Linen Stitcher

Well, as promised, I’ve been parked in my stitching chair all weekend, keeping close tabs on the neighborhood. And it’s a good thing I did, because otherwise, I would have missed the incredible amount of activity that took place there.

How incredible? Well, would you believe that I’m almost ready to welcome the newest neighbors to the subdivision?!?

As I mentioned last week, when I had caught sight of the architect’s sketchy plan, I was hopeful but unconvinced. Then I started poking around the building site a bit, and I happened across the actual blueprint:

Now I thought that only one architect was presenting the designs for this neighborhood. And since the main architect has so many wonderful house designs to choose from, each homeowner could surely find the perfect house style and floor plan. But evidently this homeowner had other ideas and subcontracted an original design for their lot. If you ask me, I think that was 99 percent of the delay. Turns out that this architect was a total amateur. In fact, this architect had never designed even a single house before.

There were a lot of legal hoops to jump through with the neighborhood covenants. All of the existing house plans met the highest quality specifications, but did this one? And did it match the feel of the neighborhood? Would the integrity of the subdivision be preserved?

Well, you’ll just have to decide for yourself, because here it is, almost but not quite finished:

Designer: Me, Myself, and I, Inc.
Pattern Name: Maggie’s House
Stitched with mostly DMC floss with one GA overdyed thrown in for good measure.

Well, after so many false promises and feeble starts recently, my jaw positively DROPPED when I saw how lightning fast this house went up. Literally, the lot was completely empty one day, the next day the framework was up, and here we sit today with just the finish work and landscaping yet to complete.

The color was debated for a while, so I was a little worried that the project would stall out yet again. You see, the homeowner was patterning this house after one that used to belong to a friend, and it had to be just right. It was hard to do, but I think the architect captured it. The house is a medium gray, which is an excellent backdrop for all of the beautiful landscaping that is yet to come. And I never saw house painters work any faster. They would have finished it tonight if they had just had one more hour of daylight. Unfortunately, the days are starting to get ever so slightly shorter, so they had no choice but to call it quits. (Truth be known, I’m grateful that they didn’t decide to paint in the dark. Who knows what quality would have come from that!)

The landscaper was anxious to get started on the front of the house, but since the builders were still finishing up today, the landscapers had to settle for getting the flowers planted around the lamppost out front.

Eventually, they went around back and started in on the elaborate garden planned for that spot. I did mention that the homeowners splurged and bought the double lot, right? Well, they did. Actually, a lot of the delay centered around whether to site the house on Lot 4 or Lot 5. I was just sure that Lot 4 would win out because of the fabulous view, but after three false starts there, these new homeowners must have believed that Lot 4 was jinxed (I know I did!), so at the last minute, they shifted the house to Lot 5 instead. It’s got a lovely view of the park next door, so it made perfect sense in the end.

So far, the only thing they’ve got to show for that area is the tree.

Designer: Prairie Schooler
Pattern: Book 146, Daffodils
Greens stitched as charted; DMC 610 substituted for the brown.

This tree arrived as bare-root stock, but I think the landscapers must have used some pretty potent fertilizer on it, because it’s already towering over the house. And they tell me it’s not quite full grown yet. It’s usually the top that fills in last, but oddly enough, on this variety it’s the lower part of the trunk that still needs to grow. Interesting.

Now, the builder is exhausted and has left the subdivision for the day . . . or for the next six months, perhaps. Seriously, given the history, who knows when there will be more construction? But since nobody is around, I took the opportunity to snap a new picture of the neighborhood. This is what it looked like today after the crazy activity this weekend:

There’s still plenty of work to be done, but all in all, it’s starting to shape up nicely, now that the final lots have been laid out.

Next up? Pour the concrete for the sidewalk at the new house, landscape the backyard there, and then maybe, just maybe, someone will get those poor waterfowl some water to swim in.

Sheesh! It’s a wonder they’re still hanging around.

Batten down the hatches. Hold onto your hats. Word on the neighborhood street is that my builder has returned to complete the build.

Is it true?

Could it be?

Well, on the off chance that there might be some truth to the rumor, I’m going to plant myself in my stitching chair all weekend just to see if I can catch sight of this elusive contractor.

Now I know there are some of you out there—well, let’s face it, probably every last one of you by now—who didn’t believe that this builder would ever show again. I myself was rather skeptical, I must admit. So I’m feeling the need to prove why it is I dare hope.

First, you have to remember that when I last posted about the fiasco progress in the neighborhood, the builder had left after installing the floating roof. That meant that Lot 4 in the west central area of the subdivision looked like this:

Of course, it didn’t seem likely that this would measure up to the neighborhood covenants, but the neighborhood association was so distracted by the fencing issues over at Lot 3 in the northeast corner of the neighborhood that no one had time to act.

Instead, the city inspectors, who were probably acting on an anonymous tip, learned of this building “technique” (and believe me, I’m using that term veeeery loosely here), and they ordered the immediate demolition of the roof. Typical of the competency of all of the workers involved with this entire project, the backhoe operator was a little less than skillful, and in the end, the entire lot was CLEARED! (If you ask me, the birdhouse seemed to be pretty solidly constructed, but it’s too late to go back now.)

[sigh]

By now the original buyers had backed out, so the long search started again to find someone to purchase and build on the lot. (I don’t really trust my memory all that much these days, but I’m pretty sure that this will be the THIRD time construction on this lot has started and then been demolished. What’s up with that?? No wonder this builder isn’t making any progress!!)

But just recently I saw an architect’s plans for the new build on the lot, and I must say, it’s looking pretty promising. It’s a brand-new design, never built before, which makes me a little leery, but I’m willing to reserve judgment for while and see what develops. Right now, the oh-so-sophisticated drawing looks like this:

Stay tuned, faithful neighborhood watchers, and we can all be surprised together!