These are some of the things that make me tick, or tick me off

I decided to take the whole WeightWatchers thing a little more serious. I started to do WeightWatchers online a few weeks ago. I have some days where I do really well, and then a week or so, where I just don't care. So I will work hard to make this work for me, and to exercise as recommended. Because the truth is, this program really works, but only for those who work the program. So I will be on the treadmill in a little while. Because not only do I have a hard time with eating the right stuff in the right amounts, but I also don't exercise like I should. Clicking the remote control button does not qualify.

My little time schedule seems to work, at least for the school stuff. I have all my Transcriptions finished. I am dividing my craft time between the different crafts, and therefore no finished products.

What ticks me off, is when there is a separate set of rules for people in the same position. I have asked before in school for phlebotomy if we can take home needles to practice, and got a big old NO. Then I asked if I can practice and have a professional sign off on my sticks. Once again I got a big old NO. But then a girl in my class, who is really bad at it, and can seriously hurt people (I know first hand, she stuck me, and it hurt for 4 days), gets to take home needles to practice. Now what is the requirement to have the rules bent for one. I guess, since I am not too bad at phlebotomy I get a big no, and the people that really suck at it, get let lose on the population with sharp needles. No, I really wonder why there are different rules for people in the same situation. Maybe I need to start crying in class because I can't hack it, and then people will feel sorry for me too, and they bend the rules to my needs. Not going to happen, I never seem to get special treatment, and extra help.

A Little Bit Of Everything

This has been quite a week, or rather 2 weeks. I will start you all out on new about my schooling. My two favorite teachers have taken a break, and we were stuck with the not so favorite one. Needless to say, things have not been going as well as expected. We wasted a lot of valuable classroom time, and did not get anything accomplished. To boot it all, this week was mid-term week. It was not as easy and enjoyable as usually, because we were just not prepared for it. But the good news is, the two favorite teachers are back, and we have only 5 1/2 weeks left in the quarter.

I also have news about my future. I got a job at the hospital I wanted to work in after school. I will be working in Transport right now, until I am done with school, and then try to get hired in-house into one of the jobs I am training for. But this is a major step, because I now have my foot in the door, and get preferred consideration for the jobs I can bid in.

In the knitting part of life. I am sorry, there is just not much to say, I have not spend much time with my needles. I would have great ideas about things I would love to make, but I have too many UFOs (Unfinished Fiber Objects) to finish. I would just feel way too guilty starting yet another one. I have to get back to my projects, I just seem to be unable to manage my time wisely.

Quilting wise, I have no finish as of yet. I have my Log Cabin quilt I started years ago currently laying next to my sewing machine. All the blocks are finished and need assembly. I also have a few quilts that need to be loaded into the quilt frame. Two quilts need to have the hand quilting finished. Once again, my time management skills need improvement.

Crochet related, I have actually only one project in the works, but am eyeing a few others already. I am working on an Afghan for my daughter which has blocks made with hearts in them. I am about half way there, and need to get it done before she will leave me for College in August. Other than that I saw a lovely little throw on facebook today, that a friend of mine shared. I think it is one of those must-make items. I also have a lot of crochet cotton that my MIL gave me, and I am looking for a nice pattern to make a few doilies out of, and actually plan on giving them to her than as a thank you for the thread.

Time management!!! This is a very sore point right now. I am trying to improve that big time. I am employing a timer now. I got the idea from reading my friend Mags' blog, http://magsthescrappyquilter.blogspot.com/ . She has the great idea to spend 30 min every day in her quilt studio. Since I have homework and such, my plan is, to spend 60 min each day catching up on my transcription, and homework. 30 min each day on one of my hobbies, 30 min on exercise. This should help me get stuff moving in each category.

Well, playtime is over and I better get going on my plans for the afternoon. I will try to check in with you all again soon, and let you know how it all went down.

Bow Tucks Tote

This is my Bow Tucks Tote by Penny Sturges. Yes, I am back to quilting, and posting. Actually I was never away from quilting, I just never finished a project to post about. I have been on a Quilt Retreat last weekend, and picked up the pattern for this Tote, since I am in sewing mojo mode I made it this weekend. The pattern is very easy to follow, and rewarding to make. On the schooling subject, I am half way through my third quarter. Yes this quarter is hard, but also easier than the other, since I don't have quizzes every day anymore. This is giving me more time for other things, like sewing, or hunting. Even a job. I got hired by the place I wanted to work at, and am very excited about the opportunity, although it is not in the job I am studying for. I originally wanted to wait until I was done with school, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up. So I took the job, and once I am done with school I will bid into the job I am training for. Yes, you read right, I am hunting. I went turkey hunting with my dear Husband this morning. It was very nice. The weather was great for it. It was overcast, and a little cooler. We spent all morning calling Turkey's in. At about 10am I finally had a shot at a nice Tom, and missed him. But I think I ruffled his feathers a little, because he left me 2 wing feathers as a souvenir behind. Oh well, he was so beautiful, and fun to watch, he will strut another day. Perhaps he will strut for me again next time I take the gun out.

Things are not exactly going my way right now!!!

So,School is really stressful right now, but it is not the work or studying. It is a class mate!!! You know, the kind of person that does whatever it takes to get attention? My nerves are just about shot. This class mate is loud, obnoxious, and just plain annoying. She has to talk constantly, taps her foot during exams very loudly, starts singing while sounding horrible, and brings a lot of personal drama into the class room. This may sound very badly right now, but I almost hope she will fail out of the program, just so the rest of us can have some peace and quiet. I swear, I am not a bad person, but she just brings out the worse in me. I am working very hard all day to just hold my tongue and focus on other things, to block her out. I know if I say something, or show that she is getting my attention she wins. So, if you are praying to God, or at this point I take any higher power, pray for me to keep my cool, and to be able to just block her out.

With knitting I have nothing new to report. Currently I am just not in the knitting mood. My heart beats again for quilting. I decided to add on another row on my Buckeye Beauty, to make it into a Queen sized quilt. I hope to get some quilting time in tonight, and for the rest of the week. I would really love to have the top finished, so I can quilt it on the Quilt Retreat at the end of the month. This is my plan so far, after dinner I will study for tomorrows exam, and then I want to quilt and see if I can get these blocks I have sewn together, and perhaps start on the new blocks.

Patriotic Quilt

I have been to my church for quilt group today, and got an update on my Patriotic Throw Quilt. We have turned it for the last time, and found out to my horror, that the top is so stretched out of shape, I need to add on more backing to quilt the last border. Mind you, I did cut the backing 6 inches longer than the quilt. So I guess this one will have a pieced back (which I hate) or end up in the "I don't like you anymore, so I won't finish you" pile. Needless to say, I am quite upset about it, and feel like I don't even want to bother with it anymore. :-( So it might be a little while until I get over that one.

Some updates to my Blog

Just in case you haven't noticed it, I put some additions on my blog. On the right side of the screen you see my UFO List. This is by far not a complete list of my UFOs, but it is all I could think of at the moment. I will add to it as I find more UFOs and as I start more projects. I also added some links below my list for free Quilt Patterns on the Internet. If you can think of a good site to add to my list, please let me know, and I will add it. If you have a blog or website, and you publish patterns, or sell quilt related items, please feel free to let me know, and I will certainly add your link to my blog, so my readers may visit your site or blog.

This and That, and a lot of nonsense

Well, I could bore you with excuses why have not updated for a while, or I can just tell you the truth. I was so busy I forgot.

School is going really well. My grades are up, and I seem to have fallen into a good rhythm between school, studying, housework, and family. It seems to work out so far. I also started to volunteer at a local hospital on the weekends, in order to learn more, and perhaps to get a better chance of getting hired once I graduate.

I have not been knitting much lately. I started on the second front piece of my sweater, which needs the buttonholes knitted into. But I don't quite like the buttonhole placement. So I think my best bet is to rip it out, start over, and figure out where to put my buttonholes, if any. Since it is in chocolate brown I thought those big wooden sticks we used back in the 1970s to close our coats with would look nice. For those I can add loops after finishing with the I-cord method. But as I said, I still need to figure it out, so it is on hold right now, until I have figured out what I want to do with it.

I actually quilted a little again, and here is proof of it.





The OhioQuilters Yahoo Group had a Stay-at-Home Retreat last weekend, and it was fun. We got to stay at home, sew, chatter on the computer, look at each others projects, play Bingo, and win prizes (not me, but that is OK, because my friends won, makes me just as happy). I finished assembling the blocks I started at a Quilt Retreat I attended back in September 2011. Now I am slowly getting the blocks sewn together, one or two seams a night after all the other obligations have been met. The pattern is a Buckeye Beauty, and I followed Eleanor Burns' instructions. I should have read all of the instructions before I started, because I could have saved a lot of extra steps. The pattern was designed for a scrappy quilt, and if you have controlled colors, you can save a lot of steps. Oh well, lesson learned, and I will do better next time.

Speaking of Eleanor Burns, I went shopping. I love to sew with her so much, I bought several companion DVDs to the books I own from her. I am so looking forward to quilting with her. I can't wait for FedEx to get here.

I am so tempted to start a new project, but am fighting the urge really hard. I have so many started projects that I want to get some of them finished before starting another one. I feel inspired by my MIL to do this, because she has the same plans, and her reasoning for it makes sense. Her and I both are just starting to run out of places to store UFOs at. I am doing one better. My MIL is still bringing home fabrics, and I decided to start making scrap quilts with the fabrics I have. This will be a new experience for me, because I really try to control everything. But I think getting out of my comfort zone will be good for me. So now all I am allowed to buy is background fabric (if needed, can't give up control there just yet), backing fabric (I just don't like seams in my backing), and of course batting to finish my quilts. I am not sure about thread, I found a lot of thread when I was sorting out my sewing room, and think I am set for a while, unless I need special colors for quilting my quilt sandwich, but for piecing I am set. So far I have been doing good with my No-Buying Policy. But then again, the year is still young, and I am weak. But I will try my hardest, and try to keep you updated on my efforts. It is not easy driving past that quilt store twice a day going to school and back home.

My Christmas Break is Almost Over

On Monday it is back to School for me again, and with that also back to homework and studying, and all the other stress that comes with it. Especially squeezing all my chores and fun things into before and after School. But am I weird that I am looking forward to it? Some of the women in my class groan about school. For me it is a welcome step toward what I want to do with my life, now that the kids are old enough that I get to be selfish again. As I prepare for school, and drive there in the mornings, I dream of the job I want to get. While I am studying for my test (every day one in each subject), I can see myself using that knowledge in my dream job. To me school is the gateway to a new chapter in my life, that will bring a bright future with it. I feel like I am the only one with this positive outlook in class. Why can't the rest get enthusiastic about what we are doing? After all, it is not prison, it is school you sign up for. Nobody is chaining anyone to the chair, or is making anyone stay. Why are people so negative about the things they chose to do. If they don't like school, I am sure there are jobs that do not require medical classes, and long hours of studying. I don't see how it will be about the money either, because believe me, there is nobody getting rich in this job. What it all boils down to is, I just don't understand people.

On a crafty subject, I have some knitting and quilting goals for January. I am knitting on the kal for socks I told about in my last post. My goal is to get these socks done in January. I am also knitting a Chocolate Sweater since December of last year. I just started the second front of it, and plan to finish it off this month also. I really love the pattern. It is from the 1980's from the book "Maine Island Knits". The body is knit in a chicken wire pattern, and there are supposed to be chicken knit into the right front chest area, but I opted to knit this sweater without the chicken. I think it still looks very good. On the quilting front, I want to finish the quilt top for my older daughters graduation quilt. I started in at my last Quilt Retreat back in September 2011, and haven't touched it since. I started it as a twin sized quilt, but will have to make extra blocks to enlarge it to a full sized quilt. I am using the "Buckeye Beauty" pattern by Eleanore Burns for it. I thought it was fitting, since my daughter is a Buckeye Beauty herself.

Well, I better head off to my sewing room, and see what I can get done today. Have a great day!!!

Under what rock have I been hiding?

I have been gone from my blog a long time, and have absolutely nothing to show for. Oh, I have been quilting and knitting, but just nothing is finished.

I finally unpacked my sewing stuff from my last Quilt-Retreat I was on in September. Yes, I was not even in the mood to set my sewing machine back up. But I have been hand-quilting at church on Friday's. We are working on my Patriotic Throw. I am hoping to get quilting some more again, and maybe get something accomplished.

I also have been knitting, just nothing finished. I have several sweaters half way, and in some cases more than half way done. I am also knitting another pair of socks, from a kal (knit-a-long).

But I do have a plan to solve this conundrum I am in. I plan on knitting, and sewing for 30 minutes each day. I have to see how I will work it into my schedule when school starts again next week. But I think I can handle school, studying, knitting, quilting, and housework. Other women do every day, and after all, it is all about priorities. I fear time for me was just not on the top of the list. I also think it might be good to limit my time on the computer again. During my break now, I noticed how I spent more and more time each day on the computer, instead on things I really wanted to do. Here is a promise to myself. I will make time for myself each day and do what pleases me for just a little while.

Everything is on the Back Burner

School has absolutely taken over my life. There seems to be little time for other things. I have not quilted a stitch, or knitted since starting school. The only reading I get done are the Text Books. I am constantly exhausted. But there is a silver lining on the horizon. I am making good grades, and I am enjoying it immensely. I am already dreaming of the future, and wonder where I will get a job at. I am hoping hospital right now, but that might change over the course of the next year, and I also have to see if I receive any offers from somewhere.

Besides dreaming of the future, and working toward the realization of those dreams, my husband and I decorated the front yard last weekend. We grew these pumpkins ourselves, and are pretty proud of them.


I am about ready to call it a night here. So I will keep this short, but will update again soon. Hopefully I have some pictures to show of something I accomplished. Otherwise I might have to scan in my graded papers to show off. But who wants to see that? LOL