The Saga Continues...

Although I was able to get out for the evening on the 4th of July, the drama continues in our household...what a crazy couple weeks it has been...and there are no signs of "calm" in the near future. Over the weekend, we finalized most of our home remodel with the contractors and the majority of the decisions have now been made...and most measurements have been taken. The stump removal company came and removed the hedges in the front of our house (just before an entire day of rain), leaving a messy mud pit in their place. While all of these things are going on, my husband decided it was the perfect time to do a friend a favor and watch their dog (a young female Boxer) for the weekend - that was interesting (for me overwhelming), especially since Simba is still recovering from his surgery and not supposed to get too excited...and although he was a quarter of her size, he did show her who was boss. After the weekend, I thought the uproar might be over for a few days...but no...one more major thing had to happen...our master bathroom had a slight leak in the shower faucet and my husband, who means well - but who is definitely not a plumber, tried to take matters into his own hands...wow, was that ever an EXPENSIVE/labor intensive mistake. A small fix, made unfixable (if that is a word) by my husband (who must be a close relative of Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor) has turned into the entire shower/tub being pulled out, the pipes being repaired, and a new tiled shower put in to replace the old shower/tub combo. So, starting tomorrow, the master bathroom is going to be gutted and more commotion will be going on for the next week. Ugh, ugh, and ugh. Even more scary - this weekend, my husband and a friend of his (who is a landscaper), will be using a small skid loader (destroying more of my lawn) to move dirt in our backyard, build a retaining wall, and put down rock before adding/building a shed...I think I need to find a quiet place to go for the day or I might have a complete breakdown. Whew...enough venting...

Let's move off the "craziness" topic and on to something a little more creative. As most of you know, about a month ago, I was teaching in Enfield, NH at the first ever New England Stitcher's Retreat....and if you have been reading my blog, you know it was held at the Enfield Shaker Museum/Great Stone Dwelling. Last fall, the event coordinators had asked me to design a Shaker-style piece for the event...so, I had immediately gone to the library and started doing research to help me design something special. Now, I am thrilled to share with you, I have been asked to return in October 2011 to teach a new class with another very special Shaker project. Again, I have been doing more research and reading...and looking for more information to inspire my design process....and I happened upon the most wonderful table book. It is called "Gather Up The Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection", authored by Mario S. De Pillis and Christian Goodville, with photography by Michael Fredericks...oh my goodness, this is a BEAUTIFUL book with exquisite photography...it is full of history...and is an excellent catalog featuring fabulous images all sorts of Shaker artifacts - including furniture, tools, clothing, boxes, baskets, and linens. I was so excited to add this amazing reference book to my research library....and can't wait to make time to savor each and every page!

I am now off to do more model stitching and charting...and taking more aspirin to help with my on-going headache. Hopefully I will be back in a few days with a glowing report, a new outlook, and a repaired/remodeled bathroom....