliver helped to pick out his favourite prints and so when he found it folded on the chair he naturally assumed it was for him. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd planned to send it elsewhere. I thought I'd just try finish up another for Christchurch instead. Win win.

So there you go! 3 finished quilts! WOW! Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this lengthy post.

Happy sewing!