Lilac Lollipop - Cindy's 2014 Pantone Challenge Quilt

My mother-in-law and I share a love of all things quilty. She was the one who bought me my first machine so really...I have to credit her for getting me involved in the art!

When I told her of the Pantone Radiant Orchid quilt challenge, she wanted to play along, too. Here is her quilt:

Finished quilt size is 33" x 42"

Edges are made with half circles.

My March Fitness Endeavor

Nick challenged me to do something fitness-wise every day for the month of March. I admit, challenges for the sake of proving something or proving someone wrong do not motivate me or inspire me at all. At all. Big whoop dee doo. I could care less that someone won, beat me, can do something faster than me...really...I have nothing to prove.

But, for some time now, exercising has been something that I've wanted to start doing again regularly.

A lot of people, over the years have thought that exercise and eating right must be easy for me since I am married to a fitness guy (Nick has a bachelor's in Health Promotion and Education, a master's in Exercise Science, was a personal trainer for years, and now runs a health and wellness program for 4,000 employees at Whirlpool...phew!).  I want to set the record straight---it is not easy for me at all!!!  None of this comes naturally to me...I am tired all of the time...I have pain in my right foot that has at times been debilitating...I would rather be crafting and sewing...I like to eat cookies and chocolate and cheesy things, crunchy things, salty things, snack cakes (okay, get the picture?)...I have three kids that keep me busy...I don't want to feel like I have to take a shower in the middle of the day after getting sweaty...yaddee yaddee yaddah, right?

I am just like you!  If I can do this...then you can, too! That is why I am keeping a journal of sorts, to share with you and hopefully inspire you.

Along with each exercise, Nick has me writing a positive affirmation (underlined in this blog post). I feel this challenge is as much about doing the exercises, as it is about changing my mindset about exercising. All of my excuses listed in the paragraph above could get the best of me (I was going to write, "I am lazy," but we are what we speak, so I decided not to ;-) ), but instead, I will fill my brain with and speak positive things.

One thing that I have noticed, is that it is extremely helpful...extremely!...that I have a plan written down on a calendar for exercise. I don't think I would be keeping up with exercising if it wasn't already written out for me to follow.

March 1 - Wii Zumba

I had a busy day. Family was over first thing in the morning for breakfast. I watched my friend's children for the rest of the day. Emory & Marin and I stopped at McD's for ice cream for something special, as Evander was doing something special with the Cub Scouts overnight. It's 9:30 by the time Emory and Marin are in their beds. I am tired. So tired. But, I Zumba anyway.

I just got  Zumba for the Wii (okay...maybe a month ago already!) and this was the first time trying it out. Not knowing what to expect, I chose mid-intensity and mid-length work out. I was fine with the intensity, I could even go up a notch next time...but the mid-length work out kept going on and on and on and on. I thought I'd be done at the half hour point, but no. I stopped after nine songs.  I definitely will be upping the intensity next time and selecting the shorter workout.

Zumba is fun!

March 2 - 20 Minute Elliptical

Still tired. So tired. I took Emory to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and arrived there with a headache. By the grace of God, it went away on its own while at the party. But still, I was exhausted when we got home after 4 p.m. So much so, I fell asleep on the couch. Not looking good for a workout today.

Today was elliptical for 20 minutes. I like the elliptical, but I do dread it and I fear my foot will start hurting afterwards.  Tired and dreading...but I did it anyway.  The kids seem to choose elliptical time as the time to crawl up on my desk and try to get into my craft cupboards, to come close to the machine, talk to me, and just be in my face. The dog, too. She wouldn't get away from the machine. But, I did it anyways, nonstop, despite the stress I felt from those things while trying to do the elliptical.

Twenty minutes of my time did not seem like much to spend exercising.

I was able to keep up the pace.

March 3 - Resistance Training 1

3 sets 10 reps leg extensions, single leg curls, chest press, lat pull downs, seated row, tricep extension and sit ups

I woke up and all I could think about all morning is just how much I want a friggin' glass of orange juice. Arggggggg. (Nick said no o.j. through this---too much sugar!)

Today was resistance training day one. All of the kids wanted to exercise, too, which ended up being really fun and not distracting at all...except for the part when Nick started barking at me, then the kids starting barking, too. The weights felt fine (except I hate leg curls). I cried doing sit ups. I fully admit that I am a sissy.

Exercising as a family was nice. I like that they are interested in such a thing.

March 4 - Tae Bo

I was tired. I knew I was tired all of the time before I began this endeavor, but now writing it down...sheeeeeeesh. I also had a headache. And, I was really tired. :-P But, once I started the Tae Bo I was no longer tired. Is this all a mental thing?

Doing this workout, I remembered all of the reasons why I never did this DVD consistently---creepy (to me) people who look like my drunken college suite-mates freshman year, cameras on the one chick's crotch sweat (no thanks!), and my knees...I think they might snap off.

My legs and arms were totally worn out from Billy Blanks' fat blasting cardio. Yeah.

I blasted the fat with Billy Blanks.

March 5 - Resistance Training 2

3 sets 10 reps leg extensions, single leg curls, shrugs, bicep curls, chest fly, hip abduction

It was easier than I anticipated.

March 6 - 30 minute elliptical

I kind of don't have good feelings when I think about doing the elliptical because it's so...boring, I guess. Sometimes I sing songs in my head or memorize Bible verses. Most times, I end up counting my strides by 100's and setting goals for myself---"the next five minutes I will do this with my hand on the bar in front of me." "At 15 minutes, I will put my hands on the moving stick things." "Oooo...time to hunch over...until I reach 200 calories, then I'll stand back up."

We all watched "the puppy movie" (101 Dalmatians), I just watched from the elliptical. :-)

I did it.

March 7 - Resistance Training 3
3 sets 10 reps one leg assisted squats, hip abduction, front squats, straight arm lat pull downs

Boy, I was ambitious today. I did my workout before lunch time! I felt good doing it, too.  Except...I wondered how bad my legs were going to feel the next day after I noticed I had to waddle down the stairs...

No dread today.

March 8 - Tae Chi for Seniors

Boy, I sure paid for yesterday. MY QUADS ARE KILLLLLLLLLLLING ME!!!! It hurts to go down the stairs...it hurts to kneel down and help my kid put her shoes on...it hurts to sit down on the toilet!!! I found that it hurt less to turn around, and go backwards down the steps. Going up was okay...but going down..blahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Nick had pity on me and we rearranged my schedule. Tae Chi for Seniors it was for me then!

It was relaxing.

March 9 - 5K run/walk

Ugggggg...I wasn't sure how I was supposed to do this today as my legs were still really sore. I didn't want to do this today because my legs were really sore. I didn't think I could do this.

I am not a confident runner. Here's what went through my mind on Sunday:

I hate this. I can't do this. You're doing it. It's cold. Are my legs going to explode on me? I am not a runner. You are running. Ooo, I like that smell of fabric softener. What if my foot starts hurting again? What if I stumble? What if I fall? What if I lose my step and make fools of us all? (A little DC Talk for you) I hate this. It hurts. It doesn't *really* hurt. Am I moving my legs, or are they moving themselves? This is taking forever. You run as slowly as a granny power walks. It's too windy. Better speed up so you look legit when that car passes you. I hope they don't splash me. I am not a runner. You are running, therefore you are a runner.

I was able to run for a mile and a half without stopping, and then I stopped running. Walked for a mile, and then ran again for the last mile. I wish I had just kept running as that last mile was difficult.

I could run longer than I thought.

March 10 - Just Dance

This is always fun. I should do Just Dance more often. Tonight, both boys wanted to do it with me, which made it even more fun!

It was fun to do with the boys.

March 11 - Crossfit 1

21-15-9 overhead squat with 18-pound bar, burpees

Can I just say that I personally am not a fan of doing Crossfit? It makes me cry. And again, I am not motivated by external challenges, competition, or competition with myself.

I find that I stand around a lot trying to motivate myself, trying to convince myself to just do it. Nick would say to just get it done...get on with the suffering and be done with it!

This was 21 squats and 21 burpees, followed by 15 squats and 15 burpees, etc. I was worried I would kill my legs again like I did Friday. Nick assured me that they wouldn't be as bad since I already killed them. We shall see. I ended up waddling again afterwards.

I better have some freaking awesome looking legs by the end of this month!

I am still alive.

March 12 - Resistance Training 4

4 sets 6 reps one leg extensions, lat pull downs, chest press, upright row, shrugs and back squats

Tonight's workout felt great!  I needed to add weight to the machine on some exercises. My legs are still fatigued, but I guess that's okay. Wonder how they will feel tomorrow...

I can feel myself getting stronger. Boom.

Twilight's Radiance -- A Challenge Quilt

I am so excited to share with you my entry for the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge, hosted by two awesome sites--On the Windy Side and Play Crafts. Look, I even have an official blog button in this post:

In case you haven't heard (or bothered to care :-P) Pantone has deemed "Radiant Orchid" as the 2014 color of the year. I love Pantone, and I love color...but I do find color projections a little funny. I guess it's because once we've all acclimated to a popular color or color scheme, they've introduced the next one. Pantone's top colors for fall 2014 were already announced about a month ago! 

Fall 2014 is hard for my brain to process, as it would be for any northerner I assume. While we are desperately awaiting to emerge from this dreadful winter we've been having, Pantone has already skipped our favorite, refreshing, soul-warming season---summer! :-P

Anyhoo...radiant orchid. I really do love the color.

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OooooooOOoooo.  Pretty, huh?

I tried really hard to run with purple color schemes that included peach...and teals...and grays...but my mind could not be separated from everyone's favorite radiant orchid pony. Yup. I had to go there.

The princess Twilight cometh...behold!  Behold! (I am fully confident that I am the only one singing that in my head).

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So, here's the quilt---inspired by Twi's colors and cutie mark. :-)

I used my new walking foot to straight line quilt the purple and pink stripes...and I learned a little bit about thread tension along the way. ;-)

I did raw edge applique for the stars. You can't really see it in the pictures, but the white star fabric and the lightest purple fabric (it looks like a white stripe in the pictures) are both sparkly. 

I free-motioned planet orbit paths in the navy fabric. I used a regular star stitch for the little stars in space. Twilight Sparkle studies the stars and lots of other things, so it seemed like a perfect fit. 

I felt kind of unsure about using white fabric for the binding, but the truth is I just wanted some more sparkle in my quilt. This was the first time I did the binding entirely by machine---it was much easier than I thought, and I am happy with the results. 

Finished quilt size is 31" x 27." 

Why does my dog look so very American Gothic in this picture? (Sorry about the blindingly white and bright quilt in the pic---I don't know how to fix that!)

And here it hangs on my very crooked curtain rod in my living room. It really puts a smile on my face every time I see it.  I feel all sneaky and stuff that I was able to covertly incorporate My Little Pony into my home decor. :-P

And now for some Twilight Sparkle memes. Nothing like laughing with yourself! Either I need to find some friends into MLP or my friends need to get into MLP! :-D

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Minecraft Valentines

A certain someone in the house chose a theme for his valentines that wasn't in stores (of couse! :-P)---Minecraft!  I took the easy route and made them on the computer so we could just print, cut, fold and go!

Evander was really sweet not to give the girls the creepy ones, but saved these for his closest friends that are boys:

Eye of Ender, creeper, and zombie

 "I like your brains," says the zombie. Ha!

He gave his teacher the TNT one. <3 Glad she didn't take it any other way than just being a valentine with explosives on it. :-P

Shovel, cobblestone, and TNT

These were his favorites to give the girls:

A tamed wolf, diamond pickaxe, and diamond

We sealed each card with a health meter heart, printed on Avery 22805 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" labels.

On the side he addressed the cards, we added a Minecraft ocelot since the ocelot is kind of his thing. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!  I've got my (creepy) eye on you!

Valentine's Wall Hanging

When I saw a beautiful heart wall hanging from Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric...I knew I had to make one. Had...to...make...one.  The blocks are made to look like cross-stitch, so really the possibilities of what shape you create with them are endless (Find it here!: Cross-Stitch Block Tutorial).

I love sewing seasonal decorations, but often the season passes before I even get started on anything. :-P Nick made some comment last week (as good husbands do ;-) ) which spurred me to get this one done. It's small (about 21" x 21"), so it was a relatively quick finish!  Finishing a project certainly always feels good.

Of course, Chocolate was on hand to assist in the process:

Look---she sits when I tell her to!!!  But, she certainly doesn't "stay" for long...

I got to use my brand new walking foot for my machine that I got for Christmas. I feel like Super Woman with a walking foot. It allows the fabric to feed from both the top and the bottom of the machine, so there is no more tugging...just power!!!

Seriously, this is how I feel:

Stitch in the ditch and straight line with the walking foot:

Ooooo, I just love looking at this one. I used up the rest of my Amy Butler charm squares that I have had for a while. Perfect project for such yumminess!

Finished just in time for Valentine's Day!

A Quilt for Comfort

A few weeks before Christmas, one of Evander's classmates lost her father.  It was a shock to everyone, and it still is pretty hard to wrap one's head around---early 40's, wife of ten years, two children under eight years old.  Many of us were wondering, what can we do for our class friend?!?  I thought a comfort quilt would be perfect so that our friend would know how much she is loved! 

Each child from the class, along with some teachers and the principals, had their hand traced on transfer paper and told me their favorite color.  The quilt reflects this, of course, and I like that each child and teacher is represented with their color. I placed the hands in the shape of a heart and appliqued them on the orange background fabric.

I quilted the space around the heart with circles and ovals.

Finished size is 46" x 64".

Many thanks to the families from the class that donated funds to supply the quilt.  There was enough money left to donate a hefty chunk to the family.  Thank you to Evander's teacher, who collected all of the hand tracings for me.  And, thank you to the substitute teacher, who did her student teaching at Evander and the classmate's preschool, who donated much of the fabric for the hands and the quilt batting. And thank you to the two moms who cut out the hands for me! (I typically don't like to give identifying names in my blog...sorry!)

Everyone who had their hand traced, also signed the back of the quilt with permanent marker.

I have wondered if it might be difficult for the family to look at the quilt day after day, year after year...but I then I just keep thinking love. I hope the classmate will feel love every time she sees it or uses it. <3

This is what happens when you trudge the foot-deep snow with Mommy and loose your boot to get quilt pictures---Marin curled up on the heating vent--

So Long, 2013!

Looking back on 2013, I feel as if I didn't create as many things as I did in 2012 (you can check out my 2012 crafty review here.). I feel as if my 2013 was lacking in painting things, but had plenty of quilting. :-)

After I finished Evander's teacher's quilt at the beginning of June, I started another quilt with fabric that a friend gave me (with intentions of giving the quilt back to her as a surprise). It pieced together quickly, but I thought I could cheat on the batting and it ended up without batting in some parts.  I felt it was just terrible after that. FAIL!  FAIL!  FAIL!  I never finished it and I hate it. :-P I remember this stunting my creativity for the summer.

Around the same time, I got sick and that yucky feeling stayed around for most of the summer draining all of my energy (excuses, excuses, I know!) But mostly, I think it was this...

It's true.  I was addicted to Minecraft. What a flipping awesome game.

And now, the 2013 projects!

I made some Minecraft things last year:

Evander's lunchbox "Kitty Guy" 

Evander's Bookbag - a painted Creeper and cat

Creeper shirt

Creeper costume

Halloween was a such a rainy bummer!

I manged to give the ponies some love:

Marin's Pinkie Pie shirt

Easter Eggs 2013

Painted posters for Marin's birthday party

I decorated a cake!  Woot! 

Ninja Turtle cake

I painted these chairs:

With quilted seat cushion -- FOR SALE...still :-)

Painted with Ohio Star quilt block

Here are some sewing and quilty projects:

Quilted Pillow

Quilted necklace

Candy Corn Bunting - Bottom FOR SALE

Christmas Bunting - Six FOR SALE (each are different)

And now, the quilts!

Flying Geese Quilt

Self-Portrait Quilt

Deerie Quilt

Baby Clothes Quilt

Plus Quilt

Nine Patch Quilt

Fall Leaves Wall Hangings

T-Shirt Quilt

Hippie Quilt

I consider the highlights for quilting this year were winning "Most Unique Quilt" for my Self-Portrait at the Ohio Outdoor Quilt Festival and winning first prize for my "Deerie Quilt" in the Lake Erie Center art contest. 

This year, I would like to learn the paper piecing technique for quilting and redesign my blog. I said those exact two things in January last year!!! :-P I also really want to make a Minecraft quilt. 

Happy 2014!