I'll be a working girl once again.  Yes, I finally got a job; and it's a job I think I'm going to love.  I have another interview scheduled for next week, waiting to hear on an interview I was at the week before; and an application came in the mail yesterday from a place I submitted my resume to way back in March.  But I'm going out on a limb and taking this temp-to-hire position because it just seems the right fit for me as well as for them.

I tried to work at finishing up UFO's while I was home, and I did get several done; but I also started several more!  Isn't that the way?  And I began knitting like crazy.  I haven't finished my shawl and probably won't before I start my job on Monday, but I know I'll need something relaxing to do when I get home in the evenings.  The first week of a new job is always stressful.

There is a missions project going on at church, and I've been knitting baby hats as fast as I can.  With my odds and ends of yarn, I went through patterns on Ravelry and spent many days just knitting.  I was like a kid with a candy dish when it came to picking out patterns to work on!  This pattern is called Hug Cap and was designed for anyone facing illness or a difficult situation; the sizes range from baby to adult.  I made several of these; and even though the pattern looks difficult, it was easy.

My favorite dishcloth pattern is located here; her blog is one of the best I read, by the way.  I've made more of these than I can remember, and some are headed to the missions project.

My sister and her husband were missionaries in Japan for several years.  She sent me several little squares of fabric she had picked up over there.  I think they may be the Japanese version of fat quarters.  This pattern is Two Percent by Carrie Nelson.

Remember my post about the RMEF banquet that I worked at in March?  It was so much fun that I hope to be able to work at it again in 2014.  I made this quilt top from my box of homespuns.  I want to quilt it and donate it for next year's RMEF auction.

I've hung onto a piece of dark blue fabric for years waiting for the right project.  Honestly, it's at least 25 years old!  I've always wanted a double 9-patch quilt, so one day I just put the two together.  I like the little bit of red to spark it up.  Now that I'll be working again, I want to have this machine quilted with something fancy in the plain blocks.




Last year I blogged about finishing up projects (it's an on-going thing with me I guess), and this was one top I had dragged to countless retreats and just never seemed to finish.  The top finally got finished and tucked away last year.  It went to the quilter's over the winter, finally got bound, and is being used.

This is my Row-by-Row quilt top that I worked on with some of the members of my quilt group.  Those who participated made a row of quilt blocks, put it into a box along with a bundle of fabrics, and passed it to the next quilter who in turn made a row of different blocks.  My bundle was Moda's Ella's Linen Closet.  This top came back to me earlier this year.  I'll probably hand quilt this one.

And with the leftover fabrics from the bundle, I cut out Atkinson's Texas Hold 'Em.  It often seems I can get a lot of quilts out of a Moda bundle, but this time I'm only getting two.  Texas Hold 'Em is queen sized, and there are very few scraps left now.

I spent my annual weekend with my cousin Audrey in February.  I was battling a really bad cold and just didn't have my heart into sewing.  I always enjoy my weekend with her, so I wasn't about to stay home.  I had planned to finish piecing my Farmer's Wife top but was only able to get the rows stitched together.  It's tedious to stitch the lattice and then pin it to the rows, and I'm still struggling to get it done.  This has to be one of my most favorite quilt projects, and I know I'll love it when it's finally done and on the bed.  I just seem to drag my feet on finishing this one.

So there you have it - my six and a half month vacation in a nutshell!  In some ways it was really nice to have all this time to myself, I have to admit; but I started to get itchy to work these past few weeks.  Thank you to everyone to sent a kind comment or email and mentioned praying that something would come up for me.  I am amazed at this new opportunity that has been handed to me, and I am so excited for it.  In October when I was told that my job was eliminated, the HR manager said to me that he had been in my position years ago.  He added that things worked out for him and that he ended up in a better job.  I heard that a lot from others during this time off.  You know what, it really did turn out that way for me.  That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.  Romans 8:20, The Message

Some excitement in our family on Wednesday.  There is a new baby!  He's a sweet little bundle weighing in at 6 pounds, 18 inches.  Big sister Gigi wasn't too impressed with seeing him at the hospital until she was able to hold him in her lap.  Now she calls him Baby Brother Eli. 

Randy and Jenny are wonderful parents.  There is nothing quite like watching your children be parents.  I am so very blessed.

Last fall my friends Mark and LuAnn invited me to their church to listen to Doty McDowell (a wildlife conservation officer) speak about the elk in Pennsylvania.  Now I'm not what you'd call an outdoor kind of girl with any type of interest in hunting or wild animals, but the evening was education and fun.  Doty is a great speaker, and it was interesting to hear about how the elk came to Pennsylvania and what the commission does to help control and keep an eye on the herd.

The following weekend they invited me to another church to listen to Sid Bream (former major league baseball player and now a speaker about hunting with God's Great Outdoors).  Again, another fun and informative evening.  I came away with a camo baseball cap as a souvenier.

Fast forward to March 2013.  Mark and LuAnn are very active in the local chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.  The annual banquet was coming up, and LuAnn asked me if I'd help out in the days before the banquet.  There was computer work to be done as well as setting up the banquet rooms in the hotel for the games and auction items that would be available to the guests.  I was excited to get out of the house for a few days.  I ended up meeting the two founders of the RMEF and their wives as well as a great bunch of people on the committe.  Now my wardrobe consists of several RMEF T-shirts, a sweatshirt, and pins.

Next on my social calendar is a game banquet this coming weekend at another church.  Tickets to this event sell out within a matter of hours when they are made available.  Mark is friends with the organizer and his wife, so it was easy for us to get our tickets in time.  The real test for me will be Saturday night as we go through the buffet line.  I'm not a fan of eating wild game.  They tell me there will be the usual chicken and beef; but with 500 guests at this thing, I can only hope they don't run out before I get through the line.

LuAnn tells me it'll be a sea of camo at this event as everyone usually wears something made from camo fabric.  I've long since given away my camo cap, and I doubt I would have worn it anyway.  But this is the purse I will be carrying - made of genuine Mossy Oak fabric.  I can't believe myself.

And I may as well throw in that I'm also watching Duck Dynasty on TV.  The show itself is hilarious, but I really appreciate the ending where the family is gathered around the table for a meal; and Phil (the head of the family) leads in prayer before they eat.  He even invoked Jesus' name the other night; what's not to love about that.  Couple this with the fact that the men are respectful of their wives and children; and the show is just plain good, clean humor.  I love it.

My life - sometimes I just have to laugh.

Yesterday I celebrated Easter in my new church with my old friends.  Later I enjoyed a great meal with my family.  In the evening, friends came to my place for conversation and laughs.  I'm still unemployed and wondering what the heck is going on, but I know I am richly blessed despite the fact that this is not how I expect my life to be.  And I hope you can see the good in your life right now, too.