Thinking ahead!

I didn't get a lot of sewing or quilting done yesterday. I'm going to have to rejig my schedule a wee bit in order to not lose that quilting/sewing time.

I'm doing the 60-day challenge at the gym with the intention of losing 10 pounds of FAT!  Every Tuesday, there's a class to introduce us to different classes at the gym. Yesterday was bodyweight training. Simple exercises that didn't require any equipment, but I was dead at the end! A very effective workout that you could do anywhere or only do part of them. Bottom line - it was great! There were 6 of us in the class - new gym friends!

Then I was off to do some errands in the afternoon - got rid of the old laptop - traded it in for a $70 gift certificate!, donated some Easter decorations and a few other things, dropped my book off to have the spine cut off and a coil inserted so the book lays flat.

From the errand perspective, it was a very efficient day!

But here's something else that I did on my errand day (besides watching a movie with Lynn).

Let's go back to the 150 Canadian Women quilt project.  What did/do you do with the blocks when you have completed them? And what do you do with the patterns? I was putting the pattern pages and the blocks in a page protector. However, you can see the problem with that.

The binder is exploding

 I've barely done a third of the blocks and I really didn't want to keep adding page protectors.

So I did this. I took all the blocks out of the page protectors and I combined the pages so that on the front is the write-up of the block on one side and the write-up the second block appears on the other side of the page protector.  Perfect - the binder is much thinner and I need half the number of page protectors.

The binder lies flat and has plenty of room for future pages

 How what to do with all those blocks?  You see, the blocks (hopefully) won't need to stay in the binder forever. They will be made into a quilt and so I might as well think ahead and plan accordingly.

The blocks so far for 150 Canadian Women

 I could put them in a Ziploc baggie, but those darn things are slippery. A HUGE thanks to Mary, Jane, and Rose who came to one of my classes this past weekend with the PERFECT solution. Look at the cute container that they found!!!!

Blocks are contained in a nice plastic case

Where did they get the case and what is it?  It's a mini scrapbook case that you can buy at Michael's. When I saw that on Saturday, I was so excited and I stopped at one Michael's on my way home. Nothing - they had NO mini scrapbook containers.

Yesterday when I was doing my errands, I stopped at a different Michael's and found the shelf where they were supposed to be, but there were NONE on the shelf. DRAT!!!!!  I really, really want these containers. I asked one of the staff and he asked me to show him the spot on the shelf where they're supposed to be. He scanned the bar code - they had FOUR in the store. Now to find them.

Two were in the drawer beneath the shelving unit and the other two?  Who knows?  I bought two of them.

Two mini scrapbook containers

 Here's a close up of the label in case you want to try and find some yourself. Good luck with that!

Label of the mini scrapbook case

I'm going to try and get two more and then I'd be happy. Trust me, I have several other projects where I'll be making small blocks and these are perfect to keep them from getting messed up!!

Thanks again to Mary, Jane, and Rose!!!


In an attempt to tidy up the office (well - it's all baby steps at this point), I decided that it was time to unearth this item that I bought several years ago. It's a weight scale that connects to the internet and the Fitbit stats. I told you - I love technology. I'm just not married to it!!!!

Fitbit scale

I tried to set it up this morning and darn - I think the batteries are dead!!!!  Even though it had that little paper in there to prevent the connection. So I'm off to the mall later today to find batteries as I don't have any of the required size in my battery drawer. Yes - I'm that organized that all my battery supplies (chargers, etc) are in ONE place.

I was at spin class this morning and already got my stats from that. Why is this so important to me? I've lost almost TEN pounds since I gave up sugar about 6 weeks ago. I know - that's hard to believe but true. I don't crave sugar AT ALL. I even bought DH dessert at the grocery yesterday and didn't drool once. Sugar is pretty much not in my vocabulary any anymore and I also watch what I eat, but I'm not starving or depriving myself of anything that I want to eat. It's a whole lot different when you eat because you need to, versus eating because you're looking for comfort.  I have another 8 pounds to go and then I'll be happy. Then it will be all about maintaining that weight and in the meantime, trying to lose only FAT and not muscle.

The only thing now is to figure out how to prevent my protein powder from clumping in my oatmeal. According to my research, it will clump no matter what I do so I should have oatmeal and a shake!  I could do that!!!  That's the experiment for tomorrow morning's breakfast.

On that note, I'm out of here - I've got a long overdue date with the long arm!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!