Witchy Woo and Hallie Too has arrived!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!! I was having a really, really bad day today. I had to take my car in for a new transmission ($3000) YIKES!!! Now if that was not bad enough, and I know this is a small thing, but I needed a new light for the clock in the car. You'll love this, the bulb is $3 and the labor to put the bulb in? $45!!! Hubby told me he will do it but you have to take the entire dashboard down to get to the light. In what lifetime do you think this would really happen? I really miss being able to see the clock in the dark. *SIGH*

Then I had a really really busy day at work today. I got in around 8 and looked up and it was noon already and the entire rest of the week should be just like that. In some ways good but totally non stop for the entire week. Wow, I'm not looking forward to that, but bring it on.

Then I had to weigh in at WW and was dreading that. I did NOT have a very good weekend as far as restraint with food was concerned (gross understatement). But, I still lost. Not much (0.6) but that's ok!! So hmmm this day is looking up.

Then it happened, I finally got to open the mail and guess what? The wonderful, fantastic, talented Faith sent me a fantastic gift. It just made my day! Awhile ago she had pained a quilt and then hand quilted and embelished it. She used photos of one of my cats, Hallie (Halloween, Hallie for short) as part of the quilt. It is entitled, Witchy Woo and Hallie the Cat and it is fantastic. So, without further ado I will share this fabulous creation with all of you.

Now for the close ups. Isn't she gorgeous? Just look at the details of that quilt will ya?

Oh Faith, I don't know how you were able to part with her but I am just thrilled she can live with me. I put her up right away.

Her face is so amazing. I love all the detail in this quilt.
It is uncanny how much this actually looks like Hal too.

Here is a not so great photo of her for you to compare. Uncanny! Guess who is sitting on my lap as I write this at the moment too? PURR, PURR!!

If you haven't visited Faith pop on over to her blog and say HI, she is a sweet and talented woman and makes a fantastic friend!!

Thank you Faith, from the bottom of my heart. I am so touched that you thought enough of me to share such a precious gift. I will treasure it forever! XOXO

Lazy Day Sunday

Yep, just look at these 2 big ol' goof balls!


I got up to do go to church and when I came back there they were. Like that is their chair or something. SHEESH!! I let them stay though and did some cleaning. Then I decided that it was time to sew. I decided it was time to work on the water quilt. I may, in fact, actually have enough fabrics cut to make 2 of these, thus solving my dilemma of who this quilt needs to go to. I really want to give it to DD2 and I think it would make a nice grad present for my niece (also a swimmer). She is not graduating until next June though so her quilt could be something different. Just trying to use up what I have already cut though. So, if there is enough, then there will be 2. The blocks are kind of mindless sewing anyway. A split 9 patch really. I have finished 16 so far, see? I love working with these colors. Very soothing. I am also "reading" via my iPod, to Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, which I am enjoying immensely!! If I do 2 of them I may have to get some additional border fabric but maybe not will have to check the stash first of course!!


As kind of an interesting aside, the message at mass today really hit home. Part of it spoke of having a "wicked mouth in a group of people with wicked mouths". That made me think better of what I said before. Mass went on to say that only through the grace of God will I be worthy. So I have asked for His grace and feel like if He can extend this to me so should others. It doesn't really matter though as long as he will. I have had a more peaceful day than I have had in a long time. I needed to hear that message today. How fortuitous that I had to pick up the deviled egg containers from the church for the deviled eggs we are making for the funeral lunch tomorrow and decided to go to mass at the same time, right? I never question how He moves in my life, I just try to pay attention and be open to His presence.

Yes, I am not perfect, but I am learning to follow where He leads me.

Sunny Saturday!

The sun is shining (rare for MI) and the birds are chirping, and 2 hours of torture exercise is done. I am all showered and ready to begin my day at noon o'clock! Oh what the heck, why not blog to begin the day off right? For your viewing pleasure I present my first totallly finished quilt of 2010?

My Dragon Lone Star for DD1 for Christmas (yes she had it, but it was not bound at that time)


LTW did a great job on the quilting. There is another Chinese dragon inside each of the dragon diamonds but it is terribly difficult to see since the print is so busy.

I think I showed some of the quilting once before but I don't think I showed the quilting on the inside corner, so here ya go.

Somewhat less impressive is the pieced back. In hind sight I should have used all purple instead of the busy fabric so the quilting would have shown up better, but at the time my thought was to use up all that dragon fabric so I would not have to use it in anything else (plus I didn't have any more of the purple!)

I am pretty sure DH and I will go out shopping for goodies for the Superbowl tomorrow and I need food for the week too. I weighed in at the Weight Loss Challenge and was down, but the official weigh in is at WW on Monday. I was kind of excited when I weighed naked yesterday morning because I was so close to breaking a BIG number. Not so today, but I am holding out hope that Monday will be successful, LOL

Giveaway

Noelle is having a giveaway of one of her fabulous hand stitched houses. You really should go to her blog and have a look around. The houses are adorable!

Happy News!!

I've decided to focus on the things that make me happy. Why? Well I found out this week that someone I know from work, who is not much older than me, had a bad stroke. It made me think about my own life and the good and not so good things going on there. Life is too short! I don't mean this in a selfish way either. I want to be a happy person and I really am the happiest when I am helping others, and when I am creating and learning new things and trying new things, spending time with my DH and my children. So I am vowing to do more of that and less of the things that seem to stress me out. I am walking down a bold new path. There are still some things I want to be able to do in my own life and I am going to focus on those things.

Now for some fun news. We all like give aways, right? Well I won one over at Red Fish Circle! This is the blog of Amy Schimler, a wonderful fabric designer and artist. She has done the On a Whim series, Forest Friends. I had to tell her which of her On a Whim 2 prints I liked the best and why, so I told her the owls on white. You know I have a thing for owls, right? I will be receiving a yard of that fabric from her!! Isn't that exciting??

You should stop by her blog she is an amazing designer and seems like a really nice person too.

I have some photos to share later. I have the day off to take DD1 to an appointment for a minor medical procedure. I went to the gym this am so that is done, WHEW!! The pictures are from the dragon lone star I told you about, so will share either today or tomorrow.

One moire thing, I am getting close to having 500 posts, can your believe that? I can't! I will plan some sort of give away for that momentous event so stay tuned!! It will be my way of celebrating the wonderful friendships I have made, the encouragement you have all given to me and the support. It is difficult to believe that there are folks out there that actually read what I have to say *and* comment. It still amazes me. So a BIG thank you to all of you and I will think about what to give away. Have a great day and celebrate your life!!

Sorry

I just wanted to apologize to anyone that might have read my last blog post and got upset. I just needed to vent. If anyone took offense I am sorry. I certainly did not mean to offend anyone, but this is my blog and I should be able to express my feelings as I might need to.

XOXOXOXO

Weight Loss Progress

I have some good news...I lost another 2.6 pounds according to the WW scales. Yeah me!!! I also went to the gym and did the treadmill for 30 minutes and then did Pilates for an hour. I never feel bad in Pilates but boy was I sore this morning!! When I weighed myself on my scale at home this morning it says I lost another pound, but I am posting the weight loss from the WW scale so that one will have to count next week.

I have been asking my friends for any of their Kaffe Fassett scraps. I need 2.5 x 5" pieces, so if any of you are feeling generous, send some KF lovin' my way would ya? I have a project in mind but just need some additional scraps. One of my friends gave me this fantastic pile yesterday.


Pretty cool huh? Now never fear, if you see some you have too and you are sayin to yourself, "Darn it, she already has that one", I can always use more! Really, it's true!! I need a lot of scraps.

Also, I have told ya'all that I am having trouble sleeping, right? NO?? Well, I am and it really sucks! I am lucky if I get 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. YAWN, JK... Anyway, I discovered a magic little helper that is natural. Melatonin! I take one about 1-2hours before bed and like magic I fall asleep and stay asleep. When I remember, dang it, now I need to work on that. Where was I going with this? Ah yes, so Sunday night I forgot to take it so I was tossing and turning so I just got up. I decided to work on my embroidery (to try to catch up to PTM). Here is what I got done.

I just have a bit more of the basket, the arm and the ground and this one will be done! Course, I went to bed around 2am and was up at 6am for work. The weird thing about this no sleep thing is that I really don't feel tired all day. You would think will all this exercising I would sleep better but alas it is not helping!

Tonight I go back to the POKE-N-STAB group (the church ladies, CL's for short). Part of me is looking forward to it and part of me is not. After the month long break I realize I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. Now I need to pray about this and see if God is calling me in another direction. All signs are pointing that way. Do you believe thing happen for a reason? I do and so far several things have been pointing me away from that group. We will be going over their surveys tonight and we will see how that goes. I have some prior comittments as far as quilts promised that need to be completed so I am there at least until the summer.

Thanks for stopping by and peeking in at my life!!

Slowly Returning Mojo

As I was deciding what to work on today, Jack was busy head butting the snowman pillow. He does this to me at night and often sleeps with his head like that up against mine!

I decided to finish cutting the blocks for the redwork for Rabbits Prefer Embroidery, so I did. Then I traced all the embroidery for the 8 blocks I had not traced yet. I had to stop when it was time to go to the grocery store. DH and DD1 were working down the basement doing some MUCH needed cleaning. It is more than a one day job. In fact it is so bad I will NOT take any pictures for the blog until it is cleaned up! No, I mean it!! Don't even ask!!

Finally got back home and put all the food away. Now what to work on? Well, The Replacements was on and I love that movie, so I sat down and watched the end of it. Groan, now I really did need to get moving. I had several UFO choices (mild understatement) which one? Which one? The "water" quilt won out. I made it once before and cut another one at the same time. I loved how it turned out and wanted to do another one someday either for DD2 or for me!! The pattern is from this book by Evelyn Sloppy.

I will give you a peek at the beginning.

You can see all the fabrics and the photo of the quilt as it appears in her book. She used red, black and cream. I will use blues, greens and white. I know you are dying to see what the first one looked like, right? I changed the border a little bit but here it is.

This was a graduation quilt for one of DD2's friends (that she is no longer in touch with, *sigh*). What do you think? Sweet, right?? I really do love this quilt and all the water types of fabrics that I used. I may even have enough to make it larger so it will fit my queen size bed, who knows?

I hope you all had an enjoyable, productive weekend too. Yeah, my Mojo seems to be slowly returning!!