I seem to spend all my time catching up. Sometimes feels like I'm running in place! But, I did manage to finally finish the Americana quilt - sucked it up and appliqued a whole bunch of circles, and called it done!
Also managed to move a few of my ufo's (more applique projects) to the next step.
As far as the diet is going -- not well! Pretty much skated along all month - gained and lost the same 3 pounds, cheated on an ice cream binge, and hardly did any walking at all.
So, here we are at the end of the month, and new month starts tomorrow -- therefore new resolve also. May is going to be a busy/not accomplishing much month. I did make an appointment to have my driveway sealed on Tuesday, so that's a start. Rest of the month I'll be having cataract surgery on the 9th and the 23rd, so I think I won't be getting much accomplished at all while I readjust to eyes that can actually see!
We had another sew-in yesterday, and the ladies brought me more tops to quilt for the homeless, so hopefully I'll be able to at least do some quilting. I've found that when I quilt one and then load the next one right after that I get a lot more finished. It makes it so much easier to go down and start quilting as opposed to having to load the quilt first, which takes at least 30 minutes.
I did manage to clean the entire longarm machine including inside the controller and computer base. Amazing how much dust/lint collects in there. I should probably have someone out to do a thorough checkup on the machine soon, too.
New goals for May:
Quilt 3 new homeless tops,
Quilt 12 kids quilts (I have the tops here)
Do the next step on 3 more projects and then start the round over. I've been doing the next step on applique projects from wherever I left off - however many years ago - and then prepping the next block before I move to the next project. I have different projects in different stages, so some will actually get finished - but not this month!
Get back on the new lifestyle: I've talked with my doctor and got my statin drug lowered to 10 mgs and we've established a goal to lose enough weight/exercise enough in the next 6 months to possibly get off the statin altogether and hopefully 1 or 2 other drugs I take.
So, that means, more home cooking -- and definitely getting back on the exercise track. Shooting for at least 7000 steps every day - and hopefully the weather will start to cooperate so I can do some of them outside.
I also built myself a standing garden this month, so will be planting it in a couple of weeks -- it's only 1' x 2', but it's on my deck and will hold a tomato or two, a pepper or two and some basil. I had a patio tomato last year that really did not do well, and I only got a couple of tomatoes that didn't even taste that good, so hoping for something better this year.
This is what the standing garden looks like. I ordered it from Gardener's Supply and put it together myself. It's self-watering, so hopefully that will help!
Well, that's about it for today.
Until next time....blessings.
Another errand day. Managed to go to Michael's to buy a clock face for one of my crewel-embroidered clocks, went to Sam's - which cost me $200 this time -- I hate going to Sam's - it always costs me lots of money! Printer ink, paper, toilet paper and coffee -- all expensive stuff! Then Woodman's -- the grocery store that has everything -- and I swear I have to spend an hour in there just to find the stuff I need. And I gotta say, this diet is not saving me a bit of money -- I'm spending more now than I ever did - and I'm not buying meat! Then, come home, eat a quick lunch and head back to the blood bank. I flunked the test at the blood bank, so couldn't donate today. My hemoglobin was only 11.7 -- needs to be 12.0 minimum. Maybe next week. I'm on their schedule to donate platelets (apheresis) once a month, so they'll be calling me again!
So now its time to do some computer work. I did get some quilting done yesterday, another homeless quilt done and one loaded on the frame. And I prepped more circles for my applique project. I pinned them to the quilt, but haven't started sewing the little ones on. Although I did get the larger ones sewn on the other day.
I'm back to doing the power point for church on Sunday, so I better get busy with that.
Until next time.....blessings.
Well, here it is Saturday all ready. I've spent the past few days in the sewing room - quilting a homeless quilt, then loading another for the next day's quilting. I'm finally making some progress on getting the quilts finished. I've also spent my time piecing batting (I hate piecing batting - but it does save a lot of money!), and piecing backings for more quilts for the homeless.
And, I try to do something of my own also. Today I finished block 9 of the Primitive Garden quilt and prepped block 10 of the same quilt. Then I moved on to this quilt:
It's upside down in this picture -- even though I straightened it in Microsoft Office before I saved it -- what's up with that?
Anyway, this quilt is already quilted and bound. I love needle-turn applique, but I hate appliqueing circles because mine always have at least one point in them! So, I finished the quilt and decided to make yo-yo's in place of the circles. Sewed a few of them on and didn't really like it. Today I tried sewing buttons on in place of the yo-yo's -- didn't like that either. So....I'm back to making circles and will applique them on carefully in the borders among the stars and vines. I prepped 13 of the bigger circles and thought about the 56 small circles they expect you to add to this pattern! I have a feeling I won't be doing 56, but I will attempt to do as many as I think I'll need. So this is my next project to finish and I'll be working on this one til it is done and outta here - hopefully before summer when I'll be putting out my Americana quilts!
Until next time....blessings.
