Slow Going

I'm still working on my RRCB step 7. It is taking between a half hour and 45 minutes to complete one block. Unfortunately I have only completed half the blocks. I still have 15 more blocks to go. Ugh.

I recently purchased a new fish tank. I upgraded from a 10 gallon to a 65 gallon. Today I moved the fish from the small tank to the big one. It was a big change for the fish. I'm hoping everyone will acclimate ok. My betta has gone from 2 gallons to 5 gallons to 10 gallons and now to 65. I'm sure he is freaking out a bit. Above is a pic from when I first set it up. As soon as I get a new picture I'll post it.

We are expecting a foot of snow Tuesday/Wednesday. It will be interesting to see if it comes to pass. Airlines are already planning on being delayed. I heard that south of us they are expecting several inches of ice. I'd rather have the snow.

Step 6

I finally finished Step 6. Yeah!! Here is the picture of my pieces.



Step 7 is the fun step because we are putting the blocks together. I've already started putting mine together, but I made myself complete step 6 before going any further. I'm hoping the blocks will go together okay. One went together without much trouble, but the second one had some issues. The seams didn't match up perfectly, but I made the decision that I wasn't going to rip it out and start again, so this block will stay with a not perfect seam.

I've been doing my workouts on the Wii. I'm really enjoying using it. The workouts are fun and I don't even realize how much time I spend doing them. I've been steadly losing weight and BMI. Nothing major, but every little bit counts. I'm just looking forward to tightening up some areas and getting my muscles back.

My truck is in the shop right now. It seems I have some sort of fuel leak, but it doesn't happen all the time. I'm hoping that they can find the problem and fix it, so I don't have to worry about my truck catching fire.

I hope everyone is enjoying the snow. My awesome neighbor snow blowed my walks and drive for me while I was gone this evening. He and his family are so great. I make sure that they know how much I appreciate their help.

Wii

I decided to purchase a Nintendo Wii to help me toward my goal of getting in shape. The machine came with two games, both sports related. I decided to try one out and had a great time bowling. Its fun to be able to bowl within the confines of my living room. I've also practiced sword fighting and kicked my DH's butt. He did kick my butt in Pac-Man and Galaga. Those two games were my favs when I was a kid, so I had to find them. Its not as easy to play on a Wii controller as it was in the arcade, but it was fun. Anyway, I've been using the Wii Fit Plus to start exercising. I've been enjoying the "workouts" that I've been doing. I really can't call them a workout because I've been doing more stretching and balance exercises at this point. Tonight I actually did a Wii workout. It was three different exercises. Once I get into the routine of doing this I will be happy. I'm going to Hawaii at the end of May, so I want to at least tighten up some areas, but would love to lose some weight as well. I haven't lost a complete pound yet, but I have gone down alittle. I've been trying to watch what I eat as well. That's not going as well. I've cut out the potato chips pretty well, but I feel like I'm eating too much. Its a slow thing, but I'm concious of what I'm trying to do, so hopefully I'll start making some headway soon.

Haven't gotten much sewing done this week. I'm hoping to work on it this weekend, since DH is doing military duty. I'm still working on Step 6, but I'll keep trudging along. I'm not in love with the blocks yet, but I'm going to finish the quilt and hopefully it will grow on me. I've had quilts that I didn't like before, but once they were quilted I fell in love. Hopefully this one will go that way as well.

Happy New Year!

Another year has passed and I'm looking forward to this new year. Last year was a difficult year with so many things happening. I feel like I'm starting to head down the right road and hopefully this year will be wonderful.

DH and I went out for New Year's Eve. First we went to my mom's for homemade french fries and ribs. It was a great meal, even if mom decided to make her own sauce and it was a bit sweet for me. I still enjoyed it, even if she doesn't think so. Next we headed over to a friends house. We weren't planning on staying out till midnight since DH had to work the next morning. Well, that plan didn't work out and we didn't get home until 1am. Needless to say, the boy was tired yesterday. We had a very good time and it was great to toast the new year in with friends. I however did not enjoy the hangover I was left with yesterday. I really didn't drink much, but I mixed wine, champagne, and jello shots. That may have been my downfall.

On the quilting front, I finished step 5 of the RRCB mystery and have started on step 6. The part of 6 is pretty easy, but I'm not looking forward to the second part. Oh well, I've come this far, I've got to finish it. Step 7 came out Friday and we start putting the blocks together. I love the way this quilt is coming together. Step 7 actually puts the whole center together and the last step (this friday) does the borders. Its been alot of work, but well worth it. I'm hoping mine comes together as well as the one in the directions. I'm sure I'll have some trouble because I didn't take the time to square up some blocks. Oh well, I'm pretty good at fussy sewing blocks together. Here's the pic of Step 5.

Now that the holidays are over its time to buckle down at work and get things done. The past two weeks have been very slow because so many people were on leave. Reality is back and I'm not sure that I'm ready for it. No more wearing jeans to work.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful 2011.

RRCB Mystery

Well, I finally finished steps 3 and 4 this week. Actually step 3 is what took all the time. I finished it earlier in the week and finished tearing the paper off on Wednesday. I just didn't get around to posting a picture until now. So here is four of my Step 3 blocks:

No two blocks are the same. Most have the same fabrics, but either different size strips or different placement. I wanted them to be as scrappy as possible. I didn't have too many scraps to work with, so I cut up some yardage. It was nice because I didn't have to make sure my ruler was completely lined up. Made for quick and easy cutting.

I finished step 4 in two days. I got everything cut out on Wednesday and then sewed them up on Thursday. I was very happy to have an easy step. Here is a pick of the finished Step 4's. It looks funny because there are separate green blocks pinned to the sewn pieces. The green matches what was sewn to the blocks. Bonnie suggested pinning them together, so I did. Not sure what is in store for these little blocks.

I've started on step 5. This one is going to take awhile. We have to make 600 half square triangles. I probably have about 40 sewn, but only a dozen have been ironed. If I get an opportunity to just sit and sew for awhile, I might be able to knock them out.

Step 6 was released yesterday. More cutting of fabric. We did learn that step 7 and 8 are going to be for putting our blocks together. Yeah!! I'll finally get to see what it is I'm making. I have no guesses right now as to how these pieces go together. Bonnie did a great job of making this one a mystery.

Almost Done

Tonight I finally finished step 3 of the RRCB mystery quilt. I guess I should say I'm done with the sewing part. I've got to pull the paper off 30 blocks yet. I'm looking forward to step 4 because it should be quick & easy. Step 5 however is going to take some time. I'm only running a couple weeks behind on this mystery. It is exciting to see all these pieces, but i still have no idea how they are going to go together.

Christmas is almost here. I've still got a couple presents to get and find some boxes for a couple others. Luckily this year I didn't really have to do much present buying.

Finally finished the process of refinancing my house. It was a horrible experience & I plan on letting the bank know. I lowered my interest rate by over a percent & lowered my payment over $100 a month. I'm happy I did it, but it was a nightmare with the bank & title company.

Step 3

Boy, oh boy, Bonnie saved some tough sewing for the third step. Its not really difficult, just really time consuming. We have to make 60 string blocks. I've never made this type of block before, but it is easy. Its just time consuming when you have to sew 10-15 different pieces of fabric on each block. I think I've only got 15 done so far and the next step comes out on Friday. I just keep plugging away on them. I've been getting done at least 2 a night. Last night I finished 5 and tonight I got four of them done. After getting done with sewing the strips on, then its time to square them up and then rip the paper off the back. I've been doing the entire process each night because the paper ripping takes awhile. You've got to be careful because you can pull the stitches out of the seam. I'm really like the way these blocks look. Alot of people doing the quilt have lots of scraps to use for this step. I don't and cut most of my strips from yardage. That's okay because I'm using up some really ugly fabric and I bought some other for half price. I've managed to get Michigan State and University of Michigan fabric into this quilt. I'm sure I won't have all the blocks done before the next clue comes out, but I'll have enough done to start the next step.