Doesn't Anyone Stay in One Place Anymore?

"You're so far away, doesn't anyone stay in one place anymore?"  I am reminded of Carol King's sad song this week as I'm back in Virginia packing up my quilt stash.  I have such mixed emotions about leaving.  I am really going to miss my good friends in Virginia.

We have made a big life decision to move back to Michigan.  We are getting older, and it is difficult to live in Virginia part of the year, and in Michigan part of the year.  We are moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, which will locate us geographically 2 hours from our cabin so we can enjoy it more, 2 hours from visiting my sister in Flint to care for her, and 1 hour from Lansing, with all that we enjoy there with Michigan State games, children, and grandchildren.  When it is bitter cold in Michigan in the winter, we can go visit our daughter in Texas and visit friends back here in Virginia.

So that is why I haven't posted for a month!  We have started the process to purchase a new home, and I am back in Virginia for a week to turn the quilt room back into a bedroom before we put this house on the market.  Here is my stack of empty boxes that will be filled tomorrow:

I wonder how many boxes I will need to pack up the whole quilt room stash. 

While at the cabin, I finished sewing together the cake stand streak of lightening quilt top.  Here it is:

I am happy with it, and am going to quilt straight lines down the green and pink sashings, following the zig zags, maybe three or four lines wide to emphasize them.  I don't know what I will quilt in the cake stand blocks; any suggestions?  I want to do something that would be in keeping with the civil war era.

It is now 86 inches by 98 inches before binding.  The cake stand blocks are 6 inches square.

I'm looking at everyone's design wall at Judy Laquidara's blog (Design Wall Mondays).  Enjoy your day ladies, and say a little prayer for me, that I will be able to box up everything and label it well, so I can find things when I unpack.