Purple and Pounds

Gosh, I guess I should update the 13-weeks status. Funny how that has slacked off.  The idea of finishing a quilt each week kept me refreshed and eager to post something new, but I'm sure not putting much out here with the new goal of getting rid of stuff and finishing.  I'm definitely going to have to rethink this!  I AM still losing a pound a week, though (sometimes more), and I'm very happy about that. Still walking 6 miles most days - sometimes even in the rain (as long as it's really just a heavy mist and not a downpour!) So progress continues to be made.  The holiday season is here, though, and now it will be more challenging to resist those goodies that are everywhere at this time of year.

I have this much of "purple" done:

It's off to the quilters for now - sometimes that's just an intermediate step! - and then the rest of the "stuff " will be added.  I'm thinking I probably should have made the sashing bigger. The blocks are 6", the sashing is 1" ... I think a 2" sashing would've worked better, so I think I'll grab another basket of scraps and try it.  Soon.  As soon as I have an opening in the quilt schedule ....

Well, you just never know what life will REALLY bring, in spite of all your plans! That's what makes it so fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

My life as a disorganized mess!

No, not really a mess. And really not all that disorganized, although sometimes things start to bug me.  I think the right way to phrase it is that blogging hasn't made it to the top of THE LIST until this moment. I've been too busy doing STUFF!

On Monday, a group of us took a Batik class with Wendy Tatter (of St. Augustine, FL).  Here's all our stuff, drying yet again (many drying cycles when batiking!).

Wendy holds classes at her house, which is charming in an indescribable way!! I think the most important lesson I learned that day was that it's ok that my priority is "There's art to be made!!!". I learned this by being so charmed with Wendy's "messily endearing" house. I'm sure some people need everything "just so" - but I rather enjoy the unexpected! The collection of Pez dispensers in the crazy kitchen was ever so fun! No more fretting for me - there's art to be made!

Gretchen and I were very early for the class, so we went to a Veteran's sculptural memorial for a quick visit.  I love this bird ...

...and this view

Ah, Florida! I sometimes wish we had cold weather, but .. not on this day. It was glorious!

Here are all the pics from that day - all with the Ipad. I kinda like what the bright lights did to the photos. It's funky! I'm a Flickr newbie (and certainly no photographer!!)  but hopefully you can see everything.

More to come this morning, but enough for this post.  Thanks for stopping by!

Gymnasts, Royalty, and other stuff

Tomorrow I head out to the World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach, FL. Ah, 3 days of gorgeous quilts and shopping. How can that be bad?  I thought I better hurry up and post before I leave since I am, once again, behind.

I'm still meeting my goal of losing a pound each week. This reasonable expectation really has made life easier. I eat pretty much anything, just not everything. And of course I feel better. I've become kinda hooked on exercise - even to the point of walking in the rain twice last week.  A mild rain ... kind of a heavy mist really ... but still, rain.  I listen to books when I walk and zone out the rest of the world.

I didn't exactly finish anything last week ("finish" meaning the project is completely done - no more work to do on it): I got sidetracked by those red tumbler blocks I cut with the GoBaby a couple of months back. Here's how they started:

Here they are, a little further along, and borders being auditioned.

And here's the final product (I decided against any of the other auditioned borders ... too much red).  Soooo .... instead of getting something finished, I now have another top waiting to be quilted! I can't help myself - I enjoy it too much.  I named this one "Communist Gymnasts".  Ha!

Here's another group of little blocks that sort of fell out of my sewing machine this week (the "royalty").  You'll have to check back next week to see what they grow up to be!  Even I'm not sure yet!

And that was my non-eventful week. Check back over the next few days for pics from the quilt show.  Thanks for stopping by!

Friday

Progress continues on the jacket. One of the sleeves is on so I'm just about done.

I've decided to take a leap a day for the rest of the year by trying something that I don't know how to do.  I tried a couple of journal pages - just adding color so they'll be ready for journaling ....

I have a lot to learn but at least I gave it a try! :)  I spritzed the pages after adding the color, but didn't get much movement/removal of the ink.  Ah, sooooo much to learn!!  (I DO enjoy the learning part!!)

I've started sewing together rows for a red tumbler quilt:

These are just tossed up on the design wall & will be getting shuffled a number of times, I'm sure.  Earlier this year I cut up all my red scraps using my GoBaby.  I was going to add another color, but decided to stay with just red (for the center) for an "all reds clash beautifully" sample.  The tumbler blocks finish at 3".  There will be lots of dups, but not next to each other in the final quilt.

This will be a small piece - just about 30" x 42" (or maybe just 36" or 39" if it gets too out-of-proportion) before borders. This is another thing I want to do ... work smaller.  These smaller pieces will be experiments, practice, sample pieces ... and at some point in their life, they'll be just the right size for wheelchair quilts.  So far I'm liking the red tumbles!!!!  I can't wait to see where this little piece goes.

And that's my day!  Thanks for stopping by!!

Monday, Monday

(HA! I wrote this on Monday & here it is Friday already!!)

Good progress! I got the binding sewn on one of the pink cancer-lady quilts; another one added to the handwork stack!

Cancer-ladies Quilt

There are only 3 in that stack, which shouldn't take me too long.  One of these days I'll attempt the "binding by machine" technique, but I admit that I do enjoy doing the handwork part so it may be awhile before that new venture.

I got a back made for the wonky circles quilt shown here:

Wonky Circle Quilt

Now it can go to the long-armer to be quilted.  I really like this quilt and will be happy to see it finished.

I got a good start on this jacket today:

I tried using folded accent strips (instead of raw-edge).  I like the look much better. The fold leaves a definite impression on the lining, but I think the neatness will be worth it.  One of the threads I used for the accent stitching has a lot more red than appears on the spool. I decided I like it anyway - it gives a funky pop of color.

I just love making these jackets!   I need to find just the right buttons for them, and that's half the fun!  I have enough buttons in my stash to use on these and digging through all the button boxes is always an adventure!

I closed up sewing-shop early to be ready for any trick-or-treaters. We usually don't get many, but actually had some this year. It's the most fun to see the wee ones! I wish the world hadn't gotten so scary.

That was my Monday - how was yours?

Thanks for stopping by!

13 Weeks of Autumn - What's up, doc?

Happy Halloween to all my ghoulie & goblin pals! You'd think I could've done something Halloween-y this week, but I didn't.  Progress continues, though!

Another pesky pound has found it's way to some other equal-and-opposite-reaction place. An old "stereo" finally made it's way out of the house & will be Freecycled. And I finished this quilt:

Here's a closer shot, showing the cool bubble quilting:

Sometimes there are interesting things to talk about, but most of the time life is just day-to-day non-eventful (in a GOOD way). Still .... this is my place to keep track of things so here are some things.  I got this binding attached, so now it only needs the handwork: (I really like this quilt! It makes me happy to look at it. I will most likely keep this one for my own collection.)

And see all those threads on this batting?

Well, those are the thread snippets from de-quilting this little quilt: (which is showing only a corner ... it's not really that small!)

This quilt, and another just like it, were my experiments when I first got my long-arm machine. Needless to say they are horrible, so I've been de-quilting them so I can re-quilt and donate them. (they're perfect for kids, and LOTS of kids are homeless or in temporary shelters with almost nothing).  The de-quilting is somehow relaxing. Probably because it's totally mind-numbing yet there's the satisfaction of seeing progress made. (Hmmm.... can you "make progress" as you "un" something? (de-quilting = un-sewing). Well....actually I guess you can.

And that is my progress from the week and from the day. Don't eat too much candy! Don't get "skeert" by any wee spookie ones tonight. And most of all thanks for stopping by!

13 Weeks of Autumn - Update

Seriously. How does time fly by me so quickly?  Two weeks of updating to post!

OK I'm 3 weeks into the Autumn version of 13-Weeks, Reset version. I have indeed lost another 3 pounds. I have learned that the weight-loss effort is what's eating so much of my time. I walk 6 miles most days (I can't really say "every day" because some days it's not possible - or I'm just slugging!), and this takes me 2 hours.  Yea, I'm a slow walker, but still ahead of everybody on the couch! :-)  Also, since I'm not trained to be a healthy eater, this takes time as well.  The bottom line is - the getting-healthier issue eats up the largest percentage of my time and energy; this is OK with me!!!!

"Stuff" is getting out of my house. In the last two weeks I've gotten rid of stacks of books and more clothes.  I've also been sorting through and purging quilting projects.  Some projects that I start simply will not be finished by me, so I've prepared them for the Honeybee Retreat quilt-sale-room.

And I have completed projects. In week 2, I finished the Tennessee Puzzle quilt (see it here), and this week I did this jacket:

I want to make a bunch of jackets for my CA trip now that I know what kind of weather to expect.  This will be just enough!  I cut out a bunch of them during the Camden Retreat at Epworth By-The-Sea last weekend, so I'll be working on these for the next few weeks.

So .... 13 Weeks continues onward! I can deal with 13 weeks ... I'm still unsure of my ability to commit anything for a year, though! :)

Trivial stuff I want to keep track of:
What I'm reading: Fiction - To make a long story short, Jeffrey Archer. Classic - Uncle Tom's Cabin, Non-fiction - The Passion of the Western Mind, Richard Tarnas