Monday Progress Update...

Last week was pretty productive. For a Healthy Lifestyle (HL) update, I managed to stay right around 1500 calories all 6 days. There were a few overages, I mean, really, what are the chances I'd end up on 1500 calories exactly everyday? I changed up my menu day by day after feeling SO restricted on Monday. Plus, that green smoothie, didn't sit well. That may have been because I NEVER eat raspberries or blueberries, and I do mean NEVER (maybe once in my life), so my body could've just been in shock from health food overload!

I didn't workout at all last week. The first couple of days I had massive headaches (from cutting caffeine out; cold turkey, no weaning off of it) and I think my body was in a bit of a shock from only getting 1500 calories. I was a bit fatigued and dizzy. By the end of the week I was so hungry, that I called my husband and had him bring my taco bell. And yes, I did account for the calories and was right on target for my caloric intake for the day.

Sunday was my cheat day and I think I went a little overboard. Even though my portions have been downsized by almost half of what I would normally eat, breafast was all carbs and sugar (waffles), lunch was leftovers from the night before (stroganoff), and dinner was corn chowder (pretty sure that one bowl exceeded my calories 3 times over).

So today I'm back to 1500 calories. I have to say that, even though I know that in any attempt to lose weight, you should only weigh yourself once a week since your weight will fluctuate all day everyday. But every morning I stood on my broken scale and watched the numbers go down. I'm not really sure if it's just my scale because it's broken, or if it was the decrease in water consumption throughout the week, but by the end of the week the scale was down five pounds...I'm not giving my hopes up...a new scale will join us when the next pay check comes in and that's a little scary. I've like the numbers my scale has given me that past 8 years. :)

Yesterday I managed to get quite a bit of things done in the sewing realm. I finished one of my baby boy plus quilts:

I pulled out the left over blocks I had from a baby quilt I made back in August for my cousin's baby and started putting together some more. These are basically just 8" white squares and a jelly roll strip. But I've been using scraps as well. This one I will be making for myself. Should be pretty quick since I cut all my strips from my scraps yesterday and my white squares are already cut. I have 11 blocks made and I will use 20 with a border. It should be a lap sized quilt when I'm done.

I also finished cutting the last 5 FQ's for THIS quilt. I have to be a bit vague on this one, I'm sorry, but it will be revealed when the first quarter of the Quilt A Long (button at the top right of the blog) is finished (the beginning of April). I'm pretty excited for it and I can't wait to share it with you!

I received my Friendship Bag from my awesome partner Stacey and she sent me the cutest bag and extras ever!!! I especially love the fat quarters! Colorful houndstooth from Textures by Patty Sloniger (I think!)

I received my Pretty {little} Pouch from the P{l}PS Flickr Group! Apparently, my partner, Jackie (who is super talented by the way), sent it around the 6th or 7th and her delivery confirmation showed that it had arrived at my house on the 12th. So when I received an email on the 20th from my swap mama asking me if I had gotten it yet, I was a little worried. I went around to all my neighbors and eventually made flyers to post on the mail boxes. The next day when I went to tape the flyers up, I checked my box, and it was there!!! I was soooo excited to find this package in my box...

So that's it for my progress report! I hope you all have a great week!

2013...a year to finish

2013 is my year to get things done. I feel overwhelmed going into my sewing area. So many projects, so little time. I didn't want this year to start slow like last year (although I didn't have a choice in the matter with my back being out for 2-3 months). Before the holidays my sewing time had been used for editing engagements or pre-bridals or sewing some small presents. Now that the holidays are over, and the wedding has come and gone, my prime sewing time has been spent editing wedding pictures and trying to get back into our regular routine. I haven't even attempted to tackle the pile of laundry from the two weeks we spent in California. Instead, I've been admiring the #triparoundtheworld scrappy quilts that have been popping up all over blog land (making me want to start yet another project), and admiring these:

Isn't the bouquet awesome?! My friend Brandy came across a tutorial online and made it using Rock 'n' Romance by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics. I just recent'y finished those pictures, and now I am ready to get back into sewing mode. I've realized that doing so will take some careful planning on my part. We live in tight quarters and my 18 mo old is a super light sleeper, so my only time to sew with out it being disruptive is in the early evening right when my hubs gets home. But in November I joined a gym so a large chunk of my evenings have either been spent there, or having family time when my husband comes home. It'll all be fine and well, once I come up with schedule that works for us all. 

In order to help myself stay on track for getting things done this year, I'm joining the She Can Quilt 2013 Finish Along. The FAL will be split into quarters. With all types of goals, in order to set yourself up for success, you must make them realistic. So I made a list of all the tasks I need to complete this year, and I split them into quarters. For this quarter my list includes:

2 baby boy plus quilts (currently cut out and on the design wall - sorry about the bad iPhone pics and the stickies i left one them. I originally had these combined into one, but I figure I'll actually get them done if I make them 2 smaller quilts, instead of one bigger one.)

"Left Overs" baby girl quilt (put away somewhere)

2 Reunion baby quilts (put away somewhere - need more fabric)

Hilary's A Walk in the Woods baby quilt (ready to baste)

Hub Quilt (<----more on that later)

This quarter will also include projects for two swaps I'm currently in:

The Doll Quilt Swap

Pretty Little Pouch Swap