Keep on keeping on

Another small victory today…I ran again this morning – yay!

I had set an early appointment for my fur baby at the groomers so after I dropped her off I grabbed a quick bite to eat and hit the street. Before I left, I used MapMyRun to choose a route that would get me 3 miles and send me over a few hills…funny how hills don’t scare me like they used to but that doesn’t mean I like them any better!!

The temp was a cool 58 degrees, it was overcast with a bit of a breeze. I wore a short sleeve tech shirt and capris which was a little chilly at the start but felt wonderful after I warmed up. I set the app for my normal 3/1.5 interval for 9 repeats, if I kept a decent pace I should be able to get to 3 miles.

The first mile went by without much notice, near the end of mile 2 I was starting to feel kind of tired. My legs and lungs wanted to call it quits…but I talked them out of it, lol. I negotiated with them all the way to 3 miles and then realized that I could do 3.1 (5k) in less than 39 minutes so I kept going for that extra .1! (the app gave me credit for a little more but I’ll believe the Garmin since it’s only function is GPS).

I’m so happy with my pace and time…woohoo…maybe all is not lost like I was fearing.

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I also did a little sewing tonight…I finished the May block for Sugar Block club and I tried my hand at curved piecing for the first time.

That’s all for now…G’night!

New ironing surface

OMG, I’m probably way more excited about this than I should be but I’ve been wanting to get a new ironing board surface for months now and it’s finally happened!!

Many thanks to Regena at Distinctive Designs Quilting for posting her project! She made one back in Feb, I showed it to my hubby and asked for one of my own 😉  It took a couple of months but he finally put it together today and we finished it off with batting and cotton duc fabric. It measures 20×58, woohoo!

These pictures are not the best but here it is:

Oh, I’m just so excited to have so much pressing space available – YAY!!

I can take the top off when necessary as I plan to use my ‘regular’ ironing board when I’m starching fabric.

ttfn…

 

The 10k that wasn’t

I had planned to run a 10k on Saturday. I paid for it over a month ago and even made sure everything was ready the night before. I charged up my Garmin and earbuds, set out my Gu and put the water bottles in the frig. I knew what I was going to wear and I mapped out directions to get there.

And then the alarm went off at 6:30am and I said “nope, not gonna happen”. I turned off the alarm and rolled over; as Paula at Never a Dull Bling put it: I chose sleep over running. I also kicked myself for the rest of the day for making that choice. Ugh!

So here I am with my next 10k scheduled for June 11. This one is going to be rough – I know that going in because it’s being held right here in my town and the neighborhood lives up to it’s name “River Hills”. I did a quick mapmyrun preview of the course…look at these elevation changes!!

I’ve got 5 weeks to prepare so this time there are no excuses…GET ‘ER DONE!

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On a different note, I’ve finished up another quilt. This one is for a charity drive being coordinated by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict called Hands2Help. I wanted to make a quilt that could be used by a male as well as female so the colors I chose were a little more deep and earthy. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I finished it with a few weeks left before the deadline…yay!

I added a label tonight using the character function on my sewing machine…not too shabby!

It appears I’ve picked up a new sewing technique…English Paper Piecing. One of the folks I follow on IG put up tutorial and I figured what the heck, let’s try it. It involves hand sewing which I’m not very good at so this would give me some practice. I downloaded the Hexagon templates, printed and cut them out and I made two before bed Saturday night… now I’m up to 36!

My brain needed a result to work toward so I picked out 7 and made a hexi flower shape and appliqued it to a 10″ layer cake square I had left over from another project…this has now morphed into a potential baby blanket.

I really like where this is going…and I’m using up scraps, WIN/WIN!

That’s about all for now…G’night!

Memory Quilt finish!

This post will be light on words and heavy on pictures…

THE MEMORY QUILT IS FINISHED!!! Woohoo!!! I looked back to see when I started on this and it was early Feb…so it’s taken me about 10-11 weeks to finish. Not bad for my first 😉

I tried to get some pictures outside in natural light but didn’t have a lot of help (just DH and he wasn’t really ‘into it’).

…and here’s the reveal:

The “BS” on the backside are her late husband’s initials

This is big enough to fit across the top of my king size bed…in either direction

I did all the quilting on my domestic Pfaff…free-motion large meandering

I’m exhausted…ttfn and G’night 🙂

A quilty finish

I started this quilt back in January when we had bad weather and I was ‘stuck’ indoors all weekend, I’m calling it Low Tide Lagoon after the names of the charm packs I used. The top was sitting idle for a while waiting for border & backing fabric inspiration. I was browsing online last month and came across the perfect fabric for both on 5bucksayard.com (their selections change frequently so this link will not take you to the fabric I bought).

The border fabric is a light aqua with little white fish and the backing is a deep teal with a water motif (see close up below). Once the border & backing were done it sat again for a little while until I got my nerve up to quilt the ‘water drop rings’. I got the inspiration for that design from Quilty Habit and thought it would be great since this quilt has water inspired fabrics.

We were supposed to be in Charleston, SC this weekend for a car show but Wednesday my fur baby hurt her back left leg – thankfully nothing serious – but she was hobbling around favoring the leg and there was no way we could leave her with friends and go out of town. So what else does one do with a few days off work and no where to go? Oh, and as luck would have it my Pfaff was serviced and picked up Wed afternoon…woot woot!

So, yesterday I pin basted the layers and after a little planning I dove in (pun intended!). I chose to free motion the rings which gives it a bit more organic (aka amateur) feel. I haven’t washed it yet so I’m hoping the ‘not exactly round’ rings will look a little better once the fabric crinkles. Finished measurement is 43×52.

Now it’s back to the sewing room to work on a some WIPs & UFOs…hoping I can get a few more completed before the weekend is over.

ttfn…

A quick note

I know I just posted earlier today but I wanted to share a couple things…

I was outside earlier today with my fur baby and noticed our purple azaleas had really exploded with blooms and then I looked a little closer and saw a pop of deep pink blooms on the inside…I’ve never noticed that before!

And speaking of my fur baby, this is the best shot I could get…she hates having her picture taken!

For reasons I’ll explain in a minute, I got focused this evening and finished piecing the top for my Hands2Help charity quilt; all that’s left to do is square it up.  Now I’ll have a few days to contemplate what I’m going to do for backing.

Lastly, I’ll be on a little sewing hiatus for the next 5 days…for a couple of reasons. First, my Pfaff is going in for service tomorrow and it won’t be ready until Thursday – but – we’re going out of town on Thurs for the weekend. Hubby is taking his new corvette to a car show in Charleston and I’ll be tagging along. The weather looks promising so we should have a good time.

I snapped this impromptu shot in the driveway this evening

ttfn and … G’night 😀

 

 

 

Quiet but not idle

I seem to have skipped the last 10 days in blogging…oops! Let’s see if I can catch up in one (not too long) post.

I’ve been sewing & quilting:

1. I finished my Teddy quilt. I free motion quilted using a couple of different motifs – a first for me! I used matchstick quilting in his tummy & feet…connected circles in all the color squares and meandering in the white.

2. I made a spring/summer table topper using applique for the flowers and then I free motion quilted leaves using a contrasting green thread.

3. I started another quilt (surprise!), this one for an online charity group called Hands2Help. I have no idea where this design idea came from but I’m really loving how it’s looking and I’m learning a TON about piecing diamond shapes :-p

4. I’ve fallen a little behind on The Splendid Sampler blocks but here are a few I finished recently

I also finished piecing the back for the memory quilt and now it has to be basted – ugh, I hate this part! I asked DH to help me this afternoon cuz it’s definitely a two person job 😉

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I’ve also been running, not much, but I did go out two days in a row (what was I thinking?!) I had slacked for 9 days and knew I needed to ‘get er in gear’ so I went out Friday after lunch and put in a short 2 miles.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about using my new FlipBelt…I LOVE IT! So much so, I bought a second one so I’ll always have one clean and ready. (p.s. they’re offering a 13% discount using the code FB13 and standard shipping is free!) (p.p.s. no, I’m not getting any kickback).

The one on top they call Carbon and the bottom is Violet. The water bottle in the middle is the 11oz size and I got two of them.

These feel like a second waist band when they’re on and they stretch to fit whatever objects you put in them…like my phone and the water bottle. Once I have everything in place, I just ‘flip’ the belt over so the slits are facing my body and nothing moves!! It’s great…and SO much better than running with a big old fanny pack :-p

Now back to the running…my stats from Friday; I’m still following the same intervals of 3 min run/1.5 min walk but I’ve been running a different route that takes me over some pretty big hills in my neighborhood:

Garmin 4.8.16

One of my running buddies hasn’t been feeling well, she came down with the flu and hasn’t run in over a week (maybe I took a ‘sympathy break’ with her, LOL) so when I asked if anyone was running on Saturday I didn’t get any takers. Plus it was cold here Sat morning (39 degrees in SC!) so I waited until after lunch and went out for a planned 3-4 mile run – yes, on top of the two I had run on Friday.

I followed my normal intervals and took the same hilly route but the added difficulty was the wind – ugh! It was pretty darn breezy with gusts up to 20 mph and of course it was NOT at my back when I hit the hills – double ugh! By the time I finished 3 miles my legs were done in.

Garmin 4.9.16

Ok, I think I’m all caught up for now…have a great Monday!!

 

 

 

Hobby Lobby haul

Made it to Hobby Lobby tonight and had to check out the clearance bin. The four fabrics in front were all on clearance so I got a yard of each… except for the green froggy flannel, I got two yards of that one. No particular plans for any of these just really liked the prints so I figured I build my stash.

The burgundy fabric on top is to finish the backing on the memory quilt; the green and black starburst fabric is just for fun!

They also had all of the Coats & Clark quilting thread on sale, they’re clearing those out to make room for their own brand of thread… so of course I gobbled up shades of yellow, neutral and white, I can always use that.

I’ve got the burgundy material washing now so I can cut it up and start working with it tomorrow. I don’t usually pre-wash my fabric but the shirts used in the memory quilt are already pre-washed so need to make sure the new material is as well.

I have more fabric arriving tomorrow, a few Fat Quarter bundles I couldn’t resist from the fatquartershop.com and some other fabric that was on sale from Missouri Star Quilt Company…squeeee, I love getting fabric in the mail!!

That’s about all for now…

On a star kick

Believe it or not I’ve started another star quilt…I’m calling this one Woven Star because it looks like the legs are intertwined. I pulled this pattern off Pinterest and thought I’d give it a whirl.

I was feeling orange & yellow so these are the fabrics I pulled

I cut 5″ squares for each of the sections and the background…realizing a little too late that I should’ve cut the background squares at 4.5″…duh! Oh well, there was only a little bit of waste. It wasn’t long before I had the HSTs done and the layout up on my design wall.

From there I started piecing the rows across and then down.

And now I needed to contemplate the border…should I do scrappy or solid? I chose to go with scrappy so I could use up the remaining FQ pieces however I didn’t have enough to go all the way around so I pulled a couple more ‘orangy’ FQs…and Ta-Da, it’s done!

It measures 40.5″ square…and I have no idea what I’m going to do for backing and quilting but I’ll figure that out tomorrow.

I still haven’t been to the fabric store to get more yardage for the memory quilt but I have my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow night and Hobby Lobby is just around the corner…wink, wink!

ttfn…and…G’night!

 

Neglect

I just realized I haven’t posted anything here since my last race earlier this month…what!? My, time can really fly when you’re not paying attention 😦

I must admit I haven’t been doing much running so maybe that’s why I haven’t been posting. Since I completed that Half  (with a personal best time), I seem to have fallen off the running wagon – ugh! I’ve only run once in the last two weeks {{{smh}}}

Saturday the 12th, I met up with Laura and we did 4 miles. I had taken a few brisk walks during the week right after the Half but didn’t do any running. Those 4 miles felt pretty good but I was tired by the end. After that…nothing. I was supposed to start a new challenge with Kirsten of The Blog Runner to run at least 1 mile every day…but unfortunately I haven’t done it (so sorry Kirsten!!!).

I’ve come to realize that unless I signup for an organized run I just won’t get out there and do it…damn, that’s sad! So, tonight I did some searches and found a 10K run relatively close to me on April 30th and I’m signing up. I’m hoping one or more of my running buddies will be interested too but even if they’re not, I’m doing it.

I also made another purchase today – I bought a FlipBelt. I’ve been running with a pretty large ‘fanny pack’ for the last few years and I’m really just tired of it. Yes, it holds everything I need (and then some) but I really don’t like it anymore. A FlipBelt is a pretty simple idea – a spandex fabric tube shape worn around the waist/hips that has slit openings to hold things. Once it’s all loaded up, you ‘flip’ the belt so the slits are facing your body. I sure hope I like it :-s

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On a brighter note, at least I’ve still been sewing and making quilts. I’ve completed the top for the Memory Quilt and it’s huge!! Here it is laying across my king size bed 😮

I have several pieces of shirt left so I’ll be incorporating them into the backing but will need a few more yards to finish it. I’ve also asked the recipient if she’d like her husband’s initials appliqued on the back and the answer is Yes! Once all of that is done, I’ll tackle the basting & quilting – I have a feeling I’m going to need to enlist DH to help 😉

I’ve also been keeping up with The Splendid Sampler QAL – here are blocks 6,7,8,9 & 10

And I’ve been following along with the Sugar Block Club – here’s March’s block

As if all that wasn’t enough, I finally finished the Lush Lagoon top mentioned here. I added a border of teal fabric with little fishys and I found a deep teal water motif for the backing – all on 5bucksayard.com. I highly recommend their fabrics and the prices & service are excellent too! I’ve got it up on my design wall with the backing underneath just to make sure it was big enough – because the water motif was directional I couldn’t cut and add to the selvage…so, I added an 8″ section of the border fabric to the backing – problem solved! Now I just need to baste & quilt.

I think that’s about all the sewing updates for now…whew!

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Linking up with Let’s Bee Social

 

ttfn…and…G’night 🙂