Today was a special day for the hubby. He retired!
Of course it was a fishing themed party...
...and he already has plans for us tomorrow. In other news, while I was bored this week I cut another baby quilt out of scraps and stash.
Going to be a simple hourglass block design.
And here's my grand baby girl....she has learned to climb now. She likes to climb into this chair. At 12 months, she walks, she runs, she climbs! Can't wait to see her again!
I don't know if this will be my next project or not, but I would love to do this one day!
Not sure if I'd still have enough room for my big machine if I did this. It would be great for Emma's room at Mamaw's house.
I am trying to stay productive but must admit I've been very bored this week.
Big boy and I saw the snow this morning and stayed in bed a while.....Later I tried to be productive by cutting some scraps into three piles of sizes. I'd like to really make a dent in scraps by organizing them this way.
...then I was just bored....I've never been fond of TV but today I found myself watching..ahem...Hoarders. I'm a bit ashamed to admit ;) I needed some activity, so I ran three miles on my little indoor track....around and around I go....it really is a decent workout. I'm sweating, my heart is pumping, and the garmin is keeping up with the distance based on my stride, my outside runs, and whatever other magic it uses.
I started off my retirement with a weekly list of things I wanted to get done. A couple weeks ago I let my list making slip and found that I am not nearly as productive or content. Sooooo, this afternoon I made a list of to-do's.
Empty central vacuum canister
Dust all the blinds and ceiling fans
Make label and sew it on toddler quilt
Research races
Just a few things but I did them all and felt better! ... it could have been those awesome runner endorphins...Now I've got to think of some things for tomorrow's list. Do you get cabin fever in this weather? What do you do when you get bored?
After the hubby convinced me to make him French toast this morning.....
...I did a bit of sewing while he was out with his young friend "checking out" the roads....
Another soft book for Emma. This was a cute panel I ordered from Etsy by Henry Glass fabrics. Good service and good price from AnnadaisyDesigns.
...and because I haven't done well the last two weeks on my block a day strategy (I know, shame on me) made up a couple of blocks of my wonky stars...
I really love these little blocks but I don't know why I have the hardest time making them. They are pretty small at six and a half inches, and using scraps takes about thirty minutes to make two, which seems like forever to me.
...so here is the wall again, with only fifty blocks. I calculated again and I need 210 for a 84x90 quilt. Sheesh! I am not sure I'll ever get this done.
On a different topic, I wanted to capture some photos of my son...
He and his wife and daughter live in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is in a PhD program at the University of Edinburgh. Last week he had the opportunity to travel to Dublin, Ireland to view some Greek manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments that date back to the 200s.
I can only imagine his excitement. This is his "thing."
My DIL texted me this awesome picture yesterday. She and Emma were playing at the park. That is little one-year-old Emma in the bottom left. Katie said she had a ball running I the open field.
The Hot Chocolate race in Nashville provided FREE professional race photos. I think that is cool. In both the half marathons I've run you had to buy the photos. They were not that great and were terribly expensive.
Fun times..
Well, I can't say that I am totally iced in, I'm just too chicken to go off this hill. The hubby went out yesterday and even went to work today. Me....I'd rather find things to do here.
First this morning I needed to run to work off some of my cabin fever crazies....Three miles on my indoor "track."
Then I got busy on Emma's cloth book I am making.
I definitely learned some things making this but I really love it and hope she does too. I used a bronze sharpie to write on the front. Love.
What did you do today? Here is a little of what I did....
...made some yummy potato and ham soup...
...then some chocolate chip cookies....
...watched the ice and sleet fall...
...did the quilting and binding on this quilt....The backing is grey "grunge" fabric....
I used a little free pantograph that I had printed off and taped the sheets together. I'd never used it before but I think I like it. It is straight lines which are very difficult to do, but I think they turned out ok.
Then I decided to machine bind it, which I rarely do...for good reason.....I'm not good at it. The above picture shows how "not good" at it I am.....
...this one is a bit better....I'll only do it if I think the thread will almost disappear into the backing.....Do you machine bind? Hand bind? Or both?
...pretty productive day....and for now anyway, we still have power!
I ran my first 15k this morning in cold Nashville. The hubby went with me and we stayed last night in a down town hotel. Brrrr, very cold this morning. In the 20's at start time. It took me two miles before my fingers and toes quit being numb. I was worried because at my last long run of eight miles my right foot gave me some trouble. It did fine today. By mile six my left knee and hip were bothering me some, but not enough to make me walk any more than I was already doing in the 5/1 intervals. My goal was to finish in less than two hours and I beat that by a good amount! Official time was 1:51:55 and I was 46 out of 94 in my age group, 2302 of 3219 overall, and 1487 of 2255 females.
The jacket was awesome as well as the medal and all the chocolate! Chocolate candy, chocolate marshmellows and tootsie rolls at the water stations. Hot chocolate and chocolate fondue in a big chocolate mug at the finish line. I was so thankful my foot did fine, and was thanking God while I ran.....that I can run....I just felt so blessed.
Garmin lap stats below....
It was so cold I didn't take hardly any pictures at the race. I regret that. Here's the medal...
..and this mug had hot chocolate in the center (in a removable cup), a banana, pretzels, Rice Krispie treat, marshmallows, and liquid chocolate fondue in the shallow side part!
...and the official finish...notice it took me almost 29 minutes to even get to the start line....the corrals were separated by three minutes and us slow pokes were in corral H. But there was even two slower groups, I and J.
I'm very sore tonight but happy that I did it. And to be honest, I love that sore feeling from a long run.
I purchased this little toddler quilt kit and made it up in just a few hours. The pattern is called Child's Play but I would have never purchased it because it was made up in Halloween prints. I really liked this version.
Decided to make the hubby one of those no sew fleece blankets for a Valentine's present.
So soft and cuddly. I really liked it and he did too. He doesn't mind that the fabric is a little girly. Also the big kitty loved it.
...and I'll leave you with something yummy. This is an old recipe from one of my favorite people who passed away several years ago. Yummy and hearty!
