On a roll now

Well I really don’t have a lot of time to post tonight. I’m finally on a roll with the writing. The ideas just seem to be coming out finally, in a relatively coherent way and the story is really starting to take shape. I’m very happy with what I’ve done so far and really want to keep writing all night and just get it finished. But that’s obviously not possible – damn me not being rich and able to stay at home and not have to work *sigh*.

So I shall leave you tonight, with another little excerpt of what I have been writing:

“Or so I thought, because at that very moment you gave a teeny tiny little sneeze. It was the smallest, most delicate sound I had ever heard.”

“I remember jumping back in alarm, oh indeed I was very truly positively startled. The basket of pillows was sneezing! How was this possible? I leaned down to peer closer at the basket, and moved what turned out to be very fluffy blankets, rather than pillows – in fact the very blankets that are still on your bed” Soggy Scab said, as he watched Snotface slowly stroking the blankets lovingly.

As I moved the masses of blankets away, it became quite apparent that there was something alive in this basket. I could see something wriggling and moving around, every now and then giving a slight sneeze. And then lo and behold I uncovered you.

I have never been more startled in my life! There you were, a little bundle all wrapped in blankets, and all I could see of you were these big bright blue eyes staring up at me.

Until tomorrow, when hopefully I might have more to share with you.

Tomahawk’s quilt

(Image heavy post to follow)
Back in March my little baby sister called me to tell me that she was expecting her first child. I cannot tell you how excited I was. I haven’t had a baby niece or nephew for 17 years now, so another baby in the family is a fantastic thing. Straight away I thought that I would make her a quilt for the baby. Now my sister is – alternative – I always thought hippy, but that’s not what she says – she calls herself alternative. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do all flowers and pastel colours, but I also draw the line at doing a baby quilt in leopard print. So here started my first challenge of the process. What materials do I get for an alternative person for their baby? I don’t know that the material I chose was really alternative, but I did fall in love with every one that I chose, and for me, that was good enough.

Quilt material selection

Material all ironed and ready for cutting

I have my favourites, I particularly love the little birdies, and the green gingham and I love love love the green with the little flies on it. So gorgeous.

The pattern that I chose to do was the Mixtape Quilt II pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. I’m totally in love with all of the patterns that Elizabeth has and believe me I already have another couple of quilts planned – this time ones that I’m going to be keeping myself.

So I got to work, cutting out, sewing together, cutting, measuring, getting more and more excited as I saw it coming together. This is the biggest, most intricate quilt that I have done (well the second ever quilt I’ve done lol) and the closer it got to being finished, the more I wanted to keep it for myself.

All five blocks in one material selection

All blocks sewn and ready for sashing

Row of blocks sewn together with sashing

Basting the quilt turned out to be a project all of it’s own. I have never basted anything that large before and I realised just how small my living room is, when it took up all the space I had. Nearly 120 pins later, the whole thing was basted and ready to quilt. It was at the point when I picked it up to move over to the sewing machine that I realised I hadn’t quite measured correctly when sewing the backing. Turns out that the quilting was going to go horizontally over the middle of the feature row on the back. What did I learn from that? Measure twice, cut once. Hell, measure three or four times to make sure that you have got it right!!!

Quilt all basted and ready to quilt

I was going to do free motion quilting over the whole quilt, I really really wanted to. But at the last minute I chickened out. I just wasn’t brave enough to do it on such a gorgeous quilt when I haven’t done enough of it to practice and get it perfect. So in the end I went for straight stitching in the sashing. Five parallel lines both horizontally and vertically to create a grid effect. I’m really happy with how it turned out except for the fact that when I was sewing a couple of the rows together they didn’t quite line up, so there is a whole row, where the quilting actually has a bit of a curve in it, but then it almost looks like it is supposed to be that way so it’s (almost) acceptable.

Quilt top all sewn together

Close up of quilting

Next up came the binding. I dread this part, because this is truly the part that I suck at. Until I came across this post by Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts. It saved my life, because I have never thought of actually sewing the binding on before trimming the quilt to size. And I certainly never thought about pinking the edges instead of using a rotary cutter. It made it all so much easier. Of course then there was the back to do. Was I going to do hand binding (I loathe hand sewing) or was I going to risk it and sew it on with the machine and hope that the everything got caught in it? So in the end I did the hand sewing and four and a half hours later, there was one hand bound quilt. I really hope my sister appreciates it, because let me tell you. Hand sewing did not do my wrist any favours. At all!

Binding sewn on and pinking edges

Close up of pinking edges

Step one of binding - complete

Getting ready to sit down and hand bind

So finally the quilt is finished and I got it done, the day before my sister had her little boy. I am proud to announce that I have a new nephew named Tomahawk (I did mention my sister is alternative). He was born at 2.30pm on 26 September (which also happens to be his dad’s birthday and my other sisters wedding anniversary – 23 years for her this year!!), so a great day for his birth. I haven’t met him yet, but I’ve seen photos and he is adorable and I can’t wait for a cuddle.

Completed quilt front

Completed quilt back

Close up of the back and tag

All washed and ready to go

I’m so happy with the end result – I really really want to keep it for myself. I am definitely making my next quilt for myself and not as a present for anyone. I’m also going to blog about it as I go along and not leave it till the end. If you want to see more photos of the quilt you can view them all on Flickr.

So my next project (that I’m working on right now) is a new sewing table. Expect an update on that very soon.

Adieu 12wbt, it was fun while it lasted

So long since I’ve posted and so much has been going on.

The most significant thing that has happened is that Round 2 of 12WBT has officially ended. My goal going into the 12wbt was to lose 10kg and get down to 100kg even. Well I am very proud to say that I did it!!! And beat my goal by a whole 200gm. Officially over the course of the program I lost 10.7kg which equates to 9.7% of my body weight, which is a fair effort. I suppose in the back of my mind I know that I could have done better, had I been more diligent with my exercise, but for me, just sticking to the 12 weeks was a feat in itself. So I am very proud of what I have accomplished. I dropped down to a size 16 in most clothes and have organised to get rid of all my old big clothes.

The thing that really inspired me to join up the 12wbt in the first place was for a wedding that we had to attend. A wedding where my partner was best man, and where I would meet a lot of his friends for the first time. Mick used to live in a small town, about 6 1/2 hours from Adelaide, where we are now, and as you can imagine, everyone knows everyone there. Including Mick’s ex-wife. So for me, this wedding was more than just a wedding, it was an occasion where I would be meeting a lot of Mick’s good friends for the first time, friends who know his ex, and yes, I wanted to make the best impression of myself that I could (and I think I did that. I’m quite happy with how I looked at the wedding, and that in itself is a big deal for me). I felt that at the size I was, it just wasn’t going to happen, so this bit of vanity is what spurred me on in the first place. Vanity is a bad thing, but in this instance, it got me going and gave me the best version of myself that I could be at the wedding. And you know what, it was a great wedding. Even better, I now know that even if I had gone to the wedding at the size I had been, it still would have been great, and everyone would have accepted me just the way I was and been as lovely as they were. I still don’t regret doing 12wbt though.

Mick and I at the wedding
Mick and I at the wedding
Mick and I pulling a face
Mick and I pulling a face
I caught the bouquet!
I caught the bouquet and don't think I don't mention it to Mick every chance I get.

So now that Round 2 has ended, I’m going to be unofficially doing Round 3. Because I joined up at the gym, I can’t really afford to do another round, so I have decided to put to good use all the information I got through Round 2 and also through the Michelle Bridges CrunchTime book. I was supposed to start today, but at the moment I’m fighting a chest infection and bronchitis, so I’m giving myself a bit of a break for a week and will officially start next Monday. This doesn’t mean that I intend to eat crap, just that I’m not going to stress myself out about it. Weigh days will still be on a Wednesday and I will still put diet info up on here. But now it’s time to start expanding the blog a little.

So, in other news. I am very soon to become an auntie again. My little sister is about to have her first baby, and as I mentioned earlier I have been making her a quilt for the baby. Because I’ve been off work all week sick, I’ve actually had a chance to work on the quilt and it is nearing completion. So tomorrow I will get my photos off the digital camera and put up a little bit of a blog about the quilt. Till then, adieu to you and you and you and also adieu to 12wbt round 2 and let round 3 begin!

12WBT day seventy one – Hanging in there

WOW I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last posted. I keep meaning to post, but this week has been so busy and by the time I sit down to the computer I’m just knackered and the last thing I think about doing is sitting down and writing. To be honest, tonight is a bit like that, but I’m here, and I’m writing.

The last week has been really good. I’ve been eating really well (again, you have to trust me, due to lack of daily stats) and I’ve been exercising too. Still not doing 5 days (let alone 6 days) a week, but I’m getting there. But overall it’s been a really good week.

Last week I happened to wander into town, on a mission to buy myself a new pair of work pants because all of mine are now too big for me (great feeling indeed). I happened to go into a store that sometimes has sales, hoping that I’d find my pants there. Well I didn’t. But I did find a massive everything is $10 sale. Normally I am not a huge fan of shopping because I find it so hard to find clothes to fit me, but I was daring. I grabbed a few pairs of jeans and slacks in size 18 and well, they were too big. So I ended up getting 16s and they FIT!! I grabbed a couple pairs of jeans in 16, a couple really nice cardies, a couple tops and then to top it off even further, I grabbed a couple pair of size 14 jeans (they were only $10 after all) with the intention of fitting them by Xmas. Well one of the pairs actually goes all the way up and are just a smidge off actually doing up. I can’t remember the last time I had size 14 jeans, and it’s such a pleasure having these now, KNOWING that they are going to fit me by Xmas this year.

So then I went to the hairdressers. We have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks and I desperately needed a haircut. So I got it cut and coloured. Now it looks lovely. And all this I have noticed has brought about a real change in me. I realise now that since I broke my wrist and gained weight that I had really let myself go. I lost my care factor of what I looked like, whether I had makeup on or not. I never used to be like that. I used to always wear makeup whenever I went out. I used to dress up – to care what I looked like even though I was overweight, and I had lost that. But I’m happy to say that the old Tina is now coming back. Maybe not to the obsessed state of wearing makeup everywhere, but I’m certainly getting up a little earlier and doing my hair and putting a bit of makeup on before work in the mornings and also taking a bit more pride in my appearance – it helps that I can now fit smaller clothes and can now fit into some of my older clothes. It’s great. And it’s being noticed at work too. A few people have commented that I look nice, and my boss keeps telling me that she can really notice my weight loss now. It’s really a nice feeling 🙂

12WBT day fifty five – Post triathalon

So yesterday was triathalon day. I had been dreading this day from the moment I heard about it, and even more so because I didn’t get a chance to do the mini triathalon the week before, so I really had no idea what to expect. I mean, I’ve not been the most dedicated person in respect to the exercise part of this program. I stand by the fact that I don’t really enjoy exercising, I am by nature a lazy person who likes to sit and read, and I really don’t enjoy the sweaty stinky feeling of exercise. The most I have ever done was two classes when I was going to Fernwood gym and those classes only went for 45mins and well one of them was a BodyBalance class and I never really got much of a sweat up doing BodyBalance (it was my cheats way of exercising I always felt).

But yesterday I was under instruction from Michelle Bridges to do a triathalon. We had choices – we could do a set of a 5km walk/jog, 800m swim and 10km bike ride if we were doing it at home or if we were doing it at a gym we had options of doing 3000m on the rowing machine, 10km on the bike and 5km on the treadmill or if we weren’t inclined to do that (which I wasn’t….) we could do three classes back to back. So here is me looking at this trying to work out what to do and I thought hmmm I’ll take the option of the classes, because classes are only 45mins each, which will get me in and out in just over 2 hours. Did I take into consideration that just because Fernwood classes were only 45mins didn’t necessarily mean that The Lodge would have classes of the same duration? In a word – no. So I got sucked in to doing three one hour classes back to back – BodyPump followed by BodyCombat finishing with Zumba.

And you know what. I DID IT. Oh yeah, I’m shouting it from the rooftops, because it is the first time I have ever done it (and quite possibly the last). I was joined in my endeavor by the wonderful Miss Kathy who kept me bolstered and going (by threatening to hold onto my leg and drag me back into the class if I tried to leave I admit), but who just made the whole thing more bearable and fun. Yes I did say fun. Because it really was. It was mind numbing, and draining and painful, but it was kind of fun. And I have never felt so accomplished in my life. I’m so damn proud of myself for dong it, but I’m also pretty damned proud of myself for not dying afterwards (though today, the pain really has set in and everything just hurts).

The trainers who were teaching the classes were great. The BodyPump class wasn’t my favourite, only because there were parts of it that were very hard for me to do with my wrist, but at those points I modified somehow. The BodyCombat class was a tag-team affair between two of the instructors and it was by far my favourite of the three classes (in fact I will be doing this class at least three times next week), with a lot of boxing moves in it, which I LOVE The Zumba class at the end was my least favourite. I love doing Zumba at home, but in a class situation I just didn’t like it. The instructor really didn’t take time to explain the steps very well, just seeming content with the fact that there were a lot of returnees. However, there were also about 7 of us newbies in the class, so I found for most of the hour I was quite lost and just doing whatever I wanted. All in all though – a great three hours.

So I didn’t blog last night because I was knackered (went shopping with my mum after the gym, and got some great material for my little sisters baby quilt – pictures shall come soon) so tonight, I give you my daily stats for yesterday (day fifty four) followed by daily stats for today.

FoodCalories in
BServe of All Bran with 1/2 cup milk226
SBanana99
LTuna 6" subway – no cheese300
DChicken stew400
Total1025

ExerciseCalories out

3Hrs Triathalon – BodyPump, BodyCombat & Zumba1521
Triathalon details, 35% fat – avg HR 132 (71%), Max HR 169 (91%) 
BMR1781
Total3302
Calories surplus/defecit-2277

Daily stats for Sunday:

FoodCalories in
B 2 pieces toast with cheese306
SBanana99
LTuna 6" subway – no cheese, missing half the bread250
DLamb roast400
Total1055

ExerciseCalories out

No exercise today0
BMR1781
Total1781
Calories surplus/defecit-726

It’s the small things

Yes, I know I have been extremely slack in updating the blog lately. I’ve also been pretty slack in keeping my own eating diary up to date, which is pretty bad, because I tend to forget things if they aren’t written down. But I know that I’ve been eating okay, because my diet tends to be pretty much the same I know that I’m doing okay by the loss on the scales. But you know how it goes, life just gets in the way of “stuff”, in this instance, life just got in the way of blogging.

And when I say life, I mean 12WBT has gotten in the way. I mentioned in an earlier post that I joined the gym, and this time (yes, I’ve gone down the gym route before, as readers of my previous blog on here would know) I am determined to do it right and keep it up. And two weeks into my joining the gym, I’m going quite well. I’d love to say that I’m doing fantastically, but I’m not, but that is more due to the fact that I seem to keep coming down with this dreaded lurgy. But I’m going as often as I can and I’m enjoying it and I’m loving doing the weight training again and more importantly I’m still motivated, normally by now the motivation has worn off.

Amongst other things that have gotten in the way of my blogging, is my quilting, which I have gotten right into. I started a quilt for our bed last year (and this is still a work in progress) and then got sidetracked, because cutting out 300 squares of cord was just killer on my wrist. But earlier this year a friend had a baby boy, and as I was organising her baby shower, I thought of doing her something special to mark the baby’s arrival (her first child). So at the baby shower I had all the guests write on small squares of white material, which I then took home and quilted up with some gorgeous blues and voila – one hand made, unique baby quilt. I have to say I fell in love with this quilt while doing it. I was quite sad to give it to her too, because it’s officially the first quilt I have ever made. But really, what am I going to do with a quilt full of messages from people I don’t know? The bonus is she loved it, and I know that he is going to grow up with a blanket that has a lot of meaning to him. (You can see pictures of the quilt here)

So admittedly I just went on a bit of a ramble, because this post is about the small things I’m noticing that make weight loss such a great thing. I think for me, the smallest, but by far the biggest thing is how easy it is for me to hold my partners hand now. Seems strange doesn’t it? But I’ve lost weight in my fingers, so wrapping my fingers into his is not such a struggle anymore, they just fit together nicely and I love it. I’m not in general a touchy feely sort of person, I like my personal space and can’t really remember the last time I hugged family (except my mum) but I always have to hug and kiss and be near my partner. He’s the only one I can stand being around that much. So to be able to hold his hand with ease is such a great feeling.

Another great feeling? Sleeping at night. The more weight I lose (did I mention, 14.3kg gone now, oh yeah!) the easier it is for me to breathe. I can talk for longer periods at a time (okay, maybe not the greatest thing that) without losing my breath, but more importantly, when I lie down, I don’t have all this weight pressing down on my lungs. I still have a lot of weight there, don’t get me wrong, but god I can’t wait until I’m at my goal weight, because then, breathing will just be a breeze. But I find I am getting such a better sleep at night, because I’m just getting so much more air into my lungs.

Lastly, but by no means least. My clothes are getting too big!!! We’re like everybody else in the world at the moment, money is tight, saving for a house deposit, bills come in etc etc and I can’t really afford to be going out buying new clothes (which I haven’t yet, I’m putting that off for a bit longer), but I’m having to get rid of a whole lot of my clothes because they are just too big for me and some of the pants literally fall off me now and I’m happy about it, happy about having to buy new clothes and spend precious money. It says a lot about my fluctuating weight though, that I have so many different sizes of clothes at home, that it’s not necessary for me to rush out to buy clothes that fit, because I’m starting to recycle back into old clothes that I had worn a few years ago. The thing I’m doing different this time though, is that I’m giving away all the clothes that are now too big for me. Previously I would have kept them for “just in case”, which is probably why I never really noticed my weight piling back on, because I would just move to a different end of the wardrobe to find clothes that fit me, it wasn’t necessary for me to have to face facts that my clothes were shrinking, I was putting on weight, because I could still fit the clothes in my wardrobe. I conveniently ignored the fact that the clothes I was wearing were 2 sizes bigger……. But this time, they’re going. There will be no safety net for me to fall back into. And any of the clothes that I particularly love, I’m going cut up and quilt. It will be my weight loss journey quilt (I did say I was getting onto the quilting thing again right lol).

So there’s my ramble today, about some of the small things that make my weight loss great. There are lots more reasons, but for me, these three things really stand out. What makes your weight loss great for you?

12WBT day forty five – Weights to go go

Had to push myself to go to the gym this afternoon. I was driving home, with everything packed in my bag, all ready for me to just rock up to the gym and change and I kept thinking of different reasons why I shouldn’t go. I had this to do, I had that to do, I could be doing this instead. But in the end, I think the car must have been on automatic pilot because I ended up at the gym just like I should have. And to top it off:

I RAN!!!!! Yes it’s true. I jumped on the treadmill and started doing intervals, and I did 15 mins of running intervals. Big thing for me that was, because the last time I tried to do jogging I ended up having a panic attack because I felt like I couldn’t breathe. But this time I just sucked it up and did it, and what’s even better (for me at least) is: I TOOK MY HANDS OFF THE TREADMILL. Yes I know I’m shouting I’m shouting, but that’s how excited I feel. I had such a big big fear of taking my hands off the treadmill in case I tripped and fell, thereby breaking my wrist again. Silly, irrational fear I know, but it’s a very big fear for me. But tonight, I did it. So I’m pretty chuffed with myself tonight. Not only did I go to the gym after I was so totally not going to, but I ran. Yep I ROCK. 🙂

So, daily stats for today:

FoodCalories in
BOats with 2t brown sugar, ½ cup milk & medium apple 307
S3 dim sims308
LChicken salad200
DNats lasagna300
Total1115

ExerciseCalories out

1hr cardio/weights: 45% fat, Avg HR 133 (72%), Max HR 170 (91%)600
BMR1791
Total2391
Calories surplus/defecit-1276