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!