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!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 25

Happy Wednesday Evening!  Not a lot to say, other than I'm feeling pretty good about meeting my goals this past week.  A few days I could've gone "harder" but opted not to, and probably worked out for the best.  My biggest challenge right now is continuing to clean up my diet.  I'm trying to do this without the constraints of full on calorie counting, as that made me a bit miserable and obsessive last go round.  So I'm mostly working on cleaning up my food intake, trying to improve on the overall amount of "clean food" I'm taking in versus junk.  Am I doing better...yes...could I be doing a lot better...yes.  It's a journey folks...no instant gratification in these parts!

Stats for the month:

Mileage: 25.6
Cross Train Workouts: 10
Weight loss: 0.4

Baby steps!!!

Safari Baby

Woohoo!  An actual quilt finish to share!  This particular quilt was made for some friends of ours that are welcoming a new baby boy in about 5 weeks.  Several months ago, the dad-to-be sent me some pictures of the nursery, and I set out to find some fabric to match.

Front:

I used a panel from the fabric line for the back.  I did have to make minor adjustments between the front and back pieces to get the size to match up.  That led to the addition of a "border" to the width  of the front and a border added to the length of the back panel.

Back:

The baby shower was yesterday and they were thrilled with the quilt!

Details:
Pattern - This Way and That Way by Jodi Nelson of Pleasant Home
Fabric - Safari by Deborah Edwards 
Batting - Soft n' Crafty
Thread - Piecing - Gutterman; Quilting - Aurifil

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 23 and 24

wow!  It's been a crazy two weeks.  But the good news is that I've kept up pretty well with my running, I've been better about cross-training, and I'm happy with my progress.  I have had to cut back on the running two days in a row.  I was really starting to feel some twinges in my left leg/knee/IT Band, so I've just accepted (happily) that I'm a "run every other day" kinda gal.  It works for me.

On the cross-training side, I started doing T-25 workouts a week ago, and well...they kick my tail.  It's great!  I also started doing the PiYo workout series today.  Today's workout was the "intro" piece, and I'm really excited to see the regular workouts.

And that's about it.  Not a whole lot to say today, just positive progress in my workouts.  Diet is a completely different story...but baby steps.

Stats for the month:

Miles to date: 18.1
Cross-train workouts: 6
Weight loss: 0

proof

Wow...didn't quite realize how quiet it had actually gotten here on my blog lately.  I knew I hadn't been posting that much, but it wasn't until this past weekend that I realized...I haven't been doing much of anything to post about!  I have sewn some, and usually post automatically to instagram, but haven't really gotten anything over to here.  So here is a little photographic proof that I've actually sewn something the past few months:

working on a baby quilt using this pattern:

a new bag for the girl using this pattern:

and then awhile back I put together a couple of burp cloths and bibs for a friend:

And that pretty much covers all of the sewing I've done in a long while that wasn't previously blogged!  I gotta get to work, that baby quilt has a deadline thats rapidly approaching!  Plus have you seen this new tote?  I definitely need one! 

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 22

Happy Wednesday!   The past week has been pretty good in terms of working out.  I've been running, but much shorter distances that I have been in a long time.  I'm talking 2 miles...and sometimes not quite 2 miles.  It's all due to my new plan to "get back to basics" and really work on my base running.  I think some of my disappointment after my second Half Marathon in March was because I had not really "improved" in overall race time.  (I did have a 15 minute improvement over my first half, but I just didn't feel it had improved enough for the amount of training and work I had done!).  Looking at all of my running leading into that half, and the running I've been doing since that half...I just feel that I'm walking too much.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up my run-walk method entirely...but I think I was way too reliant on walking too frequently.  So I'm working on building up my run time.  That's what I've been doing the past week.  I'm also running on back-to-back days...which previously I never would have thought I'd feel comfortable doing.  But since I'm starting all over at the beginning...might as well start working on that as well!  So far so good!  I've also been trying to make sure I get in a good post-run stretch.  I also have been completing a short, dynamic warm up prior to running.  I think both are helping my legs feel good even after running 2 or 3 days in a row.  Now I just need to get back to yoga!  It's been a few weeks since I've been able to consistently get to a class...and I've been terrible at continuing my practice at home.  So I'll add that to the list for this coming week of things to improve upon!