Crafty week and exchanges

It was a very, very busy week last week. I had parent teacher conferences and I made 5 rag quilts!  I finished not one but 2 cross stitch projects and started getting things ready for my booth.  I decided to rent a booth at a local arts/craft vendors.  The store is opening on Friday.  It was supposed to open tomorrow but it wasn't ready.  I was rushed to finish my quilts.  I am going to make them to order. I will have some on display but they can place an order and I will make a personalized one for them.  There is a photo book of the quilt patterns and they can pick and choose the ones they want.  Here are three of the five I made up:

Bugs Life Quilt

Mickey and Friends

Princess Quilt

Exchanges

I participated in 2 exchanges this month.  First was the Fall exchange. Berly sent me this wonderful package.  It was so good Mark is fighting me for one of the contents.  She sent me: homemade apple butter, homemade apple sauce, a Disney spoon, Disney cross stitch book, some floss and finally a Mill hill kit!  isn't this just AWESOME!!!  Does Berly know me or what???

Next, was the Halloween ornament exchange and Vicky actually wanted to keep this....I have no idea why except for it is the CUTEST witches hat EVER!!!!  She did a wonderful job stitching and finishing it!!!

Finishes:
 This is Sandy's RR piece.  The little bunny is just so cute!! The only thing is that when I look at his little face it reminds me of a little kids face he makes when he has to go poop.  He is just so cute!!!

I can't show you my other finish until it arrives safe and sound at my exchange partners house.  So please be patient.  I am off to work on the darn ballerina!  My goal is too finish it this week!

Ballerina has fingers!

The ballerina has fingers and is almost finished! I just have this small section of 4,000 stitches left to complete. Give or take a few hundred stitches that is.... Being this close you would think that I would spend my weekend stitching on her? One, I stitched a gift for someone and am almost finished with Sandy's RR piece. Probably not much stitching time this week either. It is parent teacher conferences among other things.

Weight loss update: I LOST 2.6 lbs this week! I am so excited! I made one big change this week. After school I am usually starving so I have been drinking an Atkins shake then and it just fills me up. When we eat supper, I am not as hungry because I had that protein shake.

Happy stitching everyone!

Embroidery Machine Troubles

Jag decided to hang out with me while I spent the day in my sewing room.  He wasn't happy with me when  I took his picture and woke him up.

I LOVE my embroidery machine and was not happy when it stopped working last Sunday afternoon.  The needle stopped working and the safety device was activated.  The only thing to do was take it into the shop which is a nightmare in itself.  The local authorized Brother dealer that is closest to me is not a nice person.   I am not the only one who does not like to deal with her.  I just dreaded it!! I was thinking of driving an hour and half to a different store just so I didn't have to deal with her.  My husband was kind enough to take it in on Monday and pick it up for me on Tuesday!  He told me that it needed to be cleaned and that thread was caught under the bobbin case.  

I came home from work Tuesday night all excited and ready to use the machine.  I loaded up the next design I was working on when it died on Sunday and put in the first color.  1/2 through the first color, the needle fell out.  Ok,put that back on and finished.  1/2 through the 2nd color, the presser foot fell off....getting frustrated but I put that back on and continued. Third color, the needle caught again and stopped. Couldn't fix it so back in the shop it went and this time I had to take it in and talk with them.

Wednesday morning, I ran over the sewing store on my prep and the first person I saw was the tech. guy.  I explained what happened....he said he would look at it again, fix it with only the cost of parts.  This was after I explained everything that had happened on Tuesday evening.

Friday, finally called and they said my machine was ready.  It seems the needle plate was bent and he hadn't cleaned it all the way and he found more thread it in it.  It cost me $21.75 for the needle plate.  It has been VERY busy this weekend.  

There is a new local craft shop opening where you can rent a booth and try and sell your craft.  I am thinking of renting one and selling my embroidered rag quilts. They are 45 x 54 in size with 15 embroidered designs on them.  I am going to charge $60 for each.  Do you think that is too much???  Plus, people can place an order for a personalized one.  Hopefully, I will make a little extra money for my Christmas Disney Trip next year!!!

Tomorrow is weigh in day!  Not sure how I feel about that....little nervous but I have been very good this week!  BTW...I have 100 followers now and will be coming up with a prize to be given away soon.

Ballerina update

Let's try this again. I have tried three times to post this update but as soon as I get to the end, either the cat hits a button or I do and I lose everything and have to restart!

Stitching: here is my progress for 2 weeks. not much to look at but it is part I am not enjoying so I am avoiding stitching by playing video games, reading, or playing with my embroidery machine. That is another post all by itself. My machine is going back onto the shop tomorrow!

Weight loss this week is terrible! I gained 0.4 pounds. I knew it was going to happen because I ate Very badly this past week! Marks dad came into town and we ate late in the evenings. Plus I found a great trail mix with white and chocolate chips, peanut butter chips etc. In it and I ate snacks before bed..so no wonder I gained.

Until this weekend!

Off week

Ever had one of those weeks when you just want to sit and do nothing? That was my week. The Jag and Bert decided to play in my stash. That is about all the stitch related things that was accomplished. I just didn't feel like stitching, reading or cleaning! I got caught up on my soaps, a masterpiece theater and I spent time with Mark. Saturday night I went to the Razorback game and watched them thump Auburn! I went with my mom and brother.

Weight loss update:
I did not lose a pound this week. I didn't gain either. Mark thinks I am building muscle mass so that could be a reason for no loss. I got up every morning and did my workout. I watched what I ate. Just a little frustrated right now.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

New Etsy Store

I did it!  I started an Etsy store.  I have had several people on different message boards tell me they loved the Rag Quilts I made with the embroidered blocks.  So, I am putting my embroidery machine to good use.  I am making 10 inch denim embroidered quilt blocks.  Right now all I have up is a few disney and a few Star Wars designs.  I will be adding more in the future. 
I added a widget on the right side of my blog and you can see some of the blocks. If there is something you would like embroidered...I can do that to. (or I try really hard!!!!)  You can even send me your own pre-cut fabric and I can place it on that!!!  Just click the link and it will take right to my store.
My goal is pay off my student loan...to do that I have to sell 7500 blocks at $4.00 each!!!  That is very high goal...but I am a big dreamer!!!!!

Ballerina update and Weight Woes

My fingers are sore!!! I set a goal this weekend to finish another section of ballerina.  This week I put in 6,880 stitches in her!!!!  I just have one section left to stitch!!!  I am hoping to have her finished in two weeks.  That is the goal..two weeks! I do have 2 Halloween ornaments that I need to stitch up. They will have to wait...I want her FINISHED!!! 


Weight:
The week I am proud to say I lost 0.2 lbs.  That is it.  I know you are wondering why I am proud of that loss..well..it was a LONG week.  First, we had staff development on Monday and Tuesday.  They fed us Hamburgers on Monday and Tuesday we went out to eat (1st time).  Then Tuesday night, I had a friend in town so we went out to eat (2nd) and I really enjoyed my artichoke and spinach dip with deep fried bow tie pasta for dipping.  Wednesday afternoon, Mark sent me an email saying he was going golfing and was wanting to pick me up sushi (3rd) for dinner.  That is my weakness...I LOVE sushi!!  Friday was payday. On payday, my friend Erin and I always go out for appetizers and something to drink (4th ). I had a treat of 1/2 sweet -1/2 unsweet tea, chips dip, etc.  On Saturday, Mark decided we needed Jimmy John sandwiches (5th) for dinner....so as you can see I ate out 5 times this week!!!  So I am proud to say even with all this eating out I still lost a VERY small amount of weight!!!


This next week I will do better!!!