Yesterday when I said that it was nice having Brian downstairs with me, I didn’t mean that I was sewing in his workshop or that he was cutting wood in my sewing area but, we are able to go back-n-forth to admire each others’ work or give ideas. I saw the knife handle that he replaced as it was being made; I even made a suggestion about the handle that he fixed before it got moved to the kitchen. I can’t tell you the number of quilts that he has given me input on! he has a good eye for color and tone and often helps pick something to even-out a quilt.

Ours certainly was– we exchanged gifts after eating the sumptuous breakfast that Brian made for us (pancakes!!) and then both went downstairs for our various hobbies. Sounds terrible but it really is nice, knowing he’s just down the hall a few feet instead of on the top floor working on schoolwork. :>)

I actually quilted four quilts yesterday– three were small-ish wall hangings and the 4th was one that I had started on Christmas Eve. Today I put the binding on all 4 of those quilts and the one that I finished the day before (Sunday). The “Down the Straight & Narrow” quilt is the one I finished on Sunday, after church and now it has its’ binding, too.

I spent the morning this morning searching for job openings– big surprise there, eh? Touched bases with some of my former managers to confirm their ability to provide references, when requested.

Friday I have a meeting with the State of Maryland to discuss how I’m going about finding a job– I’ve got a stack of papers ready to show them what I’m doing! Its part of the process that you have to confirm that you are really looking for work in order to get benefits. Yeesh! I’ve already filled out 1-1/2 pages of the requisite 1-page per week form. Yep, I’m looking for work!

I finished quilting the “Down the Straight & Narrow” quilt today and almost finished the unnamed quilt for my friend’s mother. Tomorrow I’ll finish that up and start my wall hangings and see what other trouble I can get into in the basement– I’m good at that.

It snowed for a bit today– semi-large chunks (but not as big as the chunks that made Molly duck a few years back) but it melted as it fell. Oh, well, at least it snowed!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!

Time really flies when you’re busy, eh? Friday was spent looking for a job, and then I came downstairs and ran the names of the quilts on the quilt backs all day. I set up a quilt and ran the first row or two, as well. I don’t feel comfortable running back-n-forth between expensive machines so I decided that I would just run the embroideries (quilt names on quilt backs) and then tomorrow (today) I would run out the quilting designs. I’ve got “Down the Straight and Narrow” on the rack and “Red Hat Happy”, “Traverse-ing Michigan”, and “Rodin’s Gardens” (a 3-part quilt wall hanging that I’m making for us). I’ve also got “Chaos and Calm” ready to quilt and a couple of smaller wall hangings. Yes, I could quilt for days and days . . . wait, that’s what I’m going to do!

Once I finish “Down the Straight and Narrow”, I’ve got a small quilt to run; it is for my friend, Mary Grace, but it doesn’t have a name (I asked but she doesn’t want to name it). It’s actually a panel that her mother bought but hasn’t had time to quilt so I’m going to do it for her.

I’ve also been “hired” by the church to make napkins for their communion alter. I can do that! I’m also making an Easter wall hanging for the church and, unfortunately, had to go shopping to buy some fabrics for that. Yes, such a horrid thing to go fabric shopping!

Oh, well, that about covers my day– tomorrow will be church and then more quilting! (I know– that’s such a surprise!)

The Fusion came home on Tuesday morning; of course, it was still a little sick. There was a wire that shouldn’t have been stuck between some metal bits that was stuck there– we called the service rep, he came out, took the cable with him and is going to replace it for us. It was nice that he came out. Now I’ve just gotta slow down long enough to use it again.

I found a project that I had lost for a couple of months and did some work on it. I can’t decide how to “rough it up” so I’m going to wait until something inspires me before I proceed. I don’t want it to have too much of a finished edge on it so that’ll wait a bit.

In the interim, I’ve been asked to do some communion napkins for my old church as well as an Easter banner. That works for me, too– I’ve got to start planning those two things so I can get them done in a timely manner.

Of course, the job hunt continues. I can’t wait for the holidays to be over and people be back at their desks! Yowza! Hopefully, the hunt will pick up in January!

Well, let’s see– Friday, I broke the Fusion and had to take it to the dealer to get it fixed. Not to worry– I did yesterday (with the help of my husband, Brian to get it into the car and my friend, Linda Rose to get it out of the car) and before I got home, the dealer had fixed it and called to let me know that. The only problem is that he says it makes a noise that it isn’t supposed to make so he’s going to check that out on Monday. Okey-Dokey!

I have a phone interview set up for Tuesday and am looking forward to it. I may have to commute to the location but it is only about 7 miles away from home so I can cope with that. I’ve also got a second phone interview in the offing from a company located in Virginia; if they go for the concept of telecommuting, that would be good.

Then, I have two letters from the Maryland unemployment people for two different meetings with two different people in two different cities on the same day. Doesn’t seem very economical to me to go to both so, since I have a couple of weeks to get this straightened out, I will call on Monday to see what’s what and which one I really need to make. They appear to be both the same type of content so I doubt that I actually have to make both meetings.

Last night, Brian and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate his graduating from college. YAYYY, B!! I gave him a wooden pen because it was pretty. I think its made of sheoak but I have to check with the friend whom I bought it from because now I’m not remembering what they said the wood was. It is “pretty”, by female standards, with a red tint to it, lightening as it moves up the shaft of the pen.

Anyway, I’m off to church today and then, back for sewing. Have a good one!

Obviously, I’m still looking for a job.  I send out at least five resumes a week in response to legitimate job ads probably countless others that are not real. Hiring managers are on holiday between now and January– between the Jewish and Christian holidays, nobody’s working which means that nobody is hiring!

I did receive a new resume from the new resume writer and I love it.  He did up-sell the federal contracting experience more than I actually have so I’ve deleted that but otherwise, it is great.  He also gave me a cover letter to use when applying for jobs so that will also help– I hate, hate, HATE writing cover letters.

Of course, other than that, I’ve been sewing.  In fact, I just completed the quilt top of a “Red Hat Quilt” and have run embroidery designs for an additional quilt and some small wall-hangings.  I love Red Hat stuff and I know others that do, as well.  I’ve got two quilts ready to quilt and finished up (FINALLY) the sunflower quilt.  The sunflower quilt pattern and fabrics were bought approximately ten years ago– Brian and I bought them all together (the fabrics and pattern) so it is OUR QUILT.  I actually finished piecing it two years ago and yesterday, finished sewing down the binding.  It is gorgeous and yes, you’ll get pictures, maybe even later this weekend.

It’s been five years since Brian started college and disappeared (mostly) from the living room. We would occasionally watch television together or play a game but it wasn’t like it was when we were first married or for the next nearly ten years.

NOW, he’s DONE!! His classes are finished YAYYY!!!!! He made the Dean’s List every term and had straight As through every term, too. He’s sooo smart!!

I have a Honey-Do list waiting for him but it starts with SLEEP as the Number One item. He’ll sleep at night but if he’s thinking about school, he doesn’t really sleep WELL. I want him to get some rest and do nothing but what he wants to do for at least a week– then he can start on the rest of the list.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration . . . I had an interview yesterday. It lasted all of 7 minutes but the guy said he’d be calling back. The bad news is that it’s for a job that’s currently listed as part time with no guarantee of hours. So what do I do if they don’t use me for a week? Yeah, you get my point. We’ll have to see what I can negotiate here, eh?

I also went to a new Bible study today– that was fun. Other than the person leading the discussion, I was the youngest person in the room. That doesn’t happen very often!

Lexi has decided that she MUST be on Mommy’s lap as much as possible which, as you can imagine, tends to limit my ability to do just about anything that doesn’t involve sitting down. Yeesh! She goes through these phases . . . I can’t wait for the next switch to Brian (“Daddy”)!

I asked for and, after a bit of pushing back, received a new resume writer. This one seems like he’s from “this world” as opposed to another planet. That’s always helpful. The transition agent gave me a bit of push-back because she thought the previous one was reasonable in offering me a time slot from another zone that wasn’t compatible with what I liked/needed/wanted even though it was FOUR DAYS LATER!! As I said, I must’ve said something right because I have a new writer who has promised me a quicker turn around. Yay me!