Travis bought me a new sewing machine. She is a Juki TL-2010Qj. He did an amazing amount of research and figured this was the best machine for me. At first I was kind of upset because I showed him the machine I WANTED and I'd never even heard of a Juki. I told him I'd give it a chance, and so far, I like it. Pushing quilts through this machine is very nice and smooth, so that's a huge thing! I even decorated her. I still have my little Rosey (Viking). She comes out for the fancy stitching. Now, all I need is a studio about an RV garage built in the backyard...
So, since I have a new machine, I've been busy sewing lately. I've made a few bags, a quilt and am working on some more bags with a pattern that I'm not happy with. It's McCall's M6045. The pattern itself is ok, but the instructions aren't what I'm used to. I need someone to just say, "Ok, cut this and this out of this and this. Sew A to B, etc". This has 2 fabrics, 3 interfacings, and 4 bag options. The instructions are all over the place. Cut this for A. Cut this for B, Oh, but you need to cut one of these for A again. I just don't like how they wrote them out. But, because I've used the Fabulous Amy Butler patterns, I have some background on how to fix the issues with this pattern. :)
Speaking of Amy Butler patterns, I've made another 2 Weekender bags in Cupcakes! Sara's totally into cupcakes right now, and I found this fabric in Home Dec weight and bought a whole bunch. I didn't have the pattern with me, and it turned out I bought enough for 2 bags. :) I love how they turned out.
I made this Memory quilt for someone. I can't say who, since it's a surprise and I've PROCRASTINATED and haven't sent it yet. It was a super fun quilt to make, tho, and I think whoever gets it will be happy. I'm hoping it will make them move closer... :)
Speaking of Sara and cupcakes... We recently bought a new table and chairs for our kitchen nook (try to find a round, counter height table that's 45" across..impossible). While we were at a furniture store, we happened to find a Cupcake Painting. I took a picture and sent it to Sara. She wanted it (she usually wants stuff). :) The problem was that it was $200 for 4 pics and 2 of them were of cupcakes, but the other 2 were really large ice cream cones. Cute, but not really anything we wanted, plus, $200? really? I told her I'd get her a canvas and some paints and she could paint one. Well, here's the result. We were actually surprised at how good it turned out.
Sara's still loving school. She recently had Little Mermaid Red hair. It was shocking at first, but then we grew to really like it. The bonus was that she was very easy to find in a crowd. She loved it but changed it back to brown because it was pretty high maintenance. Here is a picture of the entire family that we had taken for our church directory. You can see Sara's red hair.
Anisa is in limbo. It's quite irritating, but I know I am to blame. I'm making it too easy on her, but whatever....I try not to complain too super much. She's a great girl, and we have fun shopping, doing lunch, etc, but she is going to 22 on Monday and hasn't figured out life. Her boyfriend, Jason, lives in VA. He doesn't know where or what he's going to do. He has a good job there, but the problem is that it's so expensive to live there. We have encouraged Anisa to find a job here for now, then figure out what she wants to do in the spring, summer. They wanted to go to Colorado Springs, but apparently jobs are pretty scarce there. Maybe we need to make her live in her car! heehee just kidding..but only a little bit.
Travis is doing pretty well. He likes his job, but is worrying about the future. He will probably be forced to retire in less than 2 years since he'll have done 30 years in the Coast Guard. That is crazy to me. I got him when he was 17 years old and now I can just admire the man I got to marry.
I've been looking for a job. I've applied to a lot of places, but so far, nothing. I suppose the right job will come at the right time. My dream job is back at Chinook Elementary, so I filled out my Volunteer paperwork and will start volunteering a day or two a week. I figure that will at least get me back "in" with the staff and such, and when a job opening is coming up, I'll be the first to hear about it. :) The most convenient thing about that is that it's right across the street from my neighborhood, so I could walk to work! Keep me in your prayers! :)
Sara went to Virginia for Christmas and New Years. She had a blast and didn't want to come home (who wants to come home from VACATION?). While she was gone, we drove down to Eugene (a 2.5 hour drive, one way) to go to the Ninkasi Brewery. Their Total Domination IPA has become our most favorite beer, but we like a few of their other brews too. It was SO.WORTH the drive. OMG... we had a really great time. We got there and I told them we had driven all the way from Vancouver just to come there. They gave us free beers! We took the brewery tour and had some yummy hot dogs and homemade pretzels. Then as we were leaving, they gave us 4 pint glasses and some stickers. The crew there is small, and everyone was really nice. I wish we lived closer so we could go there all the time..just to hang out with cool people - alright...and to drink beer too! :)
Travis and I have been kind of jogging/walking. We go every once in a while, not as regularly as we should. Travis is better about going than me. He's even taken his running gear to work and run during the day. My problem is that I run to the trail, then see birds or squirrels then I have to stop and look at them! hahaha Oh well, as long as we get OUT, I guess that's good.
Well, I think I've caught you up on what's been going on here. I'm sure there is a lot more, but I can't remember things! Travis calls me Dori (from Finding Nemo) since I forget things almost instantly.
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