A Happy Surprise

I went to take some pictures for this weeks blog, and my camera told me I needed to replace the batteries.  Well, since I didn't have any batteries charged up, I decided to try using my iPhone. The photos aren't outstanding, but they will do in a pinch, and hopefully, with a little practice, future ones will be better.

Remember the little oak we transplanted.  Well, here it is today.

Hurrah!  I hope it likes its new home and gets its roots well settled in.

The neighborhood association has been redoing the plantings along the main road of our neighborhood.  Guess what we discovered they had planted in the bed at the corner leading into our little section?  

 

A Japanese Maple--one of my very favorite plants!  When we first moved here, I had hoped that we might be able to plant one in our yard, but they are pricey trees and there really wasn't a good spot for one.  What a blessing to my heart to have one close by that I will see every time we come home!  Thank you, Father, for Your kindnesses to me!

 

Let's Catch Up, Shawl We?

I have been a bit remiss in taking pictures of my knitting projects so I purposed to take some this past week of a couple of shawls I finished back in the fall.  The first is a pattern called Springtime Bandit made with teal-colored tweed.  The yarn color was called Enchantment, hence the name for my shawl:  Springtime Enchantment.  Brilliant, no?  

The second was a shawl made from that lovely yarn, Dream in Color Starry.  It is a wine colored shawl (the color didn't come out very true in the pictures) that I gave my mom for Christmas.  She was gracious to lend it back to me now that the weather is warming up, so that I could get some pictures.  The pattern is called Aestlight which means east light.  My is called Evenstar in honor of Arwen of the Lord of the Rings.

Both patterns were very enjoyable to make and definitely on my list for repeat performances.

Spring Planting

A couple of weeks ago I planted our spring garden.  The squash are now up, as well as some of the onions.  No sign of the green beans yet.  One of our bell pepper transplants is already growing a pepper, and I am thinking, "Your a mite small for that, aren't you?"  I have some teeny tiny patio tomato transplants that my daughter-in-law sowed from their patio tomatoes from last year.  I have a pot for them on the back porch once they get a bit bigger.
  
My big new experiment this year is potatoes.  With wanting to put more energy into our vegetable garden, I decided to reduce the number of decorative plants on our front porch.  The shift freed up two very large containers.  With potatoes being more of a staple in my diet now, I decided to see if I could grow some.  We moved the containers to the back porch so they could get plenty of sun.  I planted three potatoes in each pot.  As they grow dirt is mounded around the base of the plant until it reaches the top of the container.  Once the potatoes plants start to bloom you can begin harvesting a little at a time, or wait until the plant dies back and harvest the whole crop at once. So far so good.

Lessons Learned

It has been one year this month since I began this journey with my diet.  What a process it has been--struggle, discovery, letting go, acceptance, new lifestyle.  What have I learned this year?

For one thing, being on a diet of basically meat, eggs, fruit, and vegetables will cause a person to lose weight.  Every time I see some advertisement for dieting, I think to myself that I know something that works. Over the past year I have lost a little over 20 pounds and have dropped at least two dress sizes.  That I am now a much healthier weight is some consolation for what I have given up.  

The mind and body adjust to major changes.  People ask me if I miss bread.  I do, but I don't crave it.  Actually, I realized the other day that even if I could, I wouldn't go back to how I was eating before.  While it would be nice to be able to have rice or bread once a week or so, I am fine if I can't.  

A simple diet can be satisfying.  Cooking is not a creative activity for me, but I do want some variety.  One of the keys to my diet is to have a rotation of foods.  Too much of one thing too often causes issues.  So while I don't vary how I cook things much, all my meals are not the same.  There are dishes I look forward to eating, and I am generally satisfied at the end of meal.  Though I do find I get hungry some in between (there aren't really any snack options that I can see right now), I don't feel like I am starving when I come to the next meal.  

The farmers' market is a wonderful thing.  Not only do I find produce that are safe for me to eat, it has given me a new perspective on food in general.  Vegetables I thought I didn't much care fore have a whole different flavor when they are grown local and sold fresh.  For example, I have not in the past been a fan of kale, but fresh kale that is harvested when the leaves are still small is absolutely delicious.  The same with chard.  And the carrots--oh my, how I love the carrots!  Here is how my kitchen can look after my Saturday trip to the farmers' market.

From front to back:  chard, Romaine, Bibb lettuce

Spinach

Fresh kale

Eggs, carrots, beef, and mushrooms are some of the other regulars that come home with me.

Where I have to supplement from the grocery store, I try to buy organic, and then I peel most things.  Since vegetable preparation can take some time, I also fix enough for three or four meals if it is something that keeps well.  All in all, I am getting a rhythm down so that meals don't seem so overwhelming, and I don't feel as though all I do is either think about or prepare food.

All in all, I come to the end of this year in a much better place than where I was last March.  I am not through all the adjustments, but I am down to the small things now.  It will be interesting to see where this year takes me. 


 

Quilting Mojo

Where did it go?  It was here not too long ago.  What could have happened?  What am I doing wrong?

These were my thoughts last week when I started quilting on a quilt one of the ladies in my quilt group put together.  She did the in the ditch quilting around the blocks to stabilize them and wanted me to do some swirls in the sashing.  Here is a picture of the quilt I am calling Limeade at Evening.

And here is a picture of my first round of quilting on J.Jr.:

As you can see, the bobbin thread is pulling too tight around the curves.  I had been having this problem with Bernie as well, so I presumed it was a matter of technique.  Since I have a very important baby quilt to finish, this issue had to be dealt with.  I made four practice pieces so I could practice without having to worry about ripping out mistakes.  I set up Bernie, and gave it a go.  No good.  Definitely something wrong on the machine end as the thread kept wrapping around the bottom of the needle.  Fine--no time to take it in for repair right now since I am in the middle of piecing Dot to Dot.  

So I got out J.Jr. and decided to do a rework of my quilting foot based on some advice from a quilt blogger I keep up with.

The bar you see at the top of the foot came out straight and rested on the needle bar.  As the needle went up and down it would hit the bar, raising and lowering the foot.  Not only was this very noisy, but it was also difficult to maintain a consistent speed.  I bent the bar back, and then adjusted the height of the foot by using a ponytail holder above the spring.  Big difference.

Now that is more like it, and at least I know the problem wasn't just my technique.  Now with Bernie, here is the plan.  Get Dot to Dot pieced.  Buy a new bobbin case next time there is a sale.  Get some Teflon bobbin washers to help the bobbin spin more quickly, and a Supreme Slider to move the quilt more easily.  If it still won't work, then I will take it in for repair.  If I absolutely have to, I can quilt Dot to Dot on J.Jr. or the big Juki at my quilt group.  Bernie and I will get our quilting mojo back yet.