Sunday Stash Report

 This week I have had no finishes. I have done quite a bit of sewing - have been working on a secret project so no photos of it - but its a queen size quilt so when its finished it will make a big dent in my stash. I also got the backing for another project finished and hope to get it pinned this week and perhaps even get start on quilting it. I am going away for a week on Friday so I won't get anything done after then. Hopefully I will be able to get on with some stitching together of hexagons.

So no finishes BUT also no fabric purchases - no parcels from Massdrop arriving on the doorstep to pump up my stash input. So that is a good start.

Stats from Week 4

                 Fabric used         0.00m
                 Fabric added       0.00m

Year to Date
                 Fabric used         0.66
                 Fabric added     16.45m
Net Used                           -15.79m

Linking up here

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2016/01/31/stash-report-january-31-2016/

Monday Musings... its goal setting day

A whole new month is stretching out before me. Its a short month though... and we will be away from home for a good bit of it as well - so not sure how much sewing I will get done - but I can hope.

My plans

• work on my hexie quilt. Start stitching them together
• Pin and quilt hashtag quilt
• Work on Diamond Dash quilt. Sew blocks into strips. Cut and attach sashing. Decide on border and attach. Make backing. Pin and quilt
• make butterfly zipper pouch
• decide on some projects for Handmade With Love and complete.
• And to keep my yearly goals ticking over- empty scrap basket at least once during the month

So - that should be enough to keep me busy

January Monthly Goal Review

My January Goals were

• Work on Hashtag quilt.   This is now complete including the backing. Now to pin and quilt it.
• Work on backing for POD quilt This has been completed and has been sent to my friend Kym to be quilted.
• make label for Chanel's quilt This has been made. The label was sent to her grandma who stitched it on and delivered the quilt to the baby.
• review and update WIPs and UFO list I went through my cupboard and wrote an updated list of both. The updated list is in the sidebar of the blog.
• empty scrap basket I managed to get to the bottom of the scrap basket once during the month. Its started to fill again... but that just means I'm sewing

• Hexie quilt Make 175 hexagons - I haven't actually counted how many hexies I've made this month... but I have made some :)
• Hexie quilt -make 41 half hexies I decided not to make the half hexies till I finish the design and start to put it together and then I will know what colours the half hexies need to be.
• Hexie quilt - work out design -Using hexie graph paper I have worked out a design. Its not quite finished but I now have a good idea where I am going and can start to stitch some hexies together.
  

•  set up fabric tracker for 2016 - This is done. AND I've got a copy of it on my external hard drive. This week I had a bad fright when my computer wouldn't start up. I hadn't backed up for many months and I was really worried about what I might lose but fortunately the technician got it going again... whew.

So its almost the end of the month and I have made excellent progress completing most of my goals and working on all of them. 

How did you go with your goals for the month? Did you make good progress too?

Fitness Friday

It Friday again! Some off you are shouuting with glee cause it is the end of your working week. For us ts a bit of a non event cause we are basically retired. As yet many of my weekly commitments haven't kicked back in after the start off school this week.

Friday for me is the day I write my fitness blog. Sometimes I get to skite a little sometimes I have to hang my head in shame. Today there is more of the latter for al srts of reasons.

Boyo's 21st birthday party and subsequent lefts over food meant that - yeah healthy eatiing has takeen a bit of a dive. There was way too much cheesecake left in the fridge to be good for me. Its ok though.... its all gone now. We are still finishing off the left over bbq steak but everything else is back to normal.

The party also meant that not a much walking was done as I'd have liked and added to that we have had some rain, a couple of evening commitments .... and yeah thiings are not too good on the step count. I'm well done my list of friends again. Sigh. AND my fitbit battery isn't lasting like it should andgoing  flat after just a couple of days which isn't helpful at all!! It only counted 789 steps yestetrday - not happy about that

Friday            11 677

Saturday         7 452 (party day. no walks but lots off running about the place)

Sunday           5 957(no walks but lots of cleaning up)

Monday        11 843 (only 1 walk but cleaning Fangirls townhouse ready for renting it out)

Tuesday        11 188 (2 walks)

Wednesday   12 616 (2 waks)

Thurday              793 - no walks and fittbit went flat with no warning grrrrrr

not surprisingly I've slipped way down my friends list. 22nd atm. My fitbit was charged up over night but this morning it is showing half battery and no steps. Im not impressed

Im battling with my ipad to put up these blog posts. sigh Hope you appreciate it. :)

Wip Wednesday

This morning we put our oldest son on the plane to fly back to Melbourne where he lives. His departure meant that Fixit Guy and I are all alone in the house, back to being Empty Nesters for the first time since  early November when Boyo came home from uni and started work for the summer. In that time we have had Kombi Boy and Gamer Girl home for a few weeks over Christmas and then in the last week The Beast and Fann Girl have both come home for our youngest (Boyo's) 21st birthday party which was Saturday night. Boyo and Fangirl left on Tuesday to drive back to Brisbane and as I said this morning The Beast flew out.

With all the visitors and party preparations sewing time has been in short supply but I have been able to get a bit done over the week.

I've been working on the design of the hexagonal quilt. Using a graph I'd printed out I've begun to work out a design  using the colours of the hexagons that I've made. I'm making good progress with it.

The other project that I have been working on is the Hashtag quilt. The blocks were the result of a block swap amongst the Twiltters, an online group of quilting friends, brought together by the the quilting podcasters. I got the top together pretty quickly, once I got the time yesterday to sew. 

Since then I have been working on the backing for it. I am piecing it and its taking longer than the front!

 

Today at my first visit to Patchwork group I made progress on a new project. I'm making a Diamond Dash quilt for a present so can't give too many detais. The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt company. Tooday I started to sew the squares on the corner of the blocks. I gotall the blocks done that i have cutt but still hve to cut a heap more. Its good to mak a starrt on in.

Im having to do this blog post on my iPad since   my laptop is getting serviced. It doesn't have the features of the full product so I'm sorry its not as polisheed as my ususal efforts

Hope you are maig progress with your WIPS

Sunday stash report

My computer has stopped working again. It's very frustrating believe me. I'll trade it to get looked at tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to access all my files again shortly. So these calculations for fabric used is guess work. When my computer is operational again I'll update figures accordingly

Thus week I've had a few small finishes. I made 7 little earbud zipper pouches. They don't use much fabric but they were a finish, I put some photos on my WIP Wednesday post. 

I've had some input too...that 2nd lot of fabric from Massdrop turned up. That's another 35 fat quarters to input. Eek.

I did use a metre of fabric in a project for my son's 21st birthday. The Tie fighter that Fixit Guy and Boyo made as a prop for the Starwars themed party needed a curtain at the back of it. It was only pinned in place so with the party over ( it was last night) it's back in my stash.

The Tie Fighter was very popular with the youngest party members.

And the not so young

The 2 constructive were enemies on the night. Below Boyo ( Luke Skywalker) battles it out with Fixit Guy (Dark Emperor)

The family in costume . Boyo, Fixit Guy, The Beast,( Chewbakker) Fangirl (young Pricess Leia) and me!( Leia from the latest movie)

Stats from Week 3

                 Fabric used         0.80m
                 Fabric added       8.22m

Year to Date
                 Fabric used         1.03
                 Fabric added     16.44m
Net Used                           -15.41m

Fitness Friday - back on the horse..well the trail anyway

Very pleased to announce that this week has been a much better week. I have been eating a little better - not scoffing copious amounts of chocolate anyway or drinking plenty of wine so not as many conspicuous calories going in anyway. 

This week though I have worked hard at getting my steps up and managed to make it to 10 000 steps most days.

Friday:               13 159
Saturday:           12 325
Sunday:               6 874 (only one walk being Sunday :) )
Monday:            13 276
Tuesday:            13 146
Wednesday:       10 127 (you can get the idea of how busy I was on 
Thursday:          10 222  these 2 days when I say I only got one                                                walk in and still made my 10 000 steps)

Last week I set myself the goal of being back in the top 10 of my friends and I made it! It was Saturday or Sunday that I got back in there and have been up as high as 4th amongst my friends.

We've had some beautiful bright blue skies. It would be even better if they were cloud filled rainy ones but they make for lovely pictures, especially with it green around here at the moment. Some gum trees from our walks

The cockies (Sulphur Crested Cockatoos) are out in force at the moment. There are flocks of them about the place and a few times we have had them outside our home

We decided that since they are here long term Fangirl's cats were going to become inside outside cats. Where she lived they had to be indoor only because of the busy road she was on but we are on a quiet cul de sac. I know that the wildlife suffers when cats are allowed outside but we only let them out during the day and so far they aren't much good as hunters. Long may it last. They have enjoyed the experience and go out as soon as they can. Fangirl has moved to Brisbane and as yet doesn't have her own place but is staying with her brothers (Kombi Boy and Boyo) in our town house there or with a friend. (She doesn't want to wear out her welcome with her friend but she needs a bolt hole for when her baby brothers drive her nuts). If she can get a place on her own that she can have the cats at she will take them down with her... and they will become indoor only cats again. 

      

Our big boy cat Pippin was unimpressed when the interlopers invaded his outdoor space as well. Can't you tell?

Wip Wednesday

This week I was able to pack up my POD quilt - the front and the newly completed back - and send it to my friend Kym to get it it quilted. 

I have also been working on some more little earbud pouches. I made 2 using Doctor Who themed fabric and then 5 more using some cute owl fabrics and then 2 using some sewing themed fabric. I am not really sure what I am going to do with them all. I have some recipients in mind and others I can donate to Handmade 

Love.

The last thing I have been working on this week sewing wise has been the Hashtag quilt from the Twilters swap. I ended up with 31 blocks so one is going to have to be relegated to the back along with 2 left over ones of my own that I didn't send into the swap as they were undersize. I've laid them out on my design board. That is as far as I have gotten but it is a start.

Fixit Guy and I have both been very busy this week getting ready for our youngest son's 21st birthday bbq that we are holding at our place this weekend. We have been cleaning up the yard and generally getting ourselves organised. Fixit Guy and Boyo have been working on some rather impressive large scale decorations.

Can you pick my contribution? Yes I did the back drop and curtain. The fabric is pinned or clipped into place. Ideally I would have liked the black fabric to go further but I had to work with what I had! 

I've also started making some of the deserts. Boyo asked for cheesecakes for desert - strawberry cheesecake. For his 18th birthday I had also made him cheesecakes for his party. I had trialedd 5 different ones in the lead up and he said he wanted all of them! I was happy to do that, thinking that would cover deserts for everyone but I had reckoned with out 18 year old boys who took a slice of each one... so we actually ran a bit short. 

So this time I have told him that I am only making 2 different ones! Not as many people coming to this party either. This time I am making Turkish Delight Cheesecake as well as his requested Strawberry. (2 of each) 

Last week in my WIP Wednesday post I wrote about how I was making a data base of all the copied sheet music our church had and sorting them all alphabetically etc. Well the job was finally done Friday. Jim, our minister, is really thrilled about having it done and has promised he will update the files as he adds new songs etc. Great! I still have to go through and add the songs that we have digital copies of (ie already on the Easy Worship data base) but that will happen... after the 21st birthday Star Wars extravaganza perhaps!

What are you working on this week?

  

Sunday Stash report

I received in the mail this week some fabric that I ordered on Massdrop last year. Its some gorgeous Japanese fabric that I will use in a secret project. There were 35 fat quarters in the drop. Its the most beautiful fabric.

 Due to an error I made in the process I actually ordered it twice and so at some point another similar bundle is going to turn up. I don't really need the second bundle but I didn't get around to cancelling it and I have been billed for it. So far only one bundle has arrived. I won't mind if I DON'T get the second bundle so long as they refund me my money. According to the tracking notification it is still in transit so it may turn up in the next few days. Otherwise I will be on the war path over it.


I managed to get 2 little finishes done last night - 2 little zipper purses - incy wincy tiny finishes but they are a finish and so its not all negative this week. They are earbuds carriers - and I have 2 special people in mind to receive them. 

 

I think this is the first time I have had a negative on my spreadsheet ie more overall input than output. Some weeks I have had that but usually overall I have had it going out. Hopefully I will make up the deficit.

Stats for week 2
                 Fabric used         0.23m
                 Fabric added       8.22m

Year to Date
                 Fabric used         0.23m
                 Fabric added       8.22m
Net Used                             -8.22m


Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times

Mid month goal review

1. Set up my fabric tracker for 2016 DONE
2. Empty my scrap basket. Started. The basket is empty... but all the fabric is sitting on my ironing board, pressed, ready to be trimmed to size. Not all of it actually. Some of it has already been sorted by being thrown out or by being put in the drawer for strips under 1.5". I also found 4 panels that I had been given in there and they are now in the box with other panels and orphan blocks etc 

This is what the scrap basket looked like at the beginning of the month

This is what it looks like now.

But this is what my ironing board looks like :)

3 Review my WIPs and UFOs list. DONE
4. Work on backing for my POD quilt DONE. I have finished the backing and now have to parcel it up to send off to my friend Kym (From Professional Quilting Service) to quilt for me. The centre strip is Harry Potter inspired fabric and owls and some hand dyed fabric. The strips either side are made up of Harry Potter blocks and fabric, some female super hero blocks and more hand dyes. The wider strips are interspersed with piano key strips. Not sure what they were made for originally but they were in my orphan block container. Surprisingly I have yet more left over. The outside strips were assorted left over fabric - some was the background from the front of the quilt and some - old sheet from my mother in law's I think! I like how it came out.
  

5 Complete the last of the hexies for the Hexagon quilt. I have stitched a few more of these but I seem to have lost my mojo. I want to work out the design for it as well. Haven't done that either.
6 Make the label for the quilt I have made for my new great niece Chanel Grace born on New Year's Day. I had left the quilt in Sydney with my sister at Christmas time. As the baby hadn't been born it had no label on it. The baby was born the day we left for home. The quilt was made by me using embroideries my now 93 year old mother made. When I got home I posted the label to my sister (The baby's grandma) who stitched it on for me and the baby received the quilt this morning and my nephew put a photo of Chanel on the quilt on Facebook. Isn't she just gorgeous. My nephew wrote 

Chanel chilling out on her new quilt, which was made by her great grandmother and great aunt. A beautiful quilt made by two beautiful people!

How are you going this month? Did you set yourself some goals?

River walking

Our regions has been in the grip of a drought over the last few years. Parts of our state have been in drought for 4 years so its pretty dire in some places. Things were looking really dry and bare - even by the river. The water itself and the trees along its edge gave some relief to the parched look of the place but it was dry and brown and barren looking

But its summer here and that is when we get our rain. Its still drought in lots of our state but we have had some reasonable rain here where we are and the grass has grown and its all looking rather lush.

My river walk has been revived. The grass has gown long and green. Now when the dog Digby rushes off through the grass as she is want to do we can pick her out (when the grass isn't too tall) Her fur is the exact colour of the dry grass so she is hard to spot when its not green.

Jack our other dog is even shorter than Digby but he is white and brown and so stands out pretty well in dry or fresh grass.

We hadn't had much rain before we went away on holidays. A few showers but not much. While we were away over Christmas the area got some good falls and in fact when we got back to town (January 2nd) it was a bit wet and muddy to walk by the river on the occasions I stirred my stumps to actually go out with the dogs. Finally a week or so ago it was dry enough to walk down that way again and its been beautiful. The grass is long and green. There isn't much in the way of wildflowers around but the grasses are in seed and they are beautiful in their own way.

Frightfully fat and flabby Friday

Sigh

Yeah

You know all that weight I lost when I got back from my previous holiday in October. I found it again. Well most of it. I got on the scales post Christmas when we got home and it said 98kgs. I jumped off again very quickly and hadn't been game to get back on them again till this morning.

I haven't been very discerning with what I have eaten since I got home either. I had good intentions to be good. But I haven't been. Good intentions should count for something. The box of chocolates in the fridge called my name ... loudly... and there was Boyo's birthday with cake and dinner out. Then there was a lovely wedding ... and ... yeah. Temptation.

I was going to walk every day... twice a day even as well and that didn't happen... well at least not until this week

On Sunday my friend Maree came over for a catchup.. We hadn't seen each other since I got back from hols which is pretty bad considering she lives about 7 houses away and we are besties.

Anyway she came over. Do you want to start walking again in the morning? I asked. Yes was her emphatic reply and so we have. 3 mornings in a row we walked. Then we were in Rocky for the day Thursday so we didn't walk. I did a lot of walking about the shopping centre. In fact I had 5 000 steps by the time we came home so that was as good as my morning walk. And we walked again this morning. Fixit Guy and I have managed an afternoon walk most days and even when he didn't come I went on my own (Go me)

Our morning walks have been around the streets as my friend prefers that but in the afternoon or when I walk without my friend I go down by the creek as then the dogs can run free and its more shaded ... and much prettier.

All this has meant that for 4 days in a row I made my 10 000 steps. I didn't get much more than the 10k but got them I did. And it has worked... margnially. The scales this morning said 97.9 (and that was after breakfast) so starting to edge downwards at bit.

There has been a fair bit in the press and social media about diets and exercise and what works and what doesn't.

I was really interested to read an article debunking detox diets.

Intense cleanse, weight loss, kick-start: Will a detox diet really rid your body of toxins and make you healthier?

By Cathy Johnson

It made good sense to me. Our bodies are designed to deal with toxins. We don't need to feed it special herbs to make it do its job. And the lack of details in the claims by so called detox diets are remarkable. We get rid of Toxins... what toxins... oh well not sure.... but they are toxic. So how can they be sure they get rid of them if they don't even know what they are.

I read another interesting article (which of course I now can't find) that said that any diet will work, for a time. Paleo, low carb. It was saying that some people have particular trouble losing weight for a variety of reasons. I really want to re read it but can't find it. Ah well

Anyway my weekly steps
Fri          8    6 476 (got one walk in)        
Sat         9    3 105  ( wedding. My dancing didn't rack up many points it seems)
Sun      10    2 071 (very slack slack day)
Mon    11   10 423 (yes! Walking twice a day again)
Tues    12   10 566 (2 days in a row)
Weds  13   10 829 ( 0n a roll!!)
Thur    14   10 370 (shopping is as good as walking it seems)

Today we have already done our morning walk so its looking good!

I've made it to 14th on my friends list too. No idea where I had slipped down to... too scary to contemplate. Hoping to get back to being in the top 10 by the end of the weekend for sure. I can do this

How are you going with your post Christmas flab? Are you all fired up with good resolutions? We shall see how we all go