CURVES

Hey everyone! I usually don't put personal things in my blog but I had to share this with you all. In this picture of me playing croquet with my children you can tell I was getting pretty big. I am not sure how much I weighed in this picture but I had gotten up to 160 pounds. In the summer of 2005 we opened a shaved ice business and I started loosing some weight. Then like a dummy I went back to smoking cigarette's (after nine years of quitting) and of course the pounds were coming off. I got down to 142 pounds and decided to join Curves for Women. I started in April of 2006. Been going for nine months now and I have to share with you what I received when I weighed in today. Below you will see results of the inches , pounds, and body fat I have lost since I joined and below that you will see my monthly result. I didn't loose any weight but I lost 3.25 inches and 2.54 body fat pounds. I weigh 127 now.

This is me now with my daughter in law Stef. What a difference huh? This pic was taken at Christmas. I eat whatever I want to eat. The only time I was on a diet was at the very beginning and I started the Mayo clinic diet and after I received my Curves book it said to give Curves two to three months and if you were showing no results then start a diet plan. So I quickly done away with the diet and after a while of working out three times a week , my eating habits changed. I eat whatever I want whenever I want but I don't eat near as much as I used to. I recommend Curves to anyone who wants to loose weight. It's a slow process, but that is what you want. To tone that flab you will have from loosing weight into muscle. I just last month started loosing weight in my abdomen. I told myself I was going to give Curves 1 year just working out with them and if I didn't have the results I wanted I would start doing other kinds of exercises to firm my abdomen. Well, I think I will stick with Curves, I am having great results.

TAST Buttonhole

I am not finished with this yet, but decided I would post what I have done so far. I started with the eyelet and then made bigger interlocking circles with them. Then I practiced on the detached buttonhole, this stitch will make pretty leafs and flowers. I need more practice though. The knotted buttonhole really had me stumped. I kept wrapping my thread around the needle the wrong way. I finally got the hang of it. I tried the buttonhole needlelace. Not to bad for my first try at it, but I need to practice more. Then the Enchroaching buttonhole. I didn't get my spacing just right but it has been fun learning. I plan to do the closed, and crossed buttonhole and then I will finish the bottom with a scalloped hem. I will draw scallop shapes on the fabric edges then work over the outline in buttonhole stitch and carefully cut away the fabric. I may add the blanket fan on the sides of my piece. My plans are to make all my stitches into a fabric book at the end of the year. I also am continuing my color study with each piece. I chose a purple background and using the compliment (yellow green) for the threads. On my herringbone sampler I chose an Aqua green background and the compliment for that was red , so I used different shades and tints of red.

Overdyeing

I had a fun day of overdyeing yesterday. Overdyeing is where you take a piece of fabric and dye over it. I used some pieces from my second batching of primary colors and overdyed them to a brighter yellow. On the Golden Yellows (top left) I used 1 Lemon Yellow; (top right) 2 Bright Yellow.On the orange yellow (bottom left) I used 1 Lemon Yellow and on the Grayed Yellow (bottom right) 2 Bright Yellow. Very interesting seeing the different results.

Gradations

I had another fun day of dyeing yesturday. Learned some interesting things. This was suppose to be Beige to True Brown. The bottom row I used 26 Sky Blue, 2 Bright Yellow, 10 Fire red. These are somewhat the color they should be. The top row I used 26 Sky Blue, 1 Lemon Yellow, 12 Light Red and what a difference in color the changing of the red and yellow made. This will definately help in my study of color. I have signed up for Carol Millers Gradation and Transparencies class at quilt university.com. I plan on hand dyeing my fabrics for this class. It's going to be a GREAT color study for me.

WORKS IN SLOW PROGRESS (Wisp)

I decided to post four of my future wisp projects. Hopefully I will get these done this year.LOL
I am involved in so many things right now, haven't had the time to work on them. So I plan on taking Tuesday to work so I can post my progress on Wednesday. I probably shouldn't post till I get it done, but I like sharing. Show and tell is great!

Arkansas Adventure

This was a block of month that Jaynette Huff came up with. She has written books on paper foundation piecing. Jaynette turned template patterns into paper foundation piecing. This quilt is called Arkansas Adventure. Jaynette wanted to know more about her home state, the facts, the legends, and tidbits of info because she wanted to make a quilt representing Arkansas. And that she did and she made it available for us to join in on fun. The kits came with enough fabric (Civil War)to make either a 6x6" block or 9x9" block. I have always made the bigger blocks so I chose to do mine 6x6". The block on the left is called Arkansas Crossroads: Jaynette chose this block because Arkansas is placed right smack in the middle of the South and you only have to travel on interstate 40 to understand that we truly are a busy crossroad. The block on the right is Square Dance: The Arkansas State American Folk dance is the Square Dance. Adopted by the General Assembly in 1991. I have 10 more blocks to go and 25 3x3 Star blocks to make to have this one finished. I have decided this is the project I am fixing to work on for WISP. I will post each block when finished and tell what that block represents. Till then.....

Thimbleberries

This is from a Thimbleberries Club I had joined. All I like finishing this one is to machine applique the leafs on the blocks and sewing them together for the border. This is going to be my tablecloth when finished. I will buy some of that clear plastic stuff to go over the top so it won't get ruined. Wouldn't take me to long to get this one done if I just get busy.

Classic Folk Art

This quilt will have pieced blocks and applique blocks. I have a ways to go to get finished with this one. I have 4 pieced blocks to finish and 9 applique blocks. My preferred way of applique is to trace my pattern off and sew or pin it to the background. I make freezer paper templates and iron them to to top of my fabric and then use the pattern as my guide on placement of fabric, pin in place and use the freezer paper as my guide to needle turn.

Scraps of Our Past

As you can see in the picture above, I have a ways to go to be done. Several of the pictures posted below are still not finished. But that is the way it goes with us quilters. I like 6 blocks having this one finished then all those little pieced pieces. Oh,boy. Lots and lots of sewing.

Cotton Dyeing Basic Lesson 2

Got my second try of hand dyeing done. Really pleased with the results. The first grouping was the first batch. Nice strong colors. These are 1/2 yard pieces. The second grouping was from the second batch. Very pastel and lightly mottled. They were fat 1/4's. In the second batch my orange yellow became a yellow orange. The red violet and the yellow green stayed in the same color family. I am definately hooked on dyeing my own fabric. Next week we will learn gradations. Can't wait!
I plan on taking Marjie's quilters palette class in April. She is adding one more lesson to this class so it will be a little more to it than previous quilters pallete classes.

TAST

You can click on the picture to enlarge it. This was a great learning experience for me. I have always wanted to learn the different stitches to be able to crazy quilt but never took the time to learn them. Signing up for this Sharon has given me the incentive to learn. I purchased The Magic of Crazy Quilting by J.Marsha Michler and Reader's Digest Complete Book of Embroidery and they have been sitting on my book shelve for a while. I was glad I had them cause I had to learn EVERYTHING, how to use the tie-on method, changing threads in mid-row, and finishing off. When Sharon announced that the Herringbone was our first stitch, I got both of my books out and done what was in them. I learned that the Herringbone can be used as a border and as a filling stitch. You can create effective patterns by varying the position of each row of stitches. I learned that it is a versatile stitch that can be worked in many different threads, and it is particulary effective when stitched in matte cottons using a bold combination of colors. In my book The Magic of Crazy Quilting it shows that the Breton stitch is a related stitch of the Herringbone. I have already looked through my books and have seven different variations of the Buttonhole Stitch which is our next stitch. Bare with me, I may be a little late getting them posted but this is all new to me. Until next time.....

My First Try at Dyeing My own Fabric

I have been studying color off and on for several years. I would pick up a little here and there not understanding color theory at all. So I decided to take classes on color. I took Lily Kerns Creative Color and she referred me to Faber Birren's Creative Color Book. A great book for learning color. I have signed up for Carol Miller's Color Companions class which starts at the end of the month. And I also plan on taking her Gradations and Transparencies class in February.I signed up for Marjie McWilliams Cotton Dyeing Basics class which started this past Saturday. These are the results of that class. I got Yellow,Golden Yellows, Orange Yellow and a Grayed Yellow. Cerulean Blue and Turquiose, Red,Orange, and Chartruese. Our first lesson consisted of the three primary colors, then using the left over dye in different formulas to see what we could get. I learned that I need to write on my fabric with a permanent marker the formula, cause I had written it down on paper but when I threw them in the washer I couldn't tell you which formula is for what. Except the Primaries (Yellow,Blue,Red)on top are from the first batch and the Primaries on second row are from the second batch. This has been so much fun!

UFO/WISP Challenge for 2007

I have signed up with Sandie for her UFO/WISP Challenge for 2007. Below are two of mine I have gotten done. I am so happy! If you don't know what WISP means, (Works In Slow Progress) which I have lots of. I plan on dedicating one day a week or maybe one day a month to work on all these projects I have. Will post works in progress as I move along.

My first Lonestar quilt. I chose to do it in Christmas colors. Those 45 degree angles were a pain but I was able to pull it off.

This quilt was a First Saturday BOM where you paid $5.oo for first block and bring completed block back the next month and get the next one free. This was the days of my beginning quilting. When I got my blocks completed I thought these colors aren't going to work. Luckily I had in my stash some material that had almost every color that was in the blocks. So my ugly duckling became a swan.