Make A List Monday - May 2019 (Not Really)

THE LOST YEAR...

(or should I say 20 months)

About 20 months ago my life went into a topsy-turvy mess.  My husband, Don, asked if I would take a ride with him to go look at houses.  I knew he had wanted to move for a while but moving was not something I had any interest in doing.  We have lived in our home for 25 years.  We have wonderful neighbors and our children grew up in the house in which we were living. But I agreed thinking what would it hurt to take a look around.

Don has always wanted to live in the country with lots of land on which he could putter around.  Our current house only had about 3/4 acres and he had done almost everything to the property that he could.

On our journey we headed to the remote town of Kintnersville, PA.  We found a 10 acre horse farm that he fell in love with and I thought I would be okay with.  

We asked our realtor to work up an offer for the property on a Thursday evening.  After a sleepless night and a panic attack, I realized that I could not move to this property.  I knew I wouldn't be happy there.  We decided to wait awhile before we looked again.

In the meantime, my husband retired and life went on.  But the trauma I suffered from the panic attack had taken its toll on me.  Quilty Pleasures was put on a very back burner and I essentially stopped quilting.  I started stitching in-hand again but my quilty-bug was gone completely.  I finished my grandson's Big Boy quilt and another for my daughter's friend. But other than that there was
 NO QUILTING for me!

In January 2020, I was in a deep slump.  I've suffered depression before, but this was different.  I wasn't sure what was happening.  Could it just be the "winter blues?"  I knew I had to do something because I was falling fast into major depression.  I needed a change...something to get my mind headed in a new direction. On a whim, I called my husband one day and told him I was ready to go look at houses again.  

We quickly got our house ready to put on the market.  We called our cousin and realtor, Greg, and he took over.  Our house sold in a few weeks while we were busy looking for the perfect place to move.  Don wanted a house off the road with a long driveway and lots of land/trees.  I wanted a house that would be perfect for my quilting and all the other arts in which I dabble.  The house I moved to had to have big, bright windows, a beautiful kitchen, and not be too far from family.  

We found this home in Flemington, NJ.

(Some of the following pictures are from the Zillow listing. This is not our furniture)

We both fell in love!

Big Beautiful Windows throughout the house, but the sunroom is especially bright and happy...

The beautiful kitchen and the studio over the garage sold me on the house...

My long-arm machine and my Bernina fit perfectly!

This little babbling brook next to the long driveway was an added bonus...

Fast forward 20 months.  SOOOOO much has happened since I basically stopped blogging.  We have settled into our new home. We have added two grandsons for a total of five!  Our world has been turned upside down by a pandemic called Covid 19.  We have elected a new president and anxiously await his inauguration in a few weeks.  

I wasn't sure how I wanted to document the past 20 months.  I wanted to remember important things that happened without having to write miles and miles of blog posts.  I've decided to try to take each month and post one photo that reminds me of that month.  Hopefully this can be accomplished in one or two posts.  

To help tickle my Quilty Bug back to life, I will completely redo my Make A List Monday.  I also want to add some posts about the hand stitching I have been doing when I stopped quilting.  When my Quilty Bug flew out the window, my Stitchy Bug flew in, so I have been very busy with that hobby. 

Hopefully I can start to work on my monthly recap post(s) ASAP.  I want to start 2021 ready to go with a renewed love of quilting.  

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching!!!

Sharyn