Hello from Hot Arkansas

      Wow!  I new that Arkansas was going to be hot but our heat index today is supposed to be around 110F.  The actual temperature is supposed to be around 98. So what does one do in those temps?  As little as possible.

     In my case, it will be, in no particular order...

   Working on redwork

   Taking Naps

   Planning on what to have to eat

   threading needles.

   Does that look like a funny list?  It is what I do most of the time but if I had just said I was doing the same thing I did every day, it would be a short post.  I did take some pictures so you get today updates.

  Let's start on redwork.  There is the red dragon block.  It is coming along ok but I can see that I will have to erase some of my lines and redraw them.  In the meantime I will work on what I can.

   

    The other redwork is my Words of Wisdom block.  I am making good progress on that.  It should not take too long to finish.

   This is my off week for my blackwork but since I can't remember if I posted this up before or not, I will post it now.  This was two weeks ago.  Tomorrow this week's pattern will be released so then I will do two weeks of blackwork.

     Next up is this month's UFO.  That will be something a bit different for me.  I have a UFO of Candlewicking .  I finally got back to it, or should I say I started it,  I'm not sure who gave it to me perhaps Susan?, but this is my year to work on it.  Here is my progress so far as well as the picture of what it is SUPPOSED to look like when it is finished.

      Let's see, what else do I have to report on?  Oh yes.  My block exchange.  I received my latest block and I like it.

     I just received my partner's name for July but am debating on what I will do.  She is heavy into helping Veterans and doing quilts for the vets.  I think that is great and awesome.  I was going to change up what I normally do for July but considering this, I might stick to the eagle.  That is my favorite patriotic quilt block.  

    I have some quilting projects (new) in mind but I haven't pulled fabric or anything for them.  That is mostly because I need my sewing machine out to do them and I just don't have the energy to pull it out and set it up.  When I do I will hare with you.  Besides some patterns off the internet I am also inspired by the flooring in a restaurant.

   

    Dan took me out to a Chinese restaurant after one of my doctor's appointment and I saw this pattern on the floor.  Being the good friend that he is, he waited for me to snap a picture of it.

   I also had to stop and take a picture of their Koi pond.  It is so lovely to watch.

     That isn't the only place he has recently taken me.  He took me to a steak place  (Colton's) and OMG!  The food was terrific.  

     I also liked the picture of the map that was hanging in their entryway.  

     In fact we liked it so much he took me again after my doctor's appointment on Monday.  This time we didn't have as good service and the Monday cook didn't know, evidently, what it meant when somebody ordered Medium steak.  I had to send it back and ate the mushrooms and green beans while waiting.  In the end it was ok.  I took home leftovers and this morning I had steak tostadas for breakfast.

     I was totally happy to see that my sugar levels were still good after eating out.  I still have some of the steak left which I might have tonight or tomorrow...I'm not sure yet.  That was the success of cooking this week but the failure was when I forgot I had carrots cooking on my stove and I have to now have to throw out my favorite 2 qt. pot.  Sigh.

   That is about it for my updates this time.  I hope everybody stays cool and has a great day.

Happy Monday?

 

     That's right.  It is another Monday.  What will it be like?  What happens when our Monday's become good  and not the stereotypical Monday?  Will we have to start calling it by another name?  See what happens when I get more than 4 hours of sleep at a time?  My brain kicks in earlier than normal and activates my mouth and fingers before I realize what I am thinking and tying.  LOL.  Either way I hop you have a good day.  What are on your plans, besides working?

     I think that I will be working on redwork today.  I only have 2 needles threaded so first thing will be to thread around 9 more.  The advantage of doing the redwork is that I have two projects currently calling for the red DMC floss.  I can double up on how many needles I thread at once and use it for both projects.  The first project I'm working on is the next Words of Wisdom block.  It is Thankful.  Here is my progress pix of it so far.

      I think that the redwork makes it come to life.  :)  After that I have my baby dragon block to do.  After the redwork, comes blackwork.  The blackwork is actually continuing on with my Fleur blocks.  That is slow progress but at least I can say it is progress.  A stitch at a time will get it done eventually.  Don't hold your breath on a date for finishing it.  

     When I need a break from that, I will start to look for a pattern for my July block exchange.  I'm not sure how much longer they will do the exchanges.  It seems each month we have fewer and fewer people signing up for it.  Since it is the July block, I want to do something with a patriotic theme to it.  Of course I have my usual eagle I can do but I might change it up this time and do something else.  I have time to start to look.  That's about it on my plans for crafting this week.

     I am still trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat with diabetes.  It has been interesting to see how bad some things are for you.  Then there is the whole how much can you have and still eat without feeling deprived etc.  Yesterday Shalom took me out to eat after our SCA meeting and I was happy to see that my sugar levels weren't too bad this morning.  It is a fine balancing act sometimes to try and figure out how much of sodium is too much and how much sugar can I have or fat etc.  I am trying NOT to buy specialty foods.  They are out of my budget.  My lunches are usually my big salad meal.  It seems to work nice with summer.  Not sure if I will want the same in winter months but for now it is good.  Pantry gave me two bags of apples this month.  It will take forever to use them up.  I might make some applesauce but then I'll have to figure out how much I can have without spiking my sugar.  My old recipe would spike it for sure.  I cut one up the other day and had it with my oatmeal.  The sugar free syrup was good over it all tasted good.  I can see that I'm going to be using the sugar free syrup more and more on various things.  

     That is about it in my neck of the woods for now.  I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to take time to enjoy life.  Love ya all.

Hello and Updates

   

   Hello everybody!

   Are you ready for another update?  Perhaps I should ask myself that since I'm not sure where I left off.  So I guess I will start with my health update before I get to my craft update.  As I think I mentioned before, I have been diagnosed as being diabetic.  I'm not freaking out over it because mom and Tony had diabetes and I learned stuff from them.  Not only that but I have good friends who have diabetes so my support system is pretty good.  This week was a little up and down with my A1C numbers but yesterday I ate raisins and cottage cheese too late in the evening so my morning blood sugar was WAY high.  As in the highest it has ever been.  So that meant that I had to be a good girl for the whole day and it dropped so much that it was low then when I tested it in the evening.  Sigh.  LOL.  It will level out and I am still keeping track of the numbers, good and bad, to show the doctor later in the month.  So much testing, though, led to another slight problem.  I am going through my test strips and now only have enough left for 1 day.  Dan is taking me to pantry and Walmart tomorrow so I called the doctor and he is trying to get me some more for me to pick up tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.

   All of these changes are causing me to rethink what I eat  and what I do for meal prep.  In order to do this, I broke down and bought some adult bento boxes.  These are larger than the normal size so I'll see how it works out.  They arrived the other day and I immediately put one to work to see how it goes.  Here is a pix of the dimensions of the boxes.

   It will take me a bit to get used to what I will put in them.  So far I will think of putting in various pre measured out salad makings.  Another option will be to pre portion out some cottage cheese and fruit.  Now to figure out what else to use them for,.

   Now on to crafting.  I mad some good progress on my Fleur blocks.  I am working on the last one of the simpler block and then will start on catching up on the more elaborate blocks.  I have 4 of them to do and then I can start to fill in the blocks that will be filler.   Wish me luck in having enough fabric.

   I have started on another brown work piece.  This one is a combination of a couple of different patterns.  I was just doing it to keep me busy and to give me a break from the SAL and a couple of other projects.  Here is what I have done so far and also it should give you an ide of what the border will look like as well as what the center is.

      I also managed to start prepping things for the next Words of Wisdom block as well as the next Baby Dragon block.  The next Words of Wisdom is Thankful. I am certainly thankful for all of you that take the time out of your busy day to read my postings.  Thanks!  The previous block was wisdom and since I wasn't sure if I posted a final pix of it or not, here is one.

   The next dragon block has both a mama dragon as well as a baby dragon in it.  They are red dragons.  

I have used a blue sharpie to go over my lines so that it will be easier when I draw them onto the fabric.  

   These two dragons already have names.  The mama dragon is named Suthol which means Lady of the Red.  Her daughter is Pannas the Fire Starter.  If you remember the red dragon that I did earlier, which might end up on the back for a label, is the daddy.  His name, which Pannas told me, is now Irdini which means Lord of the Red.  I think they are a cute family.  I just hope they use fire proof materials for their lair!

   As Sunbonnet Sue is showing me, it is time to take my laundry out of the washer and get it hung up.

   

  I hope you have a great day and keep crafting.