Lousy Weather = Lots of Sewing...

The weather here has been COLD and SNOWY for the past several days.  What's a quilter to do when the weather takes a turn for the worse???  

Whadya think???  

I've been spending a lot of time in my sewing room the last several days...and not always by myself!  ;)  

Last Friday, a friend brought over her machine and we spent the whole day in the sewing room.  She was working on an international "Round Robin".  That's a group of quilters who make a center block or medallion for their quilt.  They send it to the next person in the group who adds the next "round"...whatever the second quilter thinks will go with the first quilter's center, using what she has in her own stash.  That person then sends it along to the 3rd person who adds a round based on what they think goes, and the quilt continues around to each of the quilters in the round-robin, till it finally returns to the original owner as a completed top!

In this case, Susan was the second quilter on this piece...the middle "New York Beauty" medallion was made by the original quilter.  Susan added a 6" "piano key" border to it.

The day before, I had gone to buy border and backing fabric for my vintage embroidered linen star quilt.  Unfortunately, there was only 2 2/3 yards of the wide 1930's backing fabric, so I spent Friday piecing the backing to make it big enough for the quilt...using up the leftover fabric from the front to make it big enough to back the quilt.  I also got the borders added to the top, but don't have a picture of that.  It is now ready to go to the long-arm quilter...as soon as I can locate one!

Saturday, another bad weather day, was spent in the sewing room, too.  However, instead of quilt-sewing, I hemmed up 5 pair of pants for Andy.  

Nothing says "I love you" on Valentine's Day like 5 new pair of hemmed up pants!  ;)

Loretta

Sewing Room Change-Up: Phase 2....

Quote for the Day:

"Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state."

~John Locke

I posted about a week ago that the way some things were set up in my sewing room just weren't working for me the way I wanted them to.  The first change-up involved moving another table into the sewing room to provide more space for my sewing machines.

I moved my sewing room into this particular bedroom 2 years ago and at the time I set it up the way I thought would be best.  However, after working in there for a while, there were some things that were not as convenient as I would have hoped and it involved the way I had 3 bookcases set up.  

I have these two bookcases just inside the door of the room that I lean my "design wall" boards against.

I keep my "scrap-saver's system" in the plastic containers on the tall bookshelf, but when the design wall boards are in front of it with quilt blocks on them, it is difficult to get to my scrap storage.  

Just to the right of these two bookshelves is another bookshelf that has rarely needed items on it...along with other stuff that has just been thrown on there instead of being put away where it belongs.  It ends up being a "catch-all" for things that I don't know what to do with or don't have time to put away properly.

Since this third bookcase is next to my cutting table, I thought it would be more convenient to move my scrap storage system to this bookcase and put the things that I don't need to get to as often on the bookcase behind the design wall boards.  While moving this stuff around, I took this opportunity to declutter, too.

This is the result...

This puts the most-used items (my scraps) at my fingertips next to the cutting table, and the lesser-used items behind the design wall!  I think this is going to work much better for me!   And I love that it is cleaner and neater, now!  I am less stressed and more creative in a clean and functional space!

Loretta

Clean, Healthy Eating for 30 Days...

Quote(s) For the Day:

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you are right."

~Henry Ford

“The food you eat either makes you more healthy or less healthy. Those are your options.” 

~Melissa Hartwig, It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways

Today is Day 31 of my Whole30 way of eating.  I started on Jan 15 and am loving the results so far.  Some people are ready at this point to slowly re-introduce the foods that they have eliminated during the Whole30 to see how they effect them.  I, however, am not ready.  I plan to continue eating on this food plan...hopefully, until it becomes just "the way I eat".  

The "Before" and "After" pictures...I'm not sure that I can tell a difference in the pictures...which is very disappointing...but here they are...

The "hard" results:

Weight:  -10 pounds

Measurements:  -11" 

• Bust -1/4"
• Waist -2 1/4"
• Hips - 2"
• Thighs - 2 1/4" total
• Calves - 1 1/2" total
• Upper Arms - 2" total
• Neck - 3/4"

The "soft" results:

• I'm off of my medication for GERD (Gastro-esophageal reflux disorder)...something I have suffered with for 30+ years and have been on medication for 20+ years.  (I have found that it does return when I eat grapefruit, though, but that is easily taken care of by a few drops of Digestzen essential oil by doTerra.)
• Blood pressure has dropped by 10 points, both diastolic and systolic!
• Resting heart rate is in the 60's!!  (It has been in the 80's for the last several years.)
• No more ankle swelling.
• No intestinal gas or bloating.
• My insomnia is GONE.
• I wake up feeling refreshed and energized.
• I have more energy throughout the day and get more things accomplished.
• I've learned to cook some very tasty and healthy recipes and have eaten some new foods for the first time ever!  
• Food has FLAVOR without adding any sugar.
• YES, I CAN drink my coffee with just unsweetened coconut milk added...no sweetener of any kind....and still enjoy it!  (Who knew???)
• My sugar cravings have decreased by probably 80-90%.
• My desire to eat out my frustrations or emotions has also decreased by 80-90%.
• No afternoon brain-fog or sluggishness.
• Improved/upbeat mood.
• I've joined a fitness center and work-out a couple times a week...something I haven't been able to do since 2008!

I had my usual 6 month check-up with my cardiologist this week and he is quite pleased with the changes.  He wants to recheck my cholesterol after a few more weeks of eating this way and, if possible, he will make changes in both my cholesterol medication and my blood pressure medication.  In the meantime, I'm going to keep track of my blood pressure because if it drops any lower, it will be too low!  

What I have found to be IRONIC, is that EVERYONE agrees that the current American diet is very unhealthy.  However, in the next breath those very same people give me grief about "why did you stop eating 'fill-in-the-blank' "...the very foods that make up the contemporary American diet.  It seems that most people think you should continue to eat the contemporary American diet...just eat "less" of it.  Is "less poison" not just as bad for you as "poison"???

Loretta

Sewing Room Change-up: Phase 1

I broached the subject with my husband about changing some things in my sewing room.  He was amenable to the changes I want to make except for the hanging of wire shelves on the wall above the cutting table.  For the record, though, I know I'll get my way...I do 99% of the time!   

So phase one of said changes was to get an additional sewing surface. This is a picture of the sewing table with...count them...FOUR sewing machines on it.  Well...three sewing machines and one serger.

My two main sewing machines are in the front...my Viking and my Juki.  Although I like to piece with the Viking and do my machine quilting on the Juki, because there was no room for the extension table for the Viking, I've been doing my piecing on the Juiki, lately.  I really miss being able to use my Viking, especially when I need it to do mending or sewing on knits.

So I said to my husband, "Husband, (because he's my husband, ya know) I need a small desk or table to place my Viking sewing machine on so that I don't have to rearrange my sewing machines every time I want to use it." 

After measuring how much space we had, he replied, "let me go out and see what I have."

For those of you who don't know us personally, let me explain something. Andy has a "hobby".  He likes to wheel and deal in antiques.  Our 32' X 24', two-car garage is basically an unofficial antique store.  Three to four times during the spring, summer and early fall, he has a "garage sale", but he only carries antiques and occasionally some furniture...so it's not your usual "garage sale".   In fact, there are several antique dealers that come to his sales to find things to sell in their stores!  He has become known around town as having very reasonably priced antiques, so people sometimes stop by the house when they are looking for something!

Lo and behold, he had this vintage 4' formica-topped kitchen table among his items!!!  The perks of having a hubby with such an unusual hobby!!!  

 It is just deep enough to fit the Viking's extension table!!!

I now have TEN FEET of sewing surface!!!  

I will keep the Viking embroidery machine and the serger towards the end of the big table for now.  When I need one, I can easily pull it towards the front, use it, and then push it back out of the way.

I'm so glad that this first phase went so painlessly...and cheaply!  LOL

Now onto one other thing that is new today...

For those of you who have a Singer Featherweight or 301, you know how worthless the standard bulbs are that go in them.  They are so dim that they are basically useless.  And HOT!  Don't accidentally hit your knuckle on it or you'll be nursing a burn!

I was perusing a blog on Monday when I came across this post by the woman's husband about some LED bulbs that he sold for vintage sewing machines.  I placed an order for three bulbs...one for each of my two Featherweights and one for my 301.  I ordered them on Monday and they arrived today!

Here is what the standard bulb looks like when it is on.  You can barely see any light output at all!

The new LED bulb is on the left and the standard bulb is on the right...

And here's what the new LED bulb looks like in the machine!!!  WOW!!! What a difference!

Because of the price, I was hesitant to buy one for each of my vintage machines, especially since I'm thinking of selling at least one of my Featherweights.  But because of the huge difference it makes in the lighting, I'm glad I went ahead and purchased 3 bulbs!  I think it will be a selling point when/if I go to sell!

Loretta

Ready For Borders...

I recently finished piecing the top for my vintage embroidery quilt...BTW, I need to come up with a snappy name for the quilt, so if you have any ideas, please post them!   I still need to add a border, but I need to go shopping because I don't have enough of any one 1930's reproduction fabric to make the border.  

The 25 pieced blocks sewn together measure 88" X 88" and I plan to add a 6" border all the way around to make it 100" X 100".  I've tossed around the idea of quilting this one "by checkbook"...which is where you send it out to be quilted by someone else, either longarm-quilted or hand quilted...in this case longarm quilted, because I don't feel like hand quilting this one and didn't feel that I could "do it justice" with my machine quilting.   If I did send this one out to be longarm-quilted, it would be the first ever that I haven't quilted myself, either by hand or by machine.  

I am still thinking it over, but am pretty sure that I am going to go ahead and machine quilt this one on my Juki TL 2000Qi.  After all, that is why I bought the machine last summer...to make machine quilting my quilts a little easier.  Sending them out to be quilted isn't cheap and I'm such a tightwad!  And my mediocre maching quilting skills will just have to suffice.  "Done is better than perfection" as the saying goes.

Here is the top draped over the pole on my hand-quilting frame.  Sorry that you can only see 2 of the 5 rows...but you get the idea.

The pinwheel cornerstone blocks were made from the leftovers that were cut off when making the star points, so no scraps were wasted!

My goal this year is to work on some of the UFO's and projects that I've started previously and keep my new starts to a minimum.  ("Yeah, right", said all the quilters out there!!)

About 2 years ago, I started making some strip blocks from scraps to be used in "Tulip Fields", a pattern by Bonnie Hunter in her book "String Fling".  You can see a picture of her completed quilt by clicking here.  

I pulled the string blocks out that I had started and started adding the "tulips" to them ...

I've had a lot of fun making these so far, so until I have the fabric for the border on the embroidery quilt, I'm going to continue to toodle around with them and bust some more scraps while making them!  

After being in my new sewing room for 22 months, I've found that there are a couple of things that aren't working for me just the way I'd like.  I've been doing some thinking and planning on what I want to do to make the room more functional for me.  Since I'm going to need Andy's help with hanging the shelves, etc., that I want to do, I'll need to share my plans/ideas with him at some point...preferably at a time when he won't roll his eyes and shake his head at me!  

Loretta

Today I Made Ghee...

Quote for the Day:

"Your health will never be found at the bottom of a box or bag."

~author unknown

As many of my friends, family, and long-time readers know, I suffer from a LOT of inflammation, ie, osteoarthritis, hip tendonitis, bursitis, as well as several other diet-caused disorders.  Being overweight is just one of the symptoms of my poor diet.

So on January 15th, I started on a health project.  I decided to do a dietary "cleanse".  

No, no, no...not the kind of "cleanse" that requires lots of high colonics!  This is an "elimination" diet...which still sounds bad, I guess.  In reality, you remove all dietary "offenders" that can cause inflammation in the body.  Then after your body...and gut...have a chance to heal, you slowly start re-introducing foods to see which ones cause a negative reaction in your body.  Or...you can just stay on the diet, which is pretty much just a "paleo" diet.  

Basically, the diet is REAL FOOD!!!  NO sugar or sweeteners of any kind, NO dairy, NO legumes, NO grains, NO alcohol, NO soy, NO carrageenan, MSG or sulfites, and NO trying to re-create baked goods,  junk foods, or treats* with “approved” ingredients.

Since you don't used processed foods, I've spent a lot of time prepping and cooking meals.  I joked with Andy that I've cooked more in the last couple of days than I have in the last 10 years....and that's not too much of an exaggeration, either!  

I have such a sweet tooth, it isn't even funny.  But I've learned to drink my coffee with just unsweetened coconut milk...and sometimes a dash of nutmeg!  Who knew? 

With the "no dairy" rule, there is one exception...you can use "ghee"...which is butter with the milk solids cooked out.  But have you priced "ghee"???   OMGhee!!!  That is certainly cost-prohibitive!!!

So today, I made it myself using this online tutorial!  Now let me just tell you this...before a few days ago I didn't even KNOW what ghee was...but today I made some!!!  (BTW, it's pronounced with a hard "g"...as in "gravy"...not a soft "g" like in the word "gee-whiz".) 

Here is my finished product from one pound of butter...

It turned out pretty clear, even though I can't get that to show up in pictures.  It was still warm in these pictures, but will harden at room temperature and can be stored at room temp...which is a plus since my fridge is currently overrun with fresh veggies, eggs, and leftovers right now!

This is exciting to me, because now I will have "butter" to cook with and to use on veggies!

Loretta

Took a Little Trip...

Quote for the Day:

All my friends know the low rider
The low rider is a little higher

Low rider drives a little slower
Low rider is a real goer

Low rider knows every street, yeah
Low rider is the one to meet, yeah

Low rider don't use no gas now
Low rider don't drive too fast

Take a little trip, take a little trip
Take a little trip and see
Take a little trip, take a little trip
Take a little trip with me

~lyrics, "Low Rider"

I had a long string of days off from work starting on December 31, so Andy and I decided to go to Tennessee to ring in the New Year and spend some time with Erin, Dale, Sera and Clark.  We haven't seen them since we were there in June when Clark was first born.  Boy, has he grown!  

Sera is so sweet with him and tries to keep him entertained with his toys.

For some reason, he didn't like Grandpa when he had his New York Yankees hat on and would screw up his face and cry at the sight.   

True story! 

As soon as Andy would remove his hat and coat, Clark would be all smiles and go right to him!  We actually weren't sure if it was the hat or the bulky black coat that Clark didn't like because if Andy had one on, he had the other one on, too.  One time Andy hung his coat on the door knob with the hat on top of it and Clark just kept leaning over to look at them hanging there.  He wasn't happy till they were moved out of his sight!  

This is Dale, Lucy (Dale's mom) and Erin...all collaborating on supper!  

Sera likes to watch her movies on the computer...

And Ginger liked having a playmate...

Sorry that the pictures aren't the greatest quality, but I didn't take my regular camera because I wanted to try out the camera on my new phone...trying to pare down what I travel with, so thought the camera phone would suffice.  Hmmm...  

We returned home just hours before the first snowstorm of the season and the coldest temperatures so far this season.  I think winter has decided to arrive with a bang!  

Loretta