2 of 10 done

This HeartStrings top was pieced by the quilters at St. Mary's in CT and quilted with the Circle Lord Baptist Fan template. It's # 2 of 10 tops to be quilted in September.

And here's the top I finished quilting for Mom yesterday, trimmed and ready to mail back to her (#1 of 10). It's quilted with the pantograph Windy Day. It's kind of fussy but I don't worry about following the lines exactly.

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NYC/DC photos uploaded

Click here to view the photos from last week's trip

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Balance

Someone on one of the groups I read questioned whether I do anything but string quilts. I responded that of course I do but it does bring up something I've been struggling with over the last few months.

One of the reasons I don't quilt for hire is that I enjoy working on my own quilts and projects. Between moving, traveling, HeartStrings, and a quilting a few tops for family this year, I haven't had nearly the amount of time for piecing that I like to have. I also think that my blog tends to be less interesting when I'm not *creating* new quilts.

Even with lots of thought I haven't stumbled upon a way to find a better balance. I don't want to give up quilting the HeartStrings tops or those for family and I certainly don't want to give up traveling. One thought I've had is that no matter how many tops I have here waiting that maybe I should take every other month and focus on my piecing and quilting.....after all, even machine quilters for hire have a backlog of tops that goes back months!

Of course, I could work longer hours and stay off the computer too....


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Weight-loss Wednesday

Well, we ate and drank our way across NYC and Washington DC so I was just hoping I hadn't done too much damage.

• up 0.2 lbs from last week for a total loss of 6.2 lbs
• did NOT get my 64 ounces of water/day - I'm finding it almost impossible to drink that much water when we travel although it's not difficult at home
• met and EXCEEDED my exercise goals - we walked miles and miles!

You've probably figure out by now that I'm not being very strict about counting points when we travel. I don't have big weight loss goals and as I said in the beginning I just want to avoid having to go out and buy all new pants because I can't fit in to the ones I have.

I could certainly benefit from being more aggressive in my weight loss but part of the fun especially when we're traveling is dining out and enjoying a few glasses of wine too (although Keith had us drinking Champagne while we were in NYC).

I'm home now until October 5th when we travel to Copenhagen so I'll focus on watching my points and drinking my water in the meantime.

How did YOU do this week?


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Lists

I know the list is long and that I've only got 21 day left in September but Keith will be gone a week in London which will help and I can always spill over into the first few days of October if needed. Bottom line is an ambitious list keeps me motivated.

I've already managed to check off 4 items today (of course, that lead to the addition of 2 more) but I'm seeing progress. One item was mailing off the quilt below for Clare's Quilts 4 Leukemia project and another was finishing the quilting on Mom's Autumn quilt (that's 1 of 10 done!).

Since, my sidebar is too small to hold the list (it's too wordy) and I hate going back in and constantly updated a post, I added a page to my MaryQuilts.com site so I can mark items off. There is a link in my sidebar to September's list although I'm sure my list is WAY more interesting to me than to anyone else!


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To Do

I'm home the rest of the month but have a lot to accomplish - to keep myself on track a list is necessary! Rather than a list for just this week - I'll keep an ongoing one for the month and cross off and add to it as needed.

• Mail quilt for Clare's Quilts for Leukemia project
• Wash/dry 3 completed HeartStrings quilts
• Unpack and do laundry
• Plan some meals and go to the grocery store
  
• Take Chesty to Dr for xray and post of followup
  
• Finish Mom's quilt that's on the machine now (#1 of 10)
• Take donations to Ronald McDonald House
• Quilt 9 other tops by the end of September
• Do some piecing on Green HeartStrings blocks as time allows
• Layer the small Wonky Trees quilt and decide on a hand quilting design
• Find some time for Exercise!
• Catch up on blog reading
• Organize photos from the July Alaska trip and the ones from the NY/DC trip we just returned from, create DVD slideshows and share with family
  

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Arlington National Cemetery

Our first visit to Arlington following my father-in-law's funeral 3 years ago. Keith and his sister are pictured below as we walked to the Columbarium.

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A slight weather delay.....

An interruption in our plans for the day here in Washington DC thanks to Hanna. Instead of visiting my sister and brother, we're going to head for the National Museum of American History for a couple hours and we'll delay our visit until tomorrow. It's a quick moving storm so it should be clear by then.

Several commenters questioned how I liked the play - it was OK. I liked the theater it was in but I didn't find it nearly as funny as others in the audience.

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A journey by train

One of these days we'll take a long train journey but today we'll get a taste by traveling on the Acela Express from New York City to Washington DC.

Has anyone been on an Orient Express trip? My top pick for train journey's would be across Australia, across Canada, or in the western US visiting national parks although I'd love to travel in Europe by train too.


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Do you like plays?

I'm not a fan usually but Keith and his sister picked out one for us to see while we're here in NYC.

I prefer movies to live shows but hopefully I'll enjoy this one tonight.

Boeing-Boeing










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Weight Loss Wednesday

Kind of discouraging, I'm back up a pound after my trip last week. I find it more difficult to get all my water in when I'm traveling too but I did try. I'm meeting my goal of exercise 4 days per week but it's probably not enough.

Hope the rest of you are doing better than I did this week.


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Deja vu?

In addition to making more HeartStrings blocks yesterday, I started the quilting on this top of Mom's. Yes, it's the same pattern as the one she made for my uncle and while I planned to quilt leaves, after seeing the other one she decided on the same pantograph Windy Day.

By the time you read this, we'll be on a plane to New York City. If things go as planned, I'll have other posts this week while I'm gone. After reading about Judy scheduling posts when she was gone, I tried it out last week on my trip to VA, PA, & MD and it worked great - you hardly knew I was gone - right?


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Here's a pretty one

I'm going to order the back issue of Knit Simple Magazine that has this pattern.



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Have you wondered what happened to the scarf?

I worked on it some during my trip but decided that I wanted a larger, looser scarf from that yarn. That mean larger needles and a stitch other than the seed stitch. I've looked at different patterns in my books and online but haven't found the one I want to do yet. Maybe I'll have time enough to look some more tonight and if so, I'll take this on my trip with me. In addition to our flights, we have a train journey between NYC and Washington DC that would be perfect for knitting.

Thanks to everyone who posted links and suggestions for shawls. I've made a couple prayer shawls and have that book as well as a few others. I'm just having a hard time picking a pretty feminine RECTANGULAR scarf that isn't hard to knit but I'll keep looking.



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Another HeartStrings project

Kind of a lazy day today. I slept late, caught up on email and some blog reading and went for a bike ride with Keith. I did manage to organize myself a little and start some HeartStrings blocks with green centers. We're going to make blocks during September and October and then assemble them into quilts for men (and boys). I'm avoiding large florals, pink, and purple but other than that am using most of what I pull out of the string bins.

I also managed to load a quilt tonight although I didn't get it started. It's the first of 10 tops I want to quilt by the end of September. We're out of town Sept 2 - 8 so it will be a little challenging but I'm going to give it a shot.

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I'm home

My flight from VA was early but I'm home and Keith and I are relaxing listening to music while I catch up on email and my blogs.

While I was gone Wendy posted this quilt made from my RWB Wonky Rails instructions - she plans to donate it to American Hero Quilts and I like it even better than the one I made.


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Mom's been busy

Mom had two quilts from my instruction sheets to show me when I arrived on Monday. Here's the Strippie - this one is just too cute. She also finished quilting the Fish Quilt. She uses her regular sewing machine and decided that straight line quilting would be easiest - I think the quilt looks great!

I head home tomorrow morning. It will be good to see Keith and Chesty!

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Fish Quilt Instruction Sheet

You probably think I've forgotten about the Instruction Sheet for the FISH quilt but I haven't. I just hadn't had time to make fish blocks and photograph the steps until just before I left.

The Fish Quilt Instruction Sheet  can be found at my MaryQuilts.com site.


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Weight Loss Wednesday

I posted my 1/2 week results on Sunday and am pleased that I've lost 7.4 lbs in 4 weeks. Other than trying to watch what I eat, drinking lots of water and increasing the amount of walking and biking I do has helped.

I did manage to meet my exercise goal for the week before leaving on Monday morning which is good because there won't be much going on while I'm gone.

How did YOU do this week?


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I have been reading this summer too

I've been lazy updating my Shefari bookshelf but caught up Sunday before leaving. I'll just warn you that my rating system only denotes how much I enjoyed the book and not necessarily how well it was written.

Mysteries and historical fiction tend to be my favorites and I LOVE books that come in series so I can read about the same characters.

In addition to my knitting, I've brought the Kindle along and *stocked* it with a handful of books to keep me entertained.


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