January FMQ challenge

This is my first blog post participating in the FMQ challenge over at SewCalGal. If you've always wanted to learn 'someday', maybe your someday has arrived! Be sure to click on the link on my sidebar and go see what the buzz is all about.

Well, I really didn't practice this to much. I honestly can't say that I see myself ever really using this motif, but it still helped me practice curves and deciding where to go next with this particular design. My first attempt looks pretty childish, but I'm not so sure my final is so much better!

This is my first try at it

And here's my final go.

Definitely different sizes of leaves, and maybe to close together? This just doesn't speak to me, but I feel it turned out all right. I'm excited to see what next month holds for us.

(If I'm not careful my seven year old son and ten year old daughter will get better at FMQ than I am! I really will have to show you some of their works sometime!)

A Quick Finish

I say quick meaning start to finish in one stretch. This 'small' project still took a fair bit of time. I recently bought a little twister so I was itching to try it. Here's what I made:

I didn't get a picture after I bound it, but I used the same blue as the border. I thought it looked quite sharp!  I sewed the binding on by machine. Not as nice as by hand but I am getting better at it.

This is how I quilted it:

Very time consuming but I enjoyed every minute of it! It was a little nerve wracking because this was a wedding gift so I knew everyone would be looking at, and then using black thread with a cream backing, hmmm. Overall I think it looked okay.

On that note, what are your thoughts about using different colors in the top and bobbin? I've read some concern about the threads pulling through because of less than perfect tension, or moving your fabric  to fast, etc. I'm still very much on a learning curve and open to any advice on this.

Weighing in!

Wow, another week has flown by! I have to say even though my results are maybe a bit small I feel so much better about my self over all. Now instead of the negative thought "I'm fat anyway, who cares" I'm thinking "I may be rotund but I'm actively doing something about it!" I've put up a weight tracker ticker  on the sidebar which I'll keep updating as events warrant! So here are this weeks stats:


Stats:
Weight Loss Goal: 70 lbs
Week's Loss: 3 lbs 
Total Loss:  5 lbs
Distance to Goal:  65 lbs
Week's Workouts:  Walked 16 miles
Total Time Exercising:  4 hours
 Highlight of the Week: I walked every day this week. Really starting to enjoy my workouts and I find myself looking forward to them. I feel very empowered and encouraged to keep on.

Hexy Bag in Progress

So this is a little bag I've been working on using another moda bakeshop tutorial. It's my first time working with hexagons and I think smaller ones would have been easier. Also I used a fairly stiff cardboard for my templates, so it made maneuvering a little harder. Live and learn I guess.

I decided to go with a simple white for the liner. Now I need to find 

time to sit and hand sew it in, and then add the handles.

excuse the hand:(

 This was also made using Summer House by Lily Ashbury. 

What have you been keeping busy with?

Manic Monday!

Seems like there are more days around here that are manic! Here's a project I finished a week or two ago. It's a woven rug I made using a moda bakeshop tutorial by Jera from Quilting in the Rain. It is very well written and easy to follow. I did end up with one extra strip? Not sure why as it's woven very tight, but oh well. Here it is.

On this one you can see the camo pattern under the drawer liner.

I used a heavy cotton denim for the base of this rug

It's made from a Summer House Jelly Roll I had in my stash. I think the colors are so fresh. I used black drawer liner on the back because that's what I had. It happened to be exactly the right width so all I had to do was cut the length. How handy is that? So now to get the nerve to actually step on it! This is going to be a birthday gift for a friend.

Week 2. How did I do?

This post is a day late. I've tried hard this week. I have to say that I have courage for the days ahead. I tried to cut out all sweets this week and really watched my portion sizes. I also need to drink more water.
Here's how I did.

Stats:
Weight Loss Goal: 70 lbs
Week's Loss: 2 lbs 
Total Loss:  2 lbs
Distance to Goal:  68 lbs
Week's Workouts:  Walked 12 miles
Total Time Exercising:  3 hours
 Highlight of the Week:   I managed to work out every day except Saturday with a bad head cold, and Tuesday my husband's birthday. Very very exhilarating. I need to keep on.

Weigh In Wednesday

All my adult life I have struggled with my weight. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it say that I have probably lost my self a few times. (I think the credit for that bit of humor belongs to Erma Bombeck)

I was pleased to find Weigh In Wednesday hosted by Erin at MissyMacCreations. I'm anyway doing this so I'm happy to find some way to keep myself accountable. No before pictures, sorry. We'll see about after. So to borrow Erin's format, here are my beginning numbers:

Stats:
Weight Loss Goal: 70 lbs
Week's Loss:  
Total Loss: 
Distance to Goal:  70 lbs
Week's Workouts: 
Total Time Exercising: 
 Highlight of the Week:  

I know I know, start small, so my first goal is 10 pounds in 21 days. I'm doing the Walk-Eat-Lose challenge with Leslie Sansone from Walk At Home, starting on Monday, the 16th. I've walked with Leslie lots. I actually started a walking group which meets every Tuesday in my husband's welding shop! (Yay for available floor space!)

I turned 30 in November. I say if I don't do this now when will I?

Source: believe-toachieve.tumblr.com via Karen on Pinterest

Sewing Space Update

I just want to share with you all what my husband busied himself with during his holidays. I recently moved downstairs with my sewing so that my little girl would play down there with her toys. Seems she (naturally) wants to be where Mom is. So here is a before and after picture of one wall in my space:



Before



After



He built the crates seperately and installed them to my request. He has a bunch more slats ready to go when he gets time again. I'm absolutely loving it. I just wanna sit in there and bask in the serenity!

Now, to keep up with keeping the toys out, and cleaning up after myself!

I'm Addicted!

I'm probably a bit slow on the uptake, but I have only just discovered the Twister tool.

 Look what it can do.

I took my Hoopla layer cake and did this:

Then I took this

and did this:

It takes a bit of nerve to "destroy" a quilt top, but the end result  work in progress is worth it,

don't ya think?

Gotta sew this together and add another border. You lose about one third of your size when

you use this technique. I'd like to try the little twister next. Have you made any quilts using this tool?

Lisa's Blogger's Choice Bundle

I'm really quite pleased with my end result. I just love purple and I think these colors blend quite nicely. Isn't it fascinating that our opinions on colors can be worlds apart? And who even knows if you're seeing the same color I'm seeing but we both call it blue, or green.  Okay I'll stop. I can go on and on this topic.

I'm just glad I'm not judging this contest. I think seeing a few bundles would be fun, but it would be pretty tough to stay enthused, involved, and interested by the hundredth entry. A big shout out of thanks to all the judges, to Laura for dreaming up this great giveaway, and the Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring. I'm linking up here.


Here are the SKU#'s for my bundle:

Amelia Cotton Tempting Turquoise Kaleidoscope Flowers Yardage
SKU# 22161-13

Modernology Bright Posh Florets Yardage
SKU# MO-4808

Terrain Mist Forest Floor Yardage
SKU# 27090-15

Ooh La La Lime Coeur De Fleurs Yardage
SKU# DC5196-LIME-D

Girls World Vibe Coco Paula Yardage
SKU# PWJP060-COCOX

Cocoa Berry Cocoa Tiny Flowers Yardage
SKU# CX4914-COCO-D

Amelia Cotton Tempting Turquoise Paisley Party Yardage
SKU# 22163-13

Impressions Purple Dahlia Yardage
SKU# PWTY012-PURPL

Essential Dots Turquoise Yardage
SKU# 8654-35

Family Forever Light Green Stars 'n Sentiment Yardage
SKU# 4557-44

Happy Mochi Yum Yum Blueberry Confetti Yardage
SKU# 30307-70

Power Pop Peridot Thirteen Yardage
SKU# PWJM058-PERID

Bella Solids Lime Yardage
SKU# 9900-75

Michael Miller Ocean Krystal Yardage
SKU# KRYSTA-1162-D

Bella Solids Dusk Yardage
SKU# 9900-116

Blog Name Change

Happy New Year!  I guess the beginning of a new year is as good time as any to change the name of my blog if I want to. So instead of Country Morning Designs which is a more general name, I've decided to switch to By a Thread, and if I ever open a shop I will add the Quilt Shop part. It seems more personal and realistic to me. So I hope you enjoy the new look and aren't to confused with the name change. I'm not to sure if I need to change my address as well or would that cause my current followers to lose me? If you know what I mean. Maybe someone can give me some advice on this? Thanks for your patience.