2015 - A Fresh Start

Hi everyone:

Note: This is a personal post. Look for an exciting quilting-related post later today.

I've been rather quiet lately and you may've wondered why that is. 

2015 started out with a loss in our family. After a brief and unexpected illness, my father-in-law passed away on January 13. The loss of Reg, who was so active and full of life, is still hard to accept. I expect to hear his voice on the phone telling me about his latest sailing adventure and asking how my quilting is going. He was always a big supporter of my business, telling all his friends about my website and videos. I think of him every day and am so glad that we were able to spend time with him this past summer when he came out to visit us in Calgary.

As soon as we returned from the funeral (a quick 5 day trip), I got sick with a flu virus. This is typical when I fly, so I wasn't surprised. Of course this set my quilting back and I was off work for a few days. Just when I was starting to feel better (finally!), I came home from work to a partially flooded basement. While I had intended to clear out our basement storage area, this wasn't how I wanted to accomplish it!

While we thought that the washing machine was the culprit, it turned out that there was a blockage in the city water line. Initially it was clear water that we cleaned out - after hauling out box after box of stored items - but it eventually turned to more unpleasant sludge material. Fortunately we had cleared out most of the items and only lost our Christmas tree. Of course it was the newest one we had and the old one was okay, but still...

Remnants of the Christmas tree

We had a plumber come out to try to clear the blockage and that's when the smell started to permeate the house, forcing my son and I out for the evening to a local hotel. My hubby stayed to help the plumber and then call the city, as the plumber couldn't clear the blockage, and wait for them. Eventually they cleared the line - at about midnight. 

Back part of flooded storage area

My husband cleaned up the mess and then headed off to bed. Upon rising at 4:00 a.m. he washed down all the affected areas and then applied an anti fungal, anti mildew coating. A few days later when everything was dry, we were able to put back the storage items. Fortunately we use Rubbermaid Rough-Neck boxes to store most of our things, so only had our record albums that had to be dried out. Now everything has been reorganized and put back in place. 

My quilt studio isn't usually this messy!

I'm really hoping that the rest of 2015 is more positive. I do have some very exciting news to tell you, but wanted to let you know what's been happening in my world this past month. I don't like to dwell on the negative: I deal with it and move on, always looking for the next good thing. And I'm looking forward to sharing some really good news later today.

I hope you're having a great 2015 and that your basement is dry and warm :)