Deanna's Quilt in Progress and Weight Loss Update

Making every attempt to finish up Deanna's quilt today so that I can begin work on Chris's quilt tomorrow.  I have four big quilts that I want to finish before school starts back up for the kids - Deanna's quilt, Chris's quilt, Bobbie's quilt, and Nancy/Barbara's giant show quilt.  It is a struggle trying to balance all things but I think I'm doing well!

Here's a progress photo of Deanna's quilt...

It's a fairly simple custom - feathers and stippling...but boy is it effective!  I'm looking forward to sharing the finished quilt.  :)  I am working on the white and pink first, quilting the entire quilt then going back and doing all the purple feathers.  I'm halfway through...I've got chicken in the crock pot and we'll be having something simple tonight so I can get to work!  :)

On the weight loss front, I'm coming along.  I've been consistently working out 5 days a week (though two of the five are just light activity/cardio) - weight training 3 days per week.  I upped my calories from 1400 to 1600-1700 per day and it's working still.  I'm consistently losing though not the 2-3 pounds per week the way it was melting off at first.  I think some of that was due to water weight, some was because I was restricting so much.  I'm losing about 1 lb. per week which is supposed to be healthy and effective for maintaining muscle and keeping my metabolism up.  Oh it's a little frustrating though I'm not going to lie!  But I do feel a lot better about what I'm doing.  I had several days where I would just break down from frustration and hunger...my body needed to eat!  :)  So while it's slower...I feel like I'm getting plenty of food and not missing out on what the family is eating at all...that makes a huge difference.  My total loss to date is 26 pounds (20 since I began really watching and working out in May) and I've lost 5 inches in my waist.  I've gone down a pant size and am almost ready to drop to the next pant size down.  I was eating super super clean and minimal processed foods...but I've kind of gone to a "if it stays in calorie range then it's fair game" attitude as I just don't think being too extreme with my diet is realistic for me in the long run.  It's probably healthier for me...but I don't know if I can maintain that kind of diet while everyone around me is having burgers and fries!  LOL!

But, frustrations and set backs aside....I'm losing!

I also have been making a few doll clothes for my middle daughter who recently got a new 18" doll...

Next I'm trying to find time to finish up some of these costumes I've been working on for Disney and I bought a bunch of really cute beads to make Frozen themed gumball necklaces for them.  LOL!  So many crafts to make so little time!!!  :)

Hope all of you out in blogland are having a great summer!

Darlene's Quilt and Week Update

How was your 4th of July?  Ours was amazing!!!  We had such a good weekend spent with family and watching fireworks.  It was really nice to relax and just enjoy the beautiful weather.  Yesterday was rainy and stormy...but great weather for quilting.  :)

I finished Darlene's panel - all over feathers with a few accent borders that I went ahead and ditched so they would pop.

I used black Invisifil by Wonderfil on this which turned out really lovely - it's high contrast in some areas but Invisifil is such a delicate thread that even in the highest contrast areas it doesn't read thread.  It's great for texture or delicate soft quilting...also stitch in the ditch or anywhere you want your quilting or stitches to be hidden or less visible.  I have found that Invisifil doesn't like certain fabrics though - I had a heck of a time in the multi-color print border as well as the panel center with thread breakage...every three or four inches!!!  I loosened up the tension as much as I could while still maintaining good stitches...this was a rough one.  I will say in the future I don't think I will use Invisifil on any bonded/printed fabrics.  This quilt should have taken a day to two days tops to complete and I ended up working on it for a week.  Gah!  During my busy summer months too!!  ;)  I was able to get through it though and the end result is really lovely.  :)

In other news I'm still watching my calories and working out 5 days a week.  It's becoming a new routine.  I am 19 pounds down so far, 2 inches smaller in my waist, and I've dropped a pant size.  I won't show a full body side by side photo yet, but you can already see it in my face!  :)  Being that I've been so overweight all these years I avoid getting my photo taken, so I don't have a ton of pictures to share but here's a little side by side of me a few years ago at a wedding reception versus a photo I took (with my daughter who's not shown) a few days ago!  :)

I'm getting there!!!  :)  I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.  I see the blogs are slowing down (like mine!) what with all the summer out door activities and holidays...we are about half way through our daughters summer break and while I adore them so very much, I cannot say I'm not looking forward to having some quiet time to work on quilts again!  :)

Happy Summer!

Wow - almost July 4th!!  So hard to believe...at least to date the weather has been pretty wonderful.  Last year it was just rain, rain, and more rain.  This year we've been able to spend a lot of time out doors just about every day.  Oh how I love summer!!  :)

I've been quilting daily though I haven't been very vocal about it - time has been limited with the kids home for the summer...but I'm still here!  Working away in my little quilting sweat shop!  Here are a few photos of quilts I'm working on/recently finished...

This is Darlene's quilt in progress...I should be finished with it tomorrow so I can get a start on Deanna's gorgeous quilt...

...and I finished Jane's sampler!!  I think it turned out really really pretty!!!

On my health kick and weight loss front - I'm 16 pounds down!  Not that it's come easy as I have been working my tail off.  I work out five days a week - weight lift 3 days a week - and I watch calories pretty religiously.  I've lost 1.5 inches from my waist and the loss is really becoming visible.  I'd like to lose a little more before I share a before and after - but if you follow me on Instagram you might have already seen a little of my progress.  I'm working hard!  It's really important to me so I'm really doing everything I can to stick with it.

Hope you are all getting some quilting done and staying cool in the July heat!!  Happy summer...and Happy Fourth of July!!  :)

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!