November 12, 2006

Sailing Hardships Through Broken Harbors (Sampler Sunday)

Can't you hear Neil Young's whiny, nasal voice?

Sailing hardships through broken harbors
Out in the wastes of the night.
Still the searcher must ride the dark horse
Racing along in his fright


From Harvest, I think. I was listening to it on XM Friday on my way from work, knowing that we would spend much of the weekend househunting again. Actually, I love househunting. So much fun to unearth goodies and quirks. But this was too big a quirk for me. We knew it was a distressed property, with a price to match--$50K less than the surrounding properties for sale. We pictured ruined walls or floors, perhaps some water damage, rickety decks, missing appliances, wrecked bathrooms. What we found: all those things plus a giant crack in the foundation. Not good. Former Homeowner hammered some nails into it then filled it full of bathtub caulk in a vain attempt to conceal the problem? hold it all together? It did neither. In fact, the garage had pulled away from the house, fleeing eight inches in its fright or shame, and allowing rainwater to enter the basement directly. Look--a lap pool! Then the Caulk-king wandered around the house, caulking other things: leaky faucets, loose tiles, all the grout around the kitchen sink. There's nothing much seismic in VA to cause this, so we speculate that it's maybe bad soil or an underground stream causing the house to move around.

Next property: someone bought this old tear-down and put a lovely new house in the resulting slot in the city (small photo borrowed from www.fredericksburg.com). They lovingly hand-built the replacement and filled it full of goodies: Brazilian walnut floors, tray ceilings with hand-applied copper leaf, upgraded appliances, quartz cambria counters. We love the house, just love it. But it's no larger than our current property, even if a good bit fancier and more than twice as expensive. The house has been standing empty for a long time--maybe a low-ball offer?

So it's a relief to contemplate this: no cracks, no dripping water, no mold, no short-circuits, no grimy carpet, no financial decisions. It's by Sheepish Designs, called The Garden Path and is is meant to be worked on 32 ct Belfast Linen with DMC. Because I have six cats, I might take out the four sheep and replace them with more cats.

I stitched on Birth of Jesus this week, giving the sailors a few days off (although I've missed them--they'll be back in my bag tomorrow). I've started a sheep on the left with the furry Wisper. Funny, Carol recently reported how difficult the Wisper is to thread on a needle, and she's so right! All the little hairs point off in different directions while you're trying to thread the needle!

10 comments:

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

I feel for you Glenna, being that we just moved, I understand the feelings you're having in your pursuit.
The BOJ is looking splendid! Can't wait to see that sheep take form!
:D

Carol said...

I have that pretty Sheepish Designs sampler too - you have good taste - LOL!!!! Argh, house hunting - it will all be worth it in the end :-) My neighbor is selling a stunning home - want to move to NH??

Anonymous said...

Your Birth of Jesus looks great. It is fun to look at houses unless you're under a specific time deadline. I love looking at houses even though we aren't planning on selling ours.

Johnny Menace said...

shoulda kept the lime green boss

LivnLaf said...

Hey Glenna...thought of you today when I got this catalogue in the mail...their catalogue is as much fun to read as are the books they sell.
http://www.basbleu.com/stores/1/index.cfm

I love the idea you have with the Sampler...cats vs sheep...excellant idea!

Margaret said...

What a lovely sampler and what a great idea to substitute cats for the sheep. Maybe you can even stitch them to look like your own kitties.
Good luck with your house hunting - fun but often very tiring.
Margaret

Michelle said...

Every time I see this piece, I love it even more! The sampler is great too, I love the cats on the walk.

Michelle-ozark crafter said...

I like the little sampler! Birth of Jesus is looking awesome! keep it up!

Annemarie said...

I love the SD sampler. Birth of Jesus is coming along nicely too.
Finding stitched houses to your liking is so much easier than finding real life ones, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!