Denim Quilt finished

We have a special friend of the family going off to college this year, and I thought a denim quilt would be the perfect thing for a young man's dorm room.

A simple pattern with diagonal quilting to modernize it a bit... easy to care for... just the ticket.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Stitching on the road

I was traveling for a conference and loved my little bit of quiet time with Netflix and some stitching. I'm working on a couple of Christmas ornaments to commemorate a family visit this summer. They're small projects that require just one color of thread. Perfect for taking a long.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cross stitching in progress

My year long Santa's Village is coming along. Half way through and I've stayed up-to-date.

 

I've finished a couple of other smaller patterns that I'm stitching up to be a bag to carry my iPad around work. It's obviously still in progress.

 

The first is a Black Bird Designs pattern from their Honeybee Hill booklet.

 

The other side will feature a parrot from the Fall 2008 issue of Sampler & Antique Needlework. Since parrots are native in this area, I've been collecting parrot patterns when I see them.

 

The embroidered flowers and leaves are inspired by the book Jardin Reve, jardin brode by Cecile Franconie. Her blog is absolutely beautiful, and I ordered the book from Amazon Francis. The book is well worth the hefty shipping price.

 

The lace is hand dyed by me, and the leaves and flower petals are from wool that I have been hoarding saving, as are the batiks I scored in a 5" square swap.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

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.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

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!

Posted with Blogsy

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.

Posted with Blogsy

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.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy