Bailee earns her Half-Marathon pin today

This girl!  Although the pic doesn't show her excitement, she definitely knows some quality time together on a road or trail is about to happen when her vest appears.  After Saturday's GORGEOUS weather and impromptu interval run together, we took the day off yesterday, outside of a few ball-tosses in the front yard.  Initially, the plan this morning was to meet up with a friend for a 6-mile walk, but unfortunately she was struck with what I call the "Teacher's Murphy's Law" - namely, when one is on holiday break, one gets sick.   Ughers.  SO, my day opened up.  And long story short, after looking at the weather forecast for the next few days, knowing I had been toying with the idea of tackling a truly EASY long run of a half marathon tomorrow (New Year's Eve), the mindset shifted late last night to run around our town's lake (9 miles) with an extension of an out-n-back on the corridor trail TODAY to accumulate the 13.1miles to check the half-marathon box.

There's been a heavy fog lingering in NW Wisconsin for DAYS.  I waited until 9AM to head out; temps hovering at 30 deg F.  Stopped at the bank super quick before hitting the parking lot by the trail.  And oy-oy-oy!  SLICK n ICY roads and sidewalks.

Bummmmmmmmmmmer, because I really wanted to run around the Lake for a change of scenery, but... that asphalt was nothing to play around with.  Not deterred in the least, we took off on the corridor trail, mentally accepting we'd be running an out-n-back...and out-n-back... and out-n-back.  LOL.

The longest run she's given me prior was a 10-miler last weekend.  I don't take much with me on most runs, but for the 9+ mile runs, I pack a few fruit snacks to eat about every 3-4 miles.  Today, it occurred to me, what about Bailee??  Goodness, does she need any refueling too??  So, once this posts, I'm off to research that exact question!  I've changed her daily nutrition to include some performance canned dog food in addition to her little kibbles, and she certainly enjoys the new daily Joints/Hips supplemental treat each evening as well.  She just turned 7-years old on 12/14, and got her clean bill of health from the vet last week.  I simply can NOT fathom completing my runs without her anymore!  Unfortunately, she's not allowed on the course for a half-marathon on my calendar for April 26, but until then... she's by my side!

Certainly no record setters, and this run truly only was intended as base-mileage versus any form of race-pace.  

The afternoon has been pretty quiet for both of us.  There were a few errands daughter #3 and I needed to check off the list, but other than that, just a bit of sitting and prepping this blog post.

The jury is still out if I'll hit the quilting space yet tonight.  If not, tomorrow's ALLLLL DAAAAAAY plan will find me in that space <3

👆Today's motivational tattoo of choice 👆 - "Live Your Story Before It's Over"

Happy Monday everyone.

Life Interrupted; not really... Dawn's Early Light, Old Town Mystery, Wedding quilt & running

My intentions were good; the execution, however...

.... LOL. It's really been since JULY!?  Oy.  Whoopsies.

Awh shucks!

But life has gone on, and maaaaaaan oh maaaaaaaan, our Wisconsin 'winter' so far has been pretty non-existent!  There have been a few short stretches of snow flurries and a cold-snap.

Bailee-girl and I (and a dear coworker) made a pact to get back into running; thankfully Bailee's been amazingly supportive of me dragging her along, despite feeling like I'm a sleigh she's pulling along some days.

Duo Christmas 5K on our Brooke Drive

Having this extra time during the holiday break from school has been wonderfully enjoyable!  Walking, running, and a fair amount of quilting has ensued.

and yesterday, on December TWENTY-EIGHTH, even though I had COMPLETE intentions of a schedule rest-day, the sunshine & 40s won us over!  Imma be catching up on my running log that was started allll those years ago on my side bar.  Kinda excited to see "where" I'm currently at.  Check it out...

The current POV in my quilting space; quite tidy, neat and organized has been an ongoing goal anytime I get into the space.  Having everything out, ready and NEAT simply makes for efficiency!  

Bonnie's "Dawn's Early Light" has progressed as my leader-ender ...

 A wedding quilt was requested of me and my mother-in-law this summer, and lots of progress has been made between Thanksgiving break and this Christmas break from school on it.  All of the blocks are pieced; tomorrow the hope is to have the center together.

And of COURSE, Bonnie's Old Town mystery is on my list of active WIPs!  I'm just about caught up to Friday's clue #7; another couple of days will get me there.

Kiddo update:

Semester break for the Freshman; wrapped up her first classes at Madison Tech for Finance

MVP Back for UW-Eau Claire is Caitlyn's bragging rights this past semester

Still can't believe this former twig of a middle-schooler has developed into a 6-foot rugby player; currently in her semester break of Junior year, heading into a Chiropractic medicine pathway.

And oldest Cassie is off adulting up in Duluth as a FedEx driver.  What a schedule she's had this past month!!!!

Here's to another great week and another few days of project progress while still on vacation; I head back on Thursday.

A two-year hiatus, but still alive and loving life

The time it takes to write blog posts simply hasn't been a priority for me over the past couple of years, however don't think that the business of life has taken a turn for the worse.
Quite on the contrary -- Life is FABULOUSLY busy with my three extremely active girls!  And I'm truly loving (just about) every crazy second of this hecticity!

The household now has a Senior, 7th grader and Freshman, ALL extremely active playing volleyball in the Fall, basketball in the Winter and Track in the Spring, additionally softball for Candace in the Summer.

As for most people, the realization that we have a graduating Senior this year is a bit surreal and downright crazy to fathom.  The ol' cliche "time flies" has never rang so true!!!!!!!

Cass has certainly committed herself and has been self-driven to achieve seasonly and yearly goals over the past year, both for herself and for the betterment of her teammates and the school.
Parents are usually defaulted into being proud of their children; with these three, it's so easy to follow that default :)

On the crafty side of things......
OH BOY!  Opening admitting that my quilting room NOR my crochet needles have seen much action of any sort for the past year.  A T-shirt quilt is slowly in the making for Cass's graduation, but other than that, there simply hasn't been much ambition to fire up the sewing machine.  There IS time in my schedule, however.... "ambition" is truly the key word.  Much of my evening time is devoted to editing athletic photos for the girls' teams and updating the school's athletic Facebook pages.
My sewing machine and needles will always be there and ready for whenever the mood strikes;  until then, I've gotten over the initial guilt of backing away from that part of my life.

RUNNING update --

This hobby, on the other hand, is (hopefully) going to be taking front and center stage again after having some downtime since 2013.  No crazy plans for another marathon, but reaching a healthy running stage is a goal I hope to achieve again.

For now, that's where I'm at......
Happy 2019 to all!

Forever in our hearts:  Shadow (June 2006, August 7, 2018)

2018 Family Trip - Badlands

My hiatus - 2013 Running

Oh my dear, dear quilting/internet buddies:  I have been a bad blogger!  No doubt!

My quilting has been on a standstill for a few weeks with only about 4 total hours logged in the past three weeks.  Other priorities (obsessions?????) have simply taken over.

I think I will be the first to admit that I am quite guilty about having spurts of obsession.  Lately.....RUNNING/"working out" has been back on my "during any free time" list.

If you take a look at my Running tab, you'll see my rundown since the start of the 2013 New Year.  In January, I already surpassed my completely total logged mileage from last year;  definitely on pace for a record setting year (if this obsession continues).

Truth be known:  life is getting crazy stressful again, and my time on the treadmill has become my "easy button escape from reality."  I truly enjoy just plugging in the headphones to some great music.  Last weekend, a 5-mile goal run turned into 7, simply because I didn't want to stop cuz my music hadn't reached the end of the playlist!

A couple of weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet, resisted my frugality urge, and BOUGHT ME AN iPHONE!  And I have been LOVING some of the workout/running apps!

Running/Nike+ is my favorite!  My last 6 run summary is shown here, but know that some are more like Power Walks, simply because I can't run everyday.

So, yeah....

I'm alive.  And getting in great shape. :p (FINALLY!)  And a little birdie via FaceBook said my sister is also finding some motivation to get on her treadmill again :)  That makes me happy!

First long run [2011 Running]

Yeah, I started my day off right and laced up the shoes. After sipping my coffee while posting earlier, I gained enough "awake-ness" to mentally be ready for my first long-run of the season; mind you, it was only (just shy of) 5 miles, which 'back-in-the-day' was an EZ Thursday mileage run.

Weather was really quite picture-perfect; 66/69 (begin/end) temperatures, slightly cloudy, and a 12 mph NW wind. I hit every direction with this run because I have two intersecting roads 200M from my house; one is a 3.0 mile out-n-back hilly course, and the other is a 1.8 mile out-n-back..also hilly course. I can't really run near my house and NOT run hills, kinda good and kinda bad. There are times (like today) where I was to just run a simple, easy long run, but those hills poop me out and I end up walking more than I'd like. The PRO is that my legs will eventually be trained to handle them, so a flat race-course will be EZ-peasy.

Our closest neighbor, who is the gentleman we purchased our land from, was out with his mower, so I stopped to give Buster, the BEST dog in the WHOLE WORLD, a little pat before continuing on my way. At the first turnaround, there is a LONG hill that is great on the way out; NOT so great on the way back as it's the climb. So, I walked. Right before connecting with the 2nd road's course, there is a loooonnnnng, steady climb where I walked quite a bit again. And then....FULL head wind once I turned onto my other road, plus....yeah....hills....so there was quite a bit of walking on that segment (9:09 "lap" time), so there were NO excuses after that turn around; I needed to run with the wind at my back, except for a little walk at Wabrowetz's hill. The running made the return "lap" time hit 8:18...much better.

My final 200 M back to the house, I really listened to my body; here's what it said:
after a full week of being back to training......
My legs felt really good; no lactic acid burn--they didn't feel 'heavy'--add some weights to my off-days, and my legs will shape up nicely to carry my body along. Mind you, losing a few more "excess" pounds will also make my legs' job easier.
My heart, on the other hand, still needs quite a bit of training. I'd like to run a flat training run to see how my heart would do, but I'm hitting too high of heartrate percentages for my EZ and Long runs. My long runs really need to be in the 80%'s, but as the graph shows, when running, I was in the 90's quite a bit......my walking brought the heartrate back down, but.....that's not the point. My heart needs training and LOTS of it to get back in shape and ready for this half-marathon in 7 weeks.

OH! And my run today put me past my TOTAL mileage from last year; definitely happy 'bout that! In another month, I should surpass my total from the last two years TOGETHER! :0)

If you are walking or running or exercising in your own way, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! Your body will thank you eventually :0)

Today I ...

Set no records. BUT.....enjoyed some weather!


the afternoon was BEEEE-UUUU-TEEEEE-FUL!

For those of you who live south of the "cold belt".....you may not understand this next comment....BUT....

today, it hit 30 degrees! It was NIIIIIICE! Upon arriving home at 3:45 (Yup....ditched out of school almost instantly today)....the sun was shining more than it has in the past few weeks; parts of a blue sky were trying to peek out from behind some clouds; the road was almost free of snow/ice (enough for me to tread along a patch of pavement); very little to no wind. I HAD to get out and enjoy the sun while it lasted!

Since DH wasn't home and I still don't feel okay leaving the girls home alone, I ended up doing 4 "laps" along the small section of road in front of the house. Psht----the girls didn't even know I was gone. They played with the dog the whole time. In fact, I was back and already in the house making preparations for dinner when I saw Caitlyn head to the end of the driveway in search of me.

Distance: 1.25 miles
Time: an enjoyable 13:26 "back-for-the-first-time-in-months" pace ;0)
HR: nothing too scary: AVG: 165 BPM (beats per minute)
My left knee did kinda say..."Ummmm.....you haven't used me in a while----please pay attention to the little discomfort I'm giving you." But after the first lap, I felt pretty good; other than a slight burning in my lungs. {{Hey....it MAY have been "nice" at 30 degrees, but it's still COLD on the lungs}}. I haven't set any goals of running x times per week; it just kinda happened today. So......**shrug**....we'll see!

2010 Running Log

Please just scan/skip this post---and understand that I'm sooooo embarassed about these numbers!

I am vowing right now-----2011 WILL be better! Gosh, 24.08 miles (plus a few more that didn't get recorded).....PSHT! I ran that in one RACE in 2008.

Anyway---in 2011; I will strive for 200-300 total miles!

Total: 24.08 miles
sadly pathetic, huh?

---

8/4/10: Mileage
1.83 miles (18:20)

8/2/10: Mileage
1.83 miles (18:52)

7/21/10: EZ Mileage
3.26 miles (38:51)

7/10/10: MACC RUN
3.01 miles (37:20)

6/10/10: AI x3
2.88 miles (31:37).

6/9/10: Strength
{{full body}}

6/5/10: EZ Mileage
2.38 miles (25:28).

6/1/10: Mileage
2.01 miles (21:30).

5/29/10: AI
1.34 miles (14:42).

3/18/10: AI
2.16 miles (23:38).

3/16/10: Mileage
1.54 miles (17:28).

3/15/10: Mileage
1.84 miles (20:19).

2/22/10: Treadmill
no mileage clocked.

---

---

2009 Running Log
Total: 54.63 miles
2008 Running Log
Total: 308.8 miles

---

Running log - 8/4/10

**knock on wood**

I've found some motivation somewhere and have actually pounded the pavement twice this week! I've tanked my plans to run a marathon this Fall, but am striving to run a Half this October. The course is the same as the Marathon; "Whistlestop" up in Ashland, Wisconsin. I haven't run the course since 2008, though :0( Volleyball claimed my life last Fall and I sadly backed away from my running. BUT----I don't want that to happen this year!

These are some pics from the 2008 race; my sister ran the shorter 5K in the morning and then came out to some of the spectator spots with Cassie in tow to cheer me on. It's not a highly spectated (?) race unlike some other Fall marathons (Chicago, Twin Cities), but the course is GORGEOUS and a great surface to run on.

2008 had PERFECT weather!!!! Look at those trees!
2007 had OKAY weather
2006 BIT THE BIG ONE!!!! It was my first marathon and it was COLD, WINDY and slightly SNOWY!

Anyway---the real reason for the post...
The numbers.....
Monday's run (my first back in almost a month)
1.83 miles -- 18:52 -- Max HR (heartrate) 190 -- Avg HR 175
Thursday's run (same course)
1.83 miles -- 18:20 -- Max HR (heartrate) 189 -- Avg HR 173

So, being the mathematical person I am, here's my analysis....
If I follow the simple formula that some runners use to determine maximum HR (220 - age), that would put my suggested maximum HR at 185. {{{ummm....okay, so my heart is getting taxed!!!!!}}
HOWEVER, with one run down (Monday), my heart was already learning how to handle my added exertion of running. My HR (Max and Avg) went down even though my time was faster! So........hypothesis: "The more I run, the easier it will get!"


**crossing fingers**

The Race results, and LOTS of food :0)

Okay, so I knew going into the run this morning that I was just going to take it easy and "hang out" with my sister (once I conned her into "running" it with me). She hasn't run in a year, but has been walking for the past couple of weeks.....so.....we took it easy! Did lots of walking and a bit of jogging. With about half mile left, she said "GO! You said the bare minimum for you is 37:00, so GO!" {{lol}} I reallllly didn't care----REALLY, but I knew she'd feel bad if I didn't run and leave her....so I did. 37:20. {{shrug}}.....I realllllly didn't care :0) She came in a minute later, saying..."I CAN'T BELIEVE you conned me in to this." What???? {{innocent look}}....what did I do??? ;0)

Anyway....she's trying not to feel bad.....but afterwards when we looked at the results and saw that 3rd place for my age was 31:23, she said "Oh Amy---you EASILY could have ran that! Why didn't you?"......I guess she just doesn't "get it" that I really just wanted to enjoy the morning without any "push" or "need" to run. Another medal doesn't matter much to me (anymore)---not when I have a box of others just collecting dust (sad to admit). I've considered hanging them up in the sewing room once it's finished.....{{shrug}}....

Anyway.....on another note....
Yesterday afternoon, Jen received a phone call from a friend heading out of town saying her raspberry patch was in need of picking but she couldn't. She asked if we'd be interested {{I think she called because she knew Jen had the girls visiting her}} Anyway....we said of course!!!! I figured if there were enough, we could make up a batch of raspberry jam (ONE flavor I've never made jam from since we don't have (many) raspberries in our patch yet).
I wasn't expeciting to see so many berries when we walked up to the patch!!!!
And LOOOOOK at the size of these things!!!!!

Yeah...we EASILY had enough berries for Jam!!!

So, after a stop at the grocery store for some supplies, the four of us (me, DH, sis and BIL) spent almost an hour making up 3 batches of jam.

So, some more jam to stock in the freezer :0)

And back-tracking to the evening meal....
DH didn't disappoint. He spent a bit of the afternoon chopping and cooking...

The spread was delicious! Egg rolls, Honey-seseme chicken, both white and brown rices, crab ragunes (sp?), homemade sweet-n-sour sauce (my little addition to the spread).... YUMMMMMMY! And LOTS of left overs for munching today.....

So....a good start to a Saturday with the whole day open to anything. Maybe the beach? The girls have been asking since we got here......

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Starting the day with some motivation...

The gentleman pictured on the right is Mike Campbell (60 years young), brother of my school's Athletic Director. Jim (our AD) dutifully forwards emails to me that his brother sends from his recent races.
Mike's latest 100 mile race post (yup...100 miles!!!) is inspiring to read for anyone, but hopefully specially to runners. For those of you (me?) die-hard runners out there who have contemplated upping past a mere 26.2 mile marathon, I love how Mike posts his nutrition consumed during the 100 mile ordeal and takes us through the entire race; ups and downs.

So, is this enough to get you outside running (or walking!!!!!!!!!) today?

Running log - The beginning of training

Saturday ended my running drought.

The last time I hit the road was on March 18. Nothing like a 2 1/2 month dry spell to remind one's self how extremely out of condition one's cardiovascular system becomes, one's leg's muscle tone, and one's mental toughness.



<--Julie and myself, July 2006, MACC 5K
My running buddy (Julie) and I started a pact 4 years ago (2006) to make it a year of running, leading up to a final race: The Ashland Marathon. I did not start blogging until 2008, so "the running year of 2006" was not recorded other than in my hand written journals.

Then 2007 came along, and we again made it a year of running, completing many of the same races we did the year before; and again, ending the season with the Ashland Marathon (both of us improving our time). Definitely, our BEST YEAR OF RUNNING TO DATE!!!

2008 came and went; with a little bit of life getting in the way of training. Our annual Paavo Nurmi Marathon relay (2008 blog) kicked both our butts, but we still held to our pact....sort of. Julie's life held her back from running the Ashland Marathon that year, but I persevered and ALMOST had a PR.

And then.....2009 hit.
UGH!
All you need to do is do a quick once-over on my 2009 Running recap to realize that my running STALLED, BIG TIME! And sadly, I did NOT hold to my internal goal of running one marathon every year.

BUT.....

now, it's 2010!
Sure, sure, the year is half over.....but we've (Julie and I) pacted again......

2010 Paavo Nurmi...
HERE WE COME!
With 11 weeks before the event, I have PLENTY of time to get serious with my training in order to handle those hills again!


But lemme tell ya!...... I've got a LONNNNNG WAAAYYY to go before I'm back in any decent running shape!



Happy Tuesday!

Okay---enough of the 2-hour shows!!!

First of all----four days of running, and still going strong! Well....THREE days (Monday, Tuesday and Today) of running; yesterday was more like a mile of "drag-behind-the-dog-who-has-never-been-leash-trained-but-owner-was-willing-to-start-a-running-regimen" run, so I'm not counting it.
And the shin-splints are bearing down 100%---gotta get done with this post and ice them.

Anyway---the title of this post:

YEAH! Between Tuesday night's "Biggest Loser" weekly episodes, and tonight's mid-season 2-hour continuation of "Flash Forward," I haven't been able to get much accomplished on the quilting front! :0(

Ummm...my goal of those labels? Um, yeah....slow going! Maybe I'll be finding myself doing some hand-sewing up at the farm this weekend to get them on the quilts so they can be left with MIL. We haven't been up to the farm in MONTHS and G'ma & G'pa are whining to see the girls. What'cha gonna do?

Happy Thursday!

I ran...

...
...
!!!
And the 1.8 miles kicked my butt!

Happy Monday

2009 Running Log

**((sigh))**
This post shouldn't take too long to read.... I really ONLY ran 55 miles?!?!?!!? Feel free to skip over again and get to the good posts after this one....

Okay---SERIOUSLY! I love volleyball, but it will NOT consume my summer and life in 2010. Back to running I go!!!!

Total: 54.63 miles
11/16/09: Mileage
1.84 miles (17:51) HR: 171
8/18/09
1.84 miles (20:19) HR: 175
7/11/09: MACC 5K
3.03 miles (28:03) HR: 173
7/8/09
3.25 miles (31:57) HR: 171
7/4/09
2.97 miles (30:59) HR: 157
7/1/09
2.48 miles (26:03) HR: 158
Weekly Mileage: 8.64
6/25/09: 10 mile bike
6/24/09: EZ Mileage
3.73 miles (45:30) HR: 158
6/23/09: Mileage; HOT
2.52 miles (30:09) HR: 151
6/22/09: Mileage; HOT
2.39 miles (30:01) HR: 144
Weekly Mileage: 6.25
6/21/09: 3x TP AI, FF
3.13 miles (34:13) HR: 157
6/16/09: Mileage
3:12 miles (46:14) HR: 175
Weekly Mileage: 9.11
6/14/09: Mileage
2.77 miles (29:16) HR: 166
6/13/09: Baldwin 5K
3.1 miles (32:10) HR: 180
6/11/09: Mileage
3.24 miles (35:51) HR: 170
4/16/09: Mileage
2.26 miles (23:15) HR: 168
4/14/09: Mileage
3.26 miles (35:59) HR: 164
4/12/09: Mileage
2.26 miles (24:58) HR: 160
4/11/09: Mileage
2.31 miles (27:26) HR: 157
3/17/09: Mileage
1.83 miles (19:36) HR: 162
3/10/09:Treadmill EZ Run
~1.5 miles (20:12) HR: 161
1/20/09: Treadmill intervals
~1.8 miles (21:00) HR: 163

Yup--still here.

Life is just keeping me away from the blog...
I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to today's post, either....
well, actually, I do, but I'm choosing to just get a quick update out before lunch is ready and then it's jettin' out for Cassie's Dentist appt.


Spent the weekend at sister's (Jen) and enjoyed some beautiful weather! She, Cass and myself ran a race on Saturday and brought home some hardware----there were lots of laughter all weekend and lots of fun family time (specially with Cassie on the WII game!).

Quilting has been more like "cutting, sorting, and ironing." Last night I actually was inspired and cut strips and strips and more strips for two patterns that have been on my "will-make-someday" list. I was actually surprised that I pulled together all SIXTEEN fabrics for the one quilt; THAT one will be a new challenge to make for me. More to come on that later....

So, just a brief HELLO out to everyone. I'm enjoying my last few days of true summer vacation before "school-mode" starts next week. I have two weeks coming of Prof. Development, then a week of Vball open gyms, then another week of Prof Development, then Vball practice starts, then school starts! Wow! It's a short summer up here in Wisconsin for me this year. But, I'll make due with the few days and hours I have here-n-there.

Happy Tuesday.

A new blog and Monday morning tasks...

Morning everyone! I woke up with DH bright-n-early to get my day started, and jumped online right away (well, after making some coffee and a bagel!) . I wanted to catch up and just enjoy some quiet "surfin'" time and to make up some labels for a couple of quilts that I finished up this weekend.

Well....psht! JACKPOT while surfing! My goodness! If you have a free hour (or more+!) to spare, check out Mel's Own Place. I've spent about half an hour perusing it and have barely touched the surface. HOWEVER, I now have to get to making up those labels if I hope to get them ready and prepped before I need to wake the girls for summer school.


I have been BAD this weekend by spending most of my time downstairs quilting and skipping out on my running. So, I've called up a newly-claimed running & biking buddy (Cheri). We will meet up for a run after dropping the kids off at summer school (she has 2 that also attend.) Candace will get bundled into the jogging stroller (BUNDLED for sure!) The temps are PERFECT for a run; low 60's with forecast high's of low 70's today! LOVELY, LOVELY, LOVELY! GONE is the heat and humidity from last week. However----the wind gusts might give us a challenge!

Okay....Happy Monday!

Sewing, Sewing and more sewing

Bright and early (okay...so maybe not at the crack of dawn), but by 9:00 am Saturday morning, MIL and I were hittin' the sewing machines with a large goal at hand: finish all 56 DWR blocks and the 30 half-blocks. We had a lovely assembly line going at one point; Caitlyn brought a stack of prepped blocks over to us, Candace refilled our yellow corner triangle stacks, Bonnei (MIL) and I sewed them on...

... and Cassie ironed them over. By 11:00, everyone was ready for a short break, so we made up some brunch of left-over spaghetti hot-dish and toast. Afterwards, DH packed the three girls up in the car to head over to do some work for the father of the groom; he also took the DWR wall-hanging with him so Paul (father) could work on the custom frame. With uninterrupted sewing time, MIL and I were able to finish up the full block by 12:30. Needing a little break, we headed in to town to pick up a few things at Walmart, and NATURALLY I needed to check over the fabric section. THIS is one Walmart that has a SUPER selection of "budget-priced" fabric. I came away with 7 yards of fabric spending only $14.00 on it; LOVELY bright colors (sorry, no pic yet).

Through the rest of the afternoon and today, MIL and I have finished all blocks, sewed rows together into three sections for me to quilt, and we even prepped for two pillow shams. During some "down-time" last night, MIL and I worked as a tag-team on my yo-yo's for Granny's Stars (Candace's Stars). She cut out the circles, and I sewed the yo-yo's. I have 28 of 36 done. (Sorry, no pics of those either.

When walking outside yesterday, Cassie saw this butterfly on the porch window. Only after taking the picture, did we realize the tiny blue sections of the wing; but we actually wondered if the butterfly's wing was see-through in those pieces, and we were actually seeing the window frame. ?????

Finally, on the running-front; I did not run yesterday :0( One excuse: I was tired in the morning. Then another excuse: it was HOT all day! Then the final excuse; dinner was DELICIOUS (and late) last night, so I was too full to run before the sun-light disappeared.

BUT, tonight, I dutifully tried to at least make the best of it by running a aerobic-interval workout; it ended up being 3 miles.

So...I now have my hands full of quilting projects: DWR, Granny's Stars, and a third project that my MIL wants me to quilt for her. It's a lovely Grandmother's Flowers-like top; pics will make their way on here tomorrow.

Hopefully you all had a lovely weekend!
Happy Sunday.