Florida House Hunting - Day 2

I'm a little late with the update, but we have been busy with family and also crunching numbers to actually make an offer on a house. Yes, we're to that point!

It was another crazy day on Friday in the land of house hunting. However, it was much more productive than the day before and we actually have "THE" three to choose from (none of which are from Thursday's jaunt, although 2 are in the same "Disney-Style" resort community). LOL!

We are gathering at the clubhouse in Heritage Isle at 11am tomorrow where we will give our family a tour of the private 21,000 square foot clubhouse (largest in Brevard County) and will lunch at the restaurant there overlooking the resort-style pool. Then the realtor will take us back for a second walk-thru in the two houses in there and then shoot over to Plantation Point to show the family the home we are considering in that community.

I'll update later with the three homes and some links to them.

TTYL,

Florida House Hunting - Day 1

We had a busy day today. We spent 6 hours in the world of house hunting, concentrating in the area of Viera, which is only about 25-30 minutes from our daughter. We looked at 10 houses today; two of which we really, really liked. I'm going to list them in order of preference:

House 1 - ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS HOUSE! Not only is the house to die for, but the community (55+ and gated with an actual manned gatehouse) is like a freaking Disney resort. The clubhouse is H.U.G.E and has everything in a grand scale -- a community gathering room where THERE HAPPENED TO BE QUILTERS QUILTING (yes, I spoke with them at length and it was so nice to meet like-minded gals and one was also head of the genealogy club which is perfect for hubby!), a fitness center, a ballroom, a game room, a pottery room, a library, a beautiful restaurant (where we actually ate lunch), a billiard room, the most immaculate restrooms I've ever seen, and a resort-style pool! OMG! The pool alone was to die for! We both fell in love with the clubhouse before we even saw the house there. LMAO!

Now, the house -- beautiful! Athough bank-owned and in "as-is" condition, it has never been lived in! New everything -- appliances (except we need to buy a fridge and washer/dryer), carpeting, stone flooring, huge 42" cabinetry, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2-car garage, living room, dining room, eat-in kitchen with eating island area and the family room was a huge extension to the kitchen (which we would make the office area). The master bedroom was a really nice size with 2 (count 'em 2) closets (a large walk-in for me and a double side-by-side for the hubby). The mater bath was gorgeous with two separate vanity areas, a deep garden tub and a separate shower.

The only drawback was the lanai wasn't screened in and the neighbors behind us -- well lets just say I hope we become good friends because we are in CLOSE proximity to one another. LOL! However, we can rectify the situation by extending and screening in the lanai and putting some nice shrubbery (no fences allowed) behind the screened patio. Problem solved.

House 2 - Really liked this house and the floorplan layout. The flooring and appliances were all in really good condition, it was on a U-shaped street with nice landscaping and the community had a nice community pool area with parks and picnic tables, tot lots, tennis courts and basketball courts. The overall area was beautiful.

The drawbacks were some of the rooms, although freshly painted, were wild colors like lime green, bright orange, and bright, bright yellow. So we'd definitely need to paint, but no biggie. Also, there was only one sink in the master bath and while the one closet in there was a walk-in, it was pretty small.

Tomorrow we are off again for another full day of house hunting. Stay tuned....

Heading South

Well we're off to Florida tomorrow for two weeks of house hunting. I'm really excited. I love looking at houses and it's even better when it's for real we're going to actually decide on and purchase one! The realtor has a lot of them lined up for us to see and she is picking us up bright and early on Thursday morning to begin just one of what could be many days of house hunting. Hope I still feel this excited about it all when it's all said and done. Who knows -- I may just regret admitting I love house hunting after seeing 50-100 of them. Yikes -- I hope it doesn't take that many to find "the one." LOL! :o)

Nothing much quilty going on here. I imagine there won't be much quilting going on until we are settled in Florida. We won't be back to NJ until two days before Halloween and then we will spend all November packing (Y-U-C-K!). Did I mention how much I HATE packing and the actual MOVING process. ACK! Then settlement on this home is December 1 and who knows when settlement will be on our Florida home. All I know is that we will be "moved" to Florida on December 2 and either have settlement soon thereafter (as in days/weeks) or more. God, please don't let it be the "more" part. In the meantime, we will be camping out at the in-laws. We are using a POD to move and store our items. It was the best way to go for us given the circumstances.

P.S. The home inspector, et al., were here yesterday. The house was a whirlwind with all the people coming and going. But, we passed with flying colors! Both the buyer's realtor and our realtor admitted they wished all their home inspections went as great as ours did. WooHoo!

Excited and stressed,

SOLD!!!

Well glory be! Our house is SOLD! After only 3-1/2 months, we can't complain at all considering the market. YAY! We have a Dec. 1 settlement date, which means we will be in Florida before my birthday on Dec. 4, Chris's birthday on Dec. 15, and Christmas. Who knew? :o) It also means that in the next two weeks or so we will be flying down to Florida to find us a new home. Exciting, nerve-wracking, scary -- and a whole host of other adjectives are being felt by us right now. Keep your fingers crossed for us. The good thing is - Florida is overflowing with choices for potential new homes. So why am I feeling homesick already? :o/

Mystery Project Revealed

Yay, me! I finished the quilt top! Yet another flimsy to quilt . . . but I won't think about that right now. For now, I'm basking in the fact that I TOTALLY LOVE THIS QUILT TOP! The colors are so pretty. And, even better, all the fabrics are from my stash! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

So, by now you've probably figured out that this is my "Summer's End" quilt that I designed in EQ. Hopefully, I'll get to making "Autumn's Welcome" (sooner rather than later). I know I won't be using much of my stash for that one, as I don't have enough oranges in my stash. Just some FQ's here and there. But, hey . . . an excuse to buy more fabric, right? LOL!

So what should my next design be? "Winter's Chill" perhaps? Teehee. I'm sensing a theme here...

Anywho, hope everyone had as productive a weekend as I did. I'm going to take my new quilt top to work tomorrow and run it by the gang. Hopefully it will be well-received. I'll also bring it to my quilter's girls' night out which is this Friday. Fun, fun, fun! :o)

Quilty hugs,

The Big Giveaway

What happened? There were no guesses? Did I have you completely stumped, or is no one reading my blog? *sobs* I sure hope it's not the latter. LOL!


Anyway, I think the (crappy) picture totally gives away the mystery project (it's on my blog somewhere if you just tuned in). :o) This applique center is the progress I made today. It was a lot of fun to hole myself up in my sewing room for the whole day and really dig in to something quilty. I haven't done that in awhile. Many thanks to Judy for getting me motivated by hostessing one of her infamous Quiltathon Weekends. Thanks, Judy!

Have a great quilty weekend! I plan to have more to show tomorrow -- like hopefully a completely pieced top. Stay tuned!

Who's Been Paying Attention?

Okies, blogging friends. Who's been paying attention? This is a test, this is only a test, do not pass GO!, do not collect $200. Whoops, got a little off track there.... LOL!

Anyway, can anyone out there guess my current project? Below are the fabrics I pulled for it last night. Do the colors look familiar? OK, my photography skills are a bit lacking and the colors are a little off, but besides that. C'mon gals, wrack your brains!

Need another hint? OK, check out today's progress in this latest pic...

Hmmmmm.......

Mysterious quilty hugs,

Autumn's Welcome

Well, here is my latest design using my trusty EQ program. I call it "Autumn's Welcome" taking a play off the name of my last design. Susan suggested "Summer's End" for that one and I thought it was such a great name!


I really love this one! I'm usually not an orange fan, but it just seemed to make this quilt pop. I'd love to know what you think...

On another note, I've gotten a part-time job at a local quilt shop. I'm enjoying it immensely! It's a lot of hard work, but I enjoy fondling and looking at all the beautiful fabrics and goodies each day I'm there. Today we got a new shipment in, which I unpacked. Portobello Market by Moda. IT IS GORGEOUS! The pictures just don't do it justice. I just hope I don't spend all my paycheck there. LOL!

Have a great quilty day!
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EQ Fun on a Rainy Day

Just wanted to share the EQ project I worked on today. It's blah and rainy out, and I'm feeling a bit blah myself. My sinuses are really acting up. My sister said it's probably the ragweed, cause 'tis the season, she says.

Anyway, here is my project. I don't have a name for it, so maybe ya'll could help me out with that. It will measure approximately 31 x 31 once bound and is designed using all Jo Morton fabrics. They are soooo pretty. Yet another future quilt I need to make. LOL!


Wishing for sunshine,

Watch Out Kindergarten -- Here He Comes!

Today is my grandbaby's first day of school. His mother said he was very excited and even woke up without any problems (Hallelujah!). As he boarded the school bus for the very first time, Rachel said she cried. I think that's every mother's right, don't you? I cried, too, when my babies started school. They grow so quickly.

I can't wait until they call tonite. I'm sure Anthony will have a lot to say about his first day. He's such a cutie, don't you think? :o)

Wait until mom sees all the paperwork she's going to have to fill out tonite. *evil laugh* Those of you who have been there can relate to that, right! LOL!

Suffering from growing pains,