Enjoying NoVA

Wow, so much has happened. I got a new job back in May, started in June and love it. I work for  a great organization with great people and I could not be happier. I'm not wild about my apartment situation as my apartment is a bit far out, not within walking distance to the Metro, like I had thought, plus my upstairs neighbors are elephants. Luckily I don't have too much more time left on my lease so I need to give notice and find a new place. I'm looking at buying a condo. Yes, putting my toe into the water again. I saw a really nice townhouse in a great area that my realtor was supposed to get back to me on the comps. It isn't huge but it has a good size living room and master bedroom plus it has a small walk-in closet which is unheard of for condos of this size. I will need to get rid of more furniture but that is okay.

I have been trying on-line dating. HATE IT. Most of the men that express an interest in me, I have no interest in as they either have no education, wrong religion or something else and most of the men I have expressed an interest in have no reciprocal interest. I have also run into the scammers, which is a whole other world. So far, four of them that I know of have targeted me. I had one coffee date that went well but I don't know if I have any real interest in the gentleman although he would like to see me again and I got stood up for another meeting. Two other guys have expressed some interest but I don't see those going anywhere. So I'm giving up on it. I think I may try matchmaking.

As for quilting or stitching, it hasn't been happening. Although the lightening situation is better here than when I was in Paducah, between my noisy upstairs neighbors and the extra boxes I never unpacked due to no place to put the stuff (mostly my art), it isn't a comfortable place or conducive to creativity. I have been trying my hand at needlepoint but again, my living situation sucks for creativity so I mostly read or watch TV.

New beginning (again)

Okay, having just read two blogs, I realized that I need to keep up with my blog. Lots of changes since I last posted. Moved from AZ to MI, then got a new job and moved from MI to Paducah, KY. Now most people would barf at the thought of moving to Paducah, KY but if you are a quilter, you just fainted from excitement at the thought of being in Quilt City, USA.  Yes, Paducah, KY is the home of the National Quilt Museum and every April hosts one of the largest quilt festivals in the country: the American Quilter's Society's Quilt Show.  Yipeee.

I live in a duplex which is crammed full of my stuff as it is only a two bedroom and since moving from DC in 1988, I have lived in a three bedroom.  I spend most of my time in the "den/office/sewing room" as it has the cable TV.  The living room has the larger TV but due to circumstances beyond my control, the cable company couldn't hook up the cable. I can watch DVDs and download videos but I've gotten used to the den.

I have really been working on finishing my quilting UFOs.  I only have a couple of pieced UFO tops left to finish but have quite a few appliqué projects.  Once I finish the pieced UFOs, I hope to start designing my own quilts.  Yes, I still have the appliqué to work on but those take so long.  I also have a few tote bags to work on but those are fun and I don't count them as real quilts.

Now cross stitch is a different story.  I have never counted how many UFOs I have or even how many patterns although one time I did attempt to keep a spread sheet.  The lighting in the duplex is terrible so I don't tend to stitch (or appliqué for that matter or sew at night) so I haven't stitched much at all since I moved to KY. Until recently, I didn't even buy much as I am trying to watch my money.  But recently I decided I needed to start getting the supplies for some projects which lead to getting some new projects. Now I will have to decide what to work on and try to finish something this year.

I also decided to buy a new car.  My car had almost 100,000 miles so it was time.  I ended up with a BMW X3 which is a little smaller than my other car but much more pick up.  It is grey with a black interior.  Very nice.

Small progress...

Slowly making progress on Quaker Virtues but not much anywhere else.  Busy trying to find a job-ick!

Need to work on Sabrina as I'm pretty far along with her and of course, Alphabets.  I also started Courtney Collection's Pelican using Crescent Colours, Bejeweled on 40 ct sand and a freebie from Plum Street Samplers, coffin buzz on 40 ct Lakeside v. fawk  using Dinky Dyes dark brown.

No progress

Well, that isn't quite true.  I haven't worked much on my stitching as trying to find a job HAS occupied most of my time and it is getting me quite down in the dumps.  But I made quite a bit of progress on Quaker Virtues before giving up. 

I need to work on Alphabets, Sabrina, Pelican and all of the other UFOs I brought with me.

I did bring out my drawing pad as I need to get serious about designing my southwestern wallhanging. It kills me that I had it all designed out and everything even to the point of graphed but then lost the paper in the move.  Rats.  I can only remember certain elements of the design but not the entire design so I'm basically starting from the beginning.  Luckily I have the material to inspire me.  I'll figure something out as the materials are all hand-dyed and very pretty.

I went to a knitting and stitch group on Tuesday at the library.  Bloomfield Township has a wonderful library.  And this group was

Busy, busy, busy

Yes, that is my excuse.  Nothing yet in terms of a real job but still some glimmers of interest.  I've been hard at work with a career counselor who has me figuring out what industries I want to target (all? wrong answer) then once I have that narrowed down, figure out what areas of the country I want to target (much easier right? not really) then write cover letters specific to those industries to send to the hiring managers of companies in those areas.  After all this work AND moving from Arizona to Michigan, I finally began sending out letter this week.  It was not a smooth process.  First, I found a few problems in my resume after having 100 copies printed; then I found a problem with two of the cover letters after having 100 copies of those printed.  After correcting that, I got 35 letters done OR so I thought until I realized that I had forgotten to sign the cover letter.  So I had to carefully open the envelopes and sign the cover letters. The next batch went much better.  Plan is to work full time on this until mid June then find part-time work of some type.   

For fun I've been hard at work on my cross-stitch.  Still working on Quaker Virtues.  Have mostly completed the first page and have started on the next page.  Have the word "integrity" finished which is in the secondary color so it really stands out right now.  But I'm getting a bit burnt out on it so am considering switching to another project soon.  Don't know if I will work on Sabrina or Pelican.  I got the materials for Pelican here at a shop called the Rocking Horse in Farmington Hills.  Very nice.

Plan to take some photos of this area and flowers if we ever have some nice weather.

Stitch lots and lots

I've been stitching lots and lots, especially this past week, basically trying to keep my mind off next week. Will I get the interview or not? Sabrina is really coming along. I'm almost finished with the top 50% of her, absent beading and silk. Alphabets, not so much but now that I have the missing thread, I should be able to get going again.

And I started Quaker Virtues by ByGoneStitches. Its a big piece 400w x 320h but it only takes two colors. I'm doing it on hand-dyed 40ct Weeks Dyed Work in putty which is a really pretty light green and the main color thread is Belle Soie tortoise shell which is a verigated dark green. It will be very pretty when done.

Went to Sunday Samplers at The Attic. It was great to be around other stitchers. I miss that. I had gone to the Saturday potluck which is where I saw the Quaker Virtues and decided to indulge myself in something WAY TOO EXPENSIVE right now. But it is worth it for my piece of mind. I missed the Thursday stitch night since my mom wanted to go to Art Walk in Scottsdale that night, which was fun. We went to an AWESOME gallery so it was worth it but I don't have much time left here since even if I don't get a job, we are leaving for MI at the end of April and I will have to find another stitch group.

I've already looked and there do appear to be shops in the metro Detroit area. I also checked Houston, just in case but I don't know where in Houston to check. Fingers crossed.

Still here-rant

Yep, still here in beautiful AZ. Everyday pretty much the same: sunny or slightly cloudy (high clouds) high of 70. Hard to argue with when the rest of the country has nasty weather. We did have rain one day. Actual rain for one whole day. It was weird.

And my routine is pretty much the same also. Get up, read the news online, then work on my job search. I'm adjusting my search strategy since using the job boards hasn't really panned out. I've listened to a number of webinars and they advocate using a strategy that is more proactive so I'm busy now writing my personal brand and researching companies. Fun stuff. I do that stuff for about 4-5 hours or I try to stay up on environmental crap. Then I either watch old TV programs such as Law & Order or The Closer (driving my rents crazy!) or read or stitch. I posted my progress on "Sabrina" on Facebook.

I just finished Anthony Bourdain's "Medium Raw" which is basically a follow up to his "Kitchen Confidential". I love him as he is so real. Don't read him if you can't take foul language though.
I'm now reading "Angelology" by Danielle Trusson which is hard to describe and "Killing Time" by Caleb Carr. Yes, I read more than one book at once, always have. I devour books and there is no plan or reasoning behind how I pick them. Lately my mom (who reads like I do) and I just go to the library and pick up books at random.

I think I FINALLY got my COBRA stuff straightened out. What a mess. The company screwed up, didn't sent me the information in a timely fashion, sent out the wrong package with wrong information, told the wrong administrator not to process my application, finally sent me the correct package but the correct administrator couldn't for some reason get my payment. Finally did a phone payment and had to do a stop payment on the earlier (huge) check that was in the system for two weeks. Meanwhile, I was running out of prescriptions that I had 3 months worth of so I had originally thought I would be fine. Panic. And the benefits people didn't understand that I was uninsured thoroughout this whole thing since if anyone called such as a doctor's office that is the message they would get! Think about it, I left in November and it is March. The only good thing about this is the company knows they screwed up so they are being very helpful.

Okay back to the grind...well maybe not today as I do try to take one day off a week and I didn't this week so maybe today is the day...nay...I have a webinar in a couple of hours and want to research something ...its always something...

BUT, I'm going to the mall later this afternoon..