A break from quilting...

My little sister is getting married in a few of weeks. I am her Maid of Honor. I bought a really pretty dress a month or so ago. Even though it was marked two sizes larger than I normally wear (please tell me that's just how formal wear is) it fit just a tiny bit snug. Not too bad, but when I would unzip I felt like I could finally take a deep breath. Well, I kind of forgot about it and decided to eat whatever I wanted until a week ago when I remembered that I was TRYING to eat better and work-out so I could be MORE comfortable in this dress.

I am not the type that can just 'not eat'. I love food WAY too much. Besides, my grouchyness goes way up when I'm hungry. So I asked my sis-in-law (a nurse) what I can do to loose 10 lbs fast. She suggested NO CARBS!!! I laugh at people who don't eat carbs. How can I do this? Of course she said that it's not good for your body long-term but that it could aid in the process to shed a little unwanted lbs. Well, I'm trying. but I'm not doing no carbs- more like LOW CARBS.

For example: tonight for dinner i had 1/2 a dinner roll instead of 3 whole dinner rolls. That was hard. and while my family ate spaghetti, I chowed on shredded zucchini with spaghetti sauce (Very yummy if you haven't tried it).

The problem I'm having is that I don't LOVE many vegetables and GOOD fruit (the kind that actually tastes like it's supossed to) is hard to find in these parts. Oh how I miss living in California and eating a peach that tastes like a peach.

OK. I'll get to the reason why I'm sharing all this with you. I NEED HELP! Does anyone have any good meal/snack ideas that don't involve a TON of carbs? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. PLEASE!




p.s.- I'm working on my FIRST tutorial! Woohoo! Hopefully it's ready to post by monday. So I'm not taking a break from quilting completely- just working on the technical side of a quilting blog. :o)

LOVE IT!

Last post I mentioned how excited I am about scrapbook designers FINALLY designing fabric. Seriously, It's like Christmas and my Birthday all in one! I can't get enough of this fabric. One of my all time fav's- Basic Grey has come out with a new line 'EVA'.



I may have mentioned the horrible event that happened to me at Market- but let me remind you again. As soon as I saw clips of this fabric line I had an idea for a pattern in minutes! I was so excited about it. That was until I walked down to the Moda booths and saw a quilt done out of 'Eva' in such a similar pattern it would have been ridiculous for me to design mine. Now, as far as patterns go, they had a similar theme but weren't really the same. The reason why it was impossible for me to design mine is because they were out of the same fabric. Really, it would have been silly.



So I've sulked about it for 2 months. Literally. Until one day it came to me and I am ecstatic about the results! Introducing:

Crossroads

It's not the greatest pic. (I hate it when that happens!) The rich purples, luscious burgundy mixed with lighter pinks complimented with a completely contrasting electric green! It's brilliant and beautiful. But don't worry. If this color palate doesn't strike your fancy- imagine how cute it would be in festive holiday prints all wrapped up like packages!

Au-Then-Tic

I am a sucker for anything with 'print' on it. So when I saw this new line- I just about died! Once upon a time I used to be a scrapbooker. Back when I wasn't all consumed with quilting. Some of my favorite scrapbook designers have started designing fabric as well (It's about time!) Introducing 'Authentic' by Sweetwater for Moda and some new pattern I designed with their fabric.

Fine Print

and

Out of Time

See what I mean!? The coolest thing is that Fine Print is totally fat quarter friendlt, and Out of Time is a layer cake pattern. Of course, you can always use any fabric of your choice. But why would you when there's 'AUTHENTIC'!?

Backyard Circus

It's about time I posted something 'NEW' on here, dontcha think!? I've been really busy these past coupld months and I have LOTS to show for it. This is one of our newest patterns- BACKYARD CIRCUS. It uses the 'Simple Abundance' line by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

It's a re-make of our old pattern 'Gone to Market' that was far more complicated than it needed to be. This pattern uses a layer cake and it SUPER SIMPLE! Seriously, this is one you're going to want to own. ;o)

WINNER!

This was such a fun contest! I am so excited by the response. Thank you to everyone who participated and ventured a guess at how many spools I have collected. The number of spools in my basket and in the picture (after counting and re-counting 3 times) is 57!

That means Michael & Beth is the winner! You know the drill- email me with your shipping info. so I can send you your prize!

So, does everyone want to see what the prize was?

Well, last week I decided to try my hand at a quilt a little out of the box for me. Inspired by quilters such as CrazyMomQuilts and

Tallgrass Prairie Studio I made this quilt:

I LOVE how it turned out! It was really a stretch for me to not have every block perfectly symmetrical and to have blocks of varying sizes in the end. But I am so excited with the way it turned out I think I'll do another.

After cutting up several fat quarters of

'Peas and Carrots' by American Jane

and adding a few extras from the stash I was left with this beautiful pile of "scraps"

So I'll be sending this cute little bundle over to

Michael & Beth

as their prize for guessing the right number of spools!

Hope you enjoy!