Online Journal Class & Other stuff!

First off - is anyone else's bloglines being a pain? I keep getting the same blog posts coming up as new and sometimes it shows 200 new posts for one blog!

BOTH of my computers have been acting up this week so I have not been able to post - although I had a bunch I could've posted about! Last Friday I received my first lesson for my online journal class - can I just tell you how hard it was to sit at work all day Friday when I wanted to be home playing with fabric and paper? So last Saturday I got the cover done and today I stayed home because of weather and did the pages - it has a few more things that need to be added but it's 90 % done.



I did some dry embossing on some of the pages and used some rubber stamps of inspirational quotes on some of the pages. So far I am loving this class. I have a bunch of ideas for more variations of this journal - all I need is more time!

I didn't get to post my Loser Monday report - my weight stayed the same which I expected because I haven't really moved into the "trying to lose" phase yet - but I did do very well on the eating breakfast front and wore my pedometer most of the week.

I also bought a new book and a pattern and got another installment of the pincushion of the month from Quilt Fabric Delights - again no pics though - mostly due to the computer problems - it took me so long to load the journal pics I gave up - hopefully I will have that worked out very soon!

Have a pieceful day!

Loser Monday!

Where are all the Loser Monday reports? I didn't lose any weight this week but I didn't really expect to. I am starting very slowly, loosely following the Best Life Diet by Bob Greene. In phase one you establish good habits like moving more, eating breakfast, not eating after 8pm, etc. I didn't do too well with those this week so i will continue with the same goals next week- eating breakfast every day, bringing lunch most days, drinking more water and moving more. Tonight I went to the first class of a four week intro to yoga class - it was great! And I had my breakfast today so I am off to a good start this week.

But for now - I'm off to watch the finale of Momma's Boys!

Have a pieceful day!

Trying Something New

Anyone out there ever take an online class? I've signed up for my first one - Journal Making for the Fiber Artist with Sue Bleiweiss. I made some fabric journal covers at Christmas (and have some others to still finish!) and came across this class on the internet. It looks pretty cool - one of the journals is made with a brown paper bag but looks like leather when its done. I used to do a lot of card-making and rubber stamping so I am looking forward to combining that with using fabric. It starts on the 23rd. I've never taken an online class before - there is a yahoo group to post messages and pictures so you can see what your classmates are doing.

Have a pieceful day!

Loser Monday!

So I have decided to join Red Geranium Sharon's Diet Challenge for 2009.

Sharon had ordered challenged everyone to post a before picture. So here goes....
This picture is from my DD's college graduation last spring. I plan to take this very slow and first get used to eating three meals, drinking enough water, fruits and vegetables, etc... I also want to add activity slowly. So I don't know if I will have big losses in the beginning but slow and steady wins the race.

While I was sick on the couch this weekend and channel surfing, I stopped on the movie The Devil Wears Prada just in time for one of my favorite quotes from that movie

"I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight" Gotta love it!

Have a pieceful day!

Machine Quilting DVD review

Around the middle of last week I started not feeling well, scratchy throat, congestion, etc. I wound up taking a sick day on Friday and going to the doctor. He gave me some medicine but I am still not feeling well so I took anohter sick day today.

So what did I do to keep myself occupied during the last 3 days on the couch? I watched my new machine quilting DVD - Fast and Free Vol. 3 by Patsy Thompson.



Before I go on, let me say that I have never met Patsy Thompson and do not get any benefit out of the nice things I am about to say LOL! I just feel that when I find a bad pattern or product out there I like to warn others not to spend their money and likewise when i find a great pattern or product I like share the wealth.

So, that said, I have to tell you how great this DVD is. This, as you could probably already guess, is the third in a series of machine quilting DVDs. Patsy also has Vines and Leaves, Vols. 1 and 2 and Free Motion Fun with Feathers. I have all of them except Vines and Leaves II, which I hope to get soon. If you are looking to start or improve your machine quilting skills, I would highly recommend these DVDs. Each is like a class in machine quilting. THe Fast and Free series builds on each one so (although I didn't do this!) I would buy each volume in order. As an added bonus on the website you can download pdf files of all the designs taught on each dvd so you don't have to fire up the dvd player when you are heading to the quilting room and want to refresh your memory on the designs.

After finishing my dvd viewing, I completed the stitching for a redwork baby quilt I've been working on - only to realize that I think I cut some of my blocks (the setting triangles) too small - oh, yes, those would be the stitched blocks! More on that later....

Have a pieceful day!

First Finish of 2009!

I actually finished this on the 7th but it is a gift so I didn't want to post about it until it was given to its recipient (who reads my blog). My friend Susan is a serious tea drinker so when I saw this pattern I had to get it and make it for her!

The only disappointing thing is that I used one of those blue disappearing ink type pens to trace the stitchery - for the first time, Unfortunately, when I wet it to remove the ink, in some spots the blue ink keep coming back or even creeping into new places! I generally try not to mark my quilts but I am glad this happened on a small project instead of a large one! Anyone else have trouble with those blue pens?

Have a pieceful day!

BOM fever!

It seems everywhere I look today there is a new FREE block of the month! Anne Sutton over at Bunny Tales has a really cute applique BOM and Gail Pan has a stitichery BOM and they are both FREE! Both first blocks are adorable too!


I've already traced Gail Pan's block #1 - as a matter of fact, after I started this post DH wanted to use the laptop and by the time I got it back I have this block almost all stitched. Hopefully will get it finished tomorrow night!

The other block of the month I worked on tonight is Block #11 of Lynette Anderson's Noah's Ark stitchery BOM. I was VERY behind on these but picked them up again Christmas night and in the week after Christmas I finished five blocks and caught up. I traced this one earlier also

and finished it tonight. Now all I need is the last one next month. Here is a picture of the one's I have done so far (except the latest one done tonight)

I may try to put the log cabin borders on these during this next month so once the last block comes out I can stitch it and put the little quilt together.

Along with these I have an applique block of the month that has been hanging around a long time and a pieced block of the month from a few years ago that I only got 2 or 3 blocks done on. Then there is the pieced and appliqued BOM that has the piecing done but not the applique! I am going to try to get those done this year if I can. I doubt I'll get them all done but maybe I can get one or two done and make some progress on the others.

Have a pieceful day!!!

Guess what I did today

My youngest DD turned 18 a few weeks ago. She has been waiting to get a tatoo. So today she and I both got our first tatoo. And my other DD got her 4th! We all got the same one - a shamrock on our ankle/heel.

The other great thing that happened this weekend is I got my machines back from the repair shop! Remember back in December both broke down on me? Well, now they are back and humming along nicely!

Have a Pieceful Day!

Lazy New Year's Day

We are all having a very lazy New Year's Day here. DH and I went to dinner last night with a group of friends. This is our annual New Year's Eve ritual - an early dinner at a restaurant that does not have "seatings" and limited menu. This year's choice did have a limited menu but there were lots of choices and it was very good.

It is 4pm here which is hard to believe. We slept late and have pretty much just hung out with DS and his girlfriend before they head back to school tomorrow.

Thought I'd share a funny story - my youngest DD turned 18 last week just before Christmas. Early this week she called my cellphone while I was at work. I missed the call but called her back a few minutes later. She said not to worry about it now - she had been in a store and needed her social security number and my maiden name to get a "discount card" for the store. It didn't take long to realize that it wasn't a "discount card" they wanted her to apply for - it was a credit card - for which she would get a discount on her purchases that day or something like that. After I explained this to her she said "oh, its a good thing Icouldn't apply - that could be dangerous!" NO KIDDING!!!! Being that she works only 8 hours or so a week and is still in high school, I'm hoping she would not have been approved anyway but these days you never know!

Since I hate to have a post without a picture, here is a (not so great) pic of the x-mas tree napkins I made this year. I made a bunch for myself and about 24 of them for a friend.


I guess maybe I should add photography lessons to my 2009 resolutions! Seriously, I do plan on learning photoshop and publisher this year - I might just look into a photography class too!

Have a Pieceful Day!