2014...year in review

Here were my goals for 2014:

1. Finish at least 14 quilts in 2014
2. Make quilt for M and B (who got married 12/26/13!)
3. Use my stash!  Maybe it's time I started logging on the weekly stash reports that are out there.  
4. Continue to work on FMQ...don't just stipple everything...not that there is anything wrong with stippling, but it's time to branch out a bit more!
5. Make a bag for A (who hinted pretty heavily at wanting one)

and here is what I ended up sewing:

• 8 quilts (xplus, 2 baby quilts, movement in pink, ruby, blueberry cake, surprise, lucky jam)
• 1 table runner 
• 12 Christmas Stockings
• 1 cargo duffle bag 
• 2 Supertotes 
• 4 zip pouches 
• and started a bunch of other projects that are no where near finished!

all in all, pretty happy with how it  turned out!  As to using my stash, well blueberry cake was from my stash (minus the backing).  Movement in pink and xplus were also from my stash.  I've been doing a better job of sewing with what I have, not going out and buying something so that I can sew.  Some of the new quilts I've been working on are also from my stash.  So, pretty happy there.  The bag for A...well didn't happen, but that's because A did not give me any additional info (colors, size, etc).  And the quilt for M&B...that was blueberry cake.  Delivered just before their anniversary.  I did a bit of FMQing...but I also started hand quilting, and that may be my new thing.

2014 was a pretty good stitching year!

something new

I did end up starting something new, just because the urge was too strong, even though I have tons of other stuff to work on/finish.  I snagged the Jellybean pattern by Camille Roskelley, grabbed a jelly roll from my stash, and got to work:

and so far so good

we'll see how far this gets in the next few days.

Lucky Jam

is finished!  I absolutely ADORE this quilt!  I learned so much as I made this quilt, specifically about hand quilting.  This is the first quilt I've ever hand quilted, it's far from perfect, and that's why I love it even more!

Front:

and some of the quilting after it was washed:

Details:
Fabric - Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie&Camille
Pattern - Clovers and Jam by Fig Tree
Batting - soft n crafty
Thread - Piecing: mettler, aurifil; Quilting: Aurifil (machine), DMC Cotton Perle size 5 (hand quilting)

slow days

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!  We crashed pretty hard the day after Christmas, and are moving nice and slow right now.  It's raining outside, and I think I'm going to spend the next few days just sewing.  Starting with Lucky Jam

It's time to get the binding prepped and finally finish this one!  This quilt took a bit of a back seat when I started working on my Christmas gifts, so it's waited patiently for the finishing touches for about a month now.

after that...well, I've got at least one more (actually more than one) quilt top ready to be basted, one quilt (again, more than one) that I'm almost done with the blocks on, so it can be made into a quilt.  And then I just purchased a few more patterns and have the urge to start something from scratch...again!

Christmas surprise

I can finally reveal my secret sewing!  I made this one for my beautiful daughter who happens to be a pretty intense Dr. Who fan.

I've been steadily stitching on it since the beginning of the month.  It got a bit tougher when I decided to make Blueberry Cake , so much sewing, so little time.  I put the final stitches in the binding Christmas morning before everyone was awake.

I think my biggest gift this year was the smile on my baby girls face when she opened it up!

Details:
Pattern - Relatively Dimensional by Hunters Design Studio (on a side note, a fantastic pattern, easy to follow, very clear instructions and the fabric guide is fantastic!)
Fabric - kona solids: Nightfall, ocean, Fog, Silver, Citrus; backing was a random piece large enough in my stash; Police Box and Posting were printed on Kona cotton from Spoonflower
Batting - soft n' crafty
Thread - Mettler (piecing and quilting)

Blueberry Cake

So excited to share the final finish of this one!  I finished it Tuesday night, just in time to deliver yesterday!  I'm incredibly proud of the fact that all of the fabric (with the exception of the backing) was from my stash.  The batting was even a package I had won at the 2013 Sew South!  The pattern was great and the rows went together pretty quickly.  It's a queen sized quilt, so it took time to get everything all together, and was a pain to quilt.  I only did some straight line quilting, and it's far from perfect.  But I really like it and I hope the recipients do too!

Here it is:

Details:
Pattern - Fat Eighth Frenzy by Fat Quarter Shop
Fabric - Top: Blueberry Crumb Cake and Nature's Basket by Blackbird Designs; Northcote Range by Cabbages and Roses; some Prairie Paisley 2 by Minick and Simpson, and some pieces I just don't know.  Backing - ABS Paisley from Hancock Fabrics
Batting - Warm and White
Thread - Mettler

and it's done!

with enough time to run it through the washer and dryer!

update

and now we have a quilt top!!!

I finished the last two rows this morning, then got them all sewn together...now to figure out backing...and of course, get this puppy basted, quilted and bound by Wednesday morning!  Not to mention the other quilt I have to get finished by Thursday morning...and of course, cookies to bake, presents to wrap...back to work I go!

why do I wait?

Why do I wait until the last minute to push myself to sew Christmas gifts???  LOL!  I'm making progress on them, but I'm really starting to feel the crunch.

I've got Blueberry Cake up to 9 rows (only 8 pictured below):

only 2 more rows to go, then it's time to sew them together!  This one is to be gifted on Christmas Eve, so must be ready to go that morning.  Hope to have this one into a quilt top by the end of the weekend.

I've gotten my surprise present quilt top complete...now just trying to figure out when I'm going to get it finished (the recipient is now home from school for the holidays).

I want to make a couple of other gifts (a few bags, a table runner), but we'll see.  Also have some shopping still to do...so that's what Girl and I will be doing today...

So much to do, so little time!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 44-46

Happy Wednesday!  It's been a great week so far for me...I've only been working half days!  My last day of this year will be this Friday, and it will be pretty early in the day.  I'm so excited!

On to my workouts...well, I have been running.  It hasn't been pretty, but after a few weeks of doing nothing, what was I expecting?  I've got 8.9 miles so far for the month.  That's well short of where I would LIKE to be, but have to build back up.  Next race is March 1!

I've moved the majority of my running to the treadmill, now that I have one of my own!  As a family Christmas present, we went ahead and invested in a treadmill, so now I have no excuses (too dark, too cold) to not run.  My goal is not to train this entire cycle on the treadmill, so I will be running outdoors at least once a week.

So that's it for now.  Next WW post will be Christmas Eve...man how this year has flown!

WHAT!!!!!!!!!

there are less than 2 weeks to Christmas!!!!  Full on panic mode here...not really...but kind of...

I have had very minimal sewing time this week...so I'm a little behind on my Christmas sewing.

I did spend a bit of time working on Lucky Jam, trying to get the hand quilting done

I have 1 side of the border and about 1/4 of another side left and this one will be ready for binding!

And tonight I set about working on my Blueberry Cake quilt (see last post), but was about out of pins (I actually have more, just wasn't feeling like opening those up) due to all the HSTs waiting to be sewn (pattern makes use of the trimmings created from each row for another quilt), so I spent a bit of time sewing those

I have about half of those pressed, nothing trimmed yet...that's a project so far on the side, so I'm not concerned right now.

Good thing I'm only working half-days for the majority of next week before I'm off for the rest of the year!  So no need to panic...still have lots of hours available!

progress

5 rows done, 6 to go

I'm already worried about trying to quilt this one!  (It's queen sized, I have a queen sized quilt that has been waiting to be quilted for 2 years...and this one I need done by Christmas Eve!!).

Best get back to work!

sew happy!

Between my last post and today...I've been doing a pretty good job of getting some stitching done, and I'm thrilled!  It feels great to be feeding my creative side.

I finished up the final 6 stockings:

and then finished up a scrap table runner (scraps from this quilt I finished last year):

and managed to get the last block of my Lucky Jam quilt hand quilted (only the border left to finish!):

and here is the fabric pull on the quilt I'm starting to cut out tonight (hope to gift this on Christmas Eve!):

and I've done a bit of super secret Christmas sewing also...can't share any pics of that yet!  and now back to slicing and dicing!

sparkles everywhere!

Last weekend I got 6 of the 12 Christmas stockings (first mentioned back here) completely assembled and delivered.  Thankfully, I have everything cut, stitched and prepped for the remaining 6 and only need to get those assembled.

The longest part of this whole process was getting everything cut out and prepped:

Assembly goes fairly quickly:

and my friend is thrilled with the results:

I'll tell you though...I will never sew with that sparkle fabric again...(and now that I've said that, I'm sure something is going to come up that will require it and I'll be sewing with it again...oh well).  I've got sparkle everywhere!  

Anyways...lots of other sewing to get done!  I finished up a few more blocks on my Lucky Jam quilt:

Only one block and half the border left!  I can't wait to get this one finished!

Besides that, I have some super secret Christmas sewing to get done...plus a table runner I started December of last year that I would like to have on my table for Christmas this year...

and about 100 other things I still want to finish by the end of the year...

Off to spend the day in my sewing room!  

Wellness Wednesday....Ep. 42-43

Happy Turkey Eve! 

Not a lot to say today other than I've pretty much taken the last two weeks off from running (I ran once).  And now it's time to get back in gear.  Every so often you just need to take a long break.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

holiday stitching craze

I'm have been completely swept up in the upcoming holiday season and have plans to stitch up about 1000 things by Christmas.  Likely will not get 1/2 of them done...I'd be happy with a handful...

First up, still working on hand quilting my Lucky Jam quilt, finished another block this morning:

leaving me 4 more and the border to finish.  I want this one ready to go by Thanksgiving...so we'll see.

Next up I need to get about 7   (make that) 12 Christmas stockings made.  I made some for me, Guy and Girl last year, using Camille Roskelley's Merry pattern.  This year I'm making some for a friend of mine.

And then Girl wants her own version of the Skull quilt (last seen here).  She has now informed me she'd rather have a Tardis quilt...thankfully there is a pattern for that over here.  Figure that would be a nice Christmas gift...

and then I've decided I really want to make B&C a quilt...think I'm going to use the Fat Quarter Shop Fat Eighth Frenzy pattern...a larger version of it at least.

and then I want my Red Letter Day quilt finished so I can do some hand quilting on that one too...

oh and I never finished that table runner last year...so that would be nice to have ready for this Christmas...

I better get moving!  Fabric store here I come!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 41

the story of the epic fail...

I ran my 3rd half marathon over the past weekend.  And it was the worst long run I've ever had.  I felt terrible from the start, my legs were tight, my back was tight, everything was just yuck.  But I finished.  (there were moments I thought I was going to quit).  And I got my medal.  And then I hung out with my good friends and had a good time.  Then end...

sort of.  I was so incredibly upset and disappointed when I finally finished the race.  I was embarassed and felt terrible.  And then I got over it.  I had no choice...was I going to wallow in it and ruin the rest of the weekend?? NOPE! 

and then I learned something about myself...I'm a RUNNER.  My first thoughts after getting over the disappointment was when will I run next and when's my next opportunity to set a new PR for my half.  I was already planning on when I'd start back running this week (I've since come to my senses and am giving myself a few days off of running and working out in general).  Feeling the urge, the motivation, the true desire to get back out on the road so quickly is when I truly realized that I am indeed a runner.  I will never be the fastest, I won't set world records, but dang it...I'm a runner. 

So there ya go...

Wellness Wednesday...Ep 40

Well, it has come down to this...only 2 days and a wake up until I run half marathon #3!!!  I feel great, not sure how fast I'll be this weekend, but at this point I just want to get it done!

And that's about all I have to say for now!  I'll recap the race next week and start looking at my approach to my spring races.

Have a great week!

weather and sewing

Maybe all I needed to kick my mojo into gear was for Fall to really make an appearance...and it has!  Of course we had a bit of wintery weather mixed in with it, but it's all good.  We had a good cold rain (with a little bit of snow mixed in!) over the weekend and it was like a switch had gone off...MUST SEW!!  So I finally got my Lucky Jam quilt (pieced way back over here) basted and ready to quilt!

I did some stitching in the ditch to kind of get it all anchored and together

and now I'm working on some big stitch hand quilting to finish it off!

I'm thoroughly enjoying this project!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 39

Not really much to report.  I have been very slack the past week in my running.  I did get a 6.2 mile run in over the weekend, but I've not really done anything else.  I hope to get another short run in this week, another 6-7 miler this weekend and then not much til the race next Saturday.  My running mojo seems to have taken a hike with my sewing mojo.  I need them to come back!

Did a bit of something...

about a month ago, I pulled out this pattern and stack of fabric

and did some cutting and fusing:

and ended up with 3:

now I need to actually get borders sewn on and then the panels sewn together and quilted and all of that.  This is a wall hanging for my Girl who is a huge fan of Halloween...hopefully I'll finish this by next Friday...

I've missed sewing, need to find my mojo and get back to it!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 38

My training has been pretty slack the past two weeks...and I definitely felt that when I went out for a long run this past Sunday...so instead of my usual weekly update, I'm going to give the story of my long run, mile by mile...

I woke up, not sure if I even wanted to run, so I relaxed for a little bit until I worked up some motivation (read this story, if that doesn't motivate a runner to go run...I don't know what will), and headed out the door.  My plan called for a 12 mile run, I was thinking I'd be happy with 10.

Mile 0: turned around and went back in the house, forgot something
Mile .03: turned around and went back into the house to get my water bottle full of nuun I had left sitting on the counter
Mile .06: discover water bottle is leaking, complain loudly about this fact to my husband who was running with me at the time
Mile 1: weather is great, legs feel good, this little hill coming up ain't bothering me at all
Mile 2: man, I'm feeling great, the hills aren't feeling that bad
Mile 3: maybe I could go 14 miles (my plan called for a 14 miler the following week) today, this water bottle is starting to bug me, I should fuel soon (I use Honey Stingers during my long runs); how far is it from the end of the one road to the road I'm thinking of turning on to...I'll measure it
Mile 4: this stupid water bottle is driving me nuts, I'm a little slow on the pace today, but not too bad, I think I'm actually going to enjoy running 12 miles
Mile 5: (hubby has swapped out my leaking water bottle for a bottle of water by this point) headed towards the high school, this route is a little hilly, I'll walk a little if I need to
Mile 6: feeling good!!!
Mile 7: it's hot (it was around 55-60 degrees), I can feel the salt on my skin...I'll turn around at 7.35 miles, that'll put me around 11.5 or so when I finish, I can live with that
Mile 7.35: keep going to the stop light, remember it's a lot of downhill on the way back...feeling ok
Mile 8: woohoo!  time to turn around...feeling good, I got this, maybe I can do 13...
Mile 8.7: (hubby brings me another bottle of water, asks me how I'm doing, do I need a ride) I'm feeling good!  no way I need a ride...oh, you are thinking of going and running errands...why don't you wait a half hour just in case
Mile 9: DOWNHILL!  WOOHOO!!
Mile 9.3: this sucks, I should have gotten a ride, I'll try to make it to 10 miles then I'll see how I feel
Mile 10: f*ck this; I'm not running up any more d*mn hills...I'll walk up the hills, then run down them, who cares how f*cking slow I am right now (on a side note, when I develop runner's potty mouth, usually a sign I'm bonking); I'll call at the end of this road for him to come pick me up, every inch of me is covered in salt, I should have run with the busted water bottle, it had the nuun, this d*mn bottle of water is not cutting it
Mile 10.5: wow...only about 2 miles to go...let me try to keep going...man my feet hurt
Mile 11: I'm slow...so slow, I'll never finish the half marathon in the time I want, everyone will be at the finish before me
Mile 11.8: right now I only have about .7 miles left, that's awesome, if I add a little bit I could make this run a 13 miler...my feet say "b*tch please" , probably should just finish
Mile 12.3: start the cooldown, everything hurts, I am so slow, this run sucked
Mile 12.6: done.  finished.  I'm a crappy runner...

So there you go...that's pretty much all that was going through my head on my absolutely terrible (second half at least) 12.6 mile run.  I was so down when I finished.  It took a few hours for me to recover, and today I look at it and go...man, that was some pretty gutsy running that day.  I was defeated mentally, but physically I could still go; my heart took over and I even considered adding a little more to finish with 13 miles (thankfully my brain said no).  Sometimes you need the difficult runs to realize your training has paid off and to trust that you can finish.

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 36 and 37

Gonna keep this short and sweet.  I'm on track!  LOL!  My last long run was 11.3 miles (went great!), then this past week was a cutback with my weekend run of 6.2 (it was awful!).  I haven't really run this week yet, in part due to the weather, in part due to my work schedule.  I hope to get a run in tomorrow.  I've got the Walk for Life on Saturday, then I plan to get in a long run on Sunday.  I'm hoping for 12-13 miles, but that will depend on how I'm feeling.  I'm only a few weeks away from Half #3!!!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 35

(just ignore the fact that it's actually Thursday)

First...wow, it's October???  It feels as though September only lasted about 10 days.  I'm happy for fall though...cooler temps for running is what it's all about!!  I have entered the last month of half marathon training (woohoo!) and I'm getting excited about the race.  I had a 10-mile run that couldn't have gone better on Sunday, and that's after a string of great runs.  So of course yesterday was a crappy 3.5 mile treadmill run (was aiming for 4-4.5).  I have a love/hate relationship with the treadmill.  There are times I love to run on it, there are (long) stretches of time that I absolutely hate it.  Yesterday was a combination of things...my legs were feeling a bit flat, my stomach wasn't happy, and I just couldn't get a good pace going.  Of course the last half mile felt great and I almost wanted to continue on, but thought it better to call it done.  I'm planning on a 4 mile run tomorrow and then 11-12 on Sunday (all outdoors!), and then a cutback next week.

Now...I mentioned last week that I had decided on a Spring half and I'm so excited about running the Cowtown Half Marathon on March 1st!  Even better, my mom is planning on doing this one with me!  So I won't be running for time, just running to finish and support my mom along the way!

Wellness Wednesday...week...something or other

I'll figure out what week I'm on next week.  For now, wow, it's been awhile since I did a wellness wednesday update, last update was closing out August, and now it's almost October!  So here is where I'm at...I got some good mileage in for August, my long run will be 10 miles this weekend, and  I took a week off in the middle (actually last week).  Last week was supposed to be a cutback week after a long run of 9 miles (which I totally rocked).  I ended up not running at all between the 9 miles on Sunday to this past Sunday where I clocked in 4 miles.  Which leads me to today's topic...exercise guilt.  That feeling you get when you "know" you "should" be running (or working out) and you just...don't.  Missing a run here or there, no big deal...missing a week's worth...the guilt can be overwhelming.  However, sometimes you just need to not run.

Last week I was dealing with a lot of stress due to work.  My back had knotted up so badly due to the stress and tension I was carrying around that I was in a bit of pain.  So instead of worrying about NOT running, I took some time to do a little bit of stretching and lots of massage/rolling of my back. By the time Sunday came around, I was able to run and feel good.  Running in the middle of the week would have probably led to a terrible run, which would have generated a lot of negative feelings, and (knowing me) crushed my confidence in a long run.  There are days that a bad run is NOT better than no run.

So I recovered this week, my mileage for the month is at 32, the weather is great, my stress levels are low, and I don't feel bad about missing those runs.  I am looking forward to my long run this weekend, and I know physically and mentally I'm prepared for it.  This is the most excited I've ever been for a 10 mile run...now I just hope I can live up to my own hype!

That's where I'm at right now.  I am looking to get a new pair of shoes to start rotating in with my old pair so that I can prolong the life of the old ones.  I have almost 6 weeks left before my half marathon, so I'm feeling really good!

In other race news, I've decided on a spring half, (so very excited) and I'm actually considering adding another spring race.  This would mean running two half marathons within 3 weeks next spring...but that's a decision to be made at a later date.  After my race in November, I'll decide if I'm ready to tackle two races so close together.

catching up...

wow, feel like I had abandoned this blog...turns out I had, but only for about 2 weeks!  I hope to be back with a giant catch up wellness wednesday post next week, but for now, I'll just catch up on some sewing.

Still working on my Red Letter Day quilt, finished up block's 5 and 6 this morning:

Block 5:

Block 6:

I'm actually kind of sick of these blocks...I love the finished product, and I really want to get this quilt top complete...but I want to work on something not Red Letter Day!  I need to finish something...anything at this point.  So I'll try not to feel too overwhelmed and just dig in on something this weekend.

Revisiting goals...

August started out so well sewing-wise...and then promptly dropped off into never land around the middle of the month.  Oh well.  I have only one question at this point, is it really September???  This year is flying by, so I thought I should revisit my 2014 goals, see where I'm at, how far I have to go, or if any of my goals need tweaking.  So here they are with current status in red:

1. Finish at least 14 quilts in 2014 finished 5
2. Make quilt for M and B (who got married 12/26/13!) not sure what I want to do with this one
3. Use my stash! Maybe it's time I started logging on the weekly stash reports that are out there. have done halfway decent with this one, I've added, but far less than usual 
4. Continue to work on FMQ...don't just stipple everything...not that there is anything wrong with stippling, but it's time to branch out a bit more! yeah, pretty much still stippling
5. Make a bag for A (who hinted pretty heavily at wanting one) this one is coming off the list as A hasn't bothered to respond to my requests for colors

Not too shabby.  I have several quilts that are at the flimsy stage, they just need backing, quilting and binding.  I have another that just needs borders added and then the same backing, quilting and binding.  So I think I still have a chance at Goal #1.  #2 is where I can't decide if I want to give them a quilt that is already in progress, or make them one from the start.  Most of my quilts in progress right now have no designation...they'll probably end up staying here at my house.  So I need to take a little bit of time and come to a decision on this one.  #3 I've been pretty good with.  Yes, I have added to my stash, but I've been a bit more choosy about what I've been adding.  So I'll call #3 on track.  #4 and #5 are just there, I don't see a whole lot of progress being made on those in the near future.  I will think about those and decide in the next few days if I want to revise those goals, or try for a push on them in the next few months.

Well that's it.  Football starts again this week, so I plan on spending plenty of time in the sewing room while I watch my beloved Red Zone! 

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 30

and this Wellness Wednesday finds me...well, not so well.  I've have a headache that has lasted close to two weeks now.  I've tried sinus meds, allergy meds, pain reliever, nothing...I think it's just the incredibly dry weather we've been having (I hope!), but it has depleted my energy a bit.  I did pretty good last week, but this week I'm feeling just plain drained.  Thankfully this is a regularly scheduled "cut back" week, so I don't feel so bad that I've missed a run, and I have zero plans to make it up (at least right now).  For the month I'm at 41 miles, so progress is good there.  My long run on Sunday was 7 miles, and felt pretty good.  Again, I just wish I was a little faster right now.  This will come with time, I just have to trust that.  On a different note, I did try a little "speed work" on the treadmill last week, and I hope to incorporate a hill run weekly as well (also probably on the treadmill).  I think changing up my week day runs to incorporate both speed and hills will help alleviate some of the boredom I occasionally feel on the treadmill.  I am also hoping to acquire a treadmill for myself one of these days.  I don't mind using the one at work (am very thankful i have this option), but some days I really would rather just get home and at least be here when Girl is working on homework and stuff.  Big picture...I've still got two months, I'm feeling pretty good with my running, still need to work on cleaning up my diet a bit more, but overall satisfied with where I'm at in training!

wellness wednesday...ep. 29

Happy Hump Day!  Woohoo!  I'm so happy for this week to be mostly over!  We started High School yesterday...and I'm already more worn out from that than my regular job!

anyways...this week's edition focuses on speed...as in the lack of speed I've been displaying on my runs.  I'm struggling mightily with my pace (i.e. I feel like I'm not going fast enough) so my runs lately have been more of a mental battle than a physical battle.  What I'm trying to determine is if my pace has really dropped off that much, and if so, why has it dropped off...or if it's just I'm expecting too much this early in the training cycle.  If my pace has really dropped off that much, then I need to look at if I'm over training or if I'm doing too much and over training.  Personally I feel that I'm doing the right amount, so that makes me think that this is mental.  It's the game of "why aren't you faster by now" and "you were so much faster last training round" vs.  this is where I'm supposed to be right now/I'm only 3 weeks in to training there is no way I can be that fast.

I figure I'll give it a few more weeks and re-evaluate (unless, heaven forbid, I injure myself or exhibit further physical decline).  My half is still a long way off, so there is time to work it all out.

My goal for this next week is to re-introduce cross-training days, I've slacked on them quite a bit and I know I need them to truly be successful.

Mileage for the month is just a hair over 30, so I'm pretty happy with that as well.

That's all I've got for today...catch back up with you next week!

surprising myself

with the amount of sewing I've gotten done the past week.  Of course most of this was between last weekend and this morning...but I'm really happy with how much I've actually gotten done!

I completed two more blocks for my Red Letter Day quilt:

and then I started a pillow for my girl using Tula Pink's Coastal Cruiser pattern:

and then I tried some hand quilting (which I really enjoyed!):

working on an iPad case also for my girl:

I used this tutorial from Freckled Whimsy.  She has a case on her iPad mini already, but she'll be taking her iPad to school this year and asked for an additional case that could go in her backpack and give her a little extra padding.

So now...last weekend of summer...I think we're going to try and have an adventure!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 26-28

Brought to you on a Thursday!  It's been a wild and crazy few weeks!  This is going to be a short catchup post...and hopefully will get back on track with the weekly update next week!

I took the last week of July off from just about everything.  I was working nights and was way too tired to consider working out.  It works out great that I did that, as the next week started up official half marathon training for my November half. 

I am very glad that I had been doing many short runs just working on my running basics because it made the transition to an actual training cycle pretty easy.  I also feel I do better when I'm in a training cycle.  I'm much more motivated to get out there because I know I'm working towards a goal of finishing a race (and hopefully in better time than before). 

So far for the month of August I'm up to 17.7 total miles, with my long run so far having been 4.5 miles.  I'm aiming for 5.5 - 6 this weekend and then I'll take a step back next weekend to "recover" before going for 7-8 miles.  I'm hoping to actually build up to around 14-15 miles for my final long run before the race.  We'll see!  My ultimate goal is to make it through this training cycle without injury, so that I can finish the race and then return to training pretty quickly not long after the race.  I'm very very tempted to add another race this year, in December...but I gotta see how that all is going to work out.  I'm also looking ahead to next years races...and I want to do more than I did this year.  And on top of all of that...I'm seriously considering trying to do a full marathon before I turn 40...which means I have a little bit of time to work towards that...but not much!

So that's pretty much where I'm at right now! 

last bits of summer...

In a few minutes we are setting out to my Girl's high school to pay fees (yuck) and pick up her course schedule for her freshman year.  I'm still not 100% ready to accept that she is indeed now a high schooler...but this is real life, and it is indeed happening...so I guess I can just have a bit of a sob about it later and move on.  I have to say that I am a excited for her...she was accepted into a challenging academic program that focuses on her favorite subjects, science and math.  This is not the school we are zoned for, we are very lucky to live in a school district that offers "school of choice" for the magnet programs and she was able to apply and was accepted into this high school's program. (after the "school of choice" application process...I'm dreading even more the eventual college application process...but that's a story for another day).  So basically...this all means that summer is coming to a close.

About a week ago I started a new quilt using the Red Letter Day pattern by Camille Roskelley.  I decided to pull out my Fox Field fabric by Tula Pink (background fabric is Kona Silver) and got to cutting:

and so far I have two blocks finished (somehow I have yet to manage a picture of the first block finished, but it is indeed all together):

and this one:

and I love it so far!  I'm excited to get this all done!  But for now...off to high school I go...and then I still have to go to work today...urg...I'm ready to just stay home!

ALYoF...August Goal

Well, after falling short of my goal in June, and not even thinking of setting a goal in July...I'm back for the August edition of A Lovely Year of Finishes!

This month, I want to completely finish my Lucky Jam quilt:

The quilt top was finished as my February ALYoF goal...so it's only fitting that it sat for that long and now is back as my August goal!

I picked up backing fabric today...so now I just need to get the back pieced, and then on to basting, quilting and binding!

Collecting...

I've been doing more collecting of fabric lately than cutting/sewing/quilting of fabric.  Considering how badly I'm itching to get sewing...it's been hard to figure out WHAT to sew!  Anyways, while I work through that particular dilemma, figured I'd show you some of the recent bits and pieces I've been adding to my collection!

In June we took a little family mini-cation to western North Carolina and took a slight detour to Bless My Stitches Quilt Shop in Murphy, NC where I picked up:

a yummy bunch of chevrons, and the Jaybird Quilts Snacktime pattern and Hex n More Ruler:

and a fun panel and a bit of yardage from the Keep it Sassy line by Olive Sandwiches:

At the end of June, the Quilting and Knitting Expo came to Columbia and I picked up some fabric to go with the Which Witch pattern from Crazy Old Ladies that I also picked up at Bless My Stitches:

and then I finally broke down and purchased the Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful (I've been eyeballing this one for a while!) and I picked up a pattern to go with it:

Now here in July, I did a little online shopping and ended up with:

A couple of yards from Dreamin' Vintage by Jeni Baker:

I couldn't resist the Jungle Ave line by Sarah Lawson:

and I'm pretty sure Mustang by Melody Miller for Cotton + Steel is one of my most favorite fabric lines ever, plus I couldn't resist the butterfly print from Moonlit by Rashida Coleman-Hale:

(deep down I'm really sad that I didn't order more, have you seen their basics line???)

and this morning, I downloaded the Red Letter Day pattern by Camille Roskelley.

And maybe you can see my dilemma...I want to sew ALL THE THINGS, with ALL THE FABRIC...but no idea where to start!