Late summer

Summer is so close to the end and the early Fall seems approaching in "south" Iowa! ( S and I called it south, since this is the most south part of the country that we've lived so far). Early morning is getting cooler, but not the crisp air type. Trees are turning yellow, but thank goodness grasses are still green!

I have been gathering myself together better lately! Participated in a few art events in local galleries and met some local folks, which has been wonderful to get connected with the new community! The phone has been buzzing busy lately! Making music tryout lesson arrangements for S and we slow to find the good fit teacher (Can you hear me *sign* ?)! Lots traveling around the city for us, which we are not quite used to still and I had a little butterfly the other day when we were getting on highway during the traffic hours, but this mama is handling it well so far!

Our home is slowly looking "settle" in! The artworks still need to be hang on the wall and I almost think I should paint the walls this Fall instead of next summer! Then there are few new ideas about how our living room space could improve, rearrange the furniture and make it more access for living?  So on! I do love the large living room floor where I could lay the quilts on and play around the layouts! If you followed me on IG aka quarterinchmark. You probably have found that I've working on S' 10th birthday quilt and you know what? It is getting closed to be a quilt top!

I still am learning the natural lights in our new house! It is interesting how the light shifts and changes between the space! We love our dining space so much; where we open the door and let the fresh air in most of the day! It is also the space where S does her school work and we catch up our day when she gets home.

The studio setting has been fabulous! Finally I am not moving anything around for a week and spend most of the daytime sewing! Yes! Trying new patterns, new fabric colors combination and working on the new zakka handmade for the shop! Lately, I looked deep through into the fabric stash and decided let go some stashes! The limited studio space doesn't allow more storage space for fabric and other supplies and some of the fabric just have been patted and saved! Some of the prints were bought for making S outfits, but she needs more yardages than I planned from the last year, so I decided to let go these prints go as well! I've hosted it under inchmark_destash on IG if any of you are interested!

We've drinking from the mason jars again! It is really home for us, causal and simple!  Our plants are slowly growing and it would be great that if we can find a jade plant again! It is my favorite plant ever when we were in ND.  We need few more greens in the house to bring more green energy! Do you have any good suggestions for indoor plants?

With the long weekend that's coming up here in the states. I will be working up in the studio and making short trips around the city! Yes, library trip is a must!


xxc

August. Fairground. Joy.

Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Iowa August 16, 2014 

Welcome, in!

{brother, me, sister}

Welcome, in!

A month ago, we closed this small house to be more specific,; a townhouse. We've looked if not 100, but at least 60 houses in less than eight weeks. We went from ideal and dreamy old character style houses to something simpler and newer. We though we'll get hardwood flooring to prevent the allergy, but we got carpet flooring, almost allover the space. We plan on finding a three bedrooms with a large living room space house to a small house that comes with two bedrooms and one small loft space. We really though we'll get a big kitchen, since we love to cook and spend all our time in the dining space; just like what we've done while we were in ND. But the reality is that I am not as handy as I though in order to maintain an older house. Well, true to be told this is not a dream house, but it is a "dream home".

We've been in this house almost a month ( in a few hours will mark the one month anniversary).  We are feeling settled in our home and feeling great about this move that we made! Indeed, I am not going to worry about the rest of the boxes that still set unopened in my room eventually they will get sort, right?

This home is a quiet collective memory home for us! The ladder that found in the small town we lived for 3 years, so does some of the vintage baskets. We moved them with us from place to place. The television stand/ actually is a dresser that picked up from the spring cleaning day in ND and we were there for 3 years as well.  The dining table was brought two years ago when we went visited our friends, the seller was kindly stored the table for us while we were gone oversea. It was for S' study table, but we use it as dinning table now and it is perfect size. There are still lots marks after the sanding, but I decided to leave the history of this table as is. It turns out the table looks more orange/red than the dark brown that I was hoping for, but it works quiet well with other elements in the dining space.

For a long time, S was playing piano on the electric weighted piano. It is similar to the piano, but it doesn't sound the same! Before we were never able to commit to buy a real piano, since we move every so many years. Finally on this move, we committed to a real piano. Yes, she is very excited about this commitment! We are really lucky to find the piano in a weekend and found out the seller actually lived 3 miles away from us. Part of the great buy was that she was willing to negotiated the price with us! Ever since the piano moved in, this home is getting closer to a real furnished home!

The library took major of wall space in the living room. S loves it! She organized her books by themes and set series books together. It is already out of space and we were thinking to add another storage above that and find a ladder for S to retrieve books, but for now we'll just wait!

S' room is completed for what she needs so far! We furnished her room with simple IKEA furniture. She asked if she could have a study table and a night stand in her room. It probably is part of the growth and wanting to have a little private space of her own.  Oh, yes, she has a full crib of animals that she grew up with! The crib was found in a thrift store when S was probably 4 then she asked a quilt for all her animal at the time.  The little rocking chair set in the corner was the only chair that she would sat on when she was a babe! S rocked herself in nap time and some movie time. The quilt on the rocking chair was the very first quilt I made her and if I remember it right, it was spring time in 2007 and was tulip season! The house rainbow quilt was her 8th birthday quilt that she loves to cuddle up the most.  The mini quilts are our collaborative quilts when we lived in ND. Now they get to shine and cozy up S' space. Yes, that huge and heavy task chair needs a cover so badly!

If you ask for my room. Well, it is still quiet clutter at this moment! The room seems so big to me. There's a twin size bed and covered with layers of quilts so far.  I knew that I would like to find few old buffets and transfer them into dressers and a love seat in the room, so S can come hang out over the weekending, but for now. It is our storage and simple sleep space for me.

We are actually not quiet felt in love with this house, but we will!! There are few things have been add to the Updating House Notebook, such as wall colors, flooring, kitchen cabinet, window covers ( should I make any?)  I decided to walk away from the list simply we plan to settle in for now and think about other updates later on.

The sewing studio is where you can find me everyday now! I've been sewing a few hours a day to gain my motivation back! S' 10th birthday quilt will be ready soon and the other day she walked by the studio and ask what are you making? I replied "trying something new". She said, you really like red and white, aren't you? My heart jump faster with a thought... hope she will love the quilt when it's ready! You know the 11th birthday quilt is next and she has showed me the picture of the quilt that she would like! I would like to make it on time for the 11th birthday this time!  There are still a few things that I would like to arrange around the studio, but I am still overwhelmed and needed to slow down to allow myself work around the space and decide what need to be move or add to the space.

Now we are home! It seems like a long journey to come! After few turns of life corners we made it! My cheerleader will have a permeant home/place to grow up and to meet friends and have friends over! There are spaces for them to get wild and I probably will just plug my ears with headphone if I need to. We are looking forward our very first weekending here so soon! Cooking, sewing, reading, and relaxing at home!  Until then,  happy weekending!!

xxc

Postcard # 3

Greetings-

The space that we've spent most of our day time lately: the sewing loft aka {quarter inch mark studio}! It is rather cozy here! Small space, but we love how everything spreads out! Not all the fabrics are in the shelves, since it ran out of the space already! I've been sewing for last few days; a few hours a day to get my motivation back and get used to the new space! The sewing table sits the opposite from the window, but will be move to the window side to get more light source.  Oh, yes.. a little tour of this space in the future is a must! It is perfect in many ways for me. I love how I am able see most of the fabric at once and not need to open every boxes to find the "one"! In the sunny hot days, the window blind covers the room well. I don't need to worry about the fabric much! Still lots to work on and yes! I love to show you the table that we've been using for the dining space! It is gorgeous and perfect for us! We love to find a few more chairs in case we have any company swing by!   Until then, we'll stay busy and shall return this space soon!


west des moines, Iowa

xxc

Postcard #2

Greetings-

This is our dinning space to be! We have been eating off from the small kitchen bar since moved in.  This morning, I just added the last coat of our dinning table that I thrifted two years ago. It was sanded by hands for two days then S and I went to the hardware store. We stood in front of the shelves for a good 30 mintues; making important decision, which paint color?  Well, it is really out of my color zone, but so far so good!  The walls need to get new colors! But, you know this is going to be another important decision for us.  Until then we'll just keep talking and taking action in summer 2015.

Oh, yes! Last night, it only took us three trips to stores to get the right parts for the wifi connection and 5 hours on the phone with the tech guy. But the wifi is on! We'll be on a long phone call to my family tonight and you know what we really love our new home!


West Des Monies, Iowa

xxc