iamagrasshoppermouse

Just kidding, my sewing machine came in a week early. It is set up. It has almost no safety features (ie it doesn't matter what settings you have it on--if it's on and you press the pedal, it goes) and goes very fast and I love it. It doesn't come with a free motion quilting foot but it does come with a walking foot and I can still do waves. It takes me so much less time to sew on this machine. I will need to get a free motion foot eventually, but that will be down the road. I may not get to do the sun pattern I was thinking of but that's okay.

And my husband's work partner is looking to move soonish and she has a Singer-in-a-table she is looking to get rid of! So I'm getting that. It'll be great for a back up and such.

I made collard greens last week and I just made a batch of turnip greens tonight. I've never had the turnip greens before but they're pretty good. I am thinking I'd like the mix of mustard/collard/turnip the best of all though. I probably won't be able to experiment until we move, though, as there's no way to get smaller amounts of any of those things unless you grow it yourself.

And speaking of growing--my hydroponics set up is going amazing. The only complaint I have is that I can't keep up with its growth rate, honestly. I'm going to see if I can use lettuce pods in my set up. Because that would be awesome. But in the meantime, I broke out my dehydrator and I'm drying basil.

Quick update: I got the first choice job! I signed my offer and first day is 3/4. I kind of have no idea for my actual day to day will be because it's not either of the jobs I interviewed for but that's cool. I'm working directly for a higher up so I'll get more exec admin experience but there's a lot of internal movement at this company and the boss knows I am going into accounting so I'll probably get a chance to hop around after a bit. And even if I don't? It's a stable job, pays more than my last one, full time with full benefits. I can leave work AT work and I can increase my class schedule meaning I'll not only be able to speed up my 2 year degree but also take additional classes to knock out a 4 year degree before I'm completely ancient.

I also got my second choice job (G*ogle F*ber sales team) and my third choice job. It's kind of killing me I'm saying no to G*ogle of all companies but it's a 2 year contract job. I need stability, y'all. And my third choice job doesn't have health insurance. Which is a bummer because they want to create a position just for me. And the third job is filled with the nicest people I have ever met. That's like...the biggest criteria they have for their workers. You have to be nice.

In not so great news: my sewing machine is really dying. Evidently part of why the tension only works great when I'm pulling it towards me is the machine itself is just. Drifting away. The motor sounds increasingly bad when I try to sew more than two layers (and sometimes it's grinding even with two) and I'm constantly adjusting it but I don't get more than a couple inches before it does something. So I think I'm going to wait on quilting the other tops until I get a new machine* and just keep piecing everything I can, since it can get through a decent amount of piecing before I have to adjust or fix anything. So at least all my quilting material will fit neatly in a box which is an improvement over what it was before I started this project.

We've got the money in savings for me to get the machine but I'd like to wait until my first paycheck before buying anything big. I want to maintain our savings accounts as they are because we're moving in two months!! So I'd like a solid savings account for moving and for applications for rentals. This apartment has been great but we are MORE than ready to move on. We were ready when we signed the last lease here but it was the smart fiscal decision to stay in a place that is cheaper than anything else on the market for what we're getting. And if we find and are signed onto a new place by April we can float two rentals for one month and I get my dog full time! Early! I'm beyond excited. I haven't gotten her for two weekends because of the rain (she haaaates the rain. I'll figure out how to make it enjoyable for her when I have her full time but in the meantime, all the places I can take her are outdoors, so...no Mia).

*I've settled on a Janome. It's not high end, at all, but it should last me through finishing out college and repaying our debts. After all that is taken care of, my dream machine is a Viking, Bernina, or a Toyota. This Janome can handle some leather and accessories sewing so it should be enough for the funkier cosplay pieces and regular quilting.

Alright, the dirty secret is my craft room has terrible lighting. So sorry for potato quality pictures. But here's the aloha print top. I'm really in love with the dark ones. The brighter blue...I think I wish I hadn't done the galaxy print and just done the starry night but I still love how bright and wild the overall design is. The two blue fabrics are the ones that were gifts from my sister. The bright orange/pink one was one I bought because it reminded me of my sister--I was originally going to make a jacket out of it for a cosplay but I couldn't figure out what to pair it with.

I have two different quilt tops that I have planned that are a fabric I'm really not sure is appropriate for a gifted baby quilt. I'm going to make them and then if they're...not good for babies...I'll save them for if/when we have kids. My husband and I both adore the fabric so it's all good. The fabric is a dragon patterned fabric but there's a lot of red fire/blood on it. I think the pieces will be small enough you can't tell what it is but I won't know until it's sewn.

Also cut and ready to be sewn: a winter themed one (super cute), cherries + plain red, the dragon ones, some boring calm ones (old dress shirt material from my dad, actually).

Took a break on piecing because I ran into serious pattern matching issues on the third quilt top. I think I resolved them because I finally sucked it up and threw away the last of a fabric that was pretty much impossible to match. I plan on piecing during schoolwork breaks tomorrow. The two completed tops (the squares are way bigger than I thought so I'm doing 2x2 squares and adding a border if I need to):






The quilt top I got stuck on is my aloha print quilt top which I think was part of my hang up...it's the quilt top in honor of my sister. She lived on Maui for four years and two of the fabrics are dresses she bought for me that we shared (we somehow fit into each other's clothes despite being totally different body shapes, lol). She loved children more than anything in the world so it feels right to give some of her things to the local NICU. I've kept scraps back for myself but the majority of it will go to a baby.

Job hunt is still ongoing. Another interview, this time I KNOW I didn't get the job and I'm happy about it. Hours were good with my schedule but total jerk of a manager and the pay was bad. I'll officially hear back next week or so but I could see the scores he was writing down while we were talking so yeah. Didn't get it, lol.

I got a headhunter email today which warms the cockles of my heart. I don't think it'll go anywhere but I'm pursuing it (for an amazing company) and it's so nice to be wanted. I'm also past the first step of quite a few jobs I'd like so it's just waiting on a whole lot of HR at this point. I'm doing accuracy by volume. One of these jobs I have to land, damnit, lol.

I sucked it up and started captioning at Rev (I was having anxiety attacks about it for some reason?) and I love it. I like it much more than transcribing, which is awesome. I can do a video a day until I get my speed up. Depending, I may be able to bring in enough extra cash from Rev alone per month to cover cost increases from our impending move which takes even more pressure off the job hunt. It's nice to think about!

Hello hello! I am back. Went out of town two weekends ago and have been doing a lot of interview and school related things since then. I had an interview that happened bright and early last Tuesday morning and it's looking good but no offer yet. One of my references said that the woman admitted that everyone gave me a glowing rec which is always nice to hear. I have an interview this afternoon at a different place and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a quiet doctor's office which is pretty rad. If I get a choice I'll go with the other place I interviewed at--the interviewer was excited by me wanting to stay in one company and move around to learn all the accounting side of things and I'm excited by wearing many hats. But a quiet doctor's office would be low stress and good benefits.

With interviews happening again I've turned my attention to the countdown clock of Moving Out of This Apartment. Other than some occasional issues it has served us well for nearly 4 freaking years but I am OVER apartment living (and I want my dog full time, damnit). So I'm putting aside my cosplay things for now and working on whittling down my stashes for things that I know I don't particularly want to move with us.

First up is a log cabin baby blanket with my purples and yellow/orange fabrics. I know why I have so much purple--every baby blanket I've ever made had people requesting it...but I have NO idea where all this yellow and orange came from. Well, to be honest, I have no real idea where like 60% of my fabric stash came from... But this first one will be a good LSU baby blanket for the hospital. Pictures once I start putting the blocks together. The pattern I'm using makes 14 1/2" blocks (square) so I'll be doing 3 x 4 blocks for one blanket.

I'm going to see how much stash each baby blanket eats up but I'm also going to be working on chainmaille dice bags and lanyards to work down my chain collection (with some jewelry thrown in). I love chainmaille and I love my collection but it's heavy and I have fresh ideas I want to work on--which means I need to get rid of at least half my current collection of rings.