Long term temping

It is rather strange to be sitting in someone else's seat while they are out on medical leave. On one hand you wish them the very best and on the other, you are hoping that they will be out for an indefinite amount of time. In my case, I am looking at being in this chair for three to five weeks for this position and possibly sitting in another seat for an additional five to seven weeks. It means that someone else is looking at going out on medical leave due to surgery.

The person going for surgery does not have a date given as of yet and is under a lot of stress due to everything that goes on within her life. I feel sympathy for her as the dr sprung the news on her in a way that has her very uptight about what is going on with her body. She did not get a lot of explination about what level of surgery she is going to go thru and that is adding to her stress.

All that to say that I have been busy at work... though today the computer system that I work on more often than not, is down, so I am at a loss...

As for my sewing...

this is sort of what the totes for the kiddo's are going to look like... right now they are in pieces. I am going to only take these with me tonight to FUF so that I can get them done!!! Tomorrow I am off to a class given by the speaker at the guild meeting this past Tuesday night. It is to make a Kaleidoscope block. Something along the lines of the red and white one... but I do like the other one... I think that I need to check them out...

I'll need to remember my camera to take some pictures during class tomorrow.

In the meantime it is back to work...

Thank you for stopping by :) Ciao for now!!!

J :)

Sunday Open Studio

I love the 4th Sunday of the month Open Studio at Quilter's Way in Concord, MA! It's 5 hours of stichin' and bitchin' with friends! What a way to spend the afternoon. :) I have missed going as it is was one of the those items cut from the budget when I was unemployed last year. But we are off to go sew/quilt/laugh the afternoon away!

I am hoping to work on my jackets, the totes for the kiddo's, make binding for the baby quilt, and finish fussy cutting the other two baby quilts I started at FUF  this past week.

The camera is back, so I plan to take some pictures at Open Studio... but I didn't... I forgot to bring the camera with me to Open Studio. Ah well it was a great time! There where seven of us in Open Studio today. We all where doing very different projects.

I brought a few projects to work on that I have been trying to get done. Fussy cutting a couple of baby quilts, cut the crayon tote fabric, cut the sleeves of hubby's favorite shirt from long sleeve to short sleeve (the elbow had worn thru), and pinned the sides of one of the sweatshirt jacket that I had started in December.

It is great to be able to spend a block of time just cutting. It was wonderful to be able to just do the preparation to just sew over the next few days. So, I am off to sit with my sewing machine at home, as I did not sit with my sewing machine at Open Studio. :)

Thanks for stopping by :) Ciao for now!

J :)

Crazy weekend

So hubby is off at a business meeting for the week. He left last Thursday morning, so it has been quiet at home for the past few days. The thing is that I have not been home during that time... I think I see my bed, the bathroom, and the dining room, and that is all!

I worked on Thursday and Friday, had sewing on Friday night with the ladies. Saturday I was in the middle of planning a quilt when I realized that I needed to be out of the house before 11 am and it was 10:45 am when I looked at the clock. So much for doing any more quilt planning.

So, it was off to my girlfriends house on the South Shore area of Massachuetts (or about 35-45 minute drive from my house). I would have been on time if I had not gotten behind two funeral processions. One on the highway that the State Police stopped all movement on the highway so that the procession could be all together. It appeared that they where headed towards the Cape Cod section of Massachusetts. There is a large cemetary that a lot of military choose to be buried there. The 2nd one was after I got off the highway.

I spent the afternoon with my girlfriend, got her on gmail, twitter, and pinterest. Funny thing that I needed to have an email address for her 1st, in order to get a twitter account, in order for her to accept an invitation to pinterest from me. She is really into Quilling and there have been some fantastic examples of quilling on pinterest. I have tried for the past ten years to get her online with no results. All it took was seeing the wonderful examples of quilling to get her very interested on getting online. Funny how that happens.

Then it was off to my Mom's for a wonderful boiled dinner with her, my stepfather, and stepbrother.

All this translates into not being home on Saturday. Nor did I get a chance to get online to do an update of what I was up to... Then on Sunday, I had told another girlfriend that I would take a ride over to her house to pick up a crib that she was giving to me. I got over there and realized that my car is too small to carry all the parts. Still, I was there for a few hours, spending time with her and her mom, daughter, and brother. I got home and started on the quilt that I had been planning on Saturday morning and stiched up a storm! The top is done, but I need to take a picture with either my phone or the older SLR camera and hubby took the point-and-shoot that I love to use.

So, yes I have been among the missing... but I had mentioned that before. Hope you all are doing well and getting a chance to enjoy the weather. It has been wonderful here.

Thanks for stopping by, Ciao for now!

J :)

Work Week

So I have been among the missing this week. I have been trying to adjust to being back in the working world. It is rather strange, after being out of the corporate loop for the past 14 months. Though I was only there for less than 90 days. Prior to that it had been six months. Still, I am not even in the healthcare field any longer, not research, not management. I am very tired from being at a 8 am - 4:30 pm job. I am driving to work, which adds to the day, and while it is not a lot of traffic, it is much more than I was doing before.

I was hoping to be able to fit in at least 15 minutes an evening sewing, but I'm not so sure that is going to happen for awhile. I also want to go to the gym on a regular basis... That too is going to take some time.

In the meantime, I am on my way to sewing tonight!!! Yea!!! And going to work on the new baby quilt and start the quilting. Looking forward to see the ladies :)

Thanks for stopping by, Ciao for now!

J :)

Thursday...

I am still am working different BOM's. Yesterday I worked on the Blogger BOM, today I worked on the Craftsy BOM for January, yea, February is here and I had not done the January... It is a free class on Craftsy, so if you are interested go over to Cratsy Online Classes and sign up for the Free class with Amy Gibson.

Craftsy BOM Online Class is the location, but you need to sign up for the class. Here are my version of the BOM's for January:

I am using a set of fat quarters that I purchased at a guild meeting... I know that my friend G can tell you the line... and I'll have to ask her which one it is on Friday at FUF ... I guess I'll be getting back to you about what line this is :) sorry, G is so much better than me at remembering these!

Ah Ha!!! Miss G came thru! It is the Tufted Tweets line by Laurie Wisburn.

Yes, everything did come form my stash!

Off to watch the news with hubby, thank you for stopping by, Ciao for now! :)

J :)

Monday.... Already!

WOW did this weekend fly by! The grandkids where here on Friday afternoon. Miss E & I went off to sew and Mr M and hubby stayed home. Miss E had the best time at FUF, behaved wonderfully, and we stayed thru to the end of class. Saturday it snowed here in the Boston area, so there was no going out to the museum that we had hoped to do. Instead we went to my mom's and hubby shoveled the walkways and the kids and I went off to the food store with my mom. They had just got back from three weeks away and there was no food in the house. We spent the evening there and had dinner there with the kids. They love to spend time there as the games are way different than what we have and there are two sets of stairs. They run up the back and down the front and do this for a bit of time. It does tire them out :)

Sunday was packed! Woke up to Mr M asking if I would be able to finish the Angry Birds paper piecing that I was doing... I found them over at http://www.fandominstitches.com/p/video-games.html So I have completed the red bird, blue bird, and am working on the yellow bird at present. These pictures are from the Fandom In Stiches site and done by the creator of the paper pieced patterns.

So the kids left and I ran out the door for Concord... It has been a long time since I was at Open Studio in Concord. One of the many items that I had to drop due to lack of funds. I missed going, but this weekend Ms G & Ms A got together and paid for my spot. (Hubby is had already stated he was paying for next month). So it was off to Concord to sew. It was great to see Ms G, Ms A, Ms K, Ms P, Ms J, and Ms D. I missed the ladies most of all...

I took both of my jackets in process to work with Ms K (the teacher for the group) as it is so hard to fit clothing to ones self. Good thing as one of them did not fit over my hips loosely enough. I am adding some fabric to the sides and will be bringing it back with me next month to refit it and finish up both jackets. 

As we where there from noon to 5 pm the AFC Championship game was on between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens was being broadcasted from Foxborough Stadium. We all left to head home shortly be for 5 pm to get home to watch the end of the game.

To say that it was a bit Nerve-wracking to watch is an understatement. The New England Patriots victory over Baltimore Ravens, of 23-20 was a nail bitter down to the very end. It was an AFC Championship game that had fans of both teams tensed all the way throughout. Or as my ex-husband said, Heart-attack on TV (he was with our daughter watching it at a local bar). 

So now... on to the Super Bowl. New England Patriots vs New York Giants in the Super Bowl 46. As it has already been noted, a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl which the Giants stole it away from the Patriots.

And I wonder why the weekend flew by... 

So school is back in session and I am back to driving my daughter to the train station once again... 

Off to play taxi driver...

Ciao for now!

J :)

Friday :)

This weekend we have the grandkids visiting thru Sunday. Tonight, my granddaughter will be going to FUF with me. Typically, she will bring some art project to do while I do a little bit of sewing. Now that she has an American Girl Doll, I wonder if she will be picking fabric to have me make some more clothing.

I am not going to mention that I will be making some sweatshirt jackets for the doll. I think that I may have to make her a jacket as well. At least one that matches the doll's jacket. Should be fun.

I have spent the day cleaning up the areas that we don't use all that often except when the kids are here. I also had to clean off the dining room table... That would be where I also sew... I have posted pictures of the table with stuff on it in the past...

This is what it looks like tonight... not guaranteeing it will stay this clean... just that it is...

 I have been working on a few mug rugs... yes, I have 'caught' the mug rug bug. I think that they will make wonderful Thank you gifts. So, I need to finish binding a couple and send them on their way tomorrow.

As is typical when the grandkids come to visit, we are headed for the Children's Museum tomorrow.

This is the Boston Children's Museum.

I would like to go to the Children's Museum of New Hampshire, which we have not go to in a while. It is about 1/2 the size of Boston, but it's different. I think it is time for a change. We will see... If we go here we would get to

Meet Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Saturday, January 21, 10am - 2pm
Meet the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as part of the Books Alive! literacy initiative, generously sponsored by Irving Oil. Museum staff will read the mouse's story aloud and kids can enjoy hands-on crafts, games and reading activities.  The costumed mouse character will make frequent appearances for hugs and high-fives.   

That would be different. I think the kids would enjoy doing something different.

Now it is time to get ready to go to Finish Up Friday.


Ciao for now!
J :)

Oops! Missed a few days...

I have been working on the Ms. Piggy pillow and quilt. I swear it has a mind of it's own!!! It is almost done, but like the title says, Life has gotten in the way once again.

Monday I was able to post and do some sewing, while waiting to hear from my daughter. She had an infected tooth. With no insurance, we went to the dental clinic at one of the medical schools in the area. Since they close at 4 pm, Monday was out. So Tuesday at noontime I was picking her up at school and off to the dental school. That was five hours at the school waiting for her. After which it was driving her home and then myself. By the time I got home, no sewing...

Wednesday and Thursday I did get to sew, but I felt like I was all thumbs! The seam ripper and I where close and personal for both days... I felt like I was tearing apart everything. I over cut when I went to square off... so I added borders to enlarge the quilt.

It's off to Finish Up Friday and I hope to get a few pictures to post.

Ciao for now!
J :)

Raffle quilt binding... And more...

There is a group of us who get together just about every Friday night for a class called Finish Up Friday (FUF). This is more of a therapy class than a sewing/quilting class mind you. We do get some sewing done, but we also get to complain, plan, sew, hand sew (not my favorite), bind, and some times we even finish projects... What a concept (yes, I did say that Mindy). There have been times that FUF was the only time I had to quilt. It is a great bunch of wonderful women :)

Early this week one of the FUF ladies sent out a distress email to all of us. Due to a lot of issues happening in her life (family, house, etc), she was in a bind to get some binding done for a raffle quilt... Before 11/5 that is. I have some free time right now, so I volunteered to pick up the quilt, make the binding, and attach the binding to the quilt. Another FUF lady mentioned that she'll do the hand binding... did I mention that's not my favorite part? We are going to hold off to see if the one in distress would like to destress and do the binding herself... I guess you could say that it is a relaxing time.

Then while getting ready to cut the binding I realized that I have to finish off a few pillow cases (for cancer patients) that I started last Sunday... yes... Life is once again... I'll be finishing off the pillow cases, cutting and making the binding tonight and attaching the binding tomorrow before class.

In the meantime I received a call from a recruiter asking if I could take a skill test before tomorrow afternoon. After which I'll be meeting with her on Monday morning, bright and early, and potentially off to another interview thereafter.

I am off to the sewing machine. :)

So, did you start drinking Hot Chocolate as of yet? Yep, I did and it is the kind from a pouch... what can I say, it's not my kitchen, it's hubby's :)

Thanks for joining me.
Ciao for now :)
J :)