Crafty Jack

Jack has Art this year. Here are two of his projects.

Spring has Sprung!!

Hello! It is now Spring! It rains almost every day and we had a tornado warning! Plus the Daffodil's have come up really fast one minute they were small green stalks and then all of the sudden a whole bunch of yellow flowers!

David hung up the TV in my craft room and it really looks good. Now I have another surface to work off of...LOL. Here is a picture of Puppy looking at me wondering what I am doing.

The picture of the flowers are punch yarn kits. I got them on clearance at Michael's, I just got the hoop to stretch them over the weekend. I'll try to start them this weekend.

Friday!!

We were 70 degrees yesterday! I had to put my air conditioning on in my car. Today it was 60 and overcast and it just rained a little while ago and the temperature has dropped quite a bit. We are supposed to be nice this weekend so that is good.

We are going to Cincinnati again so Dave can look at the new Jeep they brought in to see what parts he can get off of it. I am going to go to Jungle Jim's and do a little shopping. We will also go to IHOP again...Yah!!

I worked on the Pink quilt a little. I have the bottom border pinned on but still need to sew it. I am posting a picture because I don't think you have seen it all laid out. I am really liking it more now.

There hasn't been too much going on I got my books for my first History course and I am starting to read those. I'll post more later this weekend.

Day Light Savings!

Isn't Day Light Savings great? It is almost 7 pm and it is still so light out! Normally I would be ready to crawl into bed.

It has been awhile since I posted. I went to the binding class and finished up my sampler quilt. I have re-arranged my craft room after a trip to IKEA last weekend. I picked up another table for the sewing machine. It will expand out on each side to make it better to sew large projects. I went through and re-sewed the seams on the pink quilt. I saw a few more seams that need re-sewn as well and as soon as I get them done I need to do the border and I will be ready to put the quilt sandwich together. I plan to sew around the border and then tie the large part of the quilt instead of trying to machine quilt it. I haven't worked on the turtle quilt at all, I am trying to get the pink one done first and then I will work on it.

Melissa and I were on a waiting list for a quilt retreat in May and we got the call that we had moved up on the list so we will be going for a weekend trip to do nothing but work on quilts. We are pretty excited!

I already mentioned the IKEA trip last weekend, we went to IHOP and then I went to IKEA and David went to the u-pull it. I got the new table, a pink rug, a pink comforter with a pink pillow, some containers, a work light, some towels, and of course cinnamon rolls! You can see the new work area in the posted pictures, Marley really enjoys the new pink carpet!

I got the call from my old work that they want to hire me back as a civilian. So, I am currently in the process of being hired, I was told it may take up to 2 months to get all the processing done. I've already given this job notice so they can find someone and I can hopefully have time to train them before I go. David is very excited because he is going to quit his job and be my house husband. He is going to do all my honey dew jobs around the house and work on his Jeep.

I know I said I was going to wait to start back to school but you know me once I get it into my head I can't wait! I enrolled with American Military University to get a Master of Arts degree in History. Figured I enjoyed history so much I may as well get a degree in it! I'll start my first class in April.

I think that is all the news for now...been really busy!

Sampler Quilt

We woke up to a dusting of snow on Sunday morning but it was all gone by lunch time but it was still a gray day. We've had sun the last two days but it has been really cold. Today the rain clouds have rolled in and we are to have rain tomorrow and snow showers on Thursday.

David and I have plans to go to Cincinnati on Saturday and the weather looks good for that. He is hankering to look around the u-pull-it and it has been awhile since I went to IKEA to just look around and shop. We will also make the IHOP stop first.

Okay, I've made the sampler quilt to take to class tomorrow night to learn how to do the binding. I am pretty happy with it and it was nice to see all the stitches my fancy sewing machine can make. I really like the colors of this little thing and might make something bigger, like a lap quilt if I have enough blocks left.

I am going to clean up my yarn collection and see what I want to knit next. I just put it all in a pile when I moved my room around and I still need to organize and put it all in the cubes that I have to hold yarn.

That's all the news for now, I hope you like the pictures!

Rainy March

We've had quite a bit of rain for March already. Even had a couple flood warning for some of the counties around us. Today was rainy but wasn't cold so that was nice. We went out to Sears so Dave could look for clearance on tools. I picked up a couple tops for the work wardrobe. We then had some Applebee's and looked at a couple thrift shops. I got a few more things for the wardrobe and I found a few more plates for the wall.

I sewed a few blocks of the quilt this morning but then we went out most of the day and I had a nap when we came home. So, I am going to work on it tonight after I eat and then I will take some pictures to post. Overall it was a pretty good day!

March Already??

I can't believe how the days just fly by! I have been really down in February. Once my back went out that seemed like the worst. I have been going to work and coming home only to lay on the heating pad and go to bed. I saw the Dr. this week and he gave me long term pain medicine and it has helped the last couple of nights. The sun has also been out the last few days (but not today) so that has helped with my mood too.

I received some good news on Monday, my VA disability rating finally came through and they rated me at 70%. They are still reviewing some of my conditions so that % may go up. I received all of my back pay for the last 6 months which came to $8242. Then yesterday I had an extra $1250 in my account and I just opened the mail to find out they had resolved the remaining issues and I am now at 80%!! This is really good news. I still need to send them some more information on my back to hopefully receive a higher percentage for that.

It was nice to get all the back pay because Mark got accepted to Cal Poly! He will be attending in the Fall as a transfer student so he will be considered a Junior. I had thought I would transfer my GI bill to him to help pay for school but I found out I was supposed to transfer before I got out of the service so that won't work. The California VA has been paying his tuition for Allan Hancock but he can't make more than $11,300 for them to do that and he made $12,000 last year, so, my nice little back pay will go towards paying his first year at Cal Poly. He will not work that many hours this year so he can get the CA VA entitlement back. I am just so happy he got accepted, that is where he really wanted to go.

I am trying to get a government job doing contracting. I have applied and now that I am a disabled vet I get a higher priority for hiring so hopefully I will get something soon. I've decided that I will need to work for the next 5 years to make sure both the boys will be able to go to college. So, I decided I will fully retire at 50 and use my GI bill to go back to school full time.

Okay so for crafts, I haven't done anything. Tonight I am going to do a small sampler to take to the class next week where we are going to learn how to bind the quilts. I've got to get back to my twin size pink quilt for my bed which I won't need soon (LOL) and the Turtle quilt which I have to finish all those turtle blocks. I am going to look for some knitting to do to, I don't seem to be in the knitting mood lately.

All right it is dinner time. I will take some pictures of the sampler tomorrow.