Summertime Quilting! :)

I don't know about you, but summer has been flying by for me!  I cannot believe it's almost July!  It feels like my kids were just let out of school and the weather just started to resemble the warmer months...but in reality, my kids summer break is already 1/3 of the way over!

Quilting has been slow going with my children at home.  I have been making an effort every day to take the kids outdoors and get some exercise in which has been wonderful for bonding and talking with my sweet girls.  My oldest daughter has decided she wants to play soccer for her school this year, so I anticipate lots of traveling to games and fun times this fall.  We were practicing last week for try outs and don't ya know...I fell and sprained my ankle!  I spent a few hours in the ER making sure it wasn't a break - and my ankle swelled up like a baseball!!!  An athlete I am not - but - we have a story to tell now!  LOL  :)

I am back to work today and making efforts to finish up the quilts this week that have been waiting some time to be finished.  Here are a few progress pictures of Jane's sample quilt that is currently on the frame...

I hope all is going well in blogland today!  I know the blogs tend to seriously slow down during the summer, but I hope everyone is having a great time and getting some good family and sewing time in!

Booked for 2014

Peggy's Quilt - Finished!!

I finished Peggy's quilt last week and it really turned out lovely - if I do say so myself!!  :)  I am very proud of the finished quilting.  I did miss a tiny little patch - it wasn't in the mock up but I saw that it needed quilting after looking at the photos - and the real downside was the client saw it too!!  ACK!  The very first thing she pointed out before I even showed her the quilt.  Well, I am only human.  LOL!  I will from now on be double and triple checking work though - I try so hard to do as perfect a quilting as I can, how embarrassing!  I offered to fix it but she didn't care to wait - I don't blame her.  Despite the small patch I think the quilting really turned out lovely.  She said she was very pleased with what I did so that was great to hear as I really do spend much time with each and every quilt making every attempt to do my very best work.

Below is a little before/after side by side which I never do but should share more.  It's kind of cool to see the quilt before quilting...and then come to life with detail.  I think that is the coolest part of the quilting process.

It has been a full and busy summer so far, I can hardly believe it is the middle of June.  I have to say being able to get out and run around outside with the kids has been wonderful.  I'm doing great with my healthy eating kick - I've lost 7 pounds and incidentally the family has lost a little poundage as well.  I have even kicked my non-stop all day diet coke habit.  This was NOTHING less than a HERCULEAN task!!!  I am still drinking a cup of coffee a day but it's a far cry from the four cups I was drinking over the winter.  I've also been slowly but surely weeding out processed food and just about everything we eat is home made.  I'm stuck on my whole wheat tortilla wraps though even with the hydrogenated soybean oil in them.  Once I feel good enough I'd like to try making them at home.

I hope everyone out there in blogland is having a wonderful summer so far!  I haven't been visiting the blogs as regularly as part of my "get your butt off the computer" campaign!!  LOL  Happy Quilting!  :)

Peggy's Quilt In Progress

Still alive over here!  Barbara's oversize king Baltimore Album is off the frame to finish up a few smaller quilts, and then I will put it back on to quilt up the last bit of the borders.

Today I'm working on finishing Peggy's quilt, here's a few in progress pictures...

It's an adorable 30's sampler quilt - after I pull this one off Jane's sampler is going up!  :)

So far the weather has maintained a nice comfortable temperature.  Not too much rain and just warm enough to run the fan at night but not keep us up all night.  Going to make every effort to get some of these quilts done and out before the heat sets in!  I'm not excited at the thought of quilting in a 100+ degree house!  UGH!  We don't have central air but we do have air conditioners...never seems to be enough around the sticky heat of August though.

In other news I'm also working very hard at getting in shape and eating healthy.  Weight has always been a struggle for me - the women in my family all tend to be larger and we're Italian so - we live and breath FOOD!  :)  I am the type who feels as if I'm not loving or caring for my family if I'm not feeding them.  So this time - to the detriment of my Husband's favorite delicious high calorie meals and late night snacks - we're all eating healthy!!  My big goal has been to make meals that I can eat while watching calories...with small modifications so we can all enjoy.  This has been no easy task but it's going really well so far.  As of today in just over a week and a half I've lost five pounds.  I didn't expect to lose that much because I have been playing soccer five days a week with my daughters to help keep active...sometimes this causes me to lose slower even though my clothes fit looser.  I am not a fan of at home video workout programs because they tend to get boring, and a gym is just not practical for my life at this point - so having kids to keep me running around has been great!  In addition I've been lifting some weights in hopes to build muscle and burn calories faster.  I'm excited to see that it is working!!!  :)  The only thing I'm a little worried about is - what am I going to do in the winter??!  LOL  I have been working so hard I don't want to lose momentum when the colder weather begins to keep us indoors.

I hope all is well with my sewing pals out in blogland!  Keep cool and I hope you're experiencing the beautiful weather we are!