Sunday, March 30, 2014

I am keeping busy

I finally pinned my Log Cabin quilt yesterday evening. It is about 108x108 inches. I set the blocks into a star design. Now the only problem I have is, that I have no idea how to quilt it. I am planning on quilting it on my domestic machine, and already know, it will be a bear to wrestle through. I thought concentric stars would look great, but I am running in to the problem that the stars get distorted as they get smaller and larger. I thought about free motion quilting, but my quilt frame with the machine is too small for this quilt. I think free motioning a large quilt like this on my sewing table will not turn out great. My batting has to be quilted between 2-4 inches apart. I am trying to figure out some kind of straight stitching, because I think that would work the best. I will have to do some more thinking on that.

My sweater I am knitting has not been touched since I posted last. But I am planning on changing that today. I have so many knitting podcasts to catch up on. So I thought I could knit a few hours today, relax, and catch up. A cold front has moved in to our area again, and that makes of course perfect knitting weather. Also, I would like to get this sweater finished so I can wear it before it gets too warm for it. If I can get the body finished today, which is about 5 more inches, I think that would be great.

This brings me to a new endeavor I am starting. Like everyone else, I am trying to lose weight. I figure if I lose weight, and become skinny, my sweaters will knit up so much faster. I am not following a certain diet plan, because that just made me fail every time in the past. The "you are not allowed to eat this" approach is making me want the "forbidden" food even more. I tried a lot of diet plans, lost weight on them, but could not stick to them. Until I think, now it finally clicked. Not a diet, but a different lifestyle. So I have decided to do the "French Girls don't get fat" approach. I am controlling my portions, make good choices, and move more. I chose walking and strength training. I really enjoy Leslie Sansone's Walk away the pounds franchise. I have enough DVDs to keep it interesting and mixed up. On days I don't want to do her workouts, I have a Treadmill, exercise bike,  weight machine, rowing machine, Swiss ball, and assorted weights and stretch bands. So quite a home gym that I will use more now. I started on Friday with 195.1 lbs. and am down to 194.3 lbs. I know it is better to start weighing weekly, but I find it more motivating for me to weigh daily. This way I can make corrections when I see a gain or stand still, and I will catch it before it becomes too big. Now I know people say, "What about fluctuations?" Yes, that is mostly water you take on from eating too much sodium. But my theory is, if I see that fluctuation, I can counter act it by drinking more water, and flushing my system out. I will keep you updated how that is working out for me. But for my first week, I need to have special strength. I work in a doctor's office, and get take out lunch a lot from visiting drug reps. It is all very nice and good, but eating out gets old, and is nothing special anymore. My plan for this week is to bring my lunch from home. It is more calorie controlled that way. I just need  to be strong, and say "no thank you" when the menu comes around to me. I think it will be tough the first few weeks, but once I get control over my eating habits, I can start to take part of these lunches once a week, and make it something special again, rather than the norm.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Back to basics

I originally started this blog in order to have a sounding board for anything that moves me, and makes me tick. For some reason I just started posting about my crafts, but really not much about me or my life. I want to change this, and get back to the basics. I want a little of everything. After all, I am more than a crafter, and you really do not get to know me, until you know more aspects about me.

I have not been posting in a while, because I got busy and sidetracked, and really had not much to post about. But that is only because I have not given it much thought.

On the crafting line of things. My knitting is progressing nicely, and I will post some pictures here of my finished projects.  Currently I am knitting on a Cardigan, in one piece, with steeking. I thought it might be time to start learning that technique, and get over my fear of cutting in to my knitting. I will keep you updated on that.

My quilting is very slow, and even at a stand still right now. I don't know if I can blame the lack of time, or just not having the quilting mojo right now, because things in my quilt room are not going exactly the way I want them to. Murphy's Law has been hitting me left and right in this regard, and I am afraid to work on anything, because lately it is not working out well for me. Not to mention that I just have a hard time to make time for quilting, other than on retreat.

The lack of time brings me to my family. I am a little out of my comfort zone right now. My oldest daughter wants to move out, and all the way to Florida. Off course I have mixed feelings about these plans. I am excited for her, because I remember gaining my independence, and it was a very scary and exciting time for me. But I am also worried for her, because after all, she is my baby, and she is moving far away, and I can not be there to rescue her all the time. Naturally I want the best for my daughter. I want her to stay close to home. But I also know, she is 20 years old, ready to spread her wings, and she needs to soar. Not to mention she has to move away to a college with a good Psychology program in order to complete her degree. So you see how I am torn with my feelings about her plans. It is just difficult for me to accept the fact, she is a grown, young woman now, and  makes her own decisions. So I try to have a cheerful attitude, and try to support her as much as I can. After all, I done the best I can in raising her, she is a wonderful young woman, she needs to make her own way, and needs my support and prayers.

On the work front life is getting a bit busier too. My job responsibilities have multiplied. My co-workers are giving me the cold shoulder, and try to punish me for what they think is a great reward. I am a Certified Medical Assistant in a Family Practice. I am sorry I can not go into too much detail about my work, but I am sure everyone understands about confidentiality. Any way, my boss asked me to take on some more responsibility in addition to what I do on a daily basis in  order to improve the patients experience in our office. This means working a lot closer with the doctor, and my co-workers say they are OK with it, but their actions speak volumes to the contrary. So my days are a little more stressful. Not so much from the work load, because I have a pretty good system going, and very rarely stay late. Most of the time I am done with my work early and get to leave early. So needless to say, it was a no-brainer to accept the responsibility and trust my doctor is placing on me, and make this career move, and secure my position in the office by being more needed, due to the work I do. So now my co-workers, who used to be  good team players, are now giving me the cold shoulder.  This is not a reward by any stretch of the imagination, because I am working non-stop now, and have to plan my trips to the water cooler or bathroom very carefully, as to not get doctor behind schedule to see patients. But for some reason my co-workers see it as a reward. So I just have to weather out the storm, and hope the dust clouds will settle soon enough, and they will become the wonderful co-worker they used to be.