Hi again!

Wow, it's been awhile since I've last posted, but in real life it seems like a lifetime ago!

A few changes around here:

I got a new job! It's totally fabulous. I am a state employee. I get to wear really cute clothes to work and take my lunch and decorate my cubicle and earn vacation time. Wow. I also have to ride the commuter bus in the morning but that hasn't been so bad. Better than searching and paying for parking daily.

Another change:



We moved! We got our own place finally! Of course, working full-time and moving don't go together well, so we are still unpacking. We've been here for two weeks now and are definelty loving it. Coming from staying with my parents and having no jobs to living on our own again and having fantastic jobs makes us feel so blessed and happy. It feels so nice to be content with what you have. Even sitting on the couch and having a lazy day feels perfect.

It was a hard time to weather, but we survived moving to a new state and staying with my parents for a few months, being unemployed together, and feeling utterly hopeless and desperate for work. And we stayed strong and in love. And now it's paying off.

So I'll be keeping my second job at the restaurant for as long as I can (right now I'm on 1-2 days per week there, which sometimes means no day off for me). We both quit our retail jobs in favor of office jobs. I've worked on my sewing room (of course!) for two days now because I thought it was Friday Night Sew In. But it's not. I guess I have a head start now! My room is almost ready to sew in. Not organized, but almost ready to sew in!

In other news, I won a giveaway:

This amazing lace table cover. It's meant for a small round table but looks fantastic on my tiny dining room table. We will definetly use it! My husband and I both love it. It has candles and trees and snowmen in the lace. Thearica from Pigtales and Quilts sent me yummy homemade chocolates and a strip of awesome fabric. I love it. And she sent me a 10% coupon for her store: Coveryourlittlepiggies.com. Awesome!!



I also received my Fall-into-Fall prize. It got lost in the mail for a little while, but thankfully found it's way to me! I won this Christmas Tablerunner from Julie at Sweet-Quilt-n-Bee-Shoppe. We put it on our breakfast bar. Yes, I know it's not Christmas yet but it will be soon and that's where it will stay until then!



This little beauty came in the mail too. It's The Rose of Sharon Block Book and matching notecard set. Too cute! I love applique, but am just learning how to go about doing it. I won it in Kay's giveaway at All About Applique. That's such a terrific resource for applique beginners, check it out when you have the time!

So I haven't been just been sitting around winning giveaways. I've been adjusting to a new work schedule (up at 5am, yuck!), learning how to juggle my time more efficiently (like shopping once for all week instead of a ton of tiny trips to the store), learning the ropes of commuting, and (too slowly for me)unpacking and organizing our cute little apartment. I'll post again soon, I promise. Hopefully with something quilty to show!

Until then,

Packing and more packing

In 3 days we will move 500 miles away. Sigh. I love moving to new states, but I sure do hate the process! I've lived in California, Alaska and Nevada, and now we are moving back to California. Yesterday I finally packed all my quilting stuff. Normally, I find some time everyday to do a bit of quilting. These last two weeks I've been hoping to snag bits of quilting time but it's been Mission Impossible! The stack of boxes in our bedroom has grown so humongous, I knew I finally had to pack my quilting area, since it was getting swallowed by boxes. It was sad. I gave up all hope of finding any quilting time and instead dove into the mess armed with only cardboard boxes. Most of everything is going to my parents house with us, but I did pack 2 boxes of quilting magazines for storage that I decided I could live without for two months.


I realize I am insane about quilting, but my internal dialogue as I packed proves it:

"Oh, a Sunbonnet Sue book. I'll probably make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt while were living at my parents."

"Can't leave this "Quilt as Desired" book in storage, I'll quilt my "Floating Lillypads" quilt while I'm there too."

"Oh, look at this Miniature Quilts book. I should make a cute mini quilt while I'm at my parents."

"Can't leave this Baby Projects book in storage either. I'll probably start working on Christmas presents while I'm living at my parents."

I already have a quilting project that's due as a gift by the end of August. I like the project so much that I cut out enough pieces to make myself one too! That's two quilts already in the works while I'm at my parents house for two months.

Guess I'll be busy!