A job!! - Stitch from Stash 2014 Idea

Well it's been a 4 week road, but I just finished my second week at a new job.
Thank you to everyone who commented and sent me their support during this transition time.
Ironically I think it will work out for the best, just like so many of you told me! :)

So what's the new job? 
It's for the Alberta government. I'm quite pleased to secure this position, it was at the top of my list. It has great benefits and flex days; however the pay is (of course) much lower than working directly in industry as I was before. But, we're working through that on the budget level and luckily we didn't purchase a home back in April that was at the brink of our affordability. Thank goodness!

So you wanna know what I really do all day? 
I sit at a computer and review energy applications for development and ask questions of applicants, submit closures (for incorrect info) and submit approvals to the "signatures" department. It's what I used to do but just on the other side, instead of making the applications I know approve them.
I think it's a great fit for me as it's a way less stressful environment, government jobs are often immune to layoffs when industry slows down, and I work overall less hours because of flex time and such.

I'm quite pleased to have obtained this job, but will also be starting a "stitch from stash" year in 2014 to make sure I try to keep the spending down.
I wonder if there is a group I can join like that or I should start my own?
Any thoughts??

November Cottage Finish

Well it's already snowy and cold here as of two days ago. Made me think while I was stitching up the November Cottage that I should have done it up as a snowy month as it almost always is here in Calgary.
While I didn't do snow in Nov, I did change a number of things in it. I was feeling like there was a lot of red in the bottom half of the calendar and wanted to add in a different color. That is where the purple came from in Nov. Also Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, not November like the US so I removed the turkey and changed up the acorns to be a bit less symmetrical and a bit more random. As autumn (my fave season) is much more random with leaves everywhere than most other seasons. Here's my version of the November cottage:







I'm still off work but have some good opportunities I'm waiting to hear on. And an interview lined up for Friday at the job that was at the top of my list to work at! So it's going alright, albeit very, very slow. Luckily we're still doing fine and unemployment insurance payments should kick in very soon. I'm confident I will be working again full-time soon enough.
Thank you to everyone for your well wishes last time and hopefully by my next update I will get to tell you about how I'm starting a new job!

Dragons --- finally a page finish!!!

Well... after forever on this latest page I *finally* have a page finish to show you on Dragons.
This poor project has gotten pushed aside most of the year between moving, traveling to Europe & my Etsy store. BUT, it's getting some good attention now. Partially because things have chilled out; and partially because I'm back to making it more of a priority.

So here is the latest area I worked on:

A close-up of the Dragons to date:

And the entire piece to date:

There are only 5 pages to go! The one you can see missing on the latest row and only one more row of 4 full pages. Getting soooo close. But should be as this is year 6 (I think) on this piece, believe it or not. But I haven't given it all my attention and have had other finishes that I love when I needed a break or change of pace.

In other news: I was shocked on Tuesday morning to be informed that I was being laid off from my job. They claim it's due to 'shortage of work' but the reality in mine and the man's opinion is that it's because of a conflict that had escalated recently between myself and a co-worker. (sigh). So I'm looking for a new job everyday while I'm home (as they asked me to pack my stuff and leave immediately following the discussion about layoff). And I've put some more new work into my Etsy store allowing for me to have more time in the evenings for Dragons. Too bad stitching doesn't generate me any money! I'm sure we've all wished that many times.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm gonna keep pushing on my last two cottages (nov, dec) and dragons for the next little while and will update as soon as I have enough progress. I really appreciate all the hits, reads & comments that I get. You are all so awesome!