Sam's Diet Update #8...

I figure it's about time for another update on Sam's diet.  It's been a month since I last reported on her progress.  I weighed her this morning and she's lost 0.7 lbs!  Unfortunately, it's the same 0.7 lbs she lost back in the beginning of January.  Between then and now she managed to gain it all back and we've been struggling to take it off again.

She's very, very sneaky and has managed to find food in unexpected places.  I can't let my guard down for an instant.  Mr. Quilting Bug isn't on to her tricks and whenever I'm out of town, she manages to pull a fast one over on him and get extra food.

Do you see the food in her bowl?  That's actually a full portion for her.  She gets the same amount 3 times a day.  How she's not as thin as a stick is beyond me.

However, she is getting around better now that a little of the weight has come off.  Her joints don't pop with every step she takes.  I've also been able to stop giving her one of her medicines.  Both positive side effects.

Of course, there are some negatives too.  She's obviously not happy with the whole diet thing and isn't remiss in letting me know.  She's cranky as all get up - except for those days she's on her happy medicine.  This medicine is supposed to help alleviate any pain or discomfort she's having, but I'll admit I give it to her sometimes to give me a break.  (Is that wrong of me?)

We started her diet on July 4th, 2010 and so far she's only lost 1.6 lbs.  She needs to lose at least another 2.  At this rate, it'll be next year before she makes it.  I wonder if I can hold out that long.  Please pray for us...

So as of today, Sam's new stats are...

• Starting Weight - 17.9 lbs
• Target Weight - less than 14 lbs
• Last Weigh-in - 17 lbs
• Current Weight - 16.3 lbs
• Net loss - 0.7 lbs
• Total Weight Lost - 1.6 lbs

Until later...

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

Stash Report Week #8 (back in the red)...

February 19 - 25, 2011

So I managed to stay in the black for a total of one week. On the positive side, I caught a cold and had to skip going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival yesterday.  I can only imagine what my totals would have been had I made it to the show (and vendors).

Yesterday I went to Quilts Like Crazy to see if they had any fabric I could use for the backing to my Mystery quilt.  Even though I bought one of the fabrics in the quilt from there, I had it stuck in my head that they didn't have very much of it left.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong.  (How often can you say that?)  I bought 6.5 yards of this black batik to use for the backing and binding.

As for what I've accomplished this week, that would be pretty much nothing.  I worked a little on my Winter Wonderland block (see last post), but have spent almost no time at all in my sewing room lately.  I've been very run down this past week and I'm finding it hard enough just to get done the things that have to get done.

So...
Purchased-this-week: 6.5 yards
Used-this-week: 0 yards
Purchased-to-date: 42.5 yards
Used-to-date: 38 yards
Net used: -4.5  yards

I'm not even going to guess if I can make this up next week.  I still feel like crawling right back in bed and pulling the covers over my head.

This is a picture of my parent's cat Cricket from last weekend.  I love these kind of shots...

Until later...

“Trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection.”  

Psalm 62:8 (NCV)

Snowflakes up the wazoo...

Not the wet cold kind, but more the thread and needle type.

I've mentioned before that my mom and I are both working on making the quilt Winter Wonderland by Crabapple Hill.  (You'll have to click on the link to see a picture of the whole quilt.)  She's doing hers in blues and creams and I'm using neutral colored flannels and black floss for mine.

Our first step is to embroider the ten blocks that make up the center.  When I visited her last weekend, she was working on her very last one which also happens to be the biggest.

Mom's Winter Wonderland Block

 She only had a tiny bit left (which she's since finished) of one of the trees and a few snowflakes.

Didn't she do a great job with her embroidery stitches?  She used a deep blue DMC perle cotton for hers on Bone colored Kona cotton.

I'm actually working on the same block.  It's not my last one; I still have two more to go after I finish it.  But after hearing her talking about how hard this one was compared to the others, I thought I'd go ahead and get it out of the way.  I'm like that in most things.  I generally do the hard or unpleasant tasks first and save the more enjoyable things for last.  It gives me more to look forward to.  In any case, here's how far I had gotten on mine when we compared...

The start of my block

Hmmm.  Not very far at all.  Each block has a lot of snowflakes with millions of tiny circles.  (That's only a slight exaggerration.)

See all those circles?  As another example of getting the hard part over with, I'm stitching all the snowflakes (and their circles) first.  I believe there are 22 of the devils in this one block.  However, since I took this picture, I've managed to finish all of them and have moved on to one of the trees.  Those are much easier and more enjoyable to stitch.

As I mentioned, this is block #8 for me and I have 2 smaller ones to complete after this one.  I'm eager to finish them so I can get back to some hand applique.  I'm on block 11 of this quilt and I hope to actually finish it in time for Halloween this year...

Baltimore Halloween by P3 Designs

Pearl P. Pereira designed this Baltimore Halloween quilt and I have to say that her patterns are a pleasure to work with.  There are several others I'd like to do and in fact, I'm getting her Baltimore Christmas one as a block of the month right now from Shabby Fabrics.

Until later...

“Let us stop just saying that we love people. Let us really love them, and show it by our actions.”  

1 John 3:18 (LB)

Twisted Rope (Wrap Up!)...

As I mentioned in my stash report, this quilt is done!  In fact, I've already delivered it to it's new owner and she immediately put it on their bed. So this is my wrap up post on the quilt and after this, I shall cease to mention it.  Or maybe not.  I really like this quilt. 

When I last posted on it, I still had some quilting to do in the borders.  I added a feathered heart to the border on each side. I drew the hearts on the Golden Thread quilting paper, quilted over them and just tore the paper away...

After I removed the paper, I went back and added circles to the spine here and on the rest of the border.  Although not difficult to do, it was rather monotonous...

Here's a look at the border from the back.  The quilting shows up really nicely (in person) on the dark green backing.

She particularly liked the feathered wreaths in the open areas.  Donna Sontag quilted them for me using the HQ Pro-Stitcher.

 What's great about this quilt is there is no top or bottom.  It's square and can be oriented in any direction.  You could even use it with the backing side up if you wanted.  So here it is finished...

It's really hard to get a good overall picture of such a large quilt.  This is a picture of it before I finished the borders and put the binding on...

The stats for this quilt are:

• Size: 113" square
• Fabrics: Williamsburg Centennial Collection 1780-1880 (blue), Charleston 1850-1865 (green), Tidings by Nancy Halvorsen (cream), Summer's End by Kansas Troubles (backing)
• Batting: Quilters Dream Cotton Batting Request Loft
• Thread: Superior Threads So Fine 50 wt in various colors
• Quilting: Custom (mostly feathers)
• Started in April 2010, completed February 2011.

So that about does it.  It feels so great to have finished this quilt (my largest one ever), but it also make me want to make one for our bed.  But I think I need to finish a few smaller projects before starting another one this big.

Until later...

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance”  

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT)

Cats and boxes, bags and fabric...

If you have a cat, you know how much they love boxes, bags and fabric.  I thought I'd pay a little homage to these creatures and their obsessions... (Note: I took the first three pictures all within the last week.)

David on the freezer

Cricket in a basket

Moses in my duffel bag

David on the washer

Jack on my Christmas table runner

Moses in the laundry basket

David in my sewing box

Jack on my sewing box

David in a cardboard box

I've got lots more pictures, but I think I'll stop here.

Until later...

“Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”  

Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

Stash Report Week #7...

February 12 - 18, 2011

This report is way overdue for a couple of reasons.  First, I was out of town visiting family over the weekend.  Second, when I returned home, I couldn't get on the internet.  You never know how much you depend on something until it's no longer there.  Our router died and we had to wait for the new one to be delivered and for my awesome and talented husband to install and configure it. 

I was rather eager to write this report because it will finally put me in the black!  For only the second week this year, I bought no fabric.  (This was supposed to be the norm rather than an anomaly...)

And this week, I managed to complete the largest quilt I have ever made to date - Twisted Rope.  I'm planning to do a wrap up post on this quilt soon so I'll spare you all the details other than to say it finished at 113" square.  I used 11.5 yards for the backing and binding.  I also had 2.25 yards left of one of the fabrics that I gave to the quilt's new owner.  So that was 13.75 yards for this one quilt - plus I can finally say it's done!

Twisted Rope

Early last week, I also worked on a couple of table toppers and a table runner.  I posted about it here.  I used 2.5 yards for all 3 items.

So...
Purchased-this-week: 0 yards
Used-this-week: 16.25 yards
Purchased-to-date: 36 yards
Used-to-date: 38 yards
Net used: 2 yards

Yippee!  I'm in the black!  Except I need to buy 6 yards for a backing next week, so unless I really get to sewing, this won't last long.

Until later...

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.  

John 13:35 (NLT)

In the meantime...

I'm almost done with the Twisted Rope quilt I've been working on.  I finished the quilting yesterday and I'm in the process of hand stitching the binding to the back.  It will be nice to put the last stitches in this one - probably this weekend.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some pictures of Jack I took a couple of days ago.  I've never met a cat that enjoys being petted and scratched more than her- as you can tell from some of the pictures...

I don't know that I'll blog much in the next week.  Besides finishing the binding on this quilt, I'm traveling this weekend and I'm super exhausted and need to catch up on some rest before then.  If I'm not back before next week, have a great weekend and enjoy the warm weather! (It's supposed to be in the upper 70's here.)

Until later...

Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. 

Proverbs 3:9-10 (HCSB)