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

I'm still looking for a job and have had interviews for some good positions.  Although there is a lot of sewing I could be doing, knitting and cross stitching are suddenly my new time killers.

My cousin Debbie was an RN in New York City and was learning to knit.  Fast forward a few years, and now she's married with two busy little boys.  She sent me the yarn telling me that she doesn't have time for it now.  I found this pattern for a shawl on Ravelry (picture from Ravelry), and I'm making mine from some beautiful pink yarn from Debbie's stash.  The pattern is Mara, and you can find it here.


I love being home, but I would prefer to be working.  But knitting is a whole lot more fun than looking for work!

Gigi is sporting a new hat that I finished yesterday. That's a piece of a black feather boa on top. And yes, those cheeks are as kissable as they look!

We had a great Christmas celebration here. I started vacation on December 16 at 4:30 when I left work. It seemed excessive to take a whole week off before Christmas, but I am glad I did. The list on my refrigerator of projects to finish before Christmas is still hanging there. I crossed off most of the projects, and I'm spending these last few days of vacation trying to finish the rest of them.

One of the first projects I saw on Pinterest that I wanted to make was a knitting needle case. You can find the directions here. I like how mine turned out. I wish I had one of these a long time ago; I wouldn't have bought duplicate needles and hooks if I'd been more organized! And somewhere along the line I lost the mate to two different sizes of needles. Of course they weren't part of the duplicates, and doesn't that just figure.

I've been knitting baby hats and crocheting slippers, and I can't seem to get enough of working with yarn. The local quilt shop is offering knitting classes in January, and I'm really tempted to sign up. This website has some really great patterns.

My granddaughter Natalie wanted to give each child in her kindergarten class a pair of mittens for Christmas. Her great grandmonther is well-known in their little town for her knitting skills. She was already knitting mittens for the church Christmas program, so she made an extra 25 pair for Natalie (all togther she made 100 pairs of mittens this year!).

The mittens were packed in a box and given to Natie to take to school. A half hour after she got to school that day, the teacher called Julie and said there were only 18 pairs but 21 students. Julie thought great grandma miscounted only to find out that her mother in law had made sure there were 25 pair when they were packed in the box. Come to find out, Natie had started passing out mittens on the bus to students who didn't have any. I love this story and I'm going to write it down and put it into the book I've started to chronicle Natie's school years.

I hope your 2012 is a good year for you. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read these posts or to follow my blog. I hope God pours out blessings on you and your home this coming year.

Gianna Mary-Lynn and her new hat. There's one for Aubrey Faith, and she'll get her hat when she comes for Christmas.

Scratch two things off the to-do list!

Look what I made

My friend NancyF made one of these watermelons, and I fell in love with it. It doesn't exactly look like my primitive decorating style, but the reds and the scrappy look just appeal to me.

I took this to quilt group last month, and Darcy said there is a free pattern for it on the web. Here is the link she emailed us. Thanks, Darcy!



Then I knitted this baby hat. My daughter Mandy and her Canadian husband Shane just announced they are having a baby! The little one is due around December 8. Needless to say, we are all excited. What a Christmas gift!