She Made My Day!!!

I just got an email (sent to me several days ago but I overlooked it) that the editor of Down Under Quilts wants to feature this quilt in their magazine along with other mystery quilts. I would have had to contact Bonnie Hunter (the amazing designer..so to quiltville.com if you haven't already) for permission because I would want to make sure she is fine with that and they credit her too and I am giving it away for Christmas and can't mail it off to her, but she absolutely made my day by even wanting it! I am going to have to get my hands on that copy even though this quilt won't be in it just because it might have been. WOW! Almost as exciting as when I interpreted for John Kerry at the Bloomer Stock Farm and was on CSPAN! It doesn't get much better than this for me. :)

In My Happy Place!

Last weekend I didn't get to blog about Sunday's sewing.  My new tiny laptop/tablet would not post pictures to Blogger.  Today I decided to try downloading Chrome and see if that worked.  It did!

 There is lots of ORANGE going on in this post.  I finished up the binding on Orange Crush which I am keeping for myself, Ros did a fab job on the quilting and the embroidered label.  LOVE IT!.

Finally got the rows together on Colton's Eye Spy quilt.  I may add some borders and get this done so I can pass it on to him.

 Last Tuesday was our Nimble Thimbles guild meeting.  Here are all of the batik blocks everyone did for our last block party for this year.  I really enjoyed that program and am happy I won once!

 We also played Quilto.  I brought in buttons and won three times!

 Not the best picture, but here are my winnings!  Really tickled with the book!

 Today I did the Quiltmaker Bitty Blocks in orange for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge,

 Here are all the blocks so far.  Really fun to make these tiny ones.

 Kathy is making progress on her Grand Illusion too.

 I made another orange Talkin' Turkey blok (and accidentally put peach flying geese on it.  I have two peach blocks to make and a bunch of orange points  UGH!  Looks fine on this block as far as I am concerned.  I may just cut more peach.

 Here are all of the blocks so far.  Half way done since the goal is 24.  This one is the UFO challenge my guild gave me so I have to make some progress on it each month.  I want to do Bonnie's cool border and have not figured out how I will do that with the rainbow yet so I need to get going on it!

 And since I was on a roll, I made two Betty's Choice blocks in orange.  One for me and one for Amy!  Didn't take a picture with all of them this month though.  Linking up with SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

In other news today we ran all over...Pilates, pedi, haircut, shopping, etc.  I am at 101 pounds down now and we are getting up early tomorrow to go hiking because the temp is supposed to be lower than usual for this time of year.  After that up to my brother's place for a pool party.  Glad I got some sewing in today!

Ros Quilted Orange Crush!

 Just got these pictures from Ros!  My Orange Crush is quilted!

Sewing, Sweet Sewing!

 I finally got back to Orange Crush (Number 3) and got the borders on it!  I made the backing and already delivered it to Ros for quilting!

 I love the visual punch of this one!

 I also caught up on my Betty's Choice blocks!  Amy has been working on her alternate block and I am really looking forward to seeing these quilts come together for us both!

 I worked six hours today on Memorial Day.  Came home and devoted the rest of the day to sewing my Quilt of Valor Ooh Rah! from last year.  I cannot believe we are almost half way through this year and I hadn't completed this one til today!  It has been a wild year so far.

 I plan to get a better picture of it outside before I mail it, the backing and the binding off to Alycia in Colorado for Quilts of Valor.  Then I need to pick another pattern and get going on another one!

 

 So nice to tick a few of these long in the works tops off my list!  Still plenty more to go!

Spending the Day with Quilty Friends!

 I met up with Ann, BJ and Andrea for sushi today (after Pilates) and had a dragon roll.  It was so gorgeous I took a picture!  It was delicious too--first time I tried black rice and I liked it fine.  This picture is of BJ and I--you may remember her from a few years back on my blog...she has lost over 120 pounds with Weight Watchers and really helped inspire me to just go for it!  She is a different person and is so much happier all around.  I love this lady and don't see her often enough!

 Andrea and BJ have become really close friends and we have always have a good time when we get together.  She is funny (so is Ann but she wasn't up for pictures!).

 On a whim after paling around with Andrea and BJ I texted Barb and asked her to come sew for a bit at my place.  She was up for it and we both made our block party BOM.  Here is mine.

And here is Barb's   We all got the focus fabric and put whatever we wanted with it.  Will be a colorful and fun quilt for whoever wins this month!

Barb helped me figure out the Math for the borders (though I still didn't get them quite to size)!  I did get the inner border and pieced border on and decided on the red for the outer border.  Hope to get that done tomorrow and the backing pieced...then I can cross it off my list!

 Barb stayed for dinner (beef roast, colorful carrots and potatoes in the crock pot) and we laughed and gabbed.  It was really a nice day with friends I don't see often and a little quilting.

At Long Last--Sewing Again!

 I haven't sewn a stitch since I had to abruptly leave quilt camp over two weeks ago due to the gallstone in my bile duct.  When Becky brought my stuff back it got dumped all over the place in my quilting studio....so today after Jump Pilates I spent close to two hours cleaning and this space was included!

 Then the fun started and I laid out Orange Crush.  My floor just wasn't big enough and I couldn't figure out the middle.  I suck at these diagonal layouts!

 

 Becky came over to sew (and we ate healthy meatloaf, potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner).  She was working on her string spider web.  That is still on my list!  After she left I finally got to the middle and realized somehow I was two star blocks short...luckily I had plenty of four patches left so I made up the hst's and then the blocks.

 And viola!  The top is a flimsy.  I did get the borders sewn too, but wasn't up to the math involved in making all the borders fit.

 

Tomorrow we are planning to go hiking and then to my brother's house for a going away party for Coleman.  He is moving back to Wisconsin to be with his girlfriend Chelsea.  I am a bit worried about this since Coleman really requires lots of supervision and assistance, (with both his diabetes and his autism, etc.) but he is 28 and so I am letting him try it and crossing my fingers he is more capable than we believe.  While we are looking forward to the break;  I have always thought he would live with me forever so this is an interesting endeavor.
On the weight front--I have really not lost anything in the last six weeks.  The week of my surgery I gained 5.6 and the following week I lost 11 pounds.  Since that time, I am up one pound despite really getting back to the exercise (10 days later) and eating right.  They have adjusted some meds and I am hoping that will help and I am not giving up but seriously I am doing Pilates twice a week, jump Pilates once a week, hiking twice a week and now I have added back in the elliptical and bike several times a week.  I am at 87 pounds down at this point so trying to look at the bright side..but really frustrating that I have plateaued again!  :)

I Wish I had a Month of Sundays!

 I have decided Sunday is my favorite day of the week!  Mostly because I don't work and there is usually hiking and sewing.  Kathy, Jill and I met up with the Chubby Chicks Meet Up group (at 7:15 AM) and went hiking at the Lost Dutchman-Treasure Loop Trail.  We have long heard it is a moderate level hike and it gorgeous.  We had a good time with about a dozen of us hiking along.

 This picture really shows how much thinner my neck and face have become--I feel so much more healthy than I have been for years!  I did jump Pilates yesterday and woke up with sore thighs (especially the left one) and after hiking three miles every step hurts!  Pilates again in the morning, we shall see how that goes!

 I didn't work on Wild and Goosey last weekend or this weekend, but I did lay out all the blocks to see how it big it is.  I have 68 blocks done and need at least one more row.  I packed it up to take to Quilt Camp so I can get a block or two done there.  I also packed up some purple for my Betty's Choice blocks and to make the flying geese for whatever RSC challenge blocks come up.

I spent most of today finishing up the blocks, half blocks and quarter blocks for clue five of Orange Crush.  I have to make about thirty more little blocks for the border--hoping to do that before camp and then this one can be sewn up at camp!
Still so much to prep but I am running out of zip--hiking at the crack of dawn takes it out of me!

Behind on My News

 Last weekend I made blocks 59 and 60 of City Sampler and didn't blog for some reason.  Life seems to have picked up speed lately and with switching one of my jobs (and job training all last week) my usual schedule is off.  This week may be the first week my goal of two City Sampler blocks isn't met.  Have been out of town all weekend and today I am doing a glamour shots session gifted to me by a friend I barely know who bought some groupons and then decided she didn't want them!  So Kathy and I are doing pictures and we want to hike later too so sewing is way down the list.  :(

 Luckily I did keep on with Orange Crush last weekend and got all the parts cut for the next clue.  I barely started assembling the next block (which is all this clue) and I will keep working on it but may need an extra week to get them done.  Our Open Studio facebook group has several people doing a quiltalong on this so I have been setting the pace with one clue per week and so far, so good but this week it may be different!  That is okay because people are all at different points anyways.

 Kathy is still working on her Grand Illusion. She finished clue three and is now on four!  This one is going to be great!

 My Aunt Babbette and Uncle Dan and their daughter Ashley and other daughter's son Brayden are here for Spring break (at Mom's) so I was there Friday and Saturday and we got up early and went to the Cave Creek Parade.  Had fun!  Then Suli, Ollie and I went hiking up Thunderbird Mountain.  I tried that same mountain last week but in the middle of the day and I got a bit of heatstroke.  We didn't quite make it to the top because I got sick.  This week we went later in the day (and not after jump Pilates) and I made it to the top just fine.  Gorgeous views up there!

Still Crushin on the Orange!

 This week I sewed red and black hst's every chance I got so that I would get clue four done on Orange Crush.  It worked out well because part way through the week I was working on the blocks!

 Jill and I went for our hike on Thursday at South Mountain.  We are posing at the stone house.  Kathy went with but hiked on her own and did about half as long.  She found out she doesn't have shingles but still is having a lot of pain in back and down her arm.

 A few weeks ago Lori over at Humble Quilts had a giveway for some stencils (this is her picture with the winnings since mine didn't turn out so you could see them) from Cindy over at The Stencil Company and I won!  I found out about this just as I was coming home from the hospital which made my day better at a time I really needed it!  Thanks Lori and Cindy!  I am really looking forward to trying these out.  Most likely I will be trying them on a small quilt or two that I will machine quilt.  Normally I hate machine quilting, but I am kind of excited to try it with a template that should make things look better!  I will be sharing when I am done.

Today I worked an early job and my regular gig, then I went to Pilates before heading home and hitting Orange Crush hard again.  I completed the blocks and got them all pressed.  

 I also started clue five by cutting all the orange squares.  Blue to go and then the next block starts coming together...though as I type this I think I realize I skipped making half blocks (or I need to do half blocks this clue?  I think that is it) I will be double checking that this weekend!  Sometimes my cart gets ahead of my horse!

Tomorrow is a typical crazy day and there won't be much sewing.  Jump Pilates in the morning, hiking with Suli in the afternoon and then Colton's 2nd birthday party.  Gonna be a fun, crazy day! Hopefully I can sew in the evening.  Hope there is sewing time in your weekend.

Oh for news on the weight--I think I mentioned that after my surgery I had gained 5.2 pounds (due to IV, etc.) which freaked me out.  Why is it so hard to lose and so easy to gain?  Anyway this week I lose 11 (yes ELEVEN) pounds since all the water weight flushed out and I lost.  Such a relief, I gotta tell ya!  So my total now is 88.2 pounds and I got my third ten percent of total body weight loss too.  I still have plenty to go, but I am more sure everyday that I am gonna get there!  :)