I have to start by showing you the finished library downstairs. Mike and another man worked on in last winter. Mostly Mike. I was working on sorting books when I had to leave to go to the states in April.

Maybe you wonder why I would bother to show a library. Isn’t this post about a long-arm room?

Well, it was the kind of thing that “This has to come first, then that.”

In the room that I want to be the long arm room, there were a bunch of books. I needed to deal with them. We also had books in the main part of downstairs and stashed in various places in the basement. Definitely not satisfactory. Because of that, this library area was very needed. We took a room that had been basically abandoned as a junk room, cleaned it out, redid it and made it wonderful. I did a lot of the clean-out- but I can take ZERO credit for the redo - my husband is responsible for all of that.

Now…here’s the room that is to be the long arm room.

I’ll be taking pictures periodically. It shares a wall with the library.

Right now it is full of sports equipment. We are going to have to decide what to do with all of it. In many ways, that is the hardest part of it - making the decisions about what goes where. Many times the places where “that thing” could go needs to be cleaned out first. This, of course, makes for a complicated process. As we go, we are having to get rid of things and clean out things as well - so it’s not just that things are messy (though they are)…there is just “too much”, so they have to thinned out.

In this room is also a lot of stuff that belongs to my son and his wife, who plan/hope to come back to Poland to live. A lot of it can be put upstairs in our attic area as long as the boxes aren’t too heavy. We do have a very used foosball table that is probably the biggest thing to make a decision about (along with the ping pong table). I think we can find space for the paintball stuff, the baseball stuff and the Nerf stuff. The rest….

It also has to be finished. You can see the ceiling and walls aren’t finished. That is something we will rectify before I move in - actually before I ever “order” a long arm - the room will be ready.

I will work on this in the next couple of months, trying to get rid of the stuff - or if isn’t too heavy, maybe find a place in our attic for it - although I would rather not. Attics tend to collect stuff - and unless they are things like Christmas (used once a year) - often once you put something up there, it is forgotten about!

The plan for the room is to completely empty it out so we can tackle the walls, floor. ceiling, lighting, etc. It is something that will take a while, but even though it looks awful right here - it is a pretty organized mess at this time. IOW. All the baseball stuff is together, all the Nerf stuff together, all the paintball stuff is together. Yes…and you might see a pile of books on the foosball table. They will be temporarily taken out, but eventually, because those are some of my sewing books, they will come back to this room on a bookshelf dedicated to my sewing books. These are tailoring, general sewing and such.

So, from time to time, I thought I’d show you progress on this room. Hopefully it goes like this - the next couple of months, like a person on a diet, the “things should shrink” - because I can’t just move them out - every item has to be dealt with as it comes out - and either find a new home in this house, given away or sold. Then, once empty, new construction, and lastly, if all goes well, a long arm. What actually determines my buying a long arm - is getting get my new residency permit. My current one expires at the very end of December and I don’t want to put out that kind of money in a machine unless I can be assured that I have permission to live in Poland longer. While it may be a moot point - countries change, policies change, etc. I will not assume anything - certainly not buying an expensive machine shortly before my residency card expires. Last time they gave it to me for 3 years, so I hope for that again.

Sorry the photos are so dark - but that room is dark currently. Lighting is one thing that will have to be rectified!

And there you - another project on our bucket list for the near future.

Note: I decided that I am going to head towards getting the long arm because of the wear and tear I am feeling on my body with the quilting, specifically, with all of the charity quilting I’m trying to do each year. At this point nothing has been decided for sure - but this is where I am trying to go. I do not foresee myself ever enjoying the quilting part as much as or more than the piecing, which is the part of the process I find delightful. Maybe a long arm would help that? I have no idea. It is all pretty scary to me.

Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Thanks for coming along with me on my quilting/sewing journey!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Here’s one of the beauties we have!