Quilting time

I started my first quilt at Christmas time. I wanted to start a craft that my mom knew how to do and would maybe enjoy doing with me. I may have started with too big of a quilt but I guess it is ok if it takes a long... and I mean a long time.


Here is a look at a few of the blocks. I need to sew together 90 blocks for my queen size quilt and I have about 30 of them complete. It has been a few weeks since I had time to sit down to the sewing machine.

When I was buying the white/pink fabric for the background at a quilting shop in Prairie du Chen that lady asked if I was keeping the quilt for myself. It is a definite yes that this first quilt will be for me.

I need to decide how I will quilt it together. I'm sort of leaning towards hand quilting it but I'm not sure. My mom doesn't have too much experience with hand quilting. I think she helped my grandma on a quilt once. I may need to see out some advice from people who have done some quilting to see how to best handle the quilting. I guess I could always take the easy route and just tie the quilt.

My Craftiness

I have been working on two projects right now. I started a quilt at Christmas time which is coming along slowly and a few weeks ago I started knitting a scarf. I have been working on the scarf more than the quilt because I can watch TV and knit at the same time. Last night when my scarf was about 8 inches along, I decided that I didn’t like how tight I was knitting it or the width. I pulled it all apart and restarted it. I was surprised how quickly it was going back together last night when I was making it narrower, with looser stitches. I want to get it done before winter is over because it goes with my coat.

Here is a picture of the yarn (this is my first picture on my blog)

On another note, I was went to the fitness center last night and worked out for 45 minutes. I’m so proud of myself. I didn’t let any of the excuses going thru my head stop me for getting to the gym. Now I just need to make it happen again on Thursday night. I can’t go on Tuesday or Wednesday nights because I have other things scheduled after work.

Starting to live a healthy lifestyle

My friend and I have decided to work on weight loss and healthy living. My thoughts is that even if you loose the weight it won't matter if you don't start living a healthy life and continue to eat right after you lose the desired amount of weight.

Today I'm trying to come up with things to do to stop my snacking while watching TV. I found that yesterday I ate healthy meals (small portions and right types of foods) but I blew the whole day but snacking on unhealthy things after 8pm while watching TV. I wasn't hungry but I just had cravings. I found a few suggestions on other websites but I'm looking for more ideas.

Here is what I found so far:
1. Keep your hand and mind busy but working on a hobby such as knitting. I sometime do this while watching TV but I have to look down too much so during some shows this is not a good idea for me. I end up just listening to the show instead of watching the show. I might as well just turn off the TV and leave on the surround sound. Last night I discovered with the way my tivo, surround sound, and TV are hooked together that I can have the TV turned off but still listen to a show.
2. Exercise while watching TV. Do a few situps, stretches, and lift weights when you are feel the need to snack. I like this idea because you can do some exercise and still watch TV. I should put my weights in the TV room.
3. Clean the room that the TV is in when you feel the need to snack or when you go to the kitchen during the commercial to find a snack, do some cleaning in the kitchen. This is something that would help two areas of my life. I would have a cleaner house and I wouldn't be eating junk food; a win-win situation.
4. Write in a journal or on a blog. I don't have a laptop so to write a blog would be hard for me while watching TV. I could however get a journal and take notes of my exercise and eating habits were for the day. This would keep my mind and hands busy. It would also make my mind focused on my healthy living so then maybe I would remember to stay away from the snacks in the kitchen.