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Playing with Photo Booth!
As I mentioned a few posts back, I have moved on to my new job. I am lucky to have been with the company for awhile now, so it was probably an easier move for me then for others. But, what really made it great was my trainer! She is a really passionate person, and was a great teacher. Today was my first official day by myself, and it went pretty well, in large part thanks to her.
This past Tuesday happened to be her birthday, and of course I had to make her something! I went with my favorite Martha dishcloth apron. I made the binding out of this great fruity print...the whole thing was kind of funny because after the fact I realized it all related to kind of a hot non-topic at work!
I also made some matchy fruity kitchen towels. I love kitchen towels (although I don't really do anything in the kitchen!), and these were so fun to make. And I may be biased, but I thought it was a cute gift set! She seemed to like everything too, which is really what matters.
I realized I haven't been posting that much this past week...no real reason for that...just slipped my mind I guess!
(edited to add) OH! I didn't even mention - if you've read my blog for awhile you know my crazy hive problem. Luckily my allergist helped me get it (mostly) under control, but couldn't tell me what is/was causing them. He did do lots of tests, one of which revealed I am allergic to peanuts. This meant no more peanut butter, which was a bummer. Last weekend though I found Sunflower Seed Butter...and it tastes so good! It's very similar to peanut butter, but a little sunflower-y. So FYI in case you want to try something new.
Here is my gift to Derek. Handmade socks. Handmade squishy wool socks to be exact. I loved knitting these...the yarn was great, they went fast, the colors were perfect. They're a smidge big but that's because they were secret socks and I just went off the suggested measurements for his size foot. He says he still loves them though, and I believe him.
The pattern is from Purl. I used the suggested yarn and also went with a US 5 needle. (Circular, of course). I need to find an yarn I can sub for this great stuff, because it is a bit pricey. For a special gift though it is just right. The main color is a rich burgandy brown, and the accent is a silvery purple. I picked them online, and I'm glad they really worked together in real life.
I don't have any plans for today. I made my mom a scarf but didn't take any pictures before I mailed it. (Mom, take some and post them to your blog). Oh, something exciting - we're getting a new-to us tv today from one of Derek's professors. He's picking it up now. It's one of the older not-so flat wide screen tvs. Not too shabby, right?
It was nicely brought up today at work that I haven't blogged about my new job! You may remember awhile back I mentioned I was starting a new job (in Customer Relations at the same place), and then I said it was pushed back a bit. That was just because I was waiting for my replacement to make it down to Insurance so I wasn't leaving my old team high and dry.
I've been in my new position for 2 weeks, and I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong; I loved my job in Insurance...but it really took me away from our customers, and even the vehicles. I was still solving some pretty serious issues, but I was really wrapping up a relationship with a customer, not working on building one. This new position gives me some fantastic opportunities to really push myself and work with so many great people to come up with some great results. That sounds pretty vague - but each situation I will be facing is going to be so different from one another.
PLUS I get to learn all the great details about all of our vehicles! There's not much that can beat hands on experience.
I finally finished a secret V-day present for Derek (socks) but gave them to him today. I would post pictures but he's had them on ever since. I'll grab some shots tomorrow and get them posted. It's funny to see my blog making it's way through my new department at work. When I was trying to explain the crafty things I do for fun and the craft-blog world, I realized how crazy we probably all seem! For example, it's Friday night and I have already knit some socks, now here I am blogging about me knitting socks, and next I'll work on my quilt. To me that seems perfectly normal, but I guess it's really not. Oh well; I've never claimed to be normal! Off to sew...
My first scrappy quilt is done. It measures 42"x30", so it would be a nice baby gift, but no one else I know is having one anytime soon...so I turned it into wall art. All I did was sew on a bit of hair elastic and now it's a wall quilt!
I stippled the entire thing. It's not perfect, but I love it. It's crinkly and really neat. I don't know how I'd fair with a queen size though.
This was such a fun quilt to make, and I'm kind of sad it's done. Now I get to see it all the time though, so it's worth it!
It works! My freemotion feet now actually WORK! I hadn't tested it once my machine was 'fixed' because I didn't want to be disappointed. I had seen everyone's beautiful freemotion quilting and then looked at my attempts, which were teeny stitches, pointy and loopy back corners...it was bad.
But look! (At my silly little attempt. I need a bit of practice now!)
I know you can't really tell in this picture, but the stitches are nice and even, and the back looks the same! No more jagged bits. Now I want to quilt my Swell quilt and do it freemotion!
I also found this stack of fabric when I was cleaning. These are some vintage pre-cut squares my mom found. There are some great prints in this stack! I think I'm just going to use them all in one quilt just to keep them all together. Isn't the top one great?
There are a lot of squares here, but I'll probably need to actually count them before I start sewing to see how many rows I'll get!
These are a few things that sit at my desk now. The keychain was a present. I can't remember what they're called, but they come in a little box and it's a surprise which one you'll get. I have 2 now, and they're so cute! If you can't tell, he's got a bite taken out of him so he's crying...
The pouch was something I had custom made from I heart linen. Cute, isn't it!? I haven't actually used it yet for that reason. I like it on my desk anyways!
