Tag Archive | Family

Weight Loss through Quilting!

Oct10

Or, at least offset some of the weight I’m likely to gain by sitting at a machine for too long!

I gathered up my Yo Yo supplies and found a neat stackable set of bins that was perfect.  I can fit my full size scissors and lay my charm squares flat inside.  Got this during Joann’s sale last week at almost no cost given the discount and coupons I had for the sale!

Stacker Trays

So, my weight loss tip is to pack a lunch and eat at my desk instead of going out for fast food or really anything that would be obtained in a restaurant.  Come to think of it … Quilting helps me save MONEY too!!  You can NOT beat that!

Here’s my progress on the Yo Yos in Tapestry that I’m making for the Yoyoville quilt (pattern by Bunny Hill Designs).

Yo Yo Progress 10-10-2012

I love these colors!!  And finally, a shot of the trays all stacked and snapped together:

Cute, huh?  Will be perfect for any hexagon project I may want to tackle later, after the Yo Yos are done.

Also wanted to show a few gratuitous pictures of the kids from last weekend when we went to a combination pumpkin patch, petting farm, etc… ranch here in Houston (Halter, Inc.).  They are open each weekend during October.  They also have a playground area for kids, haunted trail, pony rides, pony cart rides, face painting available and sell home made goods along with snacks, drinks and hot dogs/hamburgers.

Oliver with Goat

Nora with Goat

You can really tell better from this picture in the pumpkin patch that is was quite warm on this Saturday (probably in the upper 90s).  And of course we were there in the middle of the afternoon.  Luckily, fall weater rolled through the next day and it has been really beautiful lately!

Pumpkin Patch

Also received my backing fabric yesterday for my MIL Stars and Stripes quilt.  It will be just right!  But, I think I need to finish the baby quilt I made for a friend, since the baby is now two months old!  How fast time flies when you have to work, cook, clean, bathe, take care of family, maybe sleep, commute, eat, ….

 Happy Quilting!

Jennifer

A late Friday finish and other WIP

Oct7

Lovely weekend, much better weather today than Saturday.  Perfect weather actually – about to take the kids for a walk in the neighborhood.  We enjoyed a pumpkin patch yesterday, along with a hay ride, chicken wire maze, pony ride, pony cart rides, petting animals and picking out some pumpkins.

Here’s my late Friday night finish, hence the poor photograph quality…

MIL Stars and Stripes Flimsy Finish!

I have located the perfect backing fabric, but it won’t arrive for a couple more days – so I can move on to something else!  Yippee!

I persisted on my Away From Home Block 1 and actually completed one of the two women applique figures.  It was tedious, I won’t lie.  I’m looking forward to the pieced blocks which will start on Week 4.  I just got Week 2 yesterday, which are the two birds and scrolly looking heart figure above the factory.  Week 3 will be the two trees…

Here’s my personal model, Nora, showing my progress on Block 1.

Nora holding Block 1 WIP

And a little closer image…

Hope you have a great week… I’ll link up to BOM Rehab tomorrow!  See you there!

Jennifer

Last week of summer – get ready Kindergarten!

Aug20

Oliver will be joining the coutless others who have ventured out of Pre-K and into K.  We are getting prepped and ready for that day next week when I drop him off in green shorts instead of blue shorts and I get to try and figure out all of his friends names again.  Focus, boy!  Focus!  I guess I have to get ready for homework now.  I have heard from other friends who are a year ahead of me in this adventure that they are much more busy with their Kindergarten school tasks than they ever thought they would be.  We’re ready.  A+ all the way for this kid.

Last night I was trying to work on pinning my blocks for the MIL quilt, when precious daughter wanted to be on top of my every move.  I gave her the task to pick out her favorite pink fabrics from her personal collection and I would whip them up into a ‘pony’ doll quilt.  She loves to follow orders, this one.  But – every action requires a form of game play.  I can’t just be handed the fabric – I have to clap my hands like ‘this’ and catch the fabric before it hits the floor and spin around, etc…  Before we turned off the lights for the night, I had the doll quilt finished and Purple Pony was tucked in.

Pony quilt – front. 9 patch of 5″ charm squares.

“Oh Thank you Mommy!”.  Worth it all.

My other homage to my children is the calendar I built today at work.  I got it from the Lego online store last week.  They (mostly boy child) are so into Legos right now, and I guess I have jumped on the bandwagon.  It makes me smile to look at it and it is functional too!  He asks me every day for a Lego set (or 3) and secretly I think… “hmmm, I really would like that Police Station, or maybe the Robbers Hideout would be cool…”.  I thought this calendar was an appropriate compromise.  The lego figures in the picture will get returned home as consolation prizes for the fact that I’m keeping this toy for myself.

LEGO Calendar

Hope you have something around you today that makes you smile as well.

Jennifer