Merry, Merry Me!

Done!  Well, sort of; except for all that quilting.  But the top's finished--woo-hooo!  Aren't borders kind of boring to add to an otherwise finished quilt top?  I had a hard time getting myself to do it but I finally gave myself a talking to, sat down at the machine, and just got it over with.

I know the quilt looks a little wavy but it's just pinned up on a wall using three tacks--the final quilted quilt will be much nicer.  I was really surprised how big this turned out.  I rarely pay much attention to a quilt pattern's measurements unless I intend to use a quilt on my king-sized bed, so I had no idea until I tacked it up on the wall that it was as large as it is--most of the Bunny Hill patterns I've made have been nice, medium sized wall hangings.

Are you interested in "winning" my used pattern?  Now that I'm done, it's time for a giveaway.  Leave me a comment telling me what fabrics/colors you think you'd like to use in making your own version and I'll add you to the drawing.  I'll pick a winner Friday night, which means that person will be announced on Saturday's post, so make sure you come back to see if it might be you!  You'll need to claim it if you win--I won't come looking for you.

By the way, if you need a little color inspiration for dreaming up your own version, check out Anne Sutton's Bunny Tales blog post HERE.  The green one is surprisingly attractive, I think!  Well, I like them both a lot; of course; that's not what I mean.  I'm just saying I'm surprised I find the green one as stunning as I do.  I'll have to keep that in mind for a future project.  And speaking of future projects, I guess I'll have to figure out tomorrow night what's next!

Just One Blanket a Month . . .

Is that too much to ask?

Sometimes it's harder than at other times to keep up with a block of the month project, right?  I've been falling behind on my project that I kit up and give to my friends each month, the Buttermilk Basin sheep blankets.  I started out making sure mine was done at least a week or two before our monthly gatherings, then I started lagging, to the point where I was actually working on mine AT our gatherings.  This month, though, I finished the blanket at record tortoise speed--I got it done over a week AFTER our gathering!

I'm not setting a very good example for my friends!  And, of course, the way block of the month projects usually go, the time most of us really start to falter is once we get into the holiday season, beginning with Halloween.  Yikes!  Something to look forward to, eh?  I guess I need to step it up a bit!

Puttering

On Sunday I was puttering around the Sweat Shop, straightening things up and organizing a little bit before getting started on whatever project I decided to work on for the day.  I had a vague idea that I'd finish the borders on the Merry, Merry Snowmen quilt since it's so close to being done, and then I could redistribute the leftover French General fabric--I was thinking about using the scraps for this month's Schnibbles project.

Well, you know how easily such plans can be sidetracked, right?  As I was puttering, I came across the blue work embroidery blocks one of my readers, Shelley, had gifted me.  Remember these?  I'd received a free machine embroidery magazine and had a giveaway, and she won.  In return, she sent me these pretty blocks!

Awhile back I had decided to experiment with color crayons on one of the blocks to see how it would look, and I really liked the outcome, but that's as far as I'd gotten.  Well, when I came across the blocks again today, I thought I'd play around with my crayons for a little while.  Before I knew it, the afternoon had passed and now I have nine colored blocks--I thought I'd just color bits and pieces of the images so the color didn't overwhelm the embroidery.

After I heat set the colors, I trimmed them all to 8-1/2".  Now I've put them away again because I'm not sure how I want to set the blocks.

I was kind of thinking this would make a great quilt to contribute to the local quilt auction to raise money for breast cancer research--we do that once every three years and it's pretty successful.  And I think we do it again in October or November 2014--that certainly gives me time to finish it if that's what I decide to do!

I like the idea that a series of kindnesses and generosity by strangers would lead to raising money for such a good cause.  I'll be sure to show you how this project progresses next time I pull it out to work on.

Oh, What a Night!

My sister-in-law Kathy and our friend Lisa took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday (which occurred while Hubby and I were in Alaska a few weeks ago).  They asked me where I wanted to go, and I suggested Seasons 52, a restaurant chain that just opened a restaurant in Sacramento a few months ago.  I'd been wanting to try it but hadn't yet.  Oh, my, the food was really good and the service was excellent!  Apparently when making dinner reservations, Lisa let the restaurant know it was my birthday, because just about everyone who came into contact with us wished me a happy birthday.  Our waiter, Jorge, explained the concept of the restaurant, which is to offer fresh, seasonal food that changes quarterly and specials that change each week.  Every dish on the menu is 475 calories or less and they don't use butter or cream, nor do they deep fry anything.

The three of us shared a chicken flatbread appetizer and we each ordered an entree--my choice was pork tenderloin with portobello mushrooms, polenta with herbs and cipollini onions, and brocollini.  Yum!  And after that?

They brought out these mini desserts for us to select from.  Fantastic!  Just enough to satisfy our craving for a little something sweet to end the meal.

And I didn't tell you yet, but the restaurant presented me with birthday card when I arrived and later, when we were choosing our desserts, Jorge took our photo and presented me with a print of the three of us when we were ready to leave.  Isn't that a special way to celebrate an occasion?  And, of course, the friends I was with were special too--two of my favorite people!

Our meal was a little bit on the pricey side (especially since we also had a cocktail or two) and there weren't any leftovers to take home, but none of us left hungry either and we were all pleased with our dining experience.  If you have a Seasons 52 in your area and haven't tried it yet, you might want to check it out!

On the quilting front, for Scrap Basket Sunday I continued cutting 2-1/2" squares to use in the sashing of the Pie in the Sky quilt.

It may not look like much, but there are 600 squares here, 300 of which were cut this week.  If I can do the same thing next week, I should be close to what I need, I think.

How about you?  Did you do anything scrappy?  Has your weekend been all that you wished for?  Mine has so far, and since I'm writing this late Saturday night--or Sunday morning, really--there's still another day left to sew!

Pumpkin Progress and Scrap Basket Sunday

Shirley and I joined Imelda at her home tonight and began making pumpkins.  I thought you'd like to see.

Shirley unwrapped her kit and spread it out for us to enjoy--don't you love the green ribbon it was tied with?!

After admiring the fabrics a bit, we got to work.  Shirley and Imelda hadn't prepared their pumpkins ahead of time, so I started out ahead of the game, but they made great progress as I enjoyed the salad I picked up for my dinner from California Pizza Kitchen on the drive between my office and Imelda's house.  (And it's possible I was doing more talking than sewing at times too!)  By the end of the night, Imelda and I had both finished our three pumpkins and Shirley wasn't far behind.

These pumpkins go so quickly we've decided to meet and work on them twice a month:  the first Friday of the month and the third Friday of the month.  You may recall that in recently months, I've reserved Friday evenings for dinner out with Hubby, but after eating so many meals out on our vacation, I think dinner out every other week will work just fine for awhile.

Will you be joining us for Scrap Basket Sunday?  If you're short of ideas on what to make, how about pulling all of your orange fabrics out of your scrap basket--assuming you HAVE scraps of orange--and making some pumpkins?  I went looking for a link for a pumpkin pattern to suggest and guess what I found?  One of my own!  You can either click on the "Happy Jacks Tutorial" in the sidebar or hop over to my pattern at FaveQuilts (this link will take you to part 1).  And, of course, FaveQuilts has several other pumpkin suggestions for you--like a paper pieced Jack-O-Lantern--cute and perfect for smaller scraps!



"See" you Sunday!

Getting My Orange On!

I've hinted a time or two about starting a new project with a couple of friends and I'm finally ready to show you what it is.

PUMPKIN PIE!

Last year around this time my friend Imelda and I purchased the patterns for Bunny Hill's Pumpkin Pie quilt and had fun "collecting" the fabrics used in the original quilt.  We found out later our friend Shirley had already purchased the pattern AND the fabric kit directly from Bunny Hill, so in theory, we've been ready to start for quite awhile--we just hadn't been able to find the time until now.

The pattern isn't exactly written like a block of the month pattern, but the directions require multiple pumpkins from a handful of different patterns, so I think we're starting with pumpkin #1 and treating it as we would a block of the month quilt.  We haven't really all had a chance to talk about specifics yet, so what I'm guessing will happen may change.

The applique should be reasonable easy with these simple pumpkin shapes.  Here I have my fabrics for the first three pumpkins sorted out . . .

And I've begun to prepare the pieces.

We're meeting at Imelda's house and bringing our own brown-bag dinners this first time because we don't want to spend a lot of time going out to eat, but maybe we will at later meetings.  The idea is that we'll actually SEW when we get together, but sometimes there's a little more chatting than sewing going on.  And when you add eating into the mix, well it's a wonder any quilts are made at all!

I'll show you our progress and tell you about our gatherings as time goes on.  If this quilt has been languishing in your "to do" pile, please pull it out and sew along with us in the virtual world!

Things Are Looking Up . . .

I felt better today--my cold wasn't quite as bad and I didn't really have any sore muscles to speak of.  I might be singing a different tune tomorrow, because I had another CrossFit session tonight and when I got done, my muscles were feeling a little wobbly, but I'm not going to worry about it--I really think I'm finally starting to adjust and am over the worst of it.  Best of all today, though, is that once I finished CrossFit, I drove straight over to a local quilt shop for Thimbleberries Club, and let me show you the goodies I had to bring home with me.

I'm such a sucker for all things Halloween!  These two pieces are from a line by Maude Asbury called Spooktacular.  Darling, aren't they?

Of course, I have no idea what I'll do with them, but I purchased 1-1/2 yards of the first piece and 2-1/2 yards of the second; it seemed wise to buy large pieces because the prints are big and perfect for borders or large focus squares.

Clearly Stitch prefers the cat print though.  Maybe he'd like a cape for Halloween?

I was just telling my friends the other day that I have no idea where all the stuff that's cluttering up the Sweat Shop came from because I really don't buy that much fabric these days, but a yard here and a yard there really add up, don't they?  And, of course, I have no idea what tiny corner of my stash shelves I'll wedge these pieces into because the Halloween section is filled to bursting. Oh, well, I guess I'd better get busy sewing so I can use some of these fabrics up.  And I have just the project in mind--I'll show you tomorrow.

A Little of This, a Little of That

After a half bottle of Nyquil (only a slight exaggeration), I slept pretty well but I was still feeling too sick this morning to go to work, so I stayed home.  I had a fleeting thought that I might spend a little time in the Sweat Shop catching up on a some sewing today, but before I could make it that far, I was back on my bed, taking a "little nap" that lasted all afternoon.  I guess it's the best thing when a person's not feeling well but it sure doesn't make for anything very interesting to talk about.

The Wild Child has come for a visit--she arrived around dinnertime, so she and Hubby and I were able to catch up a little.  She had a couple of summer classes that have now ended and the fall session doesn't start for a few weeks, so it's a good time to visit.  Hubby thought we might get Chinese takeout for dinner and I was REALLY looking forward to some soup from my favorite Chinese place, but then we found out it's closed on Tuesdays.  Darn!  Instead, I settled for making all of us wedge salads and turkey/cranberry sandwiches.

The Drooling Dog came along with the Wild Child, but he seems to be suffering from Ninja fleas that just won't die, so he's banished to the backyard, poor boy!  Before he and the Wild Child moved to Humboldt last year, the Drooling Dog was Hubby's daily companion, so Hubby's spent some time on the patio this evening, visiting with his canine buddy.


I'm pleased to report my workout on Monday night caused me no serious pain this time--probably because I took it a little easier in light of this respiratory thing I have going on.  By the way, I'm surprised--pleasantly so--to hear my pain has motivated some of you to get out there and suffer along with me--yay you!

I'm not sure if I explained my CrossFit group before, but I'm one of five women in our little class.  We all work together more or less--we're actually employed by two different companies that have a working relationship with one another.  Four of us are middle-aged, and up until now, none of us were all that active.  This is the third month for two of the women and they're pretty good at keeping up and working hard throughout the class--unlike me, but I hope to build up to it.  While we're there, we're working directly with the trainer and there aren't too many other people working out around us, so that's kind of nice--the intimidation/inferiority factor is low because we're not surrounded by highly fit 20-somethings!

The trainer told me yesterday that the first month is mostly changing the way we think about exercise and strengthening our bodies.  I'm not really looking for anything in particular; all I want is a way to become more fit and strong and burn off a few more calories, and I feel like we're doing that already.  I've read a little of the CrossFit material, and I understand CrossFit workouts change each day, and the workouts are designed to exercise all major muscle groups for overall strength and fitness.  The exercises can be scaled up or scaled down in intensity for anyone, including seniors.  In fact, my gym has a class they call CrossFit Lite, and I expect that's something like what he's having us do.

I hope to get a good night's sleep tonight, with the help of a little more Nyquil, because I really need to get back to work tomorrow--there's just too much to do for me to be off any longer, especially after being away on vacation for two weeks.  So I'm off to bed and I'll "see" you back here tomorrow!

If It's Not One Thing . . .

I'm not sure why any of you quilters would want to keep reading my blog when it seems most of what I've been talking about lately is how bad I feel, and tonight's post is no exception--sorry!  But I appreciate the fact that at least a few of you keep reading.

Remember that cold I had when I was on the Alaska cruise?  Well, it sort of went away, but I continued to suffer from allergies--it's just that time of the year here in our part of the world.  It seems, though, the virus--whatever it is--has returned, and I'm about ready to concede defeat.  The only difference between what I have now and what I had three weeks ago is that my throat isn't quite as sore.  Besides all the typical cold symptoms, I have an irritating cough that just doesn't seem to want to let me rest, and the other unusual thing is that there's an intestinal component as well--as if a head cold wasn't bad enough.

I went to work today--do you know why?  I didn't want to miss CrossFit.  Is that crazy or what?  But about an hour or so before class, I didn't know how I'd ever make it.  Still, I kept going and the weirdest thing happened.  While I was working out, I felt pretty much okay other than a tendency to get out of breath a bit quicker than normal.  I didn't push myself and didn't come close to completing everything the other gals did--nothing new there though--so I'm not sure how I'll feel tomorrow as far as aching body parts go.  I suspect this cold will make me feel so crummy, though, that a few body aches won't matter much.

I read an interesting article on dieting and the science of food today and I thought I'd share it with those of you who are interested.  There are all sorts of theories on when to eat, what to eat (more carbs/no carbs), etc., and that makes it confusing and frustrating to try to watch what we eat, but this article helps to separate myth from reality.  That being said, though, I mentioned yesterday that different things work for different people.  If eating your biggest meal for breakfast works for you, go for it.  If not eating until lunch works better, ditto.  One of the keys to dieting is finding ways to decrease the amount of food we eat, increase our exercise, and make sure what we eat is good for us; so whatever routines help us achieve that are worthwhile.

Finally, in follow up to the story I gave you a link for the other day about the mystery priest who appeared at the site of a serious accident, the priest does in fact exist and has been located.  Still, the circumstances of how and why he was there leave open the idea that there was some higher power organizing things.  Click HERE if you'd like to read the follow up story.

Now I'm going to go to bed and hope I feel better tomorrow.  Diet and exercise aren't for the weak willed.

The First 300

My arms felt well enough today to allow me to cut another 150 squares, so now I have 300 of the approximately 1,000 I need for the sashing of the Pie in the Sky quilt.

And since my Thimbleberries Club meets this coming Wednesday, I thought I should construct the August block for the block of the month quilt we've been working on.  I think it's supposed to look like a big sunflower.

Thank you all for the exercise support, and yes, I know you're laughing with me.  I just have to laugh at myself--and share the amusing stories with you--because I'm so obviously out of shape it's silly, but I'm going to do what I can to change that.  Diet too.  A couple of you asked about my diet.

For a long time, I've taken the position that diets don't really work and that it's more important to eat healthy foods and change the way one eats on a daily basis.  And I still believe that to some extent, but I recently read that people are more successful with weight loss when they very seriously DO diet, because seeing the quicker change keeps a person motivated to keep working toward their goal.  When I thought about it, that made sense.  After all, there has to be some reason why I keep falling off the "healthy eating" wagon before I'm ever able to lose any weight.  So instead of saying this time that I'm simply modifying my eating habits with a goal to slowly lose weight, I really AM dieting, with a goal to lose weight as quickly as I'm able in a reasonably healthy way.  And I'm not following any particular diet method.  Primarily I'm watching calories.  Within that parameter, I'm limiting fats and I'm eating lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and several servings of veggies and a couple servings of fruit each day.  Oh, and trying to make sure I get enough calcium, usually in the form of yogurt, low fat milk, a limited amount of cheese, and yes, low fat ice cream, because I love a daily treat and would feel grumpy and deprived without it.

So all in all, I'm hoping the diet along with the exercise will move me along toward the result I'd like to achieve.  And I think paying the money I'm paying for these CrossFit classes--which is higher than I ever thought I'd pay to feel the way I have this past week--will keep me going, because I'd hate to waste all that money.  And if I start losing weight and feeling better--and I actually DO feel better already--I hope that will keep me motivated too.  Then my idea is that after I've dieted and exercised for awhile, it will become more natural and a way of life for me--maybe.  At least I hope so.  Different methods work better for different people, and I'm ready to try something that's a little more drastic than what I've done in the recent past.  I'll let you know how I'm doing now and then without going on and on about it and boring you to death, and I'll be sure to share any funny stories related to my diet and exercise.  Laughter is good too--I think it even burns a few calories!