Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 17

Once again, Wellness Wednesday brought to you on a Thursday!  Our house has been crazy this week, wrapping up the last bits and pieces of middle school...in a week I will officially the the parent of a High Schooler!!  Ack!!!  Anyways...here is last week's plan and how I did in red:

• Wednesday: 3 mile run 3.4ish treadmill
• Thursday: yoga 1 hour yoga class
• Friday: bike rest
• Saturday: 3-4 mile run 3.1 mile run (5k race)
• Sunday: rest 40 min yoga video
• Monday: 3 mile run 4 mile run
• Tuesday: yoga 1 hour yoga class

I have been wanting to expand my yoga practice outside of the two classes a week.  I'd like to take more classes, but my schedule and the class schedule don't mesh up too well.  I've been exploring some online classes/videos, and so far...I'm still exploring.  In a few weeks my work hours are going to shift around, so I may actually be able to take more classes, but that would only be for a short period of time.  So I'll continue to explore what's available online.  I had a WOOOHOOO! Yoga moment on Tuesday...I held crow pose for about 1 second!!!  Considering last Thursday I could barely do the pose on my tip toes...Tuesday was huge!  Sometimes you just need to here the instructions from a different person or in a different way...get your brain thinking about things slightly different and see what happens!  Now for next week's plan:

• Wednesday: rest
• THursday: yoga
• Friday: 3-4 mile run
• Saturday: yoga
• Sunday: 4-5 mile run
• Monday: rest or yoga
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and yoga

Have a great rest of the week!

ALYoF...May Finish!!

Woohoo!  Glad to be back on track with A Lovely Year of Finishes!  After missing my April goal, I chose for my May goal (link #26) to make a baby quilt by the end of the month.  Specifically, yesterday, as the baby shower was yesterday afternoon!  Happy to say I finished up my Strawberry Jam quilt:

Back:

I basted, quilted and bound in about 3 hours yesterday morning (love how quickly you can take a baby size quilt top to a finish!).

Details:
Pattern - Jelly Roll Jam
Fabric - top: Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree; backing - California Girl by Fig Tree
Thread - piecing: Mettler, quilting: Aurifil
Batting - Hobbs

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 16

I am so happy to be able to say that I'm finally over that ridiculous cold!  I still have a little residual cough, but not enough to keep me from being active! 

So on Monday I ran for the first time in 2 weeks (and it felt great!  I bought a new pair of running shoes on Sunday!) and last night made it to yoga (again, first time in 2 weeks).  Of the two...I think yoga was tougher.  I as seriously dripping sweat last night...my shirt was soaked by the time we got finished.  But it felt GREAT!  And even better, another person in the class told me "good job"...and that they had thought to themselves as class was going on "that girl is working."  It reminded me why I truly enjoy attending yoga class.  I was terrified at first, I wanted to try yoga so bad, but was super nervous about everything.  The first class was great, and definitely made me want to come back, but more than anything, I feel COMFORTABLE attending yoga class.  I never worry that someone is going to be judging me or watching me or laughing at me.  We laugh together...at ourselves and each other, and we do so openly. 

My mom has asked me about yoga and if I enjoy it, she would like to try it as well, but not sure where to go for classes.  She has some of the same fears I had when I first started, that the other people in the class would make the class uncomfortable.  I explained to her the vibe in my classes and she's really looking for the same thing.  I hope she's able to find something near her! 

Anyways...point of all of this...don't be afraid to try something new.  If I had allowed my fears and nerves make the decision for me, I never would have attended yoga and found out how much I love it! 

Now on to this week's plan:

• Wednesday: 3 mile run
• Thursday: yoga
• Friday: bike
• Saturday: 3-4 mile run
• Sunday: rest
• Monday: 3 mile run
• Tuesday: yoga

Later!

Supertote #3

Last Saturday I decided to make a gift for my Mom for Mother's Day (nothing like last minute sewing right???), so I went with what is now becoming my go-to bag...the Supertote! 

I decided to not make the inner pockets, so real quick-like on Sunday morning I made this quick open wide zipper pouch (tutorial by Anna of Noodlehead):

Mom loved it!  She and her hubs have a few trips planned later this year and she plans on using her tote for the trips!  

You can see Supertote #1 here and #2 here...I think it's time I make myself a Supertote!!!

Wellness Wednesday... Ep. 15

Wellness Wednesday coming to you live on a Thursday!  Woohoo!

Actually, not much to say or show for the past week.  Every little bit of my fitness plan went out the window last week thanks to the lovely cold I managed to come down with.  I'm actually still recovering, but doing better every day! 

So that about sums up this week's edition.  I have no schedule for this new week, as I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to start running again or attend yoga without feeling like I'm hacking up a lung.  I'd be willing to guess by the end of the weekend I'll be running again.  But now I'll be back to easing into it, so it's a bit of a reset on my training plan.  Oh well!

ALYoF - May update

I'm happy to say I've made a bit of progress on my May A Lovely Year of Finishes goal (original post here).  I bounced between patterns and trying to figure out fabric and it all fell into place today!  I had been digging through my stash and had almost decided on using some Fig Tree Butterscotch and Roses for the quilt, but came across a little over half a jelly roll of Fig Tree Strawberry Fields...and I liked the idea of using that much more than the other.  But then I couldn't figure out what pattern or how to put together a quilt with less than a full jelly roll...so random googling of jelly roll baby quilts popped up the Fat Quarter Shop Jelly Roll Jam pattern...and BINGO!  We have a winner!

I have enough strips of fabric, and I really like how this combo works together!  I think this will make a really sweet baby quilt!  Now...off to start stitching!

update: it took about 2 hours...and here is the quilt top:

I love the ease of this pattern and how cute it looks!  Now I think I may take myself off to my LQS to procure some backing fabric to get this beauty finished!

What quilts can and cannot do...

Quilts cannot do a lot of things...

• clean house
• cook dinner
• homework
• laundry
• cure disease

But there are a lot of things Quilts can do

• provide warmth and comfort
• bring a smile to a person's face
• express care and concern

A co-worker of my husbands was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, I had this quilt top lying around, and so it turned into an expression of care and concern for the young woman.  Many people from work signed the quilt on Monday and I spent Monday evening and part of Tuesday getting it finished so it could be delivered to her today:

back:

Quilts cannot do a lot of things, but what they CAN do far outweigh the can't.

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 14

Happy Wednesday!  Hope all is well with you, right now I think I'm fighting off a cold, but other than that things are good.  Here is what last week's plan was and what I actually did:

• Wednesday: rest rest
• Thursday: 3 mile run and yoga 3 miles on treadmill and 1 hour yoga
• Friday: bike rest
• Saturday: 4 mile run 4.6 mile run! (felt great!)
• Sunday: rest rest
• Monday: yoga 1 hour yoga barre
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and yoga rest

A little more about the yoga classes I've been taking.  I take class at the Chapin Yoga Center and the teachers are amazing!  I've taken 3 different classes: Yoga Barre, Stretch and Strengthen, and Deep Stretch.  I have taken Stretch and Strengthen at least once a week since they opened and I absolutely love it!  It's really a good intro to Yoga, I feel like I've learned quite a bit in the past month.  I also leave that class everytime feeling a deep calm and relaxation, but at the same time, I definitely feel I have worked my body.  I took Deep Stretch once last month, and I really wish I had taken it more.  It really is a great class for learning some of the poses and learning to control your breathing while holding the pose.  It's not being offered in the evening this month, but I hope it comes back!  And then there is Yoga Barre, it's a new class offered this month, and so I've only been once and man oh man did it kick my tail!  I'm not sure how I feel about it right now, but it's only offered once a week for right now, so I'm going to take it for the month of May at least.  That way I can say I gave it a fair shot!  Since starting taking yoga classes the first of April, I'm feeling great changes in my body, my flexibility has increased a bit, my balance feels better, and most importantly, my stress levels have dipped.  I think yoga has been a great compliment to my running and I plan to keep it up!

Now...the plan for this week:

• Wednesday: rest (depends on how I'm feeling later today)
• Thursday: 3 mile run and yoga
• Friday: bike
• Saturday: 4 mile run
• Sunday: rest
• Monday: yoga
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and yoga

And now to down some Vitamin C and fight back against this ick that's creeping up on me!

x and plus and finished!

Finally!  I have finally finished my X and Plus quilt!!!  I originally started putting blocks together for this one back in September of last year.  It was part of my January ALYoF goals for this year.  And now, in May...it is, at last, a finish!

Front:

Back:

Funny bit...I finished the quilting last weekend...so the label says the quilt was finished in April 2014...well, technically it wasn't finished until yesterday...so not the label is a bit off on dates!  Oh well, not ripping out quilting or anything to re-do the label...and besides, the bulk of the work was finished in April!

Details:
Pattern: X Plus blocks (used this tutorial)
Fabric: Front - Nordika by Jeni Baker, a smidge of Color Me Retro also by Jeni Baker, Carnaby Street by Pat Bravo, Art Gallery Squared Elements, Kona Ash, Art Gallery Pure Elements in Spiceberry (binding); Backing - Britten Nummer by Emma Jones for Ikea; not sure who the math fabric is by, I used some Squared Elements scraps on the label.
Thread: Piecing - Mettler and Gutterman, Quilting - Aurifil, Binding - Mettler
Batting: Soft n' Crafty

ALYoF - May Goal

Happy May!  This year just seems to be flying!  Anyways...after my epic fail at April's A Lovely Year of Finishes goal (didn't touch the quilt top at all!) it's time for a reset and back to the beginning of something.  So this post is going to be quite short...because my goal is to make a baby quilt by the end of the month...because I have a baby shower to go to at the end of the month, and I need to have a quilt ready to gift!  I have no idea what fabric, what pattern, what colors...anything as of right now.  So this ought to be exciting...I am leaning towards this pattern right now, but I only just began looking for ideas/inspiration about an hour ago.  I plan to share as I go, as I identify fabric, the pattern, and progress along the way!