My First Finished Quilt

Okay, well I finally finished the quilt for my sister in law Rose. It was supposed to be for her birthday last July....I guess I am early for this birthday right...LOL. I hope she likes it.

Hey, for my first quilt I guess it didn't take me that long. :-)

I have been following Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project so she showed us how to do a stipple stitch in free motion quilting so that is what I did all over this quilt. The quilt pattern is Over and Under.

I wanted to show the back of the quilt. No it is not perfect...but my first time free motion quilting.

This is upclose of the front of quilt.

Quilting Stitches Help!!

I wanted to post some pictures of my quilting stitches on the back of my quilt in hopes that Leah Day can give me some tips on what I am doing wrong. I don't know if my hands are going to fast, my feet or if the tension is off. Please help Leah!!! This is the whole reason I haven't started free motion on my sister in-laws quilt that was supposed to be a birthday gift for last July. I am so afraid to ruin it with these stitches.

By the way if you haven't visited her blog she is a great teacher of free motion quilting. http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Leah-Any idea on what is going on with me?

New Camera

So my dear sweet hubby gave me an early 13th anniversary present this week. A new Canon EOS Rebel T3 camera with a telephoto lens and bag to go with it. I am so excited!!! I love taking photos, and I believe this will take my photography to the next level. So, here are some photo's from my new camera.

This one hubby took of me and Mel.

This little guy posed perfectly for me. Title-Feeling Squirrely

These fish were such bright colors I had to photo them. Title-Say Awe

This is Mel trying to kiss this fish. I wanted to catch her reflection too. Title-Just Give Me a Kiss

This is another that Brian shot. Title-America's Next Top Model...LOL

We shall see how it goes with this new camera. Be looking for tons of photos now friends.

3in30 January Goals

Well, here is another start to a new year and my mind is full of the possibilities to this year. One of the site I love is called 3in30 challenge http://3in30.ashleypichea.com/ it shows you how to make your goals more attainable. Check it out!!

One of the questions on the forums was "if you could chose one word to focus on in 2012 what would it be?" I chose PRODUCTIVE. I need to be more productive, I feel as though I have become so unproductive over the last year. I need to be productive in my health, my housework, my relationships, my hobbies and my spiritual walk with the Lord. Will this be easy...no....but I also know that anything of worth to us you have to work for, so productive is my word.

In the spirit of being productive here are my goals for the month of January:

1. Set a timer for 20 minutes 3 times a day to clean the house. That may not be a ton of time for most people but this will be a stretch for me. If you know how badly I hate housework. But I chose to be productive.
2. Take the 31 days to pray for your spouse challenge at http://3in30.ashleypichea.com/31-days-to-pray-for-your-spouse/
3. Go to bed by 10 pm each night....I am a night owl, but if I do this it will help me get the sleep I need for my health.

These should help me in 3 areas of my life that I need to be productive in. So here I go for 2012.

Week 1 of 3in30

Well, this week has gone pretty well with my new goals for August. I am so excited about my progress so far.

I have sewed some on my quilt project so I am very hopeful on that goal. Here is a picture of the quilt. It is for my sister in law and her birthday was last month that is why it is on my goal list so she can actually get her birthday present...LOL

My second goal was to declutter for 15 mins each day and I have been doing really well with this. I did my laundry room this week, cleaned out the fridge, took everything off the top of it and cleaned....I haven't seen that in I can't tell you how long. I cleaned the oven and microwave as well. In my laundry room, I can't tell you how long it has been since I seen the top of the dryer....you know how all the things you find in the washer go there, like change, chapstick, left over socks with no matches, lint, and such things. Now, I can actually get into the laundry room...LOL.

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My third goal was to get this body moving. I went out and purchased a Leslie Sansone walking video this week and I have been using it. I can't believe how much that video gets your heart moving. Crazy. I weighed myself today and I am down 2 pounds from last week so YEA me!!!

I also have been doing the challenge of reading the bible in 90 days and I have to say this is day 26 and I have now read 17% of the bible. It has now become a habit to get up and read when I first wake up, I can not tell you how much I love this time with the Lord. Now, I have always spent time in His Word each day, but I haven't started reading the bible from start to finish like this before. I love how much I am learning about why we needed Jesus. It has raised some questions in me as well. Like how the people didn't run out of animals to sacrafice? They had to kill a bunch of animals....and they never ran out. Why the Israelites kept turning from God, even though He provided for them at every turn? How silly men can be for listening to those crazy women that led them down to distruction? Anyway, it has been so enjoyable each day.

My hubby comes home next week for a visit and I am so excited. This year has been rough with him traveling so much, but we are so grateful he has a job during a time of lay offs. My daughter is coming in this weekend from Lubbock and I get to spend some much needed mommy daughter time. I can't believe how much I miss her not being here at home. We are going to be making some domino necklaces for her friends. She has worn hers and they just love it, so we are going to make them some to suprise them. That should be tons of fun.

Talk at you all soon!

New Month-New Goals

Well monday starts a brand new month and since I showed up late in the 3 in 30 challenge I will start with August in my new goals. I need goals, if I don't have them it is so easy for me to become stagnant. Is this you? If so check out the www.3in30.ashleypichea.com and join us with the challenge.

1-Finish a quilt I have been working on forever.

2-Spend 15 minutes decluttering my house each day. I have a ton of clutter that just needs to go.

3-Get some form of exercise each day. I hate to exercise anyone that knows me can attest to this, but I have been gaining weight like crazy and I can't stand it any more. I need to move this body. I know I just need to find something I enjoy doing.

So, I am excited about a new month and new possibilities. Good luck to all those ladies taking the 3in30 challenge....I know we can accomplish great things!!!

Tuesday Tatterings

Today I woke up feeling great...no back pain...no headache...Praise God!!! I think these new meds are working. And I have some energy today.

I haven't been able to wake up at 8 like I have wanted to, these new meds really knock me out. But when I got up this morning I was able to get some things accomplished today so that makes me very happy. I dusted the living room, decluttered for 15 minutes, put a load of laundry in and cleared off the hall tree. I feel great about all of this, since I haven't been able to do much lately. Woohoo!!!

My bible in 90 days is going so well, I have kept up with my reading plan and been so enjoying soaking up God's Word every day. The ladies in our Group 37 at momstoolbox have been so encouraging and inspiring that it keeps me on target.

My wins this week:
Staying on track with my reading.
Getting to bed by 10 pm each night.
Saying my affirmations each day.
Journaling each day.
Relying on God while Brian is gone.
Improvement in energy this week.


I think that is pretty good for this week. Now, off to read more of bible before my life coaching call.