"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer 29:11 (NIV)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Weekend UFO Finishes

Over the weekend I've managed to finish of three more of the UFO's that have been nagging at me. The first one is a pillow that I made out of a CQ block. The block was the first one that I sent around in an round robin that i'm in with several online friends. And it started with a block that was leftover from a swap I'd been in many yrs ago. Susan, Gail, Karrin, Candi, and Fran (?) all worked on this lovely block.





The second quilt finished up was the top for a patriotic quilt going to American Hero quilts. It will be quilted by someone else so it is finished for me. yIt eventually will be going to a wounded soldier. This quilt started with leftover red and white strips that when sewn together and squared up made 5" unfinished blocks. I set them with blocks of a blue starry print to form the center of the quilt. I then added the borders of gold and blue, followed by the red & white piano key border to finish it off.


The final quilt top finished this past weekend was one that will be going to Sunshine quilts and eventually will go to a child somewhere in the world. I did a 'woven' look to the setting blocks in this quilt for a lattice feel to it. The pillow panel in the center of the quilt is one that i've had for 5 yrs or more.





Gratitudes -

1. For the blessing of having a large stash to work from while unemployed.
2. For opportunity to bless someone else through the quilts that I make for American Heroes and Sunshine.


It's Monday.....

Am still waiting to get feedback from the in-person interview I had on the 10th for a perm job here in the Dallas area. And while it seemed to go ok to me, the longer I end up waiting for a response the more I wonder if I totally stunk in it and the only news that I'll get will be a rejection. Ugh................ I'm continuing to wait on and trust in God, and know that He will always supply my needs even when I have no earthly idea of how he is going to do so. Am still waiting to hear back on the job possibility in Northern Illinois. Hoping that it hasn't evaporated as well.............

This past Friday I got my car back finally after almost $9400 worth of work was done to it. Thank goodness for insurance - esp. since it's the other guy's insurance that is going to have to pay for it!

Have been continuing to work on getting UFO's finished up. But will write about them in the next post.

And last but not least, thanks go to my niece Bekah for the KreativBlogger award that she gave me last week! I appreciate the thoughts!

Gratitudes:
1. For Gods mercy and grace that he pours out on all of his children.
2. For my car being repaired and back home. And for the insurance that will be paying for the repairs.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Woohoo .....




For several months now I've had a quilt kit that was to make a queen-sized quilt for American Heros, actually it's more like 6+ months...........I confess I've dawdled over it because I hate making the block that was the center of the 12" blocks in the quilt. I don't mind making Variable Star blocks - well, as long as I can make them in 12" sizes or bigger. But I hate making them in a 6" finished size. And guess what I needed 22 blocks of? Yup, the 6" size. UGH..... Finally 3 weeks ago I dug the kit out and started working on it. And once I got the 6" blocks done it went together fairly quickly. And last nite I finished sewing the borders onto the quilt......Woohoo........... This quilt will be going to Sue to quilt and then give to a wounded soldier. So it's done for me. I like how it turned out, but there's gotta be an easier pattern to use for the center of those blocks.


I have also started to put together the blocks I received last year as a result of a challenge that I gave to the Sunshine Quilts group that I'm a part of. The quilt shown to the left will be going to a child somewhere around the world. In it I used the 6 blocks I recieved from Nancy Z.

What is nice, is that my itch to quilt has been resparked now that I've got the Am. Hero quilt done for which I'm thankful. The last few months I've hardly done any sewing or quilting because of stress with the job search and everything else going on in my life. And for me to not be sewing means that I'm wayyyyyyyy over stressed.


In the works for this weekend is finishing off a quilt top for Am Heroes, finishing a pillow top from a CQ (crazy quilt) block, making a BD present for one of my best friends, and who knows what else I'll find to work on. The house is also being shown twice this weekend - this afternoon from 2 to 3, and then tomorrow evening from 5:30 to 7. I'm thinking about either going to see a movie tomorrow afternoon (The Soloist looks really good, but I don't remember when it starts) or going out to dinner (have a gift card that needs to be used!) And hopefully I'll get my car back this afternoon........ It's pouring rain and windy to boot this afternoon, so I'm not sure where I'm gonna go while the showing this afternoon....maybe just down to Sonic where I can park under the covers and sit and read while waiting.


Gratitudes:
1. The good interview I had last week with Lockheed Martin. Lord willing it will result in a job offer....
2. For the continued showings of the house. Hopefully one of the offers will be accepted before much longer by the bank.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Packing Up and Moving to CA

Last week I posted about the car accident that I was in on Monday Night. What I haven't had time to post about was on Tuesday I received a job offer for a contract position in Northern CA and have accepted it. That's the good news.....the bad news is that they have no idea of how long the contract will actually because of things going on at the company where I'll be working. Could be a month or could be 12 months, or I could get out there to find the contract evaporated before I could get there to even start work. You wonder why I accepted the contract and am going to CA when they can't tell me how long it will last? Well I didn't have a choice in reality, because unemployment 'rules' says that I have to take any valid job or I lose unemployment. And that would leave me without an income. Time will tell what God has planned for me.

And to make life more fun, I have a second (in-person) interview with Lockheed Martin the morning of Friday April 10th from 8:30 to noon. The job is a permanent position and one that I'd love to have. Wondering why I'm still following through on the interview - well this job possibility started before the job in CA, and it's one that I would love to have. (Not to mention it's a perm job!) Well, when I accepted the contract position I made it clear to the recruiter that if either this job, or a second possibility in northern Illinois come through, I will accept them and give notice to the job in CA.

One of the things that I have to do as I get ready for the move is to put all of my stuff into storage before I leave TX because the house is for sale and hopefully will be under contract soon. And as I do so, I'm getting what I want/need to take with me ready. Part of that will be my sewing stuff because there's no way I'm gonna go w/o my quilting so that I stay 'sane' in the midst of turmoil. One of the projects that I'm taking is a CQ block. Pics of it are below. I've got a couple of others to get made before leaving because I'm not planning on taking any of my CQ fabrics with me. The stitching that I've done on this piece so far was inspired by a picture of the CQ quilt that won best of show at the AZ Quilters Guild show in March this year. I'm hoping my friend Susan sends me more pics of it because I love the inspiration.













Gratitudes:

1. For the job that God has provided for me.
2. For the 2nd interview that I have this coming Monday.