A view from my kitchen window...

What better place to start a diet blog than a view from the kitchen window. It's our backyard in Crestwood, Kentucky. It's actually out the backdoor. Our house is built on the side of a beautiful hill. We own about 2 acres, with a creek and lots of trees. Here's one of our grey days that the Ohio Valley is famous for. But, that only makes it good for staying inside and making quilts...smile...

Our yard is filled with some of my favorite things-birds and fairies. Doesn't every one want these in their yards? Why did God give us this beauty if not to sit still on occasion and appreciate? I'm afraid I've sat still too much and that's why I'm overweight. I can't say I stayed in my 1400 calorie range today. I was running around all day and I've taken the easy route and grabbed a sandwich and chips for lunch. I did drink diet tea!! but, alas the powers that be at the Biggest Loser would have me at the bottom of the yellow line and I'll have to plead with whoever to keep me on the show. Oh well, I hope having a sense of humor counts for something. Anyway, I'm going to improve and please my imagined coaches from TV that will always be pushing me to do better. Even the fairies are feeling a little grey...hohummm...it's a wistful day...

So Far So Good...

So far so good. I'm staying grumpy on my 1400 calories, but, I'm staying on my 1400 calories-which is the main thing. I've had breakfast-half a cup of cereal with 1% milk, at 8:30am and a rice cake with peanut butter on it for a snack, at 11:00am. I plan on eating a low calorie omelet for lunch at 1:00.

I've also rented 3 movies-Little Miss Sunshine, the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and the first season of The Office. We rented all the House seasons, the doctor show from television, and that was great to catch up with the curmudgeon and his team of misfits. I recommend doing that if you have not and like the show. We women are very talented-we can do two things at once. I rented these movies so I can eat lunch, exercise, and work on my project to complete (not all at the same time, but, you get what I mean...smile). The first of which is the Country At Heart quilt, I showed the picture in my first post. As I progress on this I will have more pictures and movie reviews to follow.

Have a great and healthy day and finish what you start!!

Feeling Simply Quilty

I'm all excited and want to begin by taking a picture of my New Year's Resolutions. My first resolution is for myself. This is part of my quilt group, Northeast Quilting Friends, I'm the one in the bright red shirt standing. On top of every one's list, except Twiggy, is weight loss. I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I really need to do something to begin a healthy life. So here goes...I must begin by posting if I'm staying on my diet-which is to say, in order to lose weight, I must stay at or around 1400 calories. Now that's not a lot for me and I'll have to try hard. I stayed in that calorie count vicinity today and I must say I was pretty grumpy. I might even need to apologize to someone later. Do people accept the "Oh I started a new diet", as an excuse for rudeness? I doubt it! Hopefully she'll understand...
My next picture has to do with my other priority and that is to complete projects I begin. I know it's a common thing...UFO's (unfinished objects)these are projects in various stages of completion. If I took pictures of all my UFO's and post them on the Internet, I would use up so much memory the Internet would cease to function and my daughters might have to talk to me and that could be bad...not in my view...hmmm...maybe this would open up communication and we could connect! Oh well, they'd probably be mad at me for shutting down the Internet more than want to talk so I'll leave one at a time on the postings of all my UFOs and leave it to my blog to help inspire me on to finishing my projects...smile So, here goes, this is one of the multitude...it's a 48"X48" wall hanging that is called Country At Heart. This is really not my style of quilt making, but, I believe in stretching and trying all kinds of quilting. It's done with Steam a Seam II-the best product for paper backed piecing. The directions are placed on the product, but, if you'd like to know more, ask in the comments and I'd be happy to help. Around each edge I have used a machined blanket stitch to help hold down the edges of the designs, this is done through the top only. Then when I hand quilt all three layers, I'm using invisible thread-a nylon product that will not add anymore visual texture to the piece, as there are lots of buttons, beading and jewelry on the quilt. The quilting is done in the ditch and along the edges of the designs to enhance the pictures but not bring anymore to the quilt-it's got plenty. I'm almost done with this on e and then I'll do a different technique around the edge. First I'll trim the batting a half inch from the edge to be finished, then turn the top and backing under and add a stitch to hold it all together.

If you'd like to follow my weight loss progress, and see my other styles of quilting, check back in. Have a great day!!