I need a job

I need a job to help me pay for my crafting addiction and to keep me out of craft stores. Yes, my name is Jane and I’m a craftaholic...

I’ve sewn for years as a hobby and have a large box full of material and patterns plus two dresses, a pair of pants, a blazer, and two other quilts started. (I’m sure there are other things started in past years that I can’t recall just now.)

But since I’ve retired I feel like I have more time and so have picked up a couple of new hobbies. Like right now I’m in a quilting class and have a quilt about a third of the way done. I’m also knitting and have one sock done. I made a pair of pj pants last night and have two other pairs started and material for three other pairs. I also have beads laid out to string into a necklace. I have yarn to make a baby afghan when I learn how to crochet this winter. Oh and then there’s this blog.

I have made a couple of birthday cards for friends and really enjoyed making them. So I’ve been taking pictures and collecting paper and ribbon that will be great on cards when I ramp up that hobby.

Decorating is also becoming a bit of a hobby. In my mind I have the vision of a Roman shade, a bed skirt and shams for our bedroom, the guestroom has paint samples and magazine pages taped to the wall to transform it, and I’m looking for material to make new curtains for the bedroom in the camper. On the wall in my sewing room, I have taped a shower curtain embellished with sea shells for the kids’ bathroom.

Did I mention the woodworking magazines I’ve borrowed from a friend? Monte bought a scroll saw last year for the two of us and I’ve played with it some. I made a Christmas ornament for the kids this year. But I also planned to make a Santa puzzle and snowflake candle holders for Christmas to give as gifts. I just have to start earlier next year because my friend has two years worth of magazines and I know there are lots of cool things in them just waiting for me.
I have a folder full of pictures of our travels I want to print, mat, and hang.

I have a whole file of garden projects for the future when we stop traveling and I’m home in the summer.

Yes, I need a job. Maybe if I have a job I won’t have the time to go to JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby or Michaels and see all the cool craft supplies. I won’t have time to call Jackie my enabler, I mean friend, and hear about her newest project. If I have a job, maybe I won’t have the energy to go to the library and check out another book on knitting because I want to find a pattern for a hat. And if I’m not in the library I won’t see the book on making purses and check it out also and start sketching the purses I want to make.

I’m trying to control myself. And I’ve had some success lately. Last week when I was in Hobby Lobby I didn’t buy a single bead even though they were 50 percent off. And then when I went to JoAnn’s, I only fingered the material and didn't buy the blue striped material that was on clearance that I still can’t get out of my mind. So maybe I can control this habit without a job.

But I don't know for sure. Today at quilting class Barbie, the teacher, showed us the next quilt for the next class and man is it cool and that blue striped material I've been jonesing about would be perfect for it.