The End of February

For being the shortest month of the year, February sure takes its time leaving. Guess it's because we're so tired of winter that we're really looking forward to March and spring.

This is the project I've been working on for the past month -- mostly on the sewing days at Kris'. It's Bonnie Hunter's Starstruck quilt. I brought it home this week and have started putting it on the design wall. I have the top six blocks sewn together, but whenever I go past the room, I add more parts of blocks. Next I'll pin a few and sew them whenever I get the chance. It's going to be a big quilt, so it'll be awhile before I finish it. But, I am loving it already. I've been meaning to do this quilt for years, and am glad I finally started it.

I've also been doing some applique this month and finished sewing the binding down on this quilt today. It'll be a gift. The pattern was from a magazine that I was going through and tearing out patterns to file and I decided to set it aside and do it before I filed the pattern. I made some changes to the original, some intentional and some not! I noticed after I had the top together and was quilting it that I left out the sashing strips altogether! Oh well, that made it smaller and it worked out okay anyway.

Other accomplishments for February: I've lost about 5 pounds and have managed to exercise at least 5 out of 7 days a week. My fasting glucose still hasn't come down much, so I'll just continue exercising and counting carbs and testing myself.

I did manage to get the guest room closet cleaned out and put back together this month -- hope to do some more work in that room in March.

And, I managed to get the taxes filed online -- it took me all day, but we won't go into that!

Gratitudes:

Taxes are done for another year.

I'm making progress on my weight loss, deep cleaning jobs, and my quilts.

This and That

Not much to report on lately -- just been plugging along at this and that. Today I tackled the guest room closets again. I pulled everything out that was on the floor (I've already done the top shelves). I vacuumed and shampooed the carpet in the closet and did the woodwork. I'll give the floor plenty of time to dry and probably put everything back on Friday.

It's totally amazing how much "stuff" I can put in those closets!

I did go through the bins and boxes and threw out a few things and put the Christmas stuff with the other winter/Christmas stuff, etc. I've been putting off finishing this closet just because I was not looking forward to going through all those bins. I told myself I just needed to pull everything out and I didn't have to do the bins today if I didn't feel like it! After I got everything out, it really wasn't too much of a hassle to organize the bins after all.

There's a pile of quilts that I had stacked on top of the bins -- they'll probably go right back on top -- I don't have room anywhere else for them. There's a pile of jackets and robes -- at least one is one of Steve's high school letter jackets -- guess I can get ride of some of that stuff -- and pass it on to the rightful owner!

Anyway -- a finished job that I procrastinated on far too long. Now maybe I can get back to deep cleaning the rest of the room.

I have been doing some cutting of strips and organizing my strip drawers in the sewing room -- still have a lot to do with the scraps, but that's one of those ongoing projects. I've been doing a little applique here and there, too -- just no finished blocks.

Our AJ turned five last week -- time sure has a way of speeding up. Will got his first haircut (yeah, it was overdue -- but he looked so cute with his blond curls). Now it'll probably turn brown, darn it.

Happy Valentines Day

These are my Valentines from AJ and Briana. I could hardly get in the door yesterday because AJ was so excited to give them to me! I went up there yesterday so Steph could do her room mothering duties for Briana's class and I got one on one time with the grandsons. I did send them cards for Valentines day, but they didn't arrive yesterday -- I hope they did today. I never did get around to making any postcards though. Everything's been kinda crazy around here for the past week or so -- I'm looking forward to some down time -- starting today.

I've been diagnosed with Prediabetes (used to be known as borderline diabetic). I have 6 months to lose weight and eat right to bring my blood sugar back to normal or I'll have to be put on meds. I've had my first meeting with the Diabetes Educator at the hospital, and also with a nutritionist. I actually cook heart-healthy meals and have for 22 years, but it's my portion control and snacking that is out of whack. Consequently, I have a new toy -- a glucose monitor. Not so much fun paying attention to time (2 hours after my biggest meal I have to check my blood sugar), and for someone that can eat a dozen Valentine cookies in one sitting, not so much fun cutting back on the junk so I can lose the weight. I did finally get back on the treadmill today, which felt good -- I haven't exercised in over a week. I've also been told to eat a snack at 8 pm -- which for me is not easy when I'm actually trying to lose weight. But it supposedly can make a difference when I do my fasting glucose check first thing in the morning (and that's the one that is out of whack). I don't want diabetes -- so I'll do whatever it takes. And both my kids are now aware of the problem, so they can start earlier than me on cutting the junk and eating healthy and exercising -- in fact, Steve and I have a weight loss challenge going. And Steph is going to challenge a friend of hers to drop one unhealthy habit each. It's a start!

After a couple of hours of paperwork and reading all the info I've collected this week on diabetes, I did actually do some quilty things. Well, not exactly quilting, but I cut tons of strips today to feed my scrap bins and cut some extra to trade with Kris. I made one block to see how I'd like it -- a fussy cut dog print surrounded by bright sashing fabrics. I have a stack of different dog prints that I think will end up being two or more quilts that I'll probably donate. I have 4 different sashing fabrics -- primary colors -- and I think these will make great kid quilts.

Gratitudes:
I have 6 months to whip myself into shape. This was a wake-up call and it actually forces me to lose the weight instead of constantly talking about it and losing nothing. It also forces me to exercise, and I do feel better when I do, so that's a good thing.
Grandchildren.

Valentine's Quilt

Not a lot going on around here, but I did hit a new to me quilt shop the other day and picked up a couple of charm square packs (I can't remember the name of the line, but it is by Sandy Gervais). So I made this quick quilt for our table and made a couple of napkins to match -- the napkins are 9 patches with the same fabric as the border on the quilt lining them.

It was fun to just do a quick project and put it on the table for this week. I've been plodding along on piecing my Starstruck quilt from Bonnie's site and doing hand applique on my Primitive Garden quilt.

Gratitudes:

My brother's back surgery went very well. The surgeon was able to remove a large cyst from his spine and clean out the area and check the nerves as well. He already has a lot less pain, especially in his hip, which had been excruciating.
We've had spring like temperatures for a few days -- it's been great, but we'll be back to normal winter by Wednesday.