about losing weight

For the first time today I saw a number on the scale just below my goal weight. This hasn't been something I've said anything about here and I'm not going to post a link to this on Facebook or anything, but I wanted to get some thoughts about it down here for myself.

I started this weight loss project at the beginning of January when we came back from our Colorado trip. I can't actually remember what prompted it at that time. I had saved a long piece from Cooking Light about the editor and several of his work friends who took on a 6-month project to lose 20 pounds using My Fitness Pal on their smart phones. I certainly wasn't too thrilled with the photos of myself from our trip. I don't know -- something must have just clicked. I was starting at 154 pounds and decided I wanted to get down to 125. This had been my goal weight the previous two times I had gotten serious about this, once when I was about 30, right before I got pregnant with Frances, and again when I was 37, right before we bought this house. In the chaos of moving and renovating I didn't stick with the weight maintenance. Now, at 48 I was looking at a bigger number on the scale than I had ever seen and I was starting to think more about how being so heavy was going to affect me as I aged. And lest anybody should think I was all about the health, I confess that the prime motivator was that I hated the way I looked and the way I felt about myself for looking that way. Yes, I'm that shallow. I still have to work on that, but at least I'll look better while I do it!

It's been almost 8 months. Having done this twice before, I have to say that this time seemed easier. I think it must be because I feel more focused about what I'm trying to do and why, and clearer headed about how unsatisfying years of eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted really was. There were absolutely difficult days and stretches of days, but I've tried to focus on the day, or the afternoon, right in front of me, and let the long term take care of itself. There were stretches that I didn't lose any weight for weeks, even though I was doing just what the Fitness Pal lady (I don't know why I think of her as a bossy lady. Don't reflect on that.) told me to. And I just saw that goal number today -- if history is any guide, it'll be up tomorrow. It's hard not to let the fluctuations get you down.

I have been pretty good about exercise for the last decade, if not longer -- not hard-core workouts, but consistent walking, anyway. Getting an active dog 2 years ago helped. She needs those 3, 4, 5 miles even when it's cold, even when it's wet, even when you just don't feel like it. The dog moved me from a 5-day-a-week walker to a 7-day-a-week walker. I've gradually added distance so that I'm now doing one 4-5 mile walk (or a 3 mile run) each day, usually plus another short walk with the dog and whatever activity I do in the course of the day. I don't usually count that in My Fitness Pal. It remains to be seen whether the whole calories in-calories out equation would work without the exercise, but hopefully I won't ever have to find out.

I expect that I will probably keep tracking my diet and exercise for the foreseeable future, maybe always. I'm ok with that. Although it feels deeply nerdy (again, don't reflect on that) and Frances makes fun of me and I'm a little embarrassed getting caught counting calories by my friends, it does give me something active to DO when mostly losing weight is about NOT doing something. I like the accountability and the (hopefully not mistaken) sense that I'm at least partly in control of what's happening with my body. I miss some things that are probably not coming back -- cheeseburgers, much cheese at all for that matter, lots of baking -- but mostly it really does feel like these are trade-offs for other benefits rather than just deprivations. And I will always bring dessert to the potluck -- then I get to make it and try some, and then other people eat the rest!

I'm uneasy with the idea of maintenance -- what if all the weight just starts coming back? -- but for now I'll just keep working out and obeying the bossy Fitness Pal lady and see what happens. I'm loving the way I look and the new clothes I've had to buy. I feel really good physically, and I feel really good about myself. We're just going to say that that's because I've set a health goal and reached it, and not because I feel better about myself if I'm thinner. (Insert reflection and personal growth here.) 

50 is headed for me like a freight train -- ok AARP card, bring it on!

summer trip to slc

Oh, look, I'm back. Yeah, I've got to get some kind of plan about this posting thing.

But anyway... this summer while Frances was on her big Europe trip, Bill and I took our first grown-ups only vacation. (I know. Not one couple's trip in 17 YEARS? Yeah, yeah, only child, no local family babysitting, blah, blah, blah. Don't judge -- we know we're wackos.) So we finally went. Four big days in Salt Lake City, plane tickets, rental car, hotel room, the whole nine yards. It was great! Now you're going to ask, why there exactly? I can't actually remember any more. It looked pretty, I had never been there, I had a hankering for the mountains in summer, I don't know. But I loved the city.

We stayed downtown at the Peery Hotel. It was a historic building walking distance from all the interesting downtown stuff. Our room was right above the P.

We did all the big Mormon touristy stuff -- we went to Temple Square and had a tour (thank you to the sweet sister missionaries from Italy, Brazil and Taiwan who led us), we visited the Beehive House, and sampled the freshly baked rolls at the Lion House. We toured the Conference Center -- people, there was a meadow on top of the building. Wow. Then we got to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse. Also, wow.

One morning we drove up to Brighton Ski Area to hike to Lakes Mary, Martha and Catherine. But the adventure started before we even made it out of the car. This mother and youngster moose trotted across the parking lot and hung around eating while we watched from the car. (These guys are BIG.)

The lakes were gorgeous and we received a fourth one (Dog Lake) as our free gift. 

We ate in some terrific restaurants, mostly thanks to the guidance of Miranda, one of my favorite bloggers. She was nice enough to personally answer an Instagram request for suggestions and also directed us to a blog post about her Salt Lake faves. I would happily return to Cafe Zupa, The Dodo, Ruth's Diner and Tommy's Burgers. Alas, we didn't make it up to Bountiful for a sugar cookie at Swig, but I guess we'll just have to go back.

We did make it to Orem to see the Rookie League Angels affiliate Owlz play. It was a fun game and a beautiful night for baseball. And we got to see the names of many of our favorite Angels who played there as rookies.

I fell hard for the beehive theme -- they were everywhere!

I came home with some beehive souvenirs. Now I want to do a beehive block quilt.

We had such a great time walking everywhere, shopping, eating, riding the downtown light rail, exploring the beautiful public library and Natural History Museum. I know we'll be back in the future! Thanks, Salt Lake City! (Sadly, this copper beehive was too big to bring home. Also, it belonged to the State Capitol.)

catching up

Oh, look, I've been away a long time. Oops. Well, some stuff happened. I made some presents. I also made a bunch of quilts, but we'll get to that next time, along with a big announcement about the mythical Kitchen Table Workshop Etsy Shop. How's that for a tease?

My (not so) little girl went to prom. She looked like a goddess.

We went to some Angel games. We like to sit out here in right field and keep an eye on our future son-in-law Mike Trout.

Frances, my gorgeous mama and I had a blast on our second semi-annual girls' trip to St. George, Utah. I think we tried on every piece of used clothing in town (and came home with a good bit of it). We can't wait until the next one!

The sewing machine has been humming around here with clothes and quilts... Stop back by soon and see what's coming up!

disappearing 9-patch in hawaiian

One night I just got an itch to use some more of the Hawaiian fabric I brought back from our 2 summer trips. I had tried this Disappearing 9-Patch pattern before and I wanted to try it again. I have a plan for yet another go-round with this pattern, but I digress.

I started with the multi-color postcard-style print and then added the brown floral and the brown and green solids. This pattern goes together really quickly. I really fell in love with the back. I had picked up this oxford stripe as a potential quilt back, and something about the combination of colors just meshed with the colors in the top. And because it's cotton oxford cloth, I know it will get softer and softer with every wash.

For quilting, I alternated single and double diagonals -- super simple. I adore this teal binding. I pulled it out of the postcard print and I love how it coordinates with the oxford-cloth back as well. This one is going to the etsy stockroom. Next project: get the etsy shop open!

blue and white log cabin

I seem to be on a one-post-per-month schedule these days. Oh, well. I have finished a couple of things. I'll try to get some of them up here.

My first log cabin! I have been wanting to try one, but I didn't want to get bogged down in millions of scraps and skinny "logs." So I tried this super quick log cabin technique from Stitches in Play. I used 7 different blue fabrics and 6 low value neutrals and I tried to get the fabrics mixed up in all the possible combinations. You'll have to go check out the tutorial to see exactly how to assemble the blocks -- but the basic idea is that you sew small pieces in series to the fabric for the next size "log" -- trust me, it went really quickly. I trimmed up the blocks twice, each time I hit a full square.

I tried out another new technique -- quilt as you go! After I assembled each block, I quilted it onto a square of batting with a big square spiral in gray thread. This way I could rotate the square as I worked, without having to muscle around the whole quilt, which ended up lap size at about 50 x 60 inches. Then I sewed all the quilted squares together and pressed the seams open. Since I use a lightweight batting it wasn't too bulky. I sandwiched the top and back and stitched in the ditch around each block. You miss out on having the spiral quilting on the back, but given how much easier it was to quilt, it worked pretty well. I mean, it's the BACK, right?

And another new technique on the binding -- this idea comes from Rachael at Stitched in Color -- instead of sewing the binding to the front of the quilt and hand sewing all the way around the back, stitch the binding onto the back of the quilt and then stitch it down in front with a zigzag stitch. You can also use a straight stitch, though the advantage to the zigzag is that you don't have to worry as much about the placement of the line of stitching on the back, since the zigzag stitching is wider. Does that make sense? It worked well and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, though I do enjoy hand stitching the binding. This is a good alternative when you're in a hurry, or when you think hand stitching might not stand up to enough abuse.

This was a gift for my darling mom and stepdad -- here's the quilt at home in their pretty living room!

arrgh! it's a pirate quilt

This fun little quilt was a gift for my sweet friend Tracy and her darling baby Colin. I loved this pattern from Allison's book Growing Up Modern and I wanted to make something special for Tracy and her husband Matt, especially since Tracy is nice enough to read the blog from time to time!

The block assembly was a breeze with Allison's instructions.

I collected these 3 pirate prints at my fave place, M & L Fabrics, and I added the brown dot and the turquoise print to go along. I liked the way the brights were set off by the white, and how cute is that red and white pirate stripe?!

I quilted with intersecting vertical and horizontal lines (which didn't give me too much trouble this time) and backed with this multi-color dot. I think it turned out bright and fun and I hope it gets lots and lots of use by baby Colin!

put a bird on it

This is the first of my Hipster Doofus series. Browsing the fabric stores over time, I noticed how many new fabrics featured birds in the design, some in fairly odd designs (herons perched on the back of a sofa?). And after watching one of my all time fave Portlandia sketches, I started noticing birds all over EVERYTHING. There was this cafe in St. George, Utah we referred to all weekend as Put A Bird On It -- I don't actually remember what the actual name was. That should make it interesting to Google it next time we're there. St. George is not that big though -- I think we'll be able to find it. But I digress.

You've seen this design before -- it's the same as the Colts quilt I made for Christmas. The center of each block in this one features a different bird.

I chose a palate of solids that seemed kind of modern and, I don't know, Portlandia-ish. I had seen a similar quilt on Craftyblossom so that was in my head. I quilted in gray with double diagonals and double lines around each block. That worked pretty well, but there was still a little puckering at the intersections of the perpendicular lines. Thank goodness for washing and drying.

For the back I chose a hunk of one of the bird prints and one of the colors, along with more of that black and white bolt. (I think it's almost gone now.) I like the way the quilting looks on the back.

With all the solids on the front, I wanted to bind it with a print, but I couldn't decide on just one. Also, since I was mostly working with quarter yards, I didn't have enough of any one fabric. So I decided I liked a scrappy binding better anyway. I chose the lowest volume patterns for maximum contrast with the solids.

This was one I thought about for a long time before I actually made it and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It's taken up residence on the back of the couch and will hopefully be used well for a long time.