Keeping my word?

Last week I committed to extreme ownership regarding my health and fitness which meant I needed to workout with some form of cardio, strength and stretching every day…so let’s see how I did:

Monday 5/29 I completed a run and did my stretching

Tuesday 5/30 I followed YouTube videos for 30 min Cardio and 15 min Lower body strength training ending with a 15 min stretch.

Wednesday 5/31 I completed a run, followed by 15 min upper body video and 15 min stretch

Thursday I completely bailed – UGH!!! We drove to Myrtle Beach for the weekend and I blew off all my workouts 😦

Friday 6/2 I went for a run and did 15 min stretching

Saturday 6/3 & Sunday 6/4 – I totally blew it…I did NOTHING – I’m so pissed at myself!! We drove back from MB today and tonight I’m going to re-watch the video that got me so fired up. I WILL be back on my plan tomorrow!

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As for sewing & quilting – since my machine needed servicing for the feed dog drop function I couldn’t do any quilting but I could do piecing, so that’s what I did. I finished a flimsy top using a pattern from Block magazine called “Piece Out”. I pulled two 1/2 jelly rolls that had coordinating colors from my stash and followed the pattern instructions making 3 piece strip sets then cut them into blocks.

Then I used the sew & flip method to attach 80 squares – one to each block, here they all are arranged on my design wall.

And here’s the completed top, folded and laying in the spot where my machine usually sits. I dropped her off at the sewing center Wed afternoon before we left town.

I’ll pick her up tomorrow and start my next project, the commissioned t-shirt quilt. I received 5 more shirts in the mail last week so I have everything I need to get going.

That’s about all for me…how are things in your world?

 

 

Sewing and waiting…

Not much quilting this week – I’m waiting to start a new commissioned t-shirt project because they’re sending more shirts. I have already ‘deconstructed’ the ones I have but I don’t want to play with the layout until I see what else I get so…they’re just patiently waiting in a nice pile

I did finally pull out a very old UFO…when I first started quilting I followed a 12 month Block of the Month sew along that another ‘new to quilting’ blogger was following. These blocks were some of the first I ever made and looking at them now I can see I’ve learned so much in the past three years!! Back then I didn’t know to ‘trim the dog ears’ or ‘square up my HST’ or how to keep my points when piecing blocks…I’ve had quite a laugh looking at these blocks. For quite some time I’ve been meaning to put this together and call it my “Learning Quilt” but I never got around to it – until now.

I decided to add sashing and borders in Kona Snow; the size of the sashing varied depending on the size of the block – ahem, no they’re not all the same size! It doesn’t look bad from distance and I’m really not worried about it anyway – it’s not like I’m going to sell it or gift it – this one is all mine 😀

I pieced the backing out of remnants I had on hand and got it glue basted

I’m going to FMQ something different in each block – maybe following some of the piecing as suggestions and maybe not, lol. I got started on two blocks

But then my machine started making a funny sound – more specifically the feed dogs. I quickly realized there must be something wrong with the feed dog drop control because they won’t stay all the way down 😦 UGH! I’ve called the repair shop and I’m taking her in next week to see if they can fix it…I simply MUST be able to FMQ!!!

While I’m restricted from FMQ, I can still do straight stitching and piecing so that’s what I’m doing. I pulled out some blocks I made a last month and pieced them into a top. The pattern is called Triplicate from Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle book by Jeni Baker

I didn’t follow her layout exactly but it’s pretty close. Those ‘dots’ on the solid white squares are actually little gold pineapples – so cute!!

I have a few other projects I’m going to start before my machine goes in the shop – the good news is while she’s in the shop I’ll be in Myrtle Beach so I won’t have much time to miss her 😉

That’s about all for now…what’s going on where you are?

Have a Happy Memorial Day!

Starting over

So… I’ve been beating myself up over my poor exercise habits (read: lack of) and I’ve finally had enough. No one else is gonna do this for me so I’ve got to ‘put on my big girl panties’ and get off my arse! I stumbled across a YouTube video this week from a channel called London Real – I was looking for more information on implementing David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” process. I realize this video was made mostly for promotion of their product but the first half of it really hit home for me…especially the “Extreme Ownership” part. It was just what I needed to hear!!

Last night I decided I was going to get up this morning and go for a run…then when I got back I was going to do some Strength training exercises and Stretch. I’m happy to report I did all that!! Yes, I had several moments this morning where I tried to give myself excuses not to do it but I stopped myself and called BULL-SHIT!! There was absolutely NO REASON I couldn’t workout this morning. I am to blame for being over-weight. I am to blame for not being fit. I am to blame for every piece of junk food that goes in my mouth.

E-N-O-U-G-H!

I may have to watch that video every day for the next month but if that’s what it takes, so be it. I’m not getting any younger, and getting in shape isn’t going to get any easier so NOW is the time.

I must have carried that attitude with me on the run because my pace was a bit faster than it’s been in a very long time – ha!

That’s all for now…I’ll be back tomorrow with a quilting update…have a GREAT day!

More Charity quilting

It was a mad dash to finish the quilts for the Hands2Help Challenge coordinated by Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This year I committed to making 3 quilts and I wanted to use up my scraps so it was a perfect match. Luckily I already had a head start by cutting and sewing together 2.5×4.5 leaders & enders for a few months now and I’m proud to say I got all three quilts completed – whoop whoop!

Two of them are already on their way to the charities – I just finished the last one late Friday so I’ll put it in the mail tomorrow – whew!

I posted about Scrappy 1 last week but here’s a reminder picture

Scrappy 2 is almost identical except for the border

I tried to use more masculine colors to make the scrappy back

And the third quilt is Scrappy Stars, I made this flimsy before the H2H event started when Sarah was posting her Stunning Stars series and almost forgot all about it…but I pulled it out and got it done just in time

It feels so good to make quilts knowing they will be given to those in need…I hope it brings them a little happiness 😀

In other sewing news…I made the May Honey Pot Bee blocks. I’m using fabrics from two Blueberry Park Cool layer cakes with silver for the background, I can’t wait to see how all this comes together…squeee

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On the running front…I went out with my running buddies yesterday morning and ran the Cannoli 5k! It’s a fun event that I ran last year…it’s part of a local Italian festival and the course is a 1 mile loop. At the end of each loop you have the option to eat a mini cannoli. Last year I ate one after the first loop and immediately regretted it…don’t get me wrong, it was delicious but it did not sit well in my stomach while running! This year I waived off 😉

For not having run in many, many weeks I’m happy to say I finished with a decent time and I’m not horribly stiff today…win, win! I set my C25K app for intervals of 2 min run/1 min walk which worked out pretty well. One little asterisk…it seems there was a different race coordinator this year and a few things were off – a big one was the course distance came up short at 2.88, confirmed by my running buddies too. That’s ok…I’ll take it either way!!

I’ll be spending the morning on the couch watching the ATP finals in Rome…I do love me some Tennis! This afternoon I plan to get started on my next commissioned t-shirt quilt and I already have another request waiting in the wings!

ttfn…

 

 

Charity sewing

I’ve been doing more charity sewing this week. First up I finished two Busy Bags for the sew-along…now I just need to get them mailed out! This sew along is going on the whole month of May so there’s still time to join in for a good cause.

Bag #1

I found these fabrics in my stash and thought they’d make a cute bag for a little boy.

A look inside…

Bag #2

I found these two fabrics on the clearance rack and scooped them up just for this purpose. The lining fabric is from my stash.

Inside…

Next up is my first finish for the Hands2Help challenge that is finishing up next week – talk about getting in under the wire! I quilted this with large ‘l-shaped’ loops in each rectangle and carried that same motif to the border. This was a lot harder to do on the machine than it was in my head!

This picture shows off the quilting…

And here are a few shots after I put on the binding…

I used a bunch of random fat quarters to make a scrappy back

I still have 2 more quilts I want to finish for this event so I’ve actually taken a few days off from my ‘day job’ next week to hunker down and get ‘er done!

In other news…I finished the commissioned t-shirt/memories quilt. I’m really happy with how this turned out and the backing fabric is perfect for a little girl 🙂 Her mother will be giving it to her later this year on her 10th birthday.

And in case you haven’t heard, there’s a new rage out over the Instant Pot – it’s basically an electric pressure cooker. I have several of the old-style that are used on the stove top but since we have a glass top range we haven’t used them anymore. I waited and waited to buy one until I knew enough people that owned one and still used it…and then I jumped in, thanks Amazon!

I haven’t actually cooked anything yet – lol – I need to get to the store and buy a roast or two.

Lastly, I took a break from my current projects and pulled together all the Cookbook SAL blocks I’d made. I had enough for a lap size quilt so I’m calling this one ‘done’. The SAL is supposed to go on all year but I’ve lost my steam, so I put these up on the design wall and this layout just kind of came to me organically. I had plenty of Kona Snow for the background and before I knew it I had a top! It’s going to need to wait in line to be quilted behind the H2H quilts as they have a deadline!

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No running this week, which is a shame because the 5k I committed to is next Saturday – ugh!! Hey, I guess I can walk it if I have to :-p

That’s all from here…what’s going on in your neck of the woods?

More progress

I put the finishing touches on the Monochromatic Granny Square quilt this week. I had forgotten how much I loved this design! I will admit there are a few issues with my piecing on this as it was done during my early days as a quilter…I sure have learned a lot! The black fabric on the border is one of my favorites and I used it for the back as well.

The lighting in the next picture is pretty bad…but I’ve done something about that which I talk about below.

Up close…

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So excited I finished quilting the tshirt/memories quilt. I pulled a few fabrics to audition for binding and sent pictures to the client. She wasn’t too thrilled with either and reminded me her daughter’s favorite color (right now anyway!) is Mint green. I checked my stash and nope, nothing in mint green…

So it was off to the fabric store! She apologized for making me have to run out for more fabric…after I stopped laughing, I told her it would NEVER be a problem for me to run to the fabric store 😉  Once I was there, I headed to the green section and got a little concerned because there just wasn’t anything in a mint shade – but I kept browsing and finally found a gorgeous mint dot…

I’ll be finishing this up today because I just got another t-shirt quilt job! I’ve been posting progress pictures of this quilt and one of my neighbor’s messaged me about pricing. She has baby/child clothes she wants made into a ‘sofa size’ quilt (that’s what I call a 60×70 quilt), larger than a lap but not quite twin. That size appears to be my sweet spot, lol. She’s running the clothes through the wash since they’ve been in storage for so long and I asked her to use no fabric softeners or dryer sheets as that can interfere with bonding to the stabilizer.

I signed up for some more charity sewing with the Busy Bag Sew Along. It’s not too late to join in, here’s a excerpt from the website:

During the entire month of May, we will partner with Sadie’s Dream to sew Busy Bags (simple tote bags) that will be filled with crayons and art supplies and small toys for children with life threatening illnesses.  Sadie’s Dream is an incredible organization, founded by Jessica and her mother, in honor of Jessica’s beautiful child named Sadie, who was diagnosed with cancer at 6 months of age.

How could I resist! I’ve signed up to make 2 bags, I’ve got the fabric all picked out for the first bag and the free labels I ordered on their website arrived in the mail yesterday. I spent last evening cutting out all the pieces and attaching the fusible fleece. I hope to finish the first bag today. The instructions don’t have the pieces organized by letter but I added them so I could keep it all straight in my head…and my Alphabitties work perfectly!

I mentioned lighting earlier – I was rather frustrated with the light in my sewing room so I went searching for options. A friend had mentioned they switched all of their bulbs to LED and they’re really happy with them AND they last a really long time. So, as I usually do, I went to Amazon and started searching. I found LED bulbs that offer “Daylight” instead of soft white and I was curious if that would be the answer. Now, LED bulbs are pretty expensive – I guess since they last up to 10 years they’re worth it, but it’s still kind of sticker shock when you first see it.

I finally decided to jump in and buy the Philips 462036 100W Equivalent Daylight A19 LED Light Bulb, 6-Pack (this is not an affiliate link although I should become one since I always talk about Amazon :-p )

They look like a regular incandescent bulb and I like that they fit into a regular socket and lamp shade (those swirly halogen bulbs don’t). I went with Daylight equivalent to 100W. When they came in I replaced all the bulbs in my sewing room and WOW-WEE what a difference!! The lighting actually looks like Daylight! I’ve already taken a few pictures (the Busy Bag pieces above was the first one) and without using any photo editing features on my phone the picture looks great!

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In other news: I actually went for a run yesterday…I won’t repeat all the details since I already posted about it here.

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That’s all from here…ttfn

 

Getting ready

I agreed to run a 5k with one of my running buddies and it’s coming up in a couple of weeks. Normally a 5k is no big deal but since I’ve gotten out of my running routine I figured I best get my rear out the door and do a little running. I looked back at my running log and the last time I ran was on April 15…whoops!

The same running buddy put out a call to our small ‘sole sisters’ group about running this morning and I committed. I told her I couldn’t go for a long distance but I definitely needed to run. Unfortunately when I got up this morning she had texted late last night that she couldn’t run this morning as she was given horse feeding duties – she’s an avid horse lover.

Now, I could’ve easily said “yay, now I don’t have to run” (believe me the idea definitely entered my mind), but I decided to stick with the plan…except I waited for the rain spritzing to stop 😉

I opened my C25K app and used the intervals I had loaded from last time – 2 min run, 1 min walk – and I’m glad I did! I wasn’t exhausted at the end but my breathing was a bit labored. Luckily we’ve got a little cold front at the moment and the temps were only in the upper 50’s, there was also a significant breeze so I didn’t have to worry about getting over heated.

My pace and overall time wasn’t too bad…a little slower than when I stick to a routine…but I’m happy with it. And when I got back to the house I took the dog for a short walk while I cooled down…yay, extra steps!