Early Monday morning

It is really early (3:45am) and I am having issues sleeping, so I'm thinking of sewing... Which leads straight into...

I am looking at a lot of different blogs and the free tutorials that they have on them... I think that I should start a list of favorite tutorials. Do you have any to add?

Found a great bag on SewCalGal's site here, looks easy enough to make a few for Christmas/Hanukkah.

Here is a wonderful binding tutorial from LaVieEnRosie, with some interesting side notes about what judges look for when judging a quilt show.

I found the cutest baby quilt... made by Johanna from Jona&Lili. It is a nice and easy diamond baby quilt. I think this would be a great lap quilt if I expand it a little bit... what do you think? The tutorial is at The Quilted Fish's Sweet Divinity posting.

I am sure that you noticed the "We Are The Face of Quilting" gadget (on the sidebar) it is from Jennifer Ofenstein's blog Sewhooked. It is worth checking what she has to say about being one of the many faces of quilting...

Jennifer's blog Sewhooked, has some of the cutest (free!) paper piecing patterns to share that you should take a look at them...

I'll be back, but right about now (6:45 am) I'm in need of additional coffee...

For now, thanks for stopping by...

Ciao for now :)
J :)

Sunday :)

I remember when I was a child that Sunday lunch was a very big thing in our house. It did not matter what you thought was important, you made it for lunch on Sunday, no exceptions.

It has been a very long time since my mom has pushed for Sunday lunch, so it was very nice to be able to join my mom, step-dad, daughter, brother, step-brother, and my husband for lunch today.

Sopa de garbanzos con chorizos at Mom's. (Not the nicest picture of me... but what can I say, my brother took it with his iPhone). It was very nice :) Thank you Mom!

My brother drives a Mini Country, which is in the shop for some work. This past week he has been driving a Fiat, which is the smallest one that I have seen in I have no idea!

It is so tiny!

My mom is not that tall and my husband (sitting in the car) is close to 6 feet. He does fit into the car, but still he said that it is too small. It is a cute car.

On a different note...
I received a large bag of yarn from my landlord. He is trying to clear out his mother's house. She passed away two years ago and he is still working his way thru the items in the house.

The yarn was lots and lots of skeins of acrylic yarn, already wrapped up into balls. I went thru the entire bag and I think that I am going to contact a local Senior Home and check with the social service director to see if they would care for the yarns. We will see what happens. I will feel very good to be able to donate them somewhere that they can be used.

I need to clean off the dining room table and finish up the jacket, the Blogger's BOM, and start on a quilt for a very good friend of my brother and sister-in-law who has been in and out of the hospital of late.

Thanks for joining me tonight, it is time for Hot Chocolate :) Yum!

Ciao for now :)
J :)

Saturday

I have been cleaning up a storm... I am hoping to see friends come visit this week... and grandchildren this coming weekend. Why is it that we clean and clean and they come mess it up with no thought to what had gone one before they got there? Ah well, tiz the price of having them here for the weekend.

In the meantime, I spent Friday evening at the quilt shop for "Finish It Up Friday," which was missing a few ladies. Two are off to Karen's retreat for the weekend and another had the day off from school and was much too comfortable (can't blame her) to leave to come out to sew. Still, the four of us did have a wonderful time.

I worked on my jacket at FIUF and today, and remembered to take some pictures. What a thought!

This is what the sewing table (opps Dining Room Table) looks like tonight...

 This is the front of the jacket...   And this is the back of the jacket.

These are the sleeves, with cuffs.

I have been busy... all the pieces have been quilted, lined, and trimmed. All that is left to do is put it together, which it looks like will be early tomorrow and finish on Monday.

Off to Mom's for lunch, so that will curtail sewing, cleaning, and computer time. But it is soooo worth it, she cooks the best! So, I will sacrifice...

Thanks for joining me tonight, wine instead of coffee... Though a hot mulled wine would have been real nice :) It is starting to get a bit nippy out there...

Ciao for now! :)
J :)

Blogs I Love to Follow

Do you have favorite Blogs that you follow? (Ok, I hope I am one... just saying...) I confese, I do! They are mostly sewing/quilting/fiber art related, but there are a few that are game related... Do you know who Professor Hershal is? (Major hint ~ a DS game)

Back to my fav blogs... I do have a running list (to the right) of those that have posted. But I totally need to check out on a daily basis Pat Sloan, Bumble Beans Inc, SewCalGal, Moda Bakeshop (to see if there are any new patterns), p.s. i quilt, Jaybird Quilts, Ryan White, Canton Village Quilts (Bloggers BOM), and these are the ones that are off the top of my head! Wow!

Yes, there are a lot more. If you are looking for their latest postings, look no further than to the right of this post. As many post daily.

I arrived at this train of thought while reading SewCalGals blog about Fiskar Titanium rotary cutters, I think I need to find some of these blades... They look as if they will last much longer than the ones I use now... I would suggest checking out SewCalGals blog to review the cutters for yourself... I tried to post pictures, but working with my iPad is just not cutting it today.

Ah... Need more coffee...

Thanks for joining me :)

Ciao for now :)
J :)

Work...

Work may refer to:

  Human labor:
    Employment
    House work
    Labor (economics), measure of the work done by human beings
    Manual labor, physical work done by people
    Wage labor, in which a worker sells their labor and an employer buys it
    Work (project management), the effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task

  In Film/Media:
    Work (1915 film), a 1915 silent film co-starring Edna Purviance
    WORK (FM), an American FM radio station licensed to serve Barre, Vermont
    Work (professional wrestling), a staged event
    Work (painting), by Ford Madox Brown
    Work: A Story of Experience, a novel by Louisa May Alcott
    Work, a 1978 play by Ron Milner

  In Music
    The Work, band
    Work Records (aka "WORK" or "The WORK Group"), a music label under Sony Records
    Work 1989-2002, a release by the electronic music duo Orbital
    "Work" (Ciara song), a single by Ciara
    "Work" (Jars of Clay song), a song by Jars of Clay
    "Work" (Jimmy Eat World song), a song by the rock band Jimmy Eat World
    "Work", a song by Bob Marley from his album Uprising
    "Work" (Kelly Rowland song), a single by Kelly Rowland
    "Work" (The Saturdays song), a song by British pop group The Saturdays
    Work Work, a song by N Dubz
    Work (album), an album by Shout Out Louds

  Working may refer to:
    Working (musical), a 1978 musical
    Working (TV series), a situation comedy
    Working (book), a book by Studs Terkel
    Working!!, a manga by Karino Takatsu
    Holbrook Working, a statistician and economist

After all of these references to work you must be wondering why... Well, it is a fact that I have been looking for work, and would love to have a part-time position to support my quilting/fabric habit as well as some bills that need to be paid. One does need to eat after all.

This reminded me of the book by Studs Terkel "Working" (it is within the above list) published in 1976. It is about People talking about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do...

Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. Once you become active in something, something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize you count.- Studs Terkel

Anyway, I was looking for the meaning of "Work" because today I found out that the latest position that I went out on an interview for, last week, is looking at an internal candidate. A tad frustrating as I had not known prior to going to the interview... But, I would have done the same in their situation.

A known quantity is much stronger than an unknown quantity.

Still... Ah well, the exercise was a good one... It cleared the mind, It gave me a chuckle,

~♥~ Someday everything will all make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason. ~♥~

Ok, back to working on my projects :) That list of mine is not getting any smaller :)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are enjoying your coffee break :)    

Ciao for now :)

J :)  

Wonderful Friends :)

Being at home, looking for work, sewing projects that have not seen the light of day in (nope, not going to say!)... One forgets to look outside and remember all of the people who care. I am very guilty of this of late and I really am sorry. Family and Friends remind me often that they are here for any support that I need and I need to remember this.

The reason for starting today's blog with this reminder is that I received the cutest quilt pattern in the mail yesterday, with a note reminding me that friends think about you always. :)
  This is a picture of the quilt pattern:

The quilt features a foundation-pieced Crane block designed by Margaret Rolfe. The quilt is a wonderful way to showcase beautiful multicolored Japanese prints. The origami crane has become a symbol for the world's desire for peace, so add your voice to this desire by making this quilt. Level: Advanced.

Can I just say that I was chuckling when I was reading the skill level as being 'Advanced' as I don't think of my skill level as that high. So, I really had to think about it and came to the realization that it could be true that my skill level is really that high. I still learn new things all the time, I still am hungry to try new things...

I am very grateful for my friends and family pushing me to go further and test my wings. Be it for sewing, quilting, or looking for employment outside of my art.

Thank you to my good friend who sent me the origami crane quilt pattern! You are a sweetheart!

A little history on the origami paper cranes:

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Japan, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family.

Retreat...

Due to being unemployed, there have been many items that have been crossed off of the "To Do" list this year. One major one is the November Retreat in New Hampshire put on by Karen P.

I am going to miss going this year, but wanted to congratulate Karen on reaching the Major Milestone of 10 years! Congratulations Karen!!!

Karen P at 2009 Retreat. 

Projects that I'm working on...

I am still working on my jacket... between the sewing machine being temperamental and my bad habit of not using pins all the time, I have been ripping out seams left, right, and center! Ah well, patience my dear as this too shall pass...

Sew I am off to sew... Thank you for joining me for coffee and today's rant :)

Ciao for now :)
J :)

Ah, Monday Morning

Typically I have a bit of time in the morning to go thru my emails, check out FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the different blogs that I follow. Today, just as I was starting to go thru my emails, I received a "pleading" phone call from my child to drive her to school. Now I am back, after fighting the traffic to and from and getting back into checking out all the different sites I am usually done with by now.

While reading my email, I came across a very interesting survey that had been conducted, rather informally, about privacy. Do you worry about your privacy?

This is what the results produced:

It's no surprise to you that privacy is very important to people. In fact, nine out of ten American adults say it's important to maintain privacy when looking for a job. 
What might surprise you is the age group that found privacy most important. 
It was 25- to 34-year-olds who answered, 92% of the time, that privacy and confidentiality were important or very important in their job search. 
Despite the popular image of young professionals Facebooking foolishly and Twittering like, well… twits, it turns out that privacy is very important to their professional lives. 
In fact, we found that 64% of adults surveyed would not accept an invitation to connect with a recruiter if coworkers could see the connection. 

I do have to admit that I was surprised at the age group that views privacy as most important. I had not expected that age range would worry about it as much as those in the 50+ age range in looking for a job.


I am still working on my project... I did find pictures of other jackets...

This is the 1st one that I did:

Check it out, I even lined the front panels...

Then I received a request for another jacket for a friend. This one has pockets, a button closure, and is fully lined:

After all that, my mom said that she would like a jacket like mine... I hauled over my collection of jelly rolls to her house to give her a choice of which one she would like... she liked mine so much she choose the very same fabrics for her jacket. Again, she has pockets, it is fully lined, and she has a zipper instead of a button.

I think that the pockets impressed her the most... don't you?

These pictures give you an idea of what I am doing with the fabrics... but as is typical of me, I am trying something different this time. Off to the ironing board to press the seams of the strips I have already sewn together.

Before I leave you all today, I wanted to share a posting from a fellow quilter/artist that she directed at fellow quilters/artists who follow her.

My only question, after reading this list, is do I have to underline EVERYTHING? How often do you do/feel/think any of these 10 reasons listed above? If not, how have you gotten past them?

Thank you so much for joining me today! Hope you have enjoyed your coffee break :)

Ciao for now :)

J :)

Sometimes it's not even my Life that gets in the way...

I was supposed to be in a class all day today and tomorrow... Got up early, jumped in the shower, etc... we where out the door and on our way before 7:45 am. Class was supposed to start at 8:30 am. Climb the (steep) steps only to find that the class had been rescheduled to start either next week or the 1st Saturday in December.

Great! Now I need to look at my schedule and see if I can figure out what I can switch around. Not a happy camper about now...

The funny part is that I turned off my phone before getting out of the car... I just checked it and I missed a few calls... I'll be calling back shortly!

So instead we went to:     and

Oh, yea we went shopping... Costco was for major items, BJ's for stuff that Costco does not carry, and Legacyplace Mall to drive around and see what there are for shops. We did stop so that I could pick up a pair shoes at the Merrell store...

I tried on these:  But they just didn't feel comfortable. Then I looked and tried on these: and these where the ones that I like. They are so comfortable! Of course I am still wearing a pair of sandals... yes, I am being pulled into winter kicking and yelling... Not happy about the cold weather. But we are due for some warm weather this week, so that will be wonderful. :)



I have been working on my latest project, yes, I will show another shot of what it is...

Sew I have been sewing up a storm today! Yes, these are two different Bali Pops, there are only four strips that where repeats, so I will be working this up different than the others that I have done.


I was going to post pictures... but after looking for more than a half hour, I can't find them. Guess you all will have to wait for this project to be finished. :)


On another note, Tuxedo is doing much better today, it took over 18 hours after I picked him up yesterday for him to feel/act like himself. The "happy shot" really packed a punch and he was not himself until late this morning. I had to watch him that he did not go down the stairs or outside as he did not have control of his balance. He was sorta tilting, poor thing. He even looks like he's not with it in this picture.

Off to sew :)

Thanks for joining me, hope you brought your coffee...
Ciao for now :)

J:)