Oh, yes… it’s been a long, long hiatus to be sure. Nearly a year now without blogging. The reason being: I’ve been building a house.
Well, not me personally, but a team of architects and workers building my new home during a year-long and very rich process. And being a part of this experience has taken up A LOT of my time, particularly during the last 3-4 months, where I practically spent half a day every day on-site. Lots and lots of little details to decide, which made it necessary to prioritize where to spend my time. Work and the websites always come first, so blogging was set aside.
But at last the house was finished, and I moved into my home a month-and-a-half ago. Yay! As anyone who has built knows, there are still small details to be finished, that will come with time. And a lot of unpacking. And even more organizing. That may take months… but I am basically settled, and have started to nest. 🙂
So I thought I would share a few photos of my new home…
There is a lovely front entrance, but I will show the back first, because the house has been designed to draw one through the house back towards the outdoors: a covered porch, the pool and orchard. The window on the right belongs to my bedroom, where I have a chair and table where I can sit and sew and appreciate the view into the valley below.
The pool, the pool… I love it! Those steps lead up to “my” side of the house, up to my bedroom and a private garden. In the background you can see my mother’s house. We are once again neighbors, as we used to be when living in the city. 🙂
A closer view of my side of the house. To the left, my bedroom, with the tall and comfortable wing back chair where I can sit and do some hand sewing. In the middle, the laundry/pet room, and at the far right, my new quilting studio. The windows were all recycled from our family homes in Quito.
A view of the central open space area: living and dining room, with an enormous kitchen at the far end. The door at the far end leads into the back porch. On the left, between the kitchen and dining area is a door to the corridor that leads to my private quarters. On the right, three guestrooms open directly onto the common space.
And, of course, there has to be a sneak peek at my new studio. Still working on organizing it all, but just love, love, love this space so far!
There are still boxes and boxes to finish unpacking, and I still need to finish organizing almost every space in the house. Pictures and wall hangings that need to go up, beds to be assembled in the guest rooms and quilts to be made. This house is going to continue taking up quite a bit of my time. But I am finally HOME, and it feels so good to nest! 🙂
I am a self-learner. I taught myself to sew and to quilt. And I taught myself how to draw. I am learning how to dye my own fabrics and am dabbling with mixed media. I am a quilt designer and teacher, and design and publish my own line of quilt patterns. With this blog I would like to share the bits and pieces of my life.
7 Comments
That’s such a great space – I envy you all the windows and light. It won’t take you long to get organized, it’ll all fit soon. Congrats and enjoy.
What a gorgeous home. Looks like it has amazing light. Absolutely a perfect home for you. Congratulations.
QuiltShopGal
http://www.quiltshopgal.com
Wow Angie, your house is beautiful!! I love all the open spaces and large windows to look outside!! Stunning!!!!! ♥♥♥
Well call me jealous! This place is spectacular!
Angie Congratulations! You finally made it! I am so happy for you. You deserve all the goodness in the world. You are an amazing person and an even more amazing friend. Wishing you all the very best. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!
Warm hugs,
Ruthie
P.S. Can I pop over and join you in the pool – LOL?
I was really missing you through your posts! But now I can see it worths the wait. Your new home is so “you”, built with your needs and taste. And the best part is to have your mom so close to you!
Congratulations, you deserve that comfort and I’m really happy for you.
Warm hugs,
Irene.
Dear Angie,
We are SO happy for you and your Mom and what has been accomplished.
WHAT A GREAT BLESSING FROM OUR LORD. HE DID PROMISE TO SUPPLY ALL OF OUR NEEDS, AND HE HAS DONE JUST THAT FOR YOU AND YOUR MOM.
We wish we could visit you again, but we do not foresee any trips that far down any time soon. We had a very devastating tragedy happen on August 12.
You may or maybe not have seen news about this. It had been raining for 4 days, BUT that happens a lot here. We were living in a “non-flood” zone and have done so for 34 1/2 years. Even during the huricanes, from time to time,the water has come up only about 2 feet in our back yard, which amounted to a LONG distance from our house. We were eating breakfast, glanced out the window and noticed the water rising closer and closer. My husband and son stood up, answered the phone and informed me they were going too get some sandbags. by the time they went to the back door, the water was already coming under the door. I began putting towels ect.,at the door facings, to no avail.
I went from room to room trying to see if everything was O.K. Water was coming in at each window and outside door. They soon returned, BUT NO
sandbags were available. People from the police and sheriff’s dept. came and urged us to leave. We did not take hardly anything, thinking that we would return the next day to “clean the floors”. We did not return until 5 days later.
The water rose 4 1/2 ft. in our whole house. We lost everything, including two vehicles. It has been devastating, but we are trying to go forward, doing whatever we have to do, day by day…Our church had build a Retreat Center for conf. and activites for the Youth. It has 26 rooms and a big Conf. room and a eating area behind that big room. They usually cater the food, when they have events HOWEVER…they opened it up to the flood victims on our street (one street in this subdivision, which was developed by the church MANY, MANY years) There are about 20 houses on the street….ALL total
with a few exceptions, we are all living in rooms at the center. It has been a challenge and we have experienced great grief and sadness.
I will celebrate my 80th birthday on Nov.14. I am SO GLAD that you are living close to your Mom and can keep check on her. Your home is a DREAM. Thank you for all of the pics. Your Studio is beautiful and it is a blessing that it is all finished. NOW you can settle down, finish unpacking, organizing and enjoying the peaceful views.
I am hoping to be able to buy a new sewing machine soon.
God bless you and prosper you in all of your work and your family,
Pearl Black