Working Again

I've been a little absent this past week because we had our first visitor in Korea and I've started working again. There is a huge military training exercise that takes place every March in Korea, so my DH has been gone from about 6am to 10pm everyday since Feb 22. Luckily, there have been some "pauses" on the weekends, so he has only had to work 6-8 hours on the weekends.

This past weekend (March 6-7) our friend from the states was here because of the exercise. He was in the same unit as my husband when they were in Iraq, so it was good to see a familiar face again. We went with him to Itaewon for some shopping and dinner. It was kind of weird because our friend had to stay with other members of the group here. Almost like babysitting. The commander didn't want the guys to separate into groups less than 4. It was weird since all

the guys were officers. But, we dealt with it. Our friend was able to come to our apartment for some cookies though, so it was nice to show him where we live.

On Tuesday, March 9 I got a phone call from the school to say my substitute paperwork was all complete and I could start working. I wasn't sure how often I would be working...but Wednesday morning I got a call to come in for 1/2 the day. I worked in the nurses office. It was a good first assignment. I had never been in the building before and there isn't an orientation or anything, so I asked the nurse I worked with a lot of things about the school to try to get some bearings. On Thursday morning, I got another call to work in 1st grade. I was excited to be in a classroom. The kids were pretty good, and my teacher attitude/voice came back pretty easily. Today (Friday) is a teacher work day with no students, so I'm off. Getting back to work is kind of nice. I like having my day planned out more. Hopefully I will find out if I'm subbing early than the morning of my assignment, but for now...I'll just keep my phone at the bedside.

My 26th Birthday

I celebrated a wonderful birthday yesterday. The day started out with breakfast in bed and finished with sushi for dinner and a glass of wine. After all it was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays my husband and I like to try a different wine each week. "Wine Wednesday"

After enjoying my breakfast I met up with three wonderful ladies from the quilting group to go fabric shopping in Dongdaemun. It was the perfect way to spend the day. The weather was sunny and fairly warm, so it was pleasant inside the market buildings. I bought an assortment of fabrics, notions and thread that will probably last me for a couple years. You can buy spools of thread as large as soccer balls! It is crazy the assortment of things you can find at the market. I picked up several business cards of places so I find them again. I went to lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant with the ladies. We had an assortment on things. It was all delicious.

My husband and pretty much all he military in Korea is in the middle of a large training exercise. He has been working late each night. The thought of eating dinner at 10pm wasn't too appealing, but luckily someone at work was willing to take on my husband's duties, so he was able to come home at 5pm. When he walked in the door he had a beautiful bouquet of spring colored roses in hand. They smell great and are really pretty on the dining table.

I also got a new camera as my birthday gift. It is a Canon Digital SLR XSi. I love the quality of the pictures it can take. I now need to read the manual to learn about all the functions it has. I'm excited to try new things with the camera.

We went to dinner at Fuji Sushi on post. I really like the double shrimp rolls there, so that is what I ordered. It was nice being able to eat dinner with my husband because that probably won't happen again for another couple of weeks.

When we got home we tried a different Pinot Grigio that we haven't had before. It was a nice way to end a great birthday.

I'm excited to create with my new fabrics. I need to still put borders on my Krazy Quilt and then sign up to get it quilted on the long arm machine.

Introducing the Yongsan Long Arm

It's only Tuesday and I feel like is should be Friday! Phew! On the first Mondays of each month the quilt group meets at a member's home rather than at the Quilting room at the on post Chapel. The monthly meeting allows us to show and tell, discuss projects and just have some girl time. This month was my first time visiting another member's home. It was nice to just sit and chat. All of the ladies are very informative and helpful. I brought my finished Krazy Quilt blocks to share as well as my Hanbok example block to show for the exchange. Both items were well received and boosted my sewing/ quilting confidence. Some of the other ladies brought their blocks to share as well. I think they are all really cute.We were all talking so much that before we knew it, it was past 3pm. We had arrived at 9:30am!

Tuesdays at the Yongsan Quilt Shop are designated for long arm quilting Quilts of Valor. I decided to go to the shop and start training on the machine. Once/ if I get trained then I will be able to use the long arm to quilt my own quilts as well as quilts for other people. The process isn't too confusing, but is just takes practice. The machine that we have is AMAZING! The entire machine is computerized. Below is a picture of the computer screen for the quilt we quilted today. Here is the machine in action. We quilted a patriotic pattern on the quilt.
The long arm has a 14 foot bed and measures pretty much everything for you. You click the buttons on the sewing machine to designate your parameters and then you decide on pattern placement. Owning a machine like this would be crazy. Anyone have an extra $35,000 laying around?

I checked the mail center today and there was a lovely surprise there for me. My new sewing chair arrived! I've been sitting in it for only about 20 min and I'm already in love. The chair sits a little higher than a normal dining chair and the low back is great for supporting my lumbar. When I saw this chair I was in love with the funky retro looking fabric. The fabric is an Alexander Henry print, so I will check to see if Dongdaemun will carry the fabric. I was able to purchase the chair from JoAnn's for 50% off the original price, no tax and free shipping! I thought that was a great deal. The shipping was a lot faster than most of the orders I have placed too. Below is a photo of the chair from a website advertising it.
One thing I like is that there is storage under the seat too. I love things that are dual purpose. This picture is also from the advertising website.
Now that I can roll around my sewing room, I will get to work on some of the exchange blocks. I'm excited for tomorrow because I am heading to Dongdaemun with some of the ladies from the quilt group. Also tomorrow is my Birthday! I think shopping for fabric will be a great way to celebrate!

Hanbok Block

I have decided on my block for the Yongsan Quilters Spring Block Exchange. From the beginning I thought about making a Hanbok block, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to paper piece 20 blocks. After testing out the block this weekend, I decided 20 blocks wouldn't be too difficult to handle.

I used a Kimono paper pieced pattern altered into a hanbok. I think it looks very similar to the Traditional Korean Hanbok.

The unfinished block is 9 1/2 inches.

I'm finding it kind of amusing that I'm doing so much quilting right now. Less than a year ago I wouldn't have considered myself a quilter and I really had no intentions of making quilts. I think it might be because my grandmother is a magnificent quilter and I never thought I could create the things that she does. My grandmother is an expert quilter... I put myself on the novice level. With each quilt I make, my precision and techniques are improving. I have found that just being able to see doesn't make quilting any easier. I find myself concentrating more while I'm making quilt blocks because I want to make sure they are made to the correct size.

I love to see and create things will fabric, so I guess quilting is just another addition to my creative outlet. For now, I would love to know the creative outlets of other people.

Sewing in Seoul

Now that my new sewing room is set up, I've been busy. I'm loving my new space!

I've made a dozen blocks to exchange as friendship blocks for the quilting group. I still need to write my name, date, Seoul, Korea and my home state on the blocks. They will then be traded with the other members of the quilt group to be kept as a reminder of each member.

I'm also working on a Kwik Krazy Quilt. I like to make quilts that are more of a mish-mosh of fabrics and what I consider "funky." I really like how the blocks are coming together.

Here are the first 12 blocks.

Now I need to go make some more! I will continue to share as a progress with this project. I also need to get to work on my quilt exchange block. I need to create a block that reminds me of Korea. The Krazy Quilt block kinda reminds me of Korea... kinda crazy and chaotic.

New Workspace

Our stuff has finally arrived in Korea which has me bouncing with excitement because this means I can SEW! I've been in fabric heaven, but with little outlet. Tomorrow, I will be sewing! I have turned into one of those military spouses that can unpack and set-up house in what seems like a flash. Friday at 5 pm we were in a heap of boxes and packing paper. Saturday at 5 pm we were headed out for dinner with a fully intact apartment, all boxes gone and pretty much everything set-up. I need to purchase a few odds and ends, and as we live here I would like to purchase some furniture; but, for now I'm most excited for my NEW WORKSPACE!

I started with this blank room.
My work table is set-up so that I can cut fabric from 3 sides. I love have the cutting mat as my table. It makes my life a lot easier when trying to make things precise. The mat has cutting measured for 58" x 33". It is a nice size work table. The white cubes are from Target. They store sewing and scrapbooking supplies.Look at all the beautiful storage under the table and the large workspace.

This picture is standing behind the work table looking back at the other wall. My cubes for fabric storage are almost full. I Think I will probably have to think about more storage solutions for fabric soon. I like to fold my fabric so all the pieces are the same size. This makes storage MUCH easier!The last part is the AWESOME closet. I did give my husband one section of the closet for his Army gear, but I'm more than happy to share. The white drawers in the first cabinet store scrapbook paper and thread. The grey bins have 1. batting, 2. parts of uniforms that have been cut up for Bags From The Heart and 3. Finished items to sell/ give away & works in progress. I like that I have space to store all of my sewing machines, so that if I want to just scrapbook, my sewing stuff can be out of the way and vice versa.
I can't wait to start creating in this awesome new work space.

It's Snowing...Off to Dongdaemun

It's pretty cold out today and people are a little crazy because it is snowing, but weather can't stop us from hopping on the subway and heading to Dongdaemun. Each time I go there (this was my 3rd time) I feel more comfortable and slightly less lost. It helps when I go with people that know where to go too. My mission today was to look for home decor fabrics to cover the dining chairs. I wasn't too successful. I think I need to wait until the sofa and lounge chair covers get here to make any decisions. I did see some awesome fabrics though.

Today, I set out to buy some fabrics for my mom. She is making a quilt for a teenager. I tried to get a variety of bold colors.

For myself I bought just a couple of yards to go with fabrics I already have.

I also bought this really cute measuring tape. It has both inches and centimeters. You pull the legs for the tape to come out and then push the nose and the tape rolls back up. I thought it was cute.
That's all for today. I'm off to try and stay warm!