Inspiration can come from anywhere

My daughter has a sweatshirt that she bought at college that I love.  It is a reverse applique of the college letters.  I had been wanting to try my hand at reverse applique and finally did to make this rag quilt.

I layered a piece of flannel behind fleece, cut the letters out with my Cricut and pinned them in place and then stitched around the letter.  The tricky part was cutting the layer of fleece without going through the flannel too.  I used the cutouts to put the name on the back of the rag quilt as well.

I know that this rag quilt will be a great one to snuggle under.  It has two layers of fleece which made it a bit of a challenge to sew through all of those layers.

I also made another fleece blanket that I used a quilt block as inspiration.  I am doing the block of the month over at www.craftsy.com and used the chunky chevron block as inspiration to make this fun throw for a boy.

Thanks to my dear husband for help in photographing these!!

Weight loss journey begins

Last week I made a commitment to getting healthy - AGAIN.  This time I am doing things differently.  I am developing a real plan not just winging it.  I asked my son to start holding me accountable and tell me to "suck it up" when I need it because he is very good at that. I am taking baby steps just like I have done to get out of debt.  Baby step number one was to eliminate drinking my calories - no more cokes.  I am now drinking water and tea.  Baby step number two is to get moving.  I need to walk every day or at least five out of seven days. I will be adding more steps as I am able.  It is important to be realistic and develop a plan that will work for me from now on.

My weekly weigh in days are Thursdays so I intend to post once a week to document my journey.  My starting weight on Thursday, March 15th was 209 pounds.  In the first week I only lost 1/2 a pound but I did lose and the step I was able to implement that week was to watch my calories.  Starting today, I am going to walk at my lunch hour and hopefully after work.  After work is proving to be a challenge because I am currently working 11-12 hour days.

I also have started using MyPlate on Livestrong again to track my calories.  They had a great inspirational story from a user named Glenda who has lost over 200 pounds.  Well, I intend to be another Glenda with a great weight loss story.

My target weight is 150 so that means I need to lose a total of 59 pounds.  My realistic goal of dropping 59 pounds is December 31, 2012 at one to two pounds per week.

Finally - I will get this done!!

Skipping Squares quilts

I have made two quilts using this quilt pattern by www.cluckclucksew.com.  The first I made for my mother-in-law for her birthday.  Her favorite color is yellow so I chose a really pretty yellow print and then used both a yellow and white solid.  After I laid out the blocks, I named it the egg yolk quilt - you'll see why....

 Here is the finished project.

The other quilt was made for a precious little boy named Caleb.  From the extra blocks I made a fabric storage box for the nursery.

Annual craft day project

Each year Libby and I host a craft day on the day after Thanksgiving.  This year we had a great project that we found on Pinterest.  We painted 2x4 blocks and decoupaged scrapbook paper onto them to create these cute home accents.

Here are a few of the completed projects -

This set is reversible so it can be used for Christmas and then all year round.  I took this set to our Bunko Christmas party and it was stolen until frozen.  Definitely a big hit.

My husband even got in on the fun and made a set for his Man Cave.

My daughter-in-law, Jessica, added a cute clothes pin to one block so that a picture can be added.  Jessica also made this cute reversible set for a Christmas gift for her Mom.  Love the leopard.

Another reversible set for Christmas with the family name and wedding date on the reverse.

The possibilities for these blocks are endless.  We also plan on using 4x4 blocks on some future projects.

Catching up!

Oh my.  It has been nearly one year since I posted anything on the blog.  Luckily I have had some crafting time over the past year, just not the time to post about it.  I had several projects for Christmas this year and one of the most fun was making "Click-It" Bags for my nieces and nephews.