Mystery project revealed

I started this project months ago, with the goal of finishing it time for Mother's Day ... Mission Accomplished!

 

After my dad died in 2006, I packed up a bunch of his jeans and twill pants and hauled them 1,000 miles to my house. I completed quilts for my brothers pretty quickly, but the quilts I had planned for my mom and I have taken a little longer.

 

Of course I've since missplaced my quilt book so I hope to update soon with the pattern and designer name.

 

 

The patriotic colors are fitting for his service in the military, and I thought the X's and O's made for an obvious name: "Hugs and Kisses." Made in memory of my dad; given to my mom on Mother's Day.

 

 

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Vitamix update

So after my rather sludgy first attempts, I have hit upon some excellent smoothies/snacks by using milk and frozen fruit and greens. It produced a creamy, soft serve ice cream texture. It was an especially big hit with the kids when I left out the greens. :)

 

I've been looking up recipes instead of using a shotgun approach, which consisted of putting everything I had in the fridge in the blender, and that's working out better too. I haven't been disciplined with the rest of my diet to have any weight loss, but my nutritional intake is way up, according to My Fitness Pal.

 

Baby steps!

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Vitamix: Day One

I'm determined to develop healthier habits and so I took the plunge and ordered a Vitamix - a refurbished one from their website. They said it would take a little while to ship, and it did. Meanwhile I've been pinning green smoothy recipes on Pinterest. I watched the documentary "Fat, Sick and Almost Dead." I read the book "Salt, Sugar, Fat." I've scoured the "Blender Babes" websites. I'm ready.

So here I am, Day One, with the main goal of incorporating more healthy food into my life and subgoals of losing 15 pounds or so, avoiding morning fast-food drive bys, and reaping the benefits of clearer skin, blah blah blah, - all the great stuff kale and blueberries are supposed to do for you.

Today's morning smoothy included: apple, carrot, celery, fresh pineapple, banana, tons of spinach and a few ice cubes. It is silky smooth, courtesy of the Vitamix. It tastes... like a LOT of celery. Why? Celery doesn't even have an overwhelming taste. It must be the spinach that I'm really tasting. It's rejected outright by the oldest teen and the youngest chokes down two sips. Well, more for the grown ups. It kind of thickens as it sits in the fridge waiting to accompany me to work.

I go ahead and blend up the lunch smoothy to take with me. I'm a little nervous about how it will look by noon, so I throw in some lime from my tree to help preserve it. Menu: Black grapes, pineapple, carrot and spinach.

BAD idea to try to take my allergy pill with it. That did not go smoothly. But I'm optimistic. The taste definitely wasn't bad and I can get used to the texture. I have lots of fruit - mango, strawberries and bananas - that I popped in the freezer this week as they were about to turn, so that will keep the menu enticing for a while.

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My tension is causing me tension

So I adjusted the sewing machine tension when I loaded up the new thread and ended up with a big mess on the back of the quilt. Time to get out the machine manual and play with it a bit to get back on track.

 

 

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Santa's Village

In December I joined an online stitching group called Stitching Santa's Village Together. Each month Country Cottage Needleworks is releasing a new pattern (12 in all) for a building in the village. I am stitching them all on one piece and plan to either frame it or make it into some kind of wall hanging.

 

I think it's turning out really cute, and the on-line community is keeping me motivated not to fall behind. I'm adding the candy cane border on the side, which was an idea I read on the blog, and will eliminate a couple of other borders in between the rows to make it more cohesive as one piece. I switched out some of the recommended threads in the borders for overdyed and I love the way it gives depth to the berries, the branches, and the candy cane stripes.

Although it's taking up much more of my crafting time that I had anticipated, I'm really pleased with it, and my family likes seeing the village under construction as well!

 

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Secret Project Stalled

In the spirit of using up what I have, I've emptied every spool of ecru thread in my possession, and I'm only about half way through quilting. There is no store in this town that sells cotton thread. I have looked. I'm stalled until I can make it to the next town over....

 

 

 

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I'd like to buy a consonant please

 

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