Just Can't Cut It

Usually when we say we just can't cut it--in speaking of quilting at any rate--we mean the fabric's so pretty we hate to cut into it.  Not this time.  This time, I mean it literally.

I didn't tell you before, but CrossFit killed me again on Thursday night.  Or perhaps killing me in actuality would have been more merciful.  Do you know what planks are when it comes to exercise?  Well, they're like this:

That's one of the exercises we had to do and I really think it's the one that did me in.  Thursday night's exercise routine focused mostly on upper body strength.  With planks, I asked the trainer if I could just lay on my stomach on the mat because I was pretty sure that when I was on my toes, my stomach would still be on the floor, but he said no.  So up I went on toes and forearms and held that position as long as possible.  Yes, it looks reasonably easy, but you try it.  I did that a couple times.  I also pulled a pile of weights around the room.  Then I did something with a thick rope that looked like I was at one end of double jump ropes but I just whipped them up and down.  There were also bar push ups and ring pull ups and several other things along similar lines that I'd just as soon forget about until next week when I have to do them again.

It's just as well I've been trying to diet also because on Friday, I couldn't lift a fork or spoon to my lips.  And when I tried, it took me several minutes to get my hands high enough to brush my hair away from my face.  Trying to reach back to grab my seat belt in the car was enough to make me think seriously about walking the 12 miles to and from work.  In fact, walking might have been quicker.

By Saturday, I could move my arms a little further, but they were still pretty achy.  Tonight, though--Saturday night--they're finally returning to near normal and I'm looking forward to being able to sleep without screaming in pain every time I turn over.

So, anyway, what I'm getting to is that as much as I wanted to cut a bunch of 2-1/2" squares today for my Scrap Basket Sunday project, it was a little hard to do up until just a couple hours ago, so I didn't get very much done, really--not as much as I would have liked, anyway.

I have 150 squares cut but I'll need somewhere around 900 to 1,000 squares for the sashing, I think, so this is going to take a little time.  On Friday, I believed a double arm amputation would be less painful than what I was experiencing, but now I'm glad I put away the power saw because I'm hopeful my arms will feel well enough tomorrow to get more squares cut.

How are you doing with your scrap basket project?  Don't forget to link up if you write a post about your project and progress.

Scrap Basket Sunday Sign Ups!

I'm kind of excited to say that I'll be joining everyone for Scrap Basket Sunday once again!  For the past three weekends, I've been unable to join in due to my various travel plans, so it's about time!  You may recall that I finished all of the blocks I needed for Kim Diehl's Pie in the Sky quilt pattern, but I still have to cut a ton of squares for the sashing, and that's what I'll work on.

As I was getting on the computer tonight to take care of my normal email correspondence and read some of the news stories, I came across a story about an "angel priest" in Missouri--did you hear about that?  Right now, the identity of the priest is a mystery and it may remain so--or not--but the story is amazing either way.  If you haven't read about it yet, click HERE.

Once you have a scrap basket project posted on your blog to share, add your link below:



And just in case you're looking for a scrappy project to get started on, there's a link for tiny cake stand blocks below--it would make an excellent scrappy project!

Some Improvement . . .

I'm happy to say I was less achy and sore today although I felt like I was winded quicker during the work out.  But maybe that's just because I was working harder?  Hard to say.  But it felt good, finally.  I'm no where near the endurance level of the other gals who started two months before me, but they're all very encouraging.  I don't have another CrossFit session now until Monday night, so I'm thinking I should do SOMETHING to keep exercising in the interim.  At least some walking and a few stretching-type exercises.  And I think I can modify some of the CrossFit exercises to do at home without special equipment, like the sit ups/crunches, push ups, etc.

And tonight, after dinner, I felt a bit more enthusiastic about quilting, although I was awfully tempted to just kick back and read instead.  Still, I'm getting together with my stitchery friends on Saturday, and I always bring them a sheep blanket kit, so that's what I did tonight--I made up the wool kits.  Tomorrow night I'll get mine prepped to work on Saturday.

Did you, by any chance, see Synthia's comment yesterday about the teeny tiny cake stand blocks she's been working on?  It's a free pattern/sew along by Temecula Quilt Co.  I was thinking it would be an excellent scrap project for those of you who might want to participate in Scrap Basket Sunday.  You can find it HERE, with a link to the PDF pattern.  Between that and this month's Schnibbles project, it seems that baskets are popping up all over!  And that reminds me--I was thinking if I could just get myself to finish the Merry, Merry Snowman quilt, I could use my leftover French General fabric for the Schnibbles basket quilt.  Wouldn't that be pretty?  Hummmmm, maybe I'm getting my mojo back after all!

Thanks!

Thanks for all the encouraging words about this exercise thing I've foolishly decided to drop a bunch of money on that could be better spent on fabric try.  Tonight the trainer promised I'd feel better by the end of the class, and just before we left, I told him he was right--because I'd taken a pain pill about 30 minutes before class began.  But he assured me the first two weeks are the worst--then another girl working out corrected him by saying it's really the first three weeks, and after that I'd be fine.  I'd say it's probably the first four weeks, because that's all I've committed to doing with this gym, but we'll see.  I know it's something I need to do for my own well being, so maybe I'll continue on with CrossFit after August.  I think those darn rowing machines are going to kill me though.  They turn my legs into spaghetti!

Tonight we did a little more upper body work than we did the first time.  When I got home, I tried to call Soccer Son and realized I was having a hard time pushing the phone buttons to dial.  Seriously.  But I have to laugh at myself.  Lord knows how I'll feel tomorrow.

Once again, I went into the Sweat Shop tonight and just didn't feel motivated to do anything.  I don't know if it's the exercise thing or if I'm just going through one of those periods where nothing's grabbing my attention and getting me excited.  What are YOU working on now?  Maybe if you tell me what's exciting you, it might help me to find my mojo.

The other day I finished the center of the Merry, Merry Snowman quilt top; I still need to cut and sew the borders, and there's one little snowman peeking down from a corner that I need to applique, but it's pretty close to being done.  Here's how it looks so far:

There's a part of one seam I'm not happy with and need to fix, but I thought I'd wait and fix it when I pull it down from the design wall to add the first small border.  I went ahead and added all of the little buttons for eyes and, well, BUTTONS; I was going to wait until it was quilted, but then I decided they're so small they shouldn't interfere with the quilting.

The other day, there was something tickling my brain about another block of the month beginning in August, but I couldn't quite remember what it was.  Eventually I remembered--it's this one by the Quilt Company with fabrics by Maywood Studios:

That's exciting, right?  Are any of you signed up for it?  Also, my friends and I are going to start another applique project soon--but I'll tell you more about that another time.  Now it's time for bed. One more evening of CrossFit and then the first week will be behind me.  "See" you tomorrow!

How Can Something That Hurts so Bad be so Good For You?

Okay, I know I'm just being a big baby, but I was right--exercise = pain.

Seriously, I got out of bed this morning and thought, "Hummmm.  Yes, I'm sore, but it's not TOO bad; not nearly as bad as I thought it would be."  Well, guess what?  As the day went on, I got more and more stiff and sore until . . . well, until right now, I guess.  I feel like I haven't hit the pain peak yet, because I sure can't say I'm any better now than I was an hour or two ago, and it seems to just get worse as time goes by.

After dinner tonight, I went into the Sweat Shop . . . .  Actually, that makes it sound much too fast.  Let me rephrase it.  After dinner tonight, I sat on the couch for about 30 minutes, thinking about getting up and moving but knowing it was going to be painful when I did and questioning whether my thigh muscles would even work.  Finally I got up and hobbled into the Sweat Shop.  Once I arrived about ten minutes later, I sat down and thought about what I wanted to work on.  Then I thought some more.  And it occurred to me that what I really wanted to do was take a hot bath and go to bed.  So that's what I'm doing.  I already took the hot bath (although it had cooled significantly by the time I convinced myself to try to stand up and get out).  And after I'm done on the computer, I'm going to work on convincing myself to get up one more time and head to bed.

Sadly, there was no sewing done tonight, and here I was expecting it would be my one free and productive evening.  Nope; didn't happen.  And I have CrossFit classes the next two nights.  I can't imagine how I'm going to get through them alive, but I'm going to keep at it--easy to say now while I'm sitting comfortably in a chair.

And yes, I did take ibuprofen last night and continued taking it today.  I drank water.  I took a couple hot baths.  I prayed a few times.  I tried to stretch out the sore muscles a little, thinking that if I used them more, they'd feel better.  Someone suggested today, "but it's a good pain, right?"  Well, if it is, I don't want to know what a bad pain feels like.  A "good pain."  What's that?!

I'll try to get back here tomorrow if I can still walk.  Send good thoughts my way.

I'm Probably Going to be Sorry in the Morning . . .

Well, I did it.  I started CrossFit work outs, three days a week.  Well, it WILL be three days a week if I can manage to get out of bed tomorrow, after completing the first day.  Seriously, if I had a child the last time I did any kind of serious exercise, that child would be over the legal drinking age by now.  And I'm not counting the sporadic walking I've done over the years--I'm talking about a real work out.

We started with five minutes on the rowing machines--the first minute or so went okay but it was a bit stop and go after that.  Lunges came next, but by then, my thighs were kind of wobbly, and on one of my lunges, I realized my thighs were no longer strong enough to support me through the forward momentum of the lung, and found myself kneeling on the ground.  And the rest of the session continued in the same vein.  By the time I coughed out a lung on the sit ups--because remember I've been fighting this cold--I was spending more time catching my breath than doing any kind of exercises.  The trainer reassured me several times that I would become stronger and it will all become easier as I go just as long as I don't give up.  Or die.

Later in the evening, by the time I felt recovered enough to get up off the couch, I decided it was too late for me to head into the Sweat Shop.  Besides, I wasn't sure I had enough strength left in either of my legs to push on the foot pedal of the sewing machine anyway.  So I thought I'd take the evening off.

And just so I don't feel like an unproductive failure, I thought I'd show you the two Sew Spooky blocks I finished during my vacation, back when I used to get things done:

and . . .

With these two done, I have all five of the main center blocks completed; I just need to do two smaller blocks and then I can put the center together.  After that, all I have to do is to applique about 729 bats and piece about 581 candy corn blocks and I'll be finished.

In other words, in about a year, I'll be extremely fit and muscular AND I'll have another Halloween quilt done and up on the wall.  It's good to have goals.

Back Again!

We had a nice time at my niece's wedding, but it's sure great to be home again.  Too bad I have to go back to work in the morning, because I could use a couple more days off to recover from my vacation!

First, the pattern giveaway.  As I've mentioned, Monice Moffat designed another excellent pattern and sent one to me for a giveaway.

And  I randomly drew a winner's name from the entries--Claudine M., who said "Glad you had a good time on vacation! Would love to win the pattern since I love all things with pumpkins and a fall theme."  Claudine, please email me your mailing address and I'll send the pattern out to you.

I wanted to tell you a funny little story from the cruise.  You know, I think, that my firm paid for most of our travel as a "reward" for having reached my 20 year anniversary with the firm, and my friend Missy made the travel arrangements.  In doing so, she asked that they celebrate my anniversary during the second day on the cruise, and they did that by posting this "card" on our stateroom door along with some balloons:

Well, of course, they assumed we were celebrating a wedding anniversary and that's okay.  When we came back to our room that night after dinner, we were surprised to find a couple of swans and chocolates waiting for us on our bed.

And while we enjoyed the artistry of these creatures made from towels, after we admired them, we placed them in a chair near the door so they could be collected and taken away by our steward the following day.  And sure enough, that next day when we returned to our stateroom, the chair was empty, but when I pulled open our curtains, Hubby started laughing, because there were those darn swans again!

So I took one and placed him under the bed with his head peeking out, and I took the other one and placed her in the refrigerator/mini bar.  Well, I'm not sure what our cabin steward thought of that because we never did run into him, but those swans stayed in place until the end of our cruise.

Scrap Basket Sunday Sign Ups!

 
Have you been playing with scraps?  If so, please post a photo on your blog and link up your blog post by adding your information to the Mister Linky below.  Also, if you haven't already done so, please check out yesterday's post about Monice's new pattern, Pumpkin Festival, shown above.

What I've Been Doing . . .

You may remember I took several projects with me to work on while I was aboard the cruise ship.  Did I finish them?  Not hardly!  But I knew I wouldn't; I just wanted to have some variety to chose from.  I did work on a couple things, though.

I have memories of working on this August sheep blanket while the ship was traveling through choppy waters--I was as close to being seasick by that evening as I ever got.  Hubby had picked up Sea Band "bracelets" for both of us, and they helped greatly once I finally put mine on that evening!  By the way, the tree on the left side of the blanket is supposed to be a weeping willow, but mine turned out looking more like a palm tree--ARGH!  Oh, well, I like it anyway.  Better than the tree on the other side--which looks pretty much like the pattern.  Odd.

I also finished one of the two Sew Spooky blocks I brought with me, but I'll show that one another time; I'm bringing the second block with me to work on this weekend, so maybe I'll be able to show both of them soon.

Today I added pink borders to the Schnibbles quilt and I like it--it seems to calm down the brighter fabrics in the line and makes the quilt look more "girly."  After I've quilted this, I'll trim the borders a little smaller; or maybe I'll make scallops--I haven't really decided yet.

Finally, I'll tell you about the treat I promised.  Monice of Hen House Designs has published a fall-themed pattern and she sent me a pattern to share with you.  Cute, isn't it?!

If you'd like a chance to win the Pumpkin Festival pattern, please leave a comment asking to be entered in the drawing.  As I've mentioned, I'll be away until Sunday evening, but I'll pick a winner then and post the results on my Monday blog post.  If, however, you'd like to just buy the pattern now and not wait and trust your luck, you can visit Monice's Etsy shop by clicking HERE.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back for a couple days; then we'll be leaving again.  I was planning to post yesterday, but I guess I got a little lazy or something.  And I thought I wanted to download my photos from my camera first so I could see what I wanted to tell you and show you from my trip, but now that I've done that, I'm still not sure what I want to say other than to tell you we had a very nice time but are happy to be home again.

I've still been battling a cold, and although I'm feeling a lot better, I have a horrible cough that's keeping me awake at night.  I'm going to try some Nyquil after I finish writing this to see if it will help me sleep.  I'm off work this week, so I can sleep in and/or nap if need be, and I've been taking advantage of that.

We got home Monday evening and we spent much of Tuesday getting unpacked and putting everything away, doing grocery shopping, etc.  I finally got into the Sweat Shop late on Tuesday and spent part of Wednesday there as well, trying to finish the July Schnibbles quilt, Lincoln.  I wanted to make a baby quilt to keep on hand and I had a bundle of fat quarters from the Doll Babies line by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup.

With all the pink, this will obviously be a quilt for a baby girl, so I still need to make a quilt using blue fabrics for a boy--maybe I'll do that with the next Schnibbles quilt. And I think I might still want to add a pink border to this one--I have a lot of the pink fabric used in the backgrounds for the stars.  But it's enough for tonight.

I've earmarked Thursday as the day for housecleaning and packing for the next trip.  Our niece is getting married on Saturday, so Hubby and I will leave on Friday for the wedding and return on Sunday night.  I think Spike and Stitch will be disappointed we're leaving again, although Soccer Son and His Lovely Wife have been staying at our house much of the time and taking care of the cats, so they haven't been left alone.

Once again, I won't be able to participate in Scrap Basket Sunday since I'll be gone, although I'll post the sign up list on Saturday, and I have another little treat in store for you so check back in the next day or so.

Now I'm off to try to sleep.  "See" you again tomorrow!