Wednesday Weigh In

Well, I'm up almost half a pound this week at +0.4. Damn.

We did a lot of travel a few days of eating what is readily available and not having much of a workout doesn't help with weight loss. I ended up with a terrible toothache that convinced me it was time to quit soda and juice again. I had gotten hooked back on them after my surgeries when trying to swallow all of my medications with water made me gag. So I'm on day 2 now of nothing but water and milk. I have a raging headache from the lack of caffeine, but I'm still pretty motivated and hoping to see some much better numbers next time.

Disappearing nine patch

I don't think I did this quite right, but then I don't think there is much "right" in quilting. It's really however you want to do things. I'm working on the layout for these blocks right now. I'll be turning them into a 5X5 block lap/throw quilt with one block in each corner connected by a two piece black and red solid border. In my head it looks great, so I can't wait to see how it actually comes out. I'm not sure if I'll be able to start piecing the top together before this weekend or not. We're going out of town and there's a whole lot of prep involved in that, prep that probably won't leave time for quilting.

Wednesday Weigh In

Down a pound this week and I am totally celebrating it!

Why? Because after last week where I reported such a large gain, I was really hoping to have not gained more this week. And because this week has been stressful with a capital S. At one point I looked at my husband, gave a huge sigh and asked, "Why don't we have any chocolate in this house?"

God bless him, he said, "I've been wondering the same thing." We went to the store and bought a bunch. It wasn't any good for my diet, but it was so good for my mental health.

Monday Moments: Retro Edition

Sometimes when I don't have a Monday Moment to post I like to look back and see what we were doing a year or two ago. Today's moment was last year, driving back from my sister's baby shower, Gabe passed out with an "It's a Boy!" balloon wrapped around his little hand. I'm marveling at this photo because in just a couple short weeks I will be heading to another baby shower for my sister.

Wow. I can't imagine having two children so close in age, but I'm a little jealous at the same time. My recent health scare and my impending 30th birthday have really given me that itch. I'm spending this coming weekend with my almost 1 year old nephew who still doesn't sleep through the night. I'm thinking this might extinguish my desires a little bit.

Once more

This is another "finally!" project of sorts. See, there's this little girl my step-daughter knows. Someone who is a friend of her mom's side of the family that I have never met. About a year ago I was busy, busy making large, complicated stuffed animals when my step-daughter asked me, "Can you make one for my friend's birthday?" I said that maybe we could do a smaller one, an elephant, for Christmas.

Of course, when Christmas rolled around I was neck deep in my own seasonal projects and she had not forgotten like I had hoped.

This week when she mentioned this same little girl was having another party on Saturday and could I maybe make her a pillow or something I got that look from my husband. One of those looks that says, "You are never going to get her to stop asking..." it's very similar to the "You're never going to live this down" look. I decided that the initial elephant I told her we could make would be easier than drafting a pattern for a pillow. She picked out some fabric from a box recently shipped to me by my amazing friend, Erin and I headed down to the sewing room.

I can breathe a big sigh of relief knowing that I will never again be badgered to make this elephant. Of course, now that I have made one gift for one friend, there will probably be more badgering of a different sort in the future.

Finally!

I can't really talk much about this one. I got sick, then I got worse before I got better. And in the meantime I found out a lot of things I didn't like that were going on with the charity it was for. I let a whole lot of personal feelings get in the way of something that shouldn't have been personal. Now it is finished and chalked up to a big, huge learning experience...finally!

Wednesday Weigh In

Ugh...I didn't post last week because I was kidding myself. The number on the scale climbed and I chalked it up to, "Oh, I'm weighing myself far from my normal time of day" and blah, blah. I wanted to be accurate. Obviously it was, because today the scale says I have gained 4.8 lbs in the last two weeks. Yuck! A week of travel and eating amusement park food...I guess I was expecting a bigger number this time, just maybe not that big.

I will celebrate because this means I'm healthy, for once! And because I am still almost 15 lbs down from my starting weight, but I really need to pick up the pace and get back to business.

Monday Moments: Tuesday Edition

I finally felt well enough to go on my amusement park trip with my husband this weekend. It was such a good time being out without kids! We even stopped for one last dinner date on the way home.

Shortly after though, we heard this funny noise and the car started acting strange. We pulled over as the noise was getting unbearably loud and hitting the brakes made the steering terrible. We were swerving and barely made it to the side of the road where we discovered that the mechanic who did some repairs earlier in the week hadn't tightened the lug nuts properly. Our wheel almost fell off.

We had to sit at the side of the road and tighten the nuts with a socket that was the wrong size and a hammer. It was a little bit of a pain, but we were so thankful for our lives and for small mechanical issues that we could fix that we didn't even care. I got out the camera and took some photos of the messed up tire, then pointed it skyward.

Wardrobe

I have been hard at work drafting patterns for my niece's baby doll that came with nothing to wear other than a diaper. Here is what I have come up with so far.



The first pattern I was successful with was for this ensemble. I meant for the capri pants to be bloomers, but misread a measurement I made and decided this length was much more fitting for the style of the outfit. I initially intended for the shirt to be made from the dress fabric I used on my embroidered kokeshi doll, but I messed up my first draft and made the big mistake of making my first draft out of that fabric. Whoops! There wasn't enough left to make the kimono top out of, so I grabbed this coordinating, sort of Asian looking print from my stash.



Then I made the length a little longer (too long, if I make more pants I will definitely hem a half inch at the bottom versus a quarter) and turned the back of the kimono into the front of this shirt. For the back I just cut the front in half and added 3/4 inches to both sides. Much easier with a doll this tiny than trying to design anything to fit over her head. I appliqued a leftover piece of the teddy bear flannel to her shirt to make it look more like the pajamas my niece might wear.



Then there's this. My first draft of this top didn't work either. I had no gathers, but a really wide bottom thinking it would sort of puff out. It didn't. I'd like to try yet a third version of this where the top only goes about half way down the sleeves and the dress gathers from there, but I hate it when I draft a pattern that doesn't work, so I might just leave it. The bloomers are another altered version of the capri pants.

Other than making these same outfits in different color ways (and attempting to get a ruffle butt out of the backside of a different pair of bloomers) I really have no plans for more clothes. I might embellish with buttons, lace or rickrack, but I am thinking I'm done drafting patterns for her wardrobe. What do you think? Are these three styles enough?

Monday Moments

I love this photo. I love how my kid is just diving face first into a lion shaped pile of frosting. Maybe it's just that I'm actively watching what and when I eat that I can't get over this picture. I want to be almost three years old, eating buttercream with complete abandon.

Maybe it's all the doll clothes I have been making, trying them on the baby, borderline playing. Do you have this childhood envy too? Or maybe a little one in your life you can live vicariously through? Sarah from Dolly Donations is hosting a giveaway of the most adorable eco friendly dollhouse on her new personal blog Dolls and Daydreams. It is so cute! I'm entered to win and I know you want to be too!