Lexi’s running out of the back yard on Thursday of last week kinda threw me for a loop– yes, that’s right.  She got out, squeezing through a rabbit-sized hole in the fence.  Needless to say, despite the 90F temps, Brian fixed the biggest of the holes in the fence on Saturday!

Other than that, it has been sewing, churching, and sewing some more, along with the laundry.  Sorry, boring, I know!

I _*HATE*_ the quilt pattern known as “Storm at Sea”!!  ARGH!!!  I’ve had it cut out for months and thought I should start with the hardest part of it first (the diamonds).  Yeah, well, that didn’t work out so well.  Now I need 3 yards of blue fabric and, as you will recall, I can’t get to my fabric for all of the CRAP in my fabric room!!!!

ARGH!!!

. . . piecing the charity quilt yesterday.  I’ll stitch out the dedication for the back and start quilting it by the weekend.  It will be good to get the quilt to the owner.  I know the husband is excited about it.

I’ve started piecing the Storm at Sea quilt (which is a pain); none of the pieces of the block appear to be standardized which is annoying, needless to say.

I’ve got the fabrics for the placemats washed and ready to rock; I had to buy an inexpensive crosshatch design for it but I think it is going to be perfect for the style of the placemat.

Anyway, that’s about it from here.

Sorry about that but again, better things to do!

Saturday, I sewed on the placemats that I’m making from the mistake Dresden Plates– they’ll be pretty and I’ll have enough for gifts for family and friends at Christmas.  (Kitcheny though so they won’t get massive quantities of placemats.)

Sunday, much of the same but I finished them and started to finish up on the “charity t-shirt quilt” that I’m working on and have been working on since before surgery.  It is almost finished but I have to dig out the backing fabric for it at some point this week.

Speaking of digging out . . . many of my smaller-sized clothes are in a closet in the basement that is, of course, buried by all of the STUFF in front of that closet.  I went looking for my skinny jeans today and have decided that I probably did (foolishly) throw them in the Purple Heart box.  Now, I wish I had them back, of course.  <Sigh>

I did find a pair of jeans that I bought several years ago and they didn’t fit– I’ll try them on this week (or soon) when I’m digging out my fall clothes.  MANY of my fall clothes from last year will not fit which should be interesting and fun to discover my weight loss all over again!

I’ve been busy!  I finally finished the Dresden Plate Quilts and brought them to the store at which I’ll be teaching them (pictures to follow– tomorrow?).

Now I can breathe again.

Something I’ve noticed about me is that I get pushed and pushed and pushed by people and then, I’M DONE.  I don’t get angry, I just walk away.  If I were to be confronted by them and asked if I have issues, I might tell them but I don’t know for sure if I would or if I’d just change the subject or what.

Currently this is an issue with several things and people in my life.  We’ll see what happens, eh?

So I’m thinking about hosting a quilt retreat in November– a kind of come-and-go-as-you-please quilting thing.  Most of my friends work so I think I’ve only got one friend that will come every day but, still, it will be a gathering of friends and that’s always nice.

Did I mention that my vascular surgeon has told me that my carotid arteries are not worse?  They’re not better but they aren’t worse and that’s the important bit.  I will probably not go down in volume because I’m going to keep up the exercise but at least its not going up.  That’s a good thing!

I reached a new weight goal this morning:  I’ve lost a total of FORTY POUNDS!!!

The last time I weighed this amount, I think we were still in California, before we quit smoking!!  Yikes!!  Needless to say, I feel good and I’ve still got about 20 more pounds to go.  I’m giving myself until the end of the year to do that in so I’m being reasonable about it.  The exercise is the most important (and fun) part of it for me!

I went to church today and then bicycled followed closely by a walk with Lexi.  She really wishes that Brian and I were still (literally) fat-n-happy SITTING on the sofa!!  She gets walked soooo much!

Then of course, it was back to sewing again and, other than going out to a doctor appointment tomorrow, it’ll be sewing for tomorrow, as well.  I’m so hoping to be done with this quilt by Tuesday!!

. . . but that’s because I’m “caught up” from being behind.  Although I’m only as far as Wednesday morning this morning, it is better than being where I was at noon on Wednesday!  I’m ready to start sewing the new “petals” together and that’s better than nothing.  I only worked until a little after 6pm last night, leaving time for my hubby after dinner.  Nice treat, that!

CRAZY busy sewing!  Yeesh!!  I sewed from 8:40 until 9:20 today– long story short?  My petals made too big a “plate” and I can’t use them for the quilt that I was going to use them for and so, as a result, I’m starting all over!!  Yikes!!

Yes, so much fun to re-cut and then re-sew the same (but different) pieces.  The good news is that I found the “lost fabric”.  Quite relieved at that!

I took breaks to walk Lexi but, other than that, I kept at it all day– very tired so I’m going off to bed!

Hugs to all!