First basket

A tisket a tasket I finished the first basket. I decided to try to keep up with this BOM from Bunny Hill. I did it using raw edge applique. My work leaves something to be desired. lol I've never done this sort of thing before so I try to remind myself that I've got to start somewhere. :0) I'm hoping that there is much improvement noted by the 12th block. *crossing fingers*

Christmas Wish BOM

Here's block #2 for the Christmas Wish BOM. I'm really liking these because they go so quickly. I need a quick sense of completion every now and then. This block is to be trimmed in green. I thought I had done all nine of the blocks but when I got everything back out to get this block done I found I'd only done the red. Hopefully I'll get the green ones all done sometime this week.

My New Flock

My birds from the Birds of Change Exchange have arrived!!! Woohoo! (insert woowoo dance here) It's so much fun to get goodies in the mail. Here they are:

Aren't they great?! I just love them all. Thanks so much to Regina for putting this all together. What an undertaking!!

Monday Morning Check In

I forgot to calculate my average this morning. But I think it will probably say that I am up a pound or two. I'm retaining water like mad (Thank! You! PMS!) But, it is on the downside. At one point during the week I was up 4 pounds!! Talk about feeling bloated....I couldn't even take my wedding ring off. I did pretty good on the eating but this week I know I'll do even better. Wednesday starts Lent and I've decided to give up sugar. That should be a shock to my system. lol

Hope everyone else is doing good with their weight loss. :0)

Free Motion

Last night I tried free motion quilting for the first time. Whoa!! That's going to take some getting used to. lol I just got my new presser foot in last week and this was the first chance I had to try it. I tried it on a place mat I was making. It was really scary at first but got better as it went along. Sometimes I got going too fast and have a few sharp turns and there are some places where my lines overlap. It's also going to take a lot more practice to go at the right speed while I'm moving my project around. Anyway, here's the placemat:

Monday Morning Check In

This week I'm actually proud to say that I remained the same. It was a stressful and then hormonal week....a deadly diet combination. lol My Dad's surgery went well and they let him go home on Friday. :0) I did pretty okay for most of the week but then this weekend the pms-ish hormones kicked in and I did horrible. Yesterday I swear it seemed like I ate everything in sight. I'm hoping that's passed and this week will be a losing week. Hope it's going better for everyone else. :0)

Sock Monkey

I bought this sock monkey kit for Abigail some time ago. She loves monkeys and I thought it would be great for her to have the experience of making her own. We worked on it for awhile and then it got put aside because there was just too much going on. I finally pulled it back out and had her to what she could and then finished it up. So, here for the first time, I present to you what may well be the world's ugliest sock monkey. LOL



Even Abigail asked if it freaks me out that he just stares all the time. lol

Valentine attempt

I had seen these cute valentine ideas on Tip Junkie and decided they would be great to make for the kids' classes at school.




Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to even attempt them. I ended up not making them for the classes. I still think they're cute so I'll try for next year. I need time to work out the best plastic to use, good layout for the maze, etc., etc. I gave the four I made to the kids and they think they're great. :0) It's so good to have little fans of just about anything around. lol

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day. It's not a day that Dax & I go out of our way to celebrate. I told him long ago that I prefer to be treated well everyday and in return for that we can let Valentine's Day go by without much hooplah. lol

Monday Morning Check In

Last week was up and down for me. I started the week off on the right foot. Got up and exercised two days in a row. But I got sick and just didn't have it in me to exercise. Do you think maybe it was my body rebelling against the exercise? I did pretty good on the eating - although not really by choice. I just didn't feel up to it for the most part. For the week I was down .5 lbs. I wish it had been more but I'll take what I can get. lol Now, if I could keep the lack of desire to eat and feel well enough to get back to exercising then I'd have it made. :0) Don't know what this week will bring. I'm still feeling under the weather (but think I'm on my way to healthy) but I'll be leaving town tonight because my Dad is having surgery tomorrow morning. I guess I'll just have to make healthy choices while we're on the road and waiting at the hospital.

Heading west

Well, my little flock has been sent west to be assigned to their new homes. I hope they're happy with their new friends.



I wonder what's got their interest. They all seem to be staring at something. hmmmm....maybe if I can get a picture from a different angle without scaring them off....




...looks like it must be lunch. lol

It was a lot of fun participating in Creative Kismet's Birds of Change Exchange. This is the first one I've participated in and to make it even better, everything came from my scraps. Woohoo! I hope to do something like it again sometime. I'm usually a little hesitant about what I feel I can accomplish since the kids keep life so hectic. lol Of course, now the kids have all been through my scraps and picked out the fabric they want their birds made out of. lol

Monday Morning Check In

This week I remain the same. I feel like that's a huge accomplishment though. My parents were here over the weekend and brought all kinds of junk food to my house - including some sinfully good brownies. But I was good and actually left some for the other people in my house. lol My busy time at the office is over now and I can get back to a somewhat normal routine which will make things so much easier. 18 hours a day at the office doesn't leave time for much else. I did actually get up this morning and exercise. Woohoo! It's been way too long, I can feel my muscles tightening up already. lol I didn't find any salad recipes that I thought looked any better/different than the usual. I look forward to seeing if anyone else came up with something good. I'm hoping to post a loss next week. :0)