Merry Belated Christmas!

We had a great Christmas and I'm just now coming out of the fog. Of course I went back to work today (boohoo) after a five day weekend which was not so much fun but that's life. The Husband got sick on the day after Christmas and is still recuperating. I sure hope he doesn't pass it to anyone else, because it wasn't pleasant!



So here is a cool shot of the Christmas tree, courtesy of The Husband:


That's the back of Scarlet O'Hara to the left and a Star Wars ornament in the middle. I thought the wiggly effect of the lights was the cool part.


And here are a few shots of the tea cozy's that I made as gifts for lots-o-people. I found the pattern on Sew Mama Sew and altered it a bit to suit my supplies and lazy whims. Here are my alterations:

1. I didn't bother top-stitching the tops of the pockets. I totally didn't miss it.
2. I didn't use fusible interfacing. I had some crinoline laying around from a fellow guild member and I used that. Since it wasn't fusible, I pinned it to the back side of the inside piece and stitched it in place while sewing on the pockets. Two birds with one stone.
3. Urm, I totally eye-balled the location of the pockets, and just folded a crease in to find the middle.
4. I didn't pre-sew the ribbon/strap piece down. I just pinned the two sides together with it stuck in there and was careful to be sure that I could see a wee bit of it peaking out as I sewed over it.

I also wrote this little poem to go along with it, although the non-cooperation of my printer caused most people to instead receive my goof-ball overly enthusiastic (but humble, I hope!) explanation in person:

I am a tea cozy

I hold your bags of tea

If that doesn't suit your fancy

there's still a use for me

I can hold charge cards, gift cards and more

I hope you find something

fun for me to store!

My mom wants me to make some for her yoga studio (Well Within Health Center in Streetsboro Ohio) but I think for now I am cozied out. I also have two projects coming up with my guilds - one is a round robin which has a due date for the center square in mid-January (and yes, I haven't started!) and another where I need to use two crayon colors to make a quilt. My colors were blue and red-orange. Hmm. I already have some blocks made up in those colors for another purpose that I haven't gotten back to...maybe I have a different use for them! And of course there is the ongoing hand-piecing of the starburst quilt and The Boy's quilt needs layered, basted, quilted & bound.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday, or just nice days off if you don't celebrate that sort of thing. I'll take a few days off any time of the year!

Christmas Meme

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate
Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? He wraps them. With our paper and tags, no less.
Colored lights on tree or white? Colored!
When do you put your decorations up? Usually when we put the tree up. We traditionally go and cut down a live tree with The Husband's sister & family so schedules sometimes dictate that we do that slightly before December 1st.
What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? This is weird but probably sauerkraut and kielbasa. Also, there is nothing quite like the perfect storm of a bite on your fork that includes turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.
When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My sister and I guessed. We mutually agreed that it probably couldn't possibly be true and then we conspired to hide from our parents that we had anything other than jovial thoughts of Santa. I do however believe that the spirit of Santa is alive in many things we do for this beautiful time of year, and that constitutes belief in Santa. So on the one hand I don't believe he zooms around the world in a sleigh led by a red-nosed reindeer...but on the other hand I do believe that his spirit of giving permeates the season.
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I did as a kid. Now I watch my own kids do it.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With an extensive collection of ornaments collected by both me and The Husband. Actually most of the "old" (i.e., pre-wedding ornaments) are The Husband's.
Can you ice skate? If you have to ask then you haven't met me.
Do you remember your favorite gift? There have been so many. As an adult...probably the year The Husband had The Boy's first day home from the hospital outfit framed in a shadow box. Or possibly when he gave me ornaments that he had made from a sliver of the trunks of Christmas trees that we had in important years - our first tree, The Boy's first tree, and The Girl's first tree. As a kid - it's probably a toss-up between the pink whicker sewing basket (which I sadly no longer have) and the Radio Flyer red tricycle.
What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my family, and watching the wonder of special moments for the kids.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? If I had a favorite others might get jealous and refuse to let me eat them, so they are all pretty much equally loved.
What is your favorite tradition? It's tough to say. So much has changed in our family dynamics over the past few years that sadly it will never be the same for me and so traditions don't really feel like they've held.
Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? Probably giving. There is a lot of stress associated with appropriately receiving. He.
What is your favorite Christmas Song? Jingle bells
Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum!
Ever regifted a Christmas present? What? Oh sorry, I had some candy cane in my mouth there. Didn't hear the question.

Blogiversary Winner!

And the winner is:

Joyce!

Congratulations, Joyce! I had The Husband choose a number between 1 and 9 (inclusive) to choose the winner and his number was 4. Here's a photo of your winnings. It is 4 fat quarters of blue & sparkly winter fabric.

Other news:

Quilting - I finished The Girl's quilt!!!! Well, it doesn't have a label but it is bound and ready for use. It's funny but I am busily thinking of tons of things I could sew for people for Christmas. It doesn't seem to phase me at all that Christmas is less than 20 days away. Ha!

Speaking of Christmas, you may remember last year I mentioned that when The Husband went to take down our outdoor Christmas lights we were missing just one net of lights. They were very distinctive - it was a rainbow net. The Husband actually didn't like them because he didn't think it seemed very Christmas-y to have a rainbow bush. But to get back to the story, they were missing. We didn't think much of it, a neighborhood kid pulling them off for his/her own contentment, etc., whatever. Like I said, he didn't like them much so we weren't too broken up about it. Well the other day I was pulling in to our drive, and I noticed something curious: the neighbors that we don't talk to very much had their lights up. And they had 1 bush with a rainbow net. Hmm. None of their other lights are rainbows. Coincidence? Hard to say...of course we won't be mentioning it. Even if I wanted to mention it I couldn't since we don't really talk to them. Not out of dislike or anything, they just seem to not want to speak to us. Maybe because of their rainbow net guilt. Unlike the previous occupants of that house they are very quiet so I am content to leave things the way they are.

The Big Read - I had about 400 pages to go in Les Miserables when the book wouldn't renew anymore. So I took it to the library and started finishing up the read online. Let me just say that it is very tedious to read a book online. But you can do it too at the Gutenberg website. Hurray for free stuff!

Congratulations to Joyce and thanks everyone for playing! Maybe this year I'll post a little more regularly. And add some photos.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

Today is my third blogiversary. In honor of this momentous occasion I am having a quiltie giveaway. Hurray for free stuff! My local quilt shop is having a sale tomorrow and I am jumping on that train to bring you a little quiltie prize of my random (but tasteful?) choosing . Leave me a comment on this post by midnight December 5th EST to enter. You don't have to leave your email address but I do need a way to contact you - if that is your blogger profile where your email can be found or a blog where I can comment for you that is fine. I'll try to post a picture of the gift tomorrow or Sunday. Wait, today is Friday right? Right.

Because of the prohibitive costs of shipping the winner must reside in the United States or Canada.

Good luck!

Family news -- I survived hosting thanksgiving for 17 people (it was supposed to be 22) at my house for the very first time. Whew. I had a little turkey trouble which I was not expecting because I've roasted up a gobbler before. But it all turned out all right and I haven't gotten any irate 'your crummy food made me sick!' phone calls so I'll take that as a good sign. Or maybe they are too busy barfing to call...

Also everyone seems to think I have permanently volunteered to have it at my house...urm, ok....what?

Fitness news...well I'm on a temporary pit stop. Besides the fact that I hate jogging in snow, rain, cold, and dark, I had a million things to do to prepare for the festivities at my house this week. I intend to start right back up next week. Really. I mean it.

Quilting news...I have 6 of the starburst hand pieced blocks done. I had a goal to get 8 done this year, but I don't think I'm going to make that. I am working on making myself a winter coat. And you know what? It's freakin' cold here in Ohio so I've got to get that done. Don't worry, I do have a stand-in coat in the meantime. I got the binding sewn onto the front of The Girl's quilt which is a big step. I also took a machine trampunto class through one of my guilds and that was lots of fun. It required some machine quilting and I did a not too terrible job at that. Oh and I joined a Round Robin with my guild and I'm really excited about that. I have a design worked out in my head for the center and we'll see how that turns out. I am thinking I might use the machine trapunto method for part of it.

Some kind of blaster thingie giveaway...

My cousin would just love this...and I'm on the lookout for a toy that a 10-year old would love. I am pretty sure this is it. So if you are also looking for a toy for an older kid who has become somewhat hard to buy for, go for it!

The Girl's coat - done!

I finished it! I am not 100% happy with the results but The Girl loves it, and that is what really counts. AND! I finished one of my hand-pieced blocks last night at a guild meeting. Hurray!

Giveaway!

Frugal Upstate is giving away a Girl Gourmet Cupcake maker. The Girl would be so thrilled to get one of these for Christmas. Every time we see a commercial for one she says she is going to ask Santa for it. Cute!

In other news. I failed to tell you in my previous post - I successfully completed a Batgirl costume and a Captain Rex Clone Trooper costume for October. And I only have the buttons to go on The Girl's coat. I have to say that I am not very thrilled with how the coat turned out. She loves it though and that is all that counts.

Also. Due to the costume frenzy I fell off the Fit Wagon. Er, I am sure all of those snack-size halloween treats did not do me any favors either. But I did get in two (very short) jogs last week and will hopefully be resuming the at-least-three-times schedule this week. And over the weekend I raked leaves with an actual rake and used a steam cleaner on some of our carpet. And yes, I am sore today.

Sorry, no pics today. No matter your political leaning, get out and vote tomorrow! Our female ancestors worked hard to give us this privilege (um, if you are female) and we shouldn't forget that.

The Big Read!

Today is el Dia de los Muertos, a.k.a. Day of the Dead. I've always thought it was such a nice tradition - colorful remembrances of our ancestors who have passed to the great beyond. It would be so cool to experience this firsthand.

Anyways. On to the topic of the day. I'm so tired of reading political posts on blogs, I figured I'd make the move to something educational. I recently saw the list below on The Quilting Bookworm's blog. She saw it on someone else's blog. I looked up the National Endowment for the Arts and they do have a program called The Big Read, but it only has maybe a dozen or so books involved. I've seen different accounts online of where the list actually originated (the BBC, the Guardian, NEA, ???) and each list seems to be slightly different. But I like the list below, and I am (dorkily) setting out to read everything on it. I've read the books in bold and loved the red books. I am currently reading Les Miserables. And at my current reading rate (about 20 pages/day...I don't have a lot of time to read anymore) I have 50 days of reading to go. Hopefully the library will let me keep it that long!

Another note - apparently The Big Read has the purpose of attempting to get more adults interested in literature. Some survey somewhere said that the level of literacy in adults is taking a header (well duh, tv, cell phones, the internet...). And I don't think they mean fewer adults can read or that adults are forgetting how to read...they just mean we aren't reading books anymore. So the stated statistic is that the average adult has only read 6 of the books on the list. I am happy to see that I've read more. Though every time I see the list I come up with a different count, so below I only highlighted the ones that I most definitely positively was forced to read and/or read of my own free will and I actually remember doing so.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcot
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Flip thingie giveaway!

Frugal Mom Reviews is giving away a Flip Digital video camera...see here to enter. She asked that you post your best frugal tip, so here's mine: I make my own laundry soap. Honestly, it isn't that hard. Here's my recipe:

• 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shredded
• 1 cup of Borax
• 1 cup of Oxi-clean (I use the store brand, not the real thing)
• Run it all through a food processor for about a minute. That's it! Use about a TBSP per load.

Other frugal things I do...clip coupons, use energy saving light bulbs, use a programmable thermostat...that's all I can think of for now.

200th post winners chosen!!!

Since The Husband provided the question I let him go through the comments and choose his favorite answers. BTW, He never reads my blog so he doesn't know any of the commentators identities. Here they are:

Susan Cahill said...
What a tough question. Having an inquiring mind I did
some google searching and here is what I found:The Myth of Sunlight: Vampires
are creatures of the night, living and feeding in the darkness. In traditional
medieval times sunlight did not kill the vampire. In fact, vampires could walk
around like anyone else. In the novel, Dracula, vampires could move around in
the daytime without their strength and powers. It's only been in the recent
history of fifty or sixty years that the new tradition of Sunlight killing
vampires has emerged. Popular culture, movies and novels have made sunlight the
ultimate vampire killer. However, if you ever run into a real vampire don't be
surprised if they don't explode when sunlight hits them.So, it sounds like not
many, but who knows, maybe it just isn't reported and there are more than
reported! Boy, my brain hurts, I'd better go do some quilting.

And...

justusseven said...
I've heard vampires aren't all that organized so I bet the daylight savings time catches them off guard A LOT!

He liked Susan's for its historical content and Justusseven's for it's humor. Marisa almost got it for the humor but then he thought she herself might be a vampire since she was trying to convince him that vampires might be nearly extinct. Quote from The Husband: "She can't fool me! I'm on to that vampire."

Thank you for playing, everyone! Susan & JustUsSeven - watch your email. And congratulations!!!

200 posts!

Since this is post 200 I will be giving away two little somethings. Halloween is coming up and it is a favorite time of year for me. This was last year's costume:

Ok, Ok. That isn't really me. It's Elvira. And I know she sets women's lib back like 300 years but darnit, she is funny.

Oh right, back to the giveaway. Halloween is a special time of year for me, and since it happens to correspond to my 200th post I will be giving away two Halloween quilt gifties which I have yet to determine. I'm thinking a yard of Halloween fabric and some kind of cute pincushion for each at the moment. You know me - I am terrible at posting pics off of my camera so even if I had the giveaway items on hand I would be too lazy to post a picture.

Vampires make very good pin er, stake-cushions, no?

So here is how you could win a giftie. The Husband (that is not him above, btw) is fascinated with Vampires. He recently asked me this question: how many vampires get burned (er, literally) because they forget about daylight savings? You know, they climb out of their coffins for a night on the town and suddenly it's still light out at 8? All you have to do is give me a response to this query in my comments. I'll close out entries at end-of-day October 4th, and post the winners the following week.

Good luck, and happy vamping!

PS - postal costs being what they are, I'm restricting this to residents of the United States and Canada. Sorry to international folks, it's nothing personal. It's just too expensive especially after ponying up money for the prize.

One coat for The Boy - done!

I finished the wool winter coat I was making for The Boy this past Friday. Yippee skippee! (Does anyone else remember Miss Piggy saying that on the Muppet Babies cartoon?)

Isn't that special? (Another quote that dates me.)

Tonight it is super-windy at our house due to the weather moving North from Hanna or maybe Gustav. I've already lost track of which storm is to blame. The Husband's parents called a bit ago to say they had lost power. Our lights have flickered a few times but so far it's been nothing but an inconvenience as the Kiddies are scared of the wind. My heart goes out to all of those people who are displaced, lost, injured or worse because of the hurricanes. Sigh. It always has to be something, doesn't it?

Oh. Another thing. I have recently become hooked on Project Runway. What the heck. Why did it take me so long to get turned on to it? I like sewing, right? I guess it is mostly because we only have one television at our house (we're practically in the fifties! Though it is a color model with a remote control) and The Husband is most often dominating it. If I want to watch a show of my own, I have to tape them and watch when he isn't around. Then I eventually get sick of being so far behind because he's always around and I dump them without even watching them. But lo, The Husband actually watched it with me (I think he was trying to ring up some points--if you know what I mean) and proclaimed it to be "pretty cool"! So now I can watch it without guilt and without having to make up some crazy contorted television schedule.

I know. A normal person would just get another TV. I guess you don't know me very well if you think that I am normal.

In other news, The Girl started a ballet class and she is freakin' adorable about it. And we are trying very hard to convince The Boy that Indian Guides or Boy Scouts would be a fun thing to do. And keep my mom and uncle in your prayers - in a few weeks she will be heading to Seattle to donate something or other blood-related to her older brother who is suffering through his second bout of cancer. She donated um, something from her blood a few years ago when he went through his first round. He was eventually declared cancer-free but it has unfortunately made a return trip. I am sure I have been told exactly what the thing is that she is donating but since it is technical jargon and I am terrible with names--even names that are not associated with people--I won't even attempt to say it because I'm sure I'll say something crazy-impossible and folks will wonder what is wrong with me, or my uncle's doctors.

Oh! And this is my 199th post. Look for a giveaway when I do my 200th...which should be sometime this year. Oi.

Fitness Update

Hey, fellow bloggers! Long time, no blog. Actually I am reading blogs. I'm just not doing much commenting or writing of blogs.

So The Boy started first grade last week. There was much drama since the school sent him home on the bus to an empty house instead of sending him to the Y program that I'd spent good money for to make sure someone was watching him. Sometimes I cannot believe how immobile people are. The school knew that they didn't know who was supposed to be in the Y program that took place after school in their own cafeteria...so instead of calling up the Y and saying, hey, wassup with my lack of list? They. Did. Nothing. I'm so glad people capable of such rational thought patterns and actions are educating my kid. Actually, I have to say that the teacher attempted rational action. It was the principal and secretary who dropped the ball, IMO.

That's thankfully all been ironed out now, though, so I can stop being bitter about it. Right?

In fitness news - I have cut back the length of my runs because it is getting dark out earlier. (Wah! I hate when the days get shorter.) But I am still running 3 or 4 times a week. Most days I do a 2 mile circuit that takes me about half an hour. I know, I know--I am probably the slowest jogger in the history of jogging. Most people can probably walk 2 miles in half an hour. But hey, I am off my behind and doing something. So you gotta give me that. Just call me pokey.

In sewing news - I finished the blankie for my cousin, who has just moved and now my excuse for not sending it is that I don't know her new address. Really it's just me being lazy but it is also true that I no longer know where she lives. I am coming round the home stretch on The Boy's winter coat. It is turning out quite well. It's the first time I've tried an Ottubre pattern and while I wasn't too keen on transferring the pattern & having to add my own seam allowance, it has come together pretty well. I had a few moments of huh? while trying to read the instructions. There are no pictures so that puts a visual/spatial person like me at a disadvantage, but I eventually figured it out. Basically all I have left is hemming the bottom, adding a few lines of topstitching, and putting on the toggle buttons & snaps. Woohoo!

Goals for September:

• Finish The Boy's coat
• Start The Girl's coat
• Maybe finally bind The Girl's quilt
• Get moving on Halloween costumes! The Boy wants to be Annikin (sp?) and The Girl is waffling between a computer, a cat, and Sleeping Beauty.

Finding a daycare stinks!

The plot grows thicker with our daycare troubles. I actually had to call the place that said they would call us and let us know if they found a spot for him. Of course they didn't, which is probably why they didn't call. Why call someone you can't get money from, after all? I mean, why be courteous or professional and do what you say you are going to do even if you know it isn't what the customer wants to hear?

In desperation I called the other place. Get this. They no longer have room for either kid. So what now? When I was a kid daycares weren't commonplace around our house or maybe we were too old or it was too expensive. I'm not sure. But they sent us to the YMCA for afterschool care--called "latchkey" at the time to indicate the abandoned nature of the children.

So I called them up. And thank goodness they bus to his school. I went right up there and signed him up & paid in full so they couldn't turn me away later. Then they inform me that his application has to be approved. What?! NOoooooOOOooooo! So after a few pointed questions I found the reason he could be rejected is that his bus is full, and that she can find out if it is full by calling the director. I then insisted that she do so right now with me as her witness. And she did, and he said there was room, though it's been two days and I still haven't received approval. Grr. The Girl is now signed up at the place where The Boy is still on the waiting list. This would be because we want to pick them up and drop them off at the same place. Eventually.

In other news, lest you forget that this blog is actually about quilting and sewing:

• I finished the guild challenge and turned it in. I didn't win a prize, but since I basically threw it together in a month and attempted my first free-motion quilting on it, I didn't expect even the nice compliments I got.
• I sewed up three pillow cases. One for The Boy, one for The Girl, and one for The Husband's cousin who was in the hospital. Poor kid. She had some kind of bacterial infection painful enough to require a morphine drip. :(
• I am almost finished sewing up a minky baby blankie for my cousin who had her baby about a month ago. Oops.
• And on the upcoming agenda: winter coats for The Boy, The Girl, and--get this--me! I almost never get to sew for me. We'll see if it gets done. Fabric.com says my fabric should be arriving today. I can't wait to touch it! The Boy chose a royal blue wool that is already hanging from the line downstairs, waiting for me to transfer the pattern & get moving. The Girl chose hot pink wool. And I mean HOT!

Fitness progress

I look the picture of fitness here, don't I? We went on a trek to the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad this past weekend. That's me looking surprised to be on a train. Or that would be the apparent source of my surprise, anyway. Next is a pretty view on a bridge over the Cuyahoga River.
And here's our conductor, punching our tickets. He nicely did not comment on the possibly contraband snacks I brought for the kiddies.

Oh yeah...fitness. This week I got in just a smidge under 7 miles. I was hoping to get in 3 miles tonight but events consipired against us. We went to visit a new potential daycare for the kiddies and then out to dinner and that just blew away the whole evening. When the kids were finally in bed the weather was turning dark & rainy so I did a placeholder lap and that is the end of it.

On the subject of daycare: it is for us a necessary evil. I don't like the idea of anyone other than us watching the kids, but this is the way it is for us right now. Their current center is no longer able to bus The Boy to school so unless we can figure a way to teleport him there we have to find a new place. We have a choice of 2. So I visited one and was impressed with The Girl's new potential room, but not The Boy's room. Tonight we visited choice number 2, and we took the kiddies with us because it was an open house.

We arrive and the asst. director asks some questions, then she talks to the kids. I hear her ask almost immediately, what school do you go to? And The Boy answered (correctly, even.) And we begin a tour. We get to the end of a 30-some minute tour (long because I basically demand a full speech on everything, these are my offspring after all and they must be cared for properly) and I happen to mention why we are leaving our other center. She cocks her head at me and says, oh, I think our bus to that school is full.

What? WHAT??? Full? How can it be full, if your enrollment is not full? And why did you not mention this 30 minutes ago, before showing my children your happy shiny activities and bribing them with sno-cones when my son explicitly answered your question of where he goes to school?

I was quite annoyed. She went and checked the list and, well, yes, the bus is full. We are now on a waiting list. OMG. They will be starting at their new center August 18th...only 11 days away. We could just give up and put them in the other place...but my gut tells me this is the place they should go. She said she would let me know next week. Gah. Can we push it any closer? If this were a cussin' blog, there would be rip-roaring profanity right now.

On a happier note, here is a long-promised photo of one of the sunburst blocks. This one is my favorite so far, and I have 4 of 16 complete. I haven't been able to work on it because I'm working on a guild challenge but that is a secret reveal so I can't show it here yet. At least, I think it is a secret.

Wish me luck on the daycare dilemma. Sometimes I just cannot believe our luck.

Educational Research

A woman in my guild is doing some research for a paper and she is collecting data from quilters. Her online survey is for people who have taken their quilts to a professional for quilting and takes 20-40 minutes to fill out, depending on how detailed you get. Help a fellow quilter in her educational pursuits and give it a go!

I'm joining up!

Wendy over at The Running Quilter has started a group with the goal of getting creative & fit. Sounds like a plan to me! Jog on over and join (though running does need not be your chosen mode of fitness to join)

Hmm. My picture doesn't seem to work...maybe I'll have to add that later.

Quilt giveaway!!!

Yes, you heard me right. Someone is giving away a quilt! Dana at Old Red Barn Co. is giving away a super-gorgeous quilt made from the Ginger Blossom line that Portabellopixie designed. It is really beautiful. Hop on over and enter!

CVS deal

I am up in the middle of the night. I'm on call and just got my third post-bedtime call. Sigh. Now even though I am freakin' exhausted I am not falling asleep anytime soon. The buzz you get from the pager going off is like mainlining a Big Slurp of Dr. Pepper.

Anyways. So I thought I'd post about a deal I got at CVS today. I happened across part of it at "Cent"sible Sawyer and I figured out the rest on my own. So here it is:

2 peg packs of Lifesavers
2 Water Babies face sticks
1 pack of Chocolate Skittles (impulse buy for The Husband. He believes all candy should have a chocolate alternative. He was not right about Skittles needing one. Blech! But the kiddies did eat them.)

Sale:
Lifesavers are b1g1

Coupons:
b1g1 Lifesavers from newspaper insert a few weeks back
2.00 ECB

Total:
8.47
ECB bucks received:
10!!!!

Wee! That was fun. Can I ride it again?

Also, lest I neglect the quilting topic: I finished my June goal. It was to complete a block from the Starburst quilt. I finished it on the bus to and from the NQA show. I even managed to start a new block. 4 down, 12 to go!

NQA Quilt Show '08

Last week I attended the NQA quilt show in Columbus for a day. It was a bit crowded when I got there and I didn't get to look at the quilts as closely as I did last year. I also didn't get as many pictures, and I got a lot of pictures with people walking in to them because people just didn't have the space to be courteous. But here are a few of my faves!

Something different

Hey, anyone wonder what their name means? Here is mine:

What Kelley Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

I am thinking the last point isn't really me. I'm married and have 2 kids a house and a job...how can you be more settled than that?

Things that are definitely true...I like learning new things; I hate rocking the boat, and I most certainly am occasionally flaky. Sorry about that, folks!

June goals & May update

Now that May is over it's time to decide what m goals for June will be.  Um, err...well we are trying really hard to get the house ready for market.  So here is my (craft/sewing/quilty) goal for the month:

• Finish one hand-pieced sunburst block

You may remember that I had a goal to finish a certain number of these (which the number escapes me at the moment...maybe 8?) by the end of the year.  I have three done so far.  Sorry, I still have no pics of the finished blocks.

And the May roundup:

• 10 minutes of quilting/sewing per day - not done :(
• Finish the baby quilt - done!
• Sew 10 pillowcases for the guild service project - done!
• Created a sewing basket and little book of projects for the Niece - done!
• Removed the binding from The Girl's quilt - done!

Some Chalicat Wedding pics & Another Walgreens trip

I hope Chalicat doesn't mind me posting a few pics of her wedding. Above is her and the new husband-to-be...
Me going down the aisle...I must say I look a bit puffier than I'd like.
The happy couple at the alter...
And the happy couple dancing the night away.
And The kids cutting a rug. We had a great time. Congratulations, Chalicat! Thank you for allowing us to share this wonderful day with you and HusbandCat.

And the Walgreens booty.

Ok, so I am hooked. I went to Walgreens again last night. Here is the rundown:

2 gallons of milk: 2.69/each

2-pack Walgreens no-rub contact solution - 6.99

Walgreens Gluco-shot - 1.99

2 Walgreens 12 pack AA batteries - 4.49 (it was bogo)

Colgate Toothpaste, 6.4 oz - 2.69

Walgreens 6pack AAA batteries - 2.79

Theragram M Premier vitamins - 4.99

Walgreens Calcium Creamies - 5.99

Walgreens water filter - 6.99

Multi-betic vitamins - 9.99

Ecotrin 45 count - 2.00

Total (plus tax)- 56.49.

Minus 1.70 for a toothpaste coupon, and 10.00 for a 10 off 30 purchase coupon.

New total (plus tax) - 44.79

Rebates from this order - 31.95

So total after that...12.84

But I will get an extra 10% on the rebates...3.19

Which brings the total for all that stuff to:

$9.65!!!

Not so long ago I would have spent 15 for just the contact solution. Wow.

I am so jazzed by this. Now. You may have noticed some things in my list that I don't need. I am not diabetic and neither is anyone in my household. I read a post (sorry I don't remember where) about how one should be willing to buy something you may not need sometimes to increase the savings at a Walgreens. I mean, if it's free or they are paying you to buy it...why not? And I can agree with that. I even warned The Husband before I left that I would be coming home with some "extra" stuff. He immediately piped up and said, hey, we can sell that on eBay! Which I am not sure that selling that sort of thing on eBay is allowed. But the point is, he was ok with it. I discussed my strategy with Chalicat yesterday, and her feeling was that it is not worth the extra money to have to deal with the extra stuff. And I can understand that viewpoint, too.

Anyways. I am sure I could have done even better, but I don't have a coupon cache yet. I had a coupon to get free Chex Mix but they were all out. Wah. Maybe I'll stop by this afternoon to see if they restocked...

Walgreens Deals

I've been reading posts from various people who take advantage of the Walgreens deals. I have been keeping an eye on it for a few weeks and last night decided to try my hand at it. I did fairly well though I am sure that I could have done even better. But here is the synopsis:

I bought:

• 1 20 oz bottle of raspberry water (on impulse, so obviously I could have done better...but I so wanted something cold and wet that wasn't milk and we don't keep pop at home) - .99
• 1 20 oz bottle of gingerale (this was for the girl - she had some tummy trouble yesterday. Thankfully it has passed and she seems to be feeling better) - 1.39
• Hunts pudding, 4pk - 1.59
• Wesson Canola oil, 24 oz - 4.79
• Flavorice pops, 16 count - 1.00
• Walgreens maxis, 18 count - 1.99
• Carefree liners, 22 count - 1.49
• Barbasol (sp) shaving cream - 1.59
• Joy dish soap - 1.69
• 2 boxes orville R's popcorn, 3 count - 5.00
• Oral B Toothbrush - 4.49
• 2 Right Guard clear deoderants - 2.79
• Walgreen PM pain medicine, 20 count - 2.99

My total was 32.58. Then I had a $5 off a $20 purchase coupon, plus a coupon for the Joy soap, Barbasol, and the carefree liners. My total then came to 25.78. But I also turned in my receipt for some rebates online. That was 13.48 in savings, bringing my total to 12.30. But wait! There's more. I took my rebate in a Walgreens gift card instead of a check and got 10% more. So now my total is 10.96! Not bad for 15 items that I know we will use and need. Of course I did have to front the whole 25.78. But according to MoneySavingMom, you want to build up a balance on your rebate card.

She used to have a post that was all about saving money at Walgreens, but she moved from blogger to typepad and the old posts are gone. Maybe someone else knows of another tutorial about getting the best deals there?

Another Goal update

Hey! Guess what. Yesterday I ran (ok, jogged) in a 10k race. And: I got my personal best time! Ok, you got me there, too. I've never jogged 10k before so this of course has to be my personal best. My time was 1:28:32, which admittedly was more than some of the 10k walkers.

I am really sore today.

In other news, I finished another goal on my May list. Hurray!

• Quilt or sew 10 minutes a day
• Finish the baby quilt - done!
• Sew 10 pillowcases for the guild service project - done!
• Create a sewing basket and little project book for my niece who is turning seven near Memorial Day.
• Remove the binding from The Girl's quilt. Note the goal does not include rebinding! Done!

Unfortunately for the May goals, I am probably not going to keep attempting 10 minutes a day. I've missed it many times now and I've got a new goal: potentially selling our house. I've asked for some time off to try and whip some stuff in to shape for this purpose. We'll see how that goes. Wish us luck!

May Goals - crossing some off!

I've accomplished two of my May goals! I'm so pleased. There was one night when I didn't get to do my 10 minutes of quilting/sewing but I did make it up the next day. Without further ado, here is the updated list:

• Quilt or sew 10 minutes a day
• Finish the baby quilt - done!
• Sew 10 pillowcases for the guild service project - done!
• Create a sewing basket and little project book for my niece who is turning seven near Memorial Day.
• Remove the binding from The Girl's quilt. Note the goal does not include rebinding!

Oh, and I also received the giveaway from Quilt Otaku. It's such a cute little bag! Photos will be coming shortly, of the accomplishments and the gifts.

May goals amended

This is our eggshell garden. The kiddies and I planted watermelon, cantelope, and some type of flower that I no longer recall. I can't wait to plant them outside!

Well I didn't do a very good job on my May goals list. So I'm going to amend it. Here is the actual list for May:

1. Quilt or sew 10 minutes a day


2. Finish the baby quilt


3. Sew 10 pillowcases for the guild service project


4. Create a sewing basket and little project book for my niece who is turning seven near Memorial Day.


5. Remove the binding from The Girl's quilt. Note the goal does not include rebinding!

Does anyone have any ideas about what is appropriate to put in a sewing basket for a 7 year old? I was thinking a measuring tape, a pin cushion, some pins, a packet of needles, maybe a thimble, some fabric glue, ??? What else? I wondered about scissors, I mean sewing scissors are so sharp...is that ok for a 7 year old?

Oh and Quilter's Buzz is doing a giveaway!!

Giveaway!!!

Sorry I hope that title isn't misleading. I'm not giving something away, but the Quilting Cowgirl is! Check out her blog and enter. Oh and Shelina is also giving something away, if you can catch her using the word she has challenged herself not to blog for a month.

May Goals

Here are my quilty/sewing goals for May:

1. Finish the baby quilt (I did finish hand quilting it in April's 10 minutes-a-day challenge)
2. Quilt 10 minutes a day (with the exception of Chalicat's wedding event nights)
3. Sew one article of clothing (a dress or a pair of city shorts - I have a dress pattern but no fabric for it, and fabric for the shorts but no pattern)
4. Rip the binding off of The Girl's quilt and start over. I might eliminate most of the inside corners because binding it just seems so daunting.

So let's get started!!! Happy May to everyone. I'm looking forward to warmer, cheerier weather.

And also...

1) I forgot to mention the name of the purse pattern was "Zip it up" by Indygo Junction. I got the pattern and fabric at Fabric.com.

2) I missed two nights of 10 minute quilting. One for Chalicat's bachelorette party (worth the loss) and once because I got too caught up in blogging and then because I am no longer able to stay up late I crashed and went to bed.

3) Yesterday I jogged just a smidge over 3 miles! Hurray! I haven't done that since the Fall. Though tonight it is cold outside and I just don't feel like subjecting myself to the cold anymore after an hour of sitting in it for T-ball.

4) I won a drawing over at Quilt Otaku!!! I guessed correctly that she is having a boy. Congratulations to her, and may she have a wonderful pregnancy with a safe, healthy delivery, and a terrific addition to her family!

Promised Pictures

Hey, every-bud-e! Guess what. I finished the purse. Yes, I know my goal was to finish the baby blanket. We all know how good I am at making and not meeting crafty goals though. I still might make the blanket by the end of the month. Well I might finish the (hand) quilting on it but it will still need a binding.

Without further ado, a photo!

The pocket looks a little cock-eyed in the photo but I think it looked ok on the real thing. I wasn't real happy with how the pocket ended up seam-wise but I got tired of messing with it. I just wanted to finish a project!
And here is The Boy turning 6 the other day. That strange looking cake is a Y-wing fighter from Star Wars. He insisted that he must have this cake. I baked a cake in a 9x11 inch glass baking pan and The Husband cleverly cut it up and assembled it into a passable space ship. The Boy appeared only minorly impressed until guests came to the party and then he was all about his Y-Wing cake. The Husband tried very hard to get him to choose an easier theme, but he just kept saying he would like that kind for a later birthday. He was all the way up to his 12th birthday cake theme before The Husband gave up and decided he must do the Y-Wing. (Which, I don't know if it ever even appears in any of the movies!)

That's The Husband filming in the background and of course The Boy blowing out the candles, and The Girl is in blue next to him.

Here is The Boy and me at Chuck E. Cheese post-ticket frenzy on his first full 6-year-old day. You can also see The Girl's feet there by my hand. He decided that each of them would get a Lik-M-Aid packet, and with the remainder he got 4 mini-Tootsie Pops. The Girl got rubber o-ring bracelets with her remainder. Remember those? Ah, the memories...though I actually hated them as a kid myself. I didn't like them because they were trendy.

Crazy

The 10-minutes of quilting a day is working out pretty well. I only have 8 or 9 more motifs to finish quilting and then I can bind & label the baby quilt and be done. Well I do have to make the binding, too.

A friend of ours has a little one turning 3 in May and I was thinking of making her a special nap quilt but then I remembered that a) I'm crazy if I think I can complete it, and b) I haven't worked on The Girl's or The Boy's quilt in ages. Also I have 10 pillowcases still to be sewn for the guild service project by May.

And for the record, I am a little crazy whether or not I think I can complete a nap quilt in time.

To illustrate this craziness: I made homemade laundry soap. Yup, that's right. Soap for washing clothes. Here is the recipe, which I saw easily at least a dozen places so I'm not going to credit anyone for it. Do a google search on "homemade laundry soap" to get a variety.

1 cup of Fels Naptha laundry bar soap, grated
1/2 cup of Oxy-clean or Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1/2 cup of Borax

After the bar soap is grated, you run it through a food processor to chop it into little teeny pieces, almost like a powder. Or if your food processor has a grating attachement or blade just use that. Then you mix it with the other two. That's it! Use a tablespoon per load.

I found the Fels Naptha to have a pretty strong scent. But I did wash a few loads with my new soap and not only did the stuff come out feeling and looking clean, but the overpowering scent was pretty much gone and it just smelled...well, clean. Hurray! It only cost me $2.24 to make enough for 32 loads of laundry...that's only 7 cents a load! Wow!

What's really awesome about it is supposedly it is way better for the environment than traditional laundry soap. I was using Seventh Generation liquid soap and I think last time I bought it I spent 10 or 11 dollars for 32 loads...so I could wash roughly four loads for the cost of the commercial stuff or make it myself. hmm. The agony of the decision.

Oh, and I also read some places that you could use Ivory soap or Zote (? never heard of it) soap instead of the Fels Naptha.

I am also still working on the purse. The main construction is finished. I have to sew up the turning hole in the inner lining and add an embellishment. The pattern suggests an oversized button but I think I will do a little pocket instead. I wasn't planning for it to be lined or anything but I made one that I was going to sew on and when I pinned it to the purse I could see the lines on the bag fabric showing through. Well now, we can't be happy with that! So I'm going to try one more time. Why not? I still have plenty of fabric. It's nice to make a functional fabric object with such a small investment in fabric. Even a little dress or something for The Girl takes more than this.

Next time I post I hope to have pictures!

10 minute goal

This is the fabric for the baby quilt I've been working on. It's a wee bit blurry and you can barely see the quilting. I was a little naughty and didn't baste it and now I am producing some minor wrinkles around the edges. I figured, oh, it's small, it doesn't need basting in a hoop! Wrong answer. I'm making stead progress, though. Hopefully soon I will be binding that sucker!

I also started working on my new purse. I cut out all of the pieces and bought a zipper for it today. With any luck I'll be able to work on it tonight post-kiddie bedtime, jog 10 minutes of quilting & shower. Yeah, I'm probably not going to get to work on it.

Oh and I see I didn't get any bites on the Pay it Forward. Not to be selfish, but I'm kinda glad. Last night at the guild meeting I volunteered to sew pillowcases for the hospital and on top of all of my other stuff...I just probably would have taken years to get a home made giftie out.

Last chance for Pay it Forward!

Tomorrow is your last chance to sign up for Pay it Forward! This will be an easy payment for me if nobody signs up. He.

Laura over at Quilting Diva issued a challenge last month to quilt every day for ten minutes. Well, I missed it last month but I'm going to try it for (ahem, the rest of) this month. She had a post today showing some links from others who took the challenge and what they accomplished. For now I would be happy to accomplish finishing up that baby quilt. I thought I could whip that up in a few weeks but those few weeks have quickly multiplied. I hope 10 minutes a day will have it done by the end of April so that I can finally ship it off. And hopefully that trip to the post office will see Joyce's giftie off, too!

So April goal: finish that baby quilt, in 10 minutes a day!

In other sewing news...I bought some really cute fabric to make a purse. The fabric and pattern both arrived yesterday and I am thrilled with the look of the fabric. The line it was from was called Ginger, I think...maybe from Michael Miller? I had also decided I was going to make a dress and I got fabric for a pattern I already had, too. The fabric though doesn't seem to have the right hand for a dress. It seems more like a short or capri weight to me. So I am thinking on it. I guess that will teach me to buy fabric over the internet for a purpose besides quilting.

I've been listening to a lot of podcasts, and one called Sew Forth Now has caught my attention. It is mostly about fashion sewing and hence the inspiration to do a bag and a dress. Every episode she interviews someone and she has had some really interesting guests. You can catch it on iTunes or have a look at her blog. She is having an anniversary contest at the moment so if you're looking for prize potential stop over.

Sigh, my last day of being 33....

Pay it Forward

Hey everybody! Some time ago, I agreed to participate in a Pay it Forward game on Debbie's blog and I'm finally getting around to posting about it. Here is how it works. If you would like me to send you a homemade little something, then you sign my comments saying you would like to participate. But here's the catch: you have to pay it forward to three other people. You snarf the pretty picture above and put it on your blog, and you ask for three people to sign on and participate, and you send three chosen commenters a little homemade giftie, and then they do the same, and etc. etc.

If I get more than three people asking to participate, I'll draw the lucky three. I'm going to hold this open until my birthday, April 12th. (Hey, I didn't mean for that to be a hint or anything. Ok maybe deep down I did. But it's a day I won't forget so it's a good mark for me.) I'll contact the participants shortly after that.

Oh, and btw. Some time ago...ok, in NOVEMBER...I gave away a little prize to two people to celebrate my second blogiversary. I saw Freeblady, so I just delivered hers in person. Poor Joyce has been patiently waiting for me to get off my bum and get to the post office for months! What's really pathetic about it is I've had the little giftie since January. I'm so sorry Joyce! I did jokingly say that it would take me awhile to get the gifts out but I didn't mean for it to drag out so long. Hopefully I will have it out to you soon.

In other news...Freeblady and I went to a really fun event yesterday. The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo! It was so much fun. We had a free-motion quilting class with Sheila Finklestein, and a binding class with Connie Spurlock. I got to try out a pretty fancy (for me) Viking machine in the free motion class. I signed up for the binding class because I was hoping they would have some advice about binding an inside curve on a quilt. The Girl's quilt has about a jillion inside corners to bind. Of course the instructor did not really know, and her basic advice was, "don't do it." Oh. Um. Huh. Well, then...

And I almost forgot to mention: Freeblady won a prize! Unfortunately not a sewing machine, but a prize is a prize! Woohoo!

Calico Clues

For some time I have been looking for Barbara Brackman's "The Clues in the Calico". It is supposedly a really great book for helping to determine the age and history of a quilt. I don't know why I never thought of it before but I finally looked at the library for it. My branch didn't have it but they requested it from another branch for me! How wonderful! I can't wait to get it.

Oh, and if you look to the left there you will see that I finally set up my blog for RSS feeds. At least I think that is what that little icon means. Wee!

Checking in

Well of course I fell off the blogging wagon for awhile. It seems to happen to me periodically. I guess the main reason that happened is I made a big stink about wanting to lose weight at the beginning of the year. I lost one pound and then promptly gained it back. Now that I have lost a grand total of 3 (yes you read that right, 3!) pounds I am feeling like I can blog again. February was just stagnant but I've made progress in March. I've been weighing myself almost daily for a week to be sure that it wasn't just some weird dip where I spontaneously weighed less than usual. Some days I've only lost two pounds, some days 4, and some days 3. So we'll go for an average and say 3. I'm so glad to finally be making progress.

And here's the kicker. I didn't do it by dieting, really. Well, it is but it isn't. I decided that I was tired of eating so much processed foods & meats and I should be trying to eat closer to nature. I wouldn't call myself a vegetarian because I am still eating meat, just not very often. Ok, the last three days I ate it. But today is Friday and I'm Catholic so today I'll be meat free. I've also made a real effort to eat more salad and fresh fruits and vegetables. Take today...so far I've had oatmeal with raisins, a dried cranberry, sunflower seed and peanut snack mix (made it myself!), a whole wheat pita with roasted garlic hummus and avocado slices. (I am very proud of my little pita sandwich...it was tasty.) I'll be downing a little baggie of carrots, a banana, and an apple by the end of the day, too. Not sure what is on tap for dinner but I've been working a lot of hours and so that will probably be up to The Husband. That means it most likely will not be "nature" food. Oh well, you can't win them all. Also I am supposed to be training for a 10k run in May but work has put a damper on that this week. I'll have to take it up again next week. Oh, and I'm not training to win the 10k. I'm training to be able to finish the 10k.

On to quilt things. I stopped work on all other projects to work on a little blankie for a friend's baby. The baby was born in September and I really have to get my butt in gear. I kept postponing because I wanted to make her something but I finally realized the poor kid would be in college before I could make her what I really wanted to make. I saw in a quilting magazine not too long ago (sorry, I can't remember which one) that a fun way to make a quilt without doing patchwork is to get a nice large-patterned fabric and just quilt the lines on the fabric. That's what I'm doing for little Liesl. I wanted it to be a yard square to keep with the tradition of giving babies a yard of cloth for luck. I read about that in a Fons & Porter book...the Quilter's Complete Guide. (It was my first quilting book and I love it dearly! So dearly it is falling apart.) I'm about halfway done with the quilting on it, which I am doing by hand. This week work has been stomping on all of my quilting time so I didn't progress too much this week. I hope to have it done by the end of the month.

In other news...The Girl got glasses. She apparently is "extremely far-sighted" as the doc put it. Really? How on earth was she able to function? I can't figure it out. But she is happily wearing her new specs without any argument, in spite of being three and having very definite ideas about what she does (dresses) and doesn't (pants) wear.

Oh and t-ball is about to start for The Boy. I can't believe it is already time for that again. This year he seems much more eager. Some friends of ours got their son on the team too so now he'll have a team buddy.

I'm so glad Spring is on it's way. This is Ohio so I know the cold weather could drag into May. I sure hope it doesn't, though.

ding ding ding!

Yesterday was my first weigh-in day.  I decided to weigh myself once a week, starting from New Year's day so that makes Tuesday the scale day.  

Guess what!

I lost a pound.  At least, I think I did.  It is really hard to read our scale.  But the needle is definitely at least a pound shy of where it was last week.  Hurray!  Who knew that not eating like a pig would have an impact?

1/2 way to goal #1

I made it through one week! Ok, so it wasn't a full week because it started on Tuesday. But I went jogging three times, watched my portions, and only visited the snack machine one time. Wee! One more week to a new pair of jogging pants.

Today I went to order my dress for Chalicat's wedding. She graciously asked me to be her matron of honor (that sounds so old) and it was time to order my dress. Get this: I got to order a size....drum roll....8!!!

Unfortunately I didn't get much quilting done this week. I started on block number two of the sunburst quilt, but I only got a quarter of the pieced circlet done. Maybe I can get to some more of it tonight.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

So the first post of the year is all about goals. I have so many, they are all competing for that small bit of attention not taken up by life in general. The big one is I want to lose weight. I've slowly been gaining since I returned to work post-The Girl. I did lose most of my pregnancy weight (though is there such a thing as a toned belly after kid 2???) but now weight is slowly creeping back on. Obesity is pretty rampant on both sides of my family, and the advice I seem to hear from them is that preventing fat is a whole lot easier than getting rid of it. So. That said, my main goal here is to lose weight. My initial goal is 5 pounds. In January, I will be trying to do that by:

• Exercising no less than 3 times per week
• Only visiting the snack machine 1 time per week at work (I have to give myself something, otherwise I'd go bonkers and start snarfing everything in sight.)
• Watching my portions (which is vague, but really what I mean is being careful to eat a single serving.)

[Note: I don't actually expect to lose a full 5 pounds in a month with only these modifications.] As you can probably guess, I am easing in to this a bit. The thing about the exercising is, my exercise of choice is jogging, and darned if I don't hate to run in yucky cold and snowy weather. I also have two little tidbits planned for myself: if I can go two weeks and meet all of the goals, then I can shop for a new pair of running pants. If I make it to the end of the month, I get a new running bra.

I started it off well -- this afternoon I went for my first jog in probably more than two months. I went a whole mile! Yeeha! Now if I can only resist eating something naughty as a reward. I won't be going major distances until the weather is better. I suppose that leaves room to sneak in a longer run on those occasional nice days. Anyways, the lesser goal will keep me from giving up as easily.

In other more quilt-related news, here are my sewing goals:

• Finish binding The Girl's quilt
• Baste, quilt & bind The Boy's quilt
• Finish at least 10 of the hand-pieced blocks for the sunburst quilt

I already finished one of those blocks. Though I finished it yesterday so I guess I still have 10 more to go for the year :)

Other goals...post more often, try to improve my wardrobe, be more patient, savor life!

Here's looking forward to a great year!!!!