Weigh in Wednesday

I haven't been good at all about my diet and exercise.  I only have to crawl, scratch and claw my way back onto the wagon one more time than I blithely leap off.  Is that so hard to do?  I haven't gained any of the 8 pounds back, just haven't lost any of the other 72.  I'm not putting up a picture this week, but I'm going back to the gym today after work and logging back into Weight Watchers.

Camille got her learners permit this last week.  We went driving in a parking lot that day and then around a neighborhood, for a total of 45 minutes.  It made her tired.  :)  She's such a big girl.  I'm beginning to be able to picture her as an adult.

On another front, I've made good progress on my quilting.

Finally Quilting!

I have been working so hard to finish this quilt.  I know I'll never undertake something this ambitious again.  I will make other quilts, I've just learned some lessons on this one.

The top finished, a backing pieced, batting purchased and a space cleared, (almost) big enough to lay them all out.

I pinned all the layers right to the carpet.  They could have been a little straighter, a second person would have been nice, to pull the layers tight.  I was trying to get a bunch of it done early in the morning, before little girls got up and wanted to walk all over it.

It didn't make much difference, I thought it'd take a couple of hours.  I started at 8:30 in the morning and didn't get done with the basting until 2:30 in the afternoon.  Wow, everything always takes much longer to do than I think it will in my head.

I started with outline quilting around all the basic shapes, bows, sashes, fans and now I'm 1/3 of the way done with the flowers and vines.

I'm giving myself plenty of time to design the more creative quilting.  When it's done, it'll be quilted on most every square inch.  How many square inches are in an 8 foot square?  Too many, I think.

I also made 6 more chocolate wool bunnies.  Here are 2 of them.  Time to get them listed, before the holiday gets too close.

My diet and exercise have fallen by the wayside.  I really am tired of the extra weight, just lazy.  I keep thinking, today's the day and then I don't follow through.  Maybe tomorrow's the day!

Weigh in Wednesday

Gahhh!  214, back to week 6.  8 pounds down or 10% there.

Well, I've been so bad, this is week 10 and I missed 7,8 and 9.  I spent 7 being bad and gaining weight and 8 and 9 being mostly good and losing it again.
Still no good plan for getting to the gym.  I'm on my feet all day at work so it isn't appealing at all right after and then I relax some at home and lose my drive to go then, too.  Time to man-up and just do it.  Besides, working out really keeps me on my diet.
On another note, I love my new haircut!  Too bad it spends so much of it's time under a hat at work.

This was a special order at work.  I thought it turned out pretty.  After I took the first picture, I decided to add the little flowers.  I really think the yellow centers, make the colors pop.  It's funny to me that people have to put so many names on a cake for the same person.  Couldn't you stick to one?  I'm sure they know who they are.  In that case, why not add Uncle, Cousin, Nephew, Brother and (giant leap) his Name?

I've been working on lots of crafts, Rachel's quilt top is completely done, the back is pieced and the batting is ready.  Pictures soon.

Weigh in Wednesday

I know, it's Thursday.  I worked yesterday and forgot to get to this.

214 pounds, 1 pound lost, 8 so far.  Slow, but going the right direction.  I don't think there's any difference in my pictures, yet.  If I keep losing 1 or 2 pounds each week, there's got to be a point that I can tell it in the pictures.  I'm looking forward to having less belly.

2 nights ago, we had homemade hummus on homemade flatbread.  Even though this little one likes hummus, it took awhile to talk her into trying what came out of the food processor.  Then we had to keep telling her to get her finger out of the bowl.

This is the first time I've made it myself.  Well, I had lots of help.  Her big sister was right with me the whole time.  I wish I'd had the camera out for that.  Next time.  She put most of the ingredients into the processor and ran it.  She added most of the bread ingredients to the mixing bowl and stirred and kneaded the bread.  I was so impressed that a 5 year old could be such a lot of help.  After the bread rested for awhile, I cut it into 8 pieces and rolled out the first bread.  She wanted to try, I thought I'd have a mangled bread to save, but she did it perfectly.  All I did was put the flour on the board and she rolled out all remaining 7 breads.

We ate the flatbread sandwiches with chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, lime, cilantro and spinach.  What a great dinner!

Weigh in Wednesday on Friday

 215, 2 more pounds lost, 7 altogether.  I usually have Wednesdays off.  This week I worked that day and it threw me off in getting my picture taken and posted.  This is really a rough looking picture of me.  It might be time to start wearing a little bit of make-up again.  I went years on end barely putting even lip gloss on.  I've never been one to think I couldn't leave the house without it.

Weigh in Wednesday

217 pounds.  5 pounds lost in 3 weeks.  Not great, but 5 more than in that many months.  I'm sure there's a direct relationship to how many times I went to the gym. *cringe*  I'm not really comfortable going yet.  If I went more often that would change, I know.  I have stuck to my diet, however, that's probably the only reason for any loss, at all.

This is the last large flower, cut, glued and basted in place.  I'll sew it tonight and then I have 19 (20, poo, I miscounted) to go!  I'll sew the smallest flowers next.  There are very few of them.  The middle-sized flowers are the easiest, I'll save them for last, like dessert!

Weigh in Wednesday

218 pounds.  That's 2 more pounds.  Not going fast, but it is going.
The day almost got away from me.  I'm not in the habit of taking my picture, ever, so this might be hard to remember some weeks.
I had a lot of help, my littlest granddaughter wanted to be in the picture too.  Oh boy, she sure looks tiny next to all of me.
I treated myself to some new things for the gym.  Once I got my membership, I realized that I didn't have much to wear.  I got shoes, two pairs of pants and two sports bras today.  Now, I need to find some tank tops.  Shirts with sleeves, stick to you as you sweat, ew!

The first day back

I made it through the doors of the gym 2 times so far this week.  It was daunting, just the thought of it.  It was much easier the second time.  It used to feel natural to get in the car to go to the gym.  I'm sure it'll be that way again.
I haven't been very good on my diet this week, feeling a little stressed out over the cold and feeling a little behind at work.  I wasn't horrible, but I'd better be good the rest of the week.
I had 4 days off, great, but nobody put in full days covering my spot while I was gone.  I have a lot of vacation, that'll happen if you stick around 14 years.  Sometimes it's a burden to find a way to use it up.  Getting time off, when there's no one to cover you, makes it hard.
Back to the gym after work again tomorrow, I hope it'll be empty because of the holiday.
We had a birthday party for my oldest daughter yesterday.  I can't believe she's 29, it seems like only a few years ago that she was little enough to give a piggy-back ride to bed.

Weigh in Wednesday

220 pounds, 2 pounds less.  Not a lot for a first week, but I haven't been to the gym either.  I don't feel horrible, draggy from my cold, so this is the day.  I've still got a little cough and stuffiness, but it's so much better.


I finished another project last night and this morning.  I've made a few wool blankets this last 2 years.  They're lap or baby blanket sized, about 40" square.  I love them and thought they would be a good selling item on Etsy, but I thought wrong.  I've given one to my sister for her birthday and she says she loves it, too.  I sold one in my shop, thank you so much to the person who bought it.  I started one with a different design this fall and then got busy with Christmas before it was finished.  My daughter liked it so much, that I finished it for her.

It started as the spiderweb string quilt design, adapted for wool sweater felt.  I used some cabled sweaters and aligned the cables the way the strings would go.  It just needed a border to finish it.  Esther likes it, too.

It's stitched in bright neon green.  I chose two sweaters to use and decided on 5" borders.

Another completed project.  It must be time to applique some flowers tonight. After the gym. :D

Weigh in Wednesday

222 pounds.  I'm 5' 7 1/2",so this is about 80 pounds too much.  It was really hard to look at these pictures.  Today is the first day of my diet and I'm still waiting for my gym membership to arrive in the mail.  You can't hide anything in knit clothing, bleh.  I only hope the pictures will get better over the next few months.
The side view is the worst!  There's a good reason finding something to wear is so hard.  No way do I want to buy bigger clothes, so I better do this already!

The beginning- New year, new start

     After many years of starting projects willy-nilly, I think it's time to finish the most important of them and deal with the rest.  There will be pictures of progress and finishes.  I manage to take simple projects and make them bigger and bigger, until I have a hard time getting them done.  My ex bragged to me once, that he didn't have any unfinished projects.  I pointed out to him, that you have to start a project, to have an unfinished one.
     I've also let my weight get out of hand, these last 10 years.  It happened slowly, but surely.  After spending the first 40 years of my life skinny to slender, I was foolish to think I didn't have to diet or exercise to stay that way.  I purchased a 2-year gym membership and will be getting back on a diet this week.  I've decided to take my picture every week this year and I hope I'll have a 52-page fat to skinny flip book by the end of the year.
     I've been a cake decorator for 15 years.  If you have to work for a living, this beats most.  I work for a grocery store chain, so it's not fancy Cake Boss stuff.  I'm going to start taking pictures of the cakes I'm proudest of.

     My family, immediate and extended, is the joy of my life.  Everything really important in my life is tied to them.