The dictionary site merriam-webster.com has a fantastic definition of the word Perspective:

the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance

This is the perfect description of what I’ve attempted to do when my partner and I had to make the difficult decision last week to back out of our new house we were having built. So we cancelled the purchase just a couple weeks before closing.

The house was nearly complete and was quite lovely:

But due to the current financial crisis (and the hit we took in the stock market, etc.) and the global pandemic/its related uncertainty, it did not feel like the right time to buy the new house or to move, so we decided to stay where we are at for a couple more years.

So we’ve spent the past 5 days unpacking our boxes/containers and settling back into life at our house.

I was sad for a brief moment (just a couple tears, not an “ugly cry” or anything) of not getting the new house, but then here is where “perspective” really came in:

• We already live in a nice neighborhood with neighbors we know and plenty of green spaces to walk about in (while keeping social distancing)
• We are both employed and are doing great telecommuting together
• We are both healthy and feel safe
• Our current home is comfortable and we had fixed up/repaired anything needing repairing before we put it on the market (we took if off the market last week of course)
• Mike the miniature schnauzer loves his current home

Keeping “perspective” we realized that the bulleted items above are way more important than getting a brand new house.

In addition to unpacking over the past 5 days, we’ve been re-imaging how our home is decorated and reconfiguring layouts in various rooms. It has been a really fun way to spend our time (when not working at our jobs) when we have been housebound due to the statewide “stay at home” order.

One the big things I did was to unpack my sewing/crafting studio and reconfigure it!

Here is my studio in progress:

In my next post I will show you my unpacked and reconfigured studio (or perhaps I’ll have a guest blogger, the tierneycreates Beastie, give you a tour!). My partner built me a new design wall for it!

Postscript

In the suburban section of the Denver metro area in which I live, we are allowed to go outside for exercise during the “stay at home” order. Behind our home are walking trails and we can see families walking or bike riding through the day together. More than I’ve ever seen prior to the pandemic.

I think this pandemic is unbelievably horrible and I am sorry for all the lives and livelihoods lost. If there could be any silver linings in these dark days I think it would be how we seemed to have paused from our busy lives and perhaps shifted our perspectives to what really is important. It seems like many families are spending so much more time together and making the best of it.

Today during a virtual/video conference call work meeting, our department leader asked what is the first thing we plan to do when the pandemic is over. Most people said go visit a family member or friend we had not seen in person and give them a big hug.

I’ll close this post with an image of the sidewalk art (by some of the kind hearted people of the Denver area) I discovered as I walked my dog the other day.

Remember this always:

Feature Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

As many of you know who have followed my blog for a while, in December 2018 my husband, my life-partner, and best friend who was also known on this blog as “Terry the Quilting Husband” (he was a quilter also) suddenly and unexpectedly passed.

Shortly after his passing I made the big life decision to relocate and a couple of weeks ago I moved (along with Mike my Miniature Schnauzer) from Central Oregon to the greater Denver metro area to start my new life.

Another major life change that occurred at the time of this move was to move from a house into an apartment. I’ve not lived in an apartment since I was in nursing school. Wait, I take that back, Terry and I did live in an apartment for a year when we first moved to Houston, Texas while he was in the military but as soon as we could we bought a house.

But that was still back in my 20s. And I am a wee bit older now than 20 – ha! Let’s just say I’ve lived in houses significantly longer than I lived in apartments.

I’m considering “apartment living” a year experiment. I did sign a year’s lease and during my year in the apartment I can decide what will be next in my living situation. I might buy a house on my own, I might stay in my apartment, I might rent a house instead of an apartment. We’ll see! (Your guess is as good as mine at this point).

I am rambling and you are probably waiting for the quilt tour that I promised. Let me just continue with a tiny bit more introduction to the tour.

To make my new apartment feel homey, I decorated it with many of the quilts I had on my walls at my house. As my apartment is smaller than my house, it might appear to some that I have an “intense concentration of quilts” on my walls and strewn about the house. I say “get over it, it makes me happy!”

So finally, here is the Apartment Quilt Tour:

MY ENTRYWAY/HALLWAY

The wood piece to the left of the quilt pictured above, was made by my friend Cody G. out of recycled pallet wood. What is extra cool about this piece, besides it is a lovely gift from a friend, is that he had no idea of the colors in the quilt next to it. He just took a guess on a palette that would work with the pallet piece (yes, you likely guessed I had to Google the spelling of palette as in a color palette vs. the spelling of wooden pallet – English is so complicated!)

In addition to quilts, I have some handmade small items in my entryway – one of my miniature kimonos and a collection of my miniature pillows. I used to sell these on my now closed tierneycreates Etsy shop.

HALLWAY TO THE KITCHEN AND HOME OFFICE AREA

On the way into the kitchen and in my home office area (I am a telecommuter), I have a couple quilts hung:

THE KITCHEN

In the small dining area attached to the kitchen I have a quilted wallhanging:

THE LIVING ROOM

There are layers of quilts in the living room as well as a couple on the wall.

The quilt pictured above was the first quilt that I had in book. Several of the blocks were featured in the book 1000 Quilting Inspirations by Sandra  Sider, along with several of my first recycled silk art quilts.

THE MASTER BEDROOM

I discovered something very exciting: the Sunflower quilt wallhanging I thought I had accidentally donated to a Central Oregon charity thrift shop was actually just packed away in a strange place. When I finally full unpacked I found it! So I put it up using Command Strips on the door to my bedroom!

I have what some might consider a ridiculous amount of quilts up on the wall of my bedroom, but them make me happy!

Oh I should mention – you might gasp that some of the quilts are not hung properly. Some have wooden hangers (which use a marble inside to hold the quilt in place), while some are hung up with…gasp…thumb tacks!

Do not worry, the thumb tack hangings are only temporary, I just wanted to make sure I liked where they were hung before I mounted the wooden hangers.

And finally the space I’ve shared already in a previous post – the guest room/studio.

GUEST ROOM/STUDIO

In addition to quilts I’ve made, I also have some special quilts that friends have made up on the walls. I completely forgot to photographed those for this post, but I figured I have shown you enough quilts up on my wall for now (smile).

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would re-post my blog post from October 2015. For my U.S. readers – I hope you and the people in your life have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. For my readers around the world – I hope you and the people in your life have a wonderful day! 

Abraham Lincoln said:

We can complain because the rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses

The Gratitude Diaries

I have just finished a wonderful audiobook, The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan (2015).

In her book, Janice Kaplan shares plenty of meaningful quotes, like the one above, as well as wonderful stories (personal and of others) about living each day filled with gratitude.

The author also provides lots of social science/research (aka “Malcolm Gladwell” style) that supports why true happiness and peace comes from living an existence soaked in gratitude.

A very inspirational and very joyous audiobook listen.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is one by the Greek Philosopher Epicurus:

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.