Quilting and traveling

I traveled to Maryland last week to visit with family and attend my great niece’s 5th birthday party. It was a quick trip, flew up on Thurs and back home on Sunday. This meant I was not home (in Myrtle Beach) when Hurricane Ian came to visit. DH was home alone and thankfully the worst he experienced was a power outage for 90 minutes – whew!

Even though Maryland was getting rain from the far reaching outer bands of Ian on Saturday, the birthday party was a huge success with 11 kids! They set up the bouncy house in the garage, had a ‘formal’ tea party setup in the playroom and a painting station on the screen porch. And of course a bunch of finger foods and adult beverages for the parents.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took

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Before I left I had basted the Heart Strings quilt and started quilting on it. I found a free-motion design in one of the quilting books I’ve had for a while and decided to give it a go. I’m not thrilled with my execution of the design but I’m not going to rip it out either!! I plan to do a variation of ribbon candy in the white spaces between the rows of hearts.

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I’m still eating Mediterranean style and loving it. I’m down 14 lbs since I started back in June and I don’t feel deprived. I am not counting calories, I eat when I’m hungry and with all the fruits, veggies, beans & grains I’m eating I don’t crave sugar anymore 😮 Even at the birthday party this weekend, I did not want to eat any of the cake. We still go out to eat quite a bit and that’s not a problem, most restaurants offer veggies as a side so I just double up on those. I think the biggest shift has been mental – I eat what I’ve ordered and I allow myself to order more IF I’m still hungry… but that’s never happened. If I get hungry later I’ll have some fruit or some nuts. Getting processed foods out of my diet has been amazing 🙂

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The monthly sewing club meets for the first time next Monday and I had a call tonight from another neighborhood resident that wants to join us – yay! She’s a garment sewist and I told her she was more than welcome! I’m not sure yet what project I’m going to take with me but I still have 5 more Swoon blocks to make and I’ve already picked out the rest of the fabrics so that’s a possibility. Or I could baste one of my UFO’s and take that for free-motion quilting… hmmm decisions, decisions!

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That’s about all for now… I’m a day late posting so I’ll sign off by saying Have a great rest of your week!

Distracted

Nothing happened in my sewing room this week because I was properly distracted by watching Wimbledon! Yes, I could sew while watching but I haven’t. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying each match to the fullest and it’s been awesome!! Unfortunately not every match has turned out as I hoped but it’s still been great having the freedom to watch as much as I want now that I’m retired!

My pick for Ladies winner got knocked out yesterday (Swiatek) so now I think I’ll pick either Badosa or Halep to win it and conveniently they play each other tomorrow! My pick in the Men’s draw (Djokovic) is still going strong and should make it to the finals.

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I finally broke down and called a house cleaning service to come give us a quote for 1x month cleaning. I had been thinking about it for quite a while (over a year) however I kept telling myself that I could do it… but honestly I just haven’t been doing a good job of it. This cleaning service was recommended by two other people in our neighborhood and to my surprise she came by on Monday to give a quote and we had our first cleaning on Thursday! Ahhhhhh, it’s so nice to have someone else clean :-p Our house wasn’t filthy but it was dusty and I admit I haven’t been cleaning the nooks & crannies. The initial cleaning was $210 and the monthly service is $150. I’m very pleased with the job they did!

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I mentioned last month that I started following a Mediterranean eating lifestyle and I gotta say I’ve been loving it! All the fresh veggies, beans and grains have really kept my sugar cravings under control. And I found out I really like quinoa…this is the first time I’ve ever had it and I’ve been using it in salads and even warming it up for breakfast (like I would oatmeal) and throwing in blueberries. I’ve also been enjoying cutting up veggies for my salad bowls and it looks so pretty!

An added bonus is I’ve lost 3 pounds without really trying – yay! And I feel better too, much less bloated!

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That’s all for now! Hopefully I’ll get some sewing in this week and will have quilty pictures to share next week 🙂

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Summer Book Club QAL

I’m still plugging away putting together the Tall Tales blocks for the book quilt. I’ve got 24 books made with only 12 more to go.

36 blocks will make a 45″ square quilt, perfect for donating 😏

I haven’t started cutting for the Positivity 2022 QAL but this is only the first week and those blocks should come together more quickly than the book blocks!

I haven’t made any progress on my Rainbow Postage quilt for the APQUFO challenge…ugh, time is just slipping away 🫤

Same goes for the Pink Houses quilt…it’s still hanging over my ironing board all basted, waiting to be quilted.

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I’ve started exploring Mediterranean style eating to try to help with weight loss. 5 times this week I’ve made myself this delicious salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, bell peppers, chickpeas, kalamata olives, banana peppers and feta cheese. I even made my own olive oil & red wine dressing. It was so yummy!! Where has this been all my life?

That’s about all for now…enjoy the rest of your weekend!!