Return of the Quilt

It's been since August 2013 that I've lifted a finger for my quilt, but that changed this week. I'm back at it! Here's the update:

I'm happy to report that no additional money has been spent on this quilt. Well, I did drop a whopping $6 for some sewing machine oil, but I haven't used it yet because my sewing machine's manual doesn't explain where to apply the oil. However, I did learn how to clean out the lint in the machine area, and that has helped the machine to run better than it was recently.

The following is a log of when and how much time I've put towards this quilt. The last line item is the new one, a reboot so to speak!

Date	Number of Hours	Running Total of Hours	Description
25 May 2013	1.0	1.0	pick pattern
28 May 2013	1.0	2.0	convert twin-size pattern to king-size
1 June 2013	3.5	5.5	choose fabric, figure yardage, purchase fabric
1-2 June 2013	2.5	8.0	wash and dry fabric
2-3 June 2013	6.5	14.5	trim and iron fabric
4 June 2013	0.75	15.25	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric
9 June 2013	0.75	16.0	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric
22 June 2013	2.5	18.5	cut 15 blocks' worth of six pattern fabrics
30 June 2013	1.0	19.5	cut 15 blocks' worth of two pattern fabrics
8 July 2013	.75	20.25	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric
9 July 2013	0.5	20.75	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric
11 July 2013	0.5	21.25	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric
18 July 2013	2.5	23.75	cut 15 blocks' worth of two pattern fabrics
4 August 2013	0.25	24.0	cut 48 squares of beige fabric
9 August 2013	0.25	24.25	cut 48 squares of beige fabric
23-26 February 2015	2.25	26.5	sewed 12 pinwheel blocks of one pattern fabric, cut 96 squares of beige fabric, and prepped next 2 sets of 15 pinwheel blocks

And now for some photos!

this is what the finished product will resemble

My first few pinwheel blocks from this point (by the way, the fabric is tiny enough that the 2 pins here are not necessary; with the remaining 14 pattern fabrics I won't bother - and that will save me a lot of time!)

to this finished point

took about 10 minutes per pinwheel block. I was happy to find that I quickly became efficient and shaved off 25% of that, getting down to 7.5 minutes per pinwheel block.

12 pinwheel blocks of one pattern fabric

the back of a pinwheel block

making beige squares for the pinwheel blocks

pattern fabric #2 is ready to be whipped into pinwheel blocks

pattern fabric #3 is on deck

my workspace lately

Note: my original plan was to make a 120" x 120" king size bedspread for my queen size bed because I want it to hang all the way to the floor on the sides and have enough length to tuck the pillows in like my grandma showed me when I was a little girl. I've since learned that this size quilt is to big even for industrial-sized sewing machines. So if I stick with this size I'll have to hand-quilt it. Which, if I do a large stitch pattern, won't be so bad. I mean, what's another several hours when I've had this project going for years, heh. Anyway, I can do that OR I can make it a smaller quilt and pay someone with an industrial-sized sewing machine to do the quilting for me. I have plenty of time to decide. For now I'm only doing 12/15 pinwheel blocks per pattern fabric because I'm afraid I'll run out of the beige material for the squares in the pinwheels; this may be the deciding factor in the size of my quilt.

Related Posts:

5 June 2013 - The Quilt

The Quilt

Now that I have completed my Master's degree, I have all of this glorious free time. So. I have decided to make myself a great, big, king-size, quilted bedspread. It's going to be 120" x 120", which translates to fifteen 8" blocks by fifteen 8" blocks. It's a pinwheel pattern called Modern Pinwheels from Quilty magazine.

Since this is such an undertaking, I thought it would be worth logging the activity. Plus I'm sure folks will ask how long it took me, and this way I'll be able to actually answer.

Here is the log so far:

Date	Number of Hours	Running Total of Hours	Description
25 May	1.0	1.0	pick pattern
28 May	1.0	2.0	convert twin-size pattern to king-size
1 June	3.5	5.5	choose fabric, figure yardage, purchase fabric
1-2 June	2.5	8.0	wash and dry fabric
2-3 June	6.5	14.5	trim and iron fabric
4 June	0.75	15.25	cut 15 blocks' worth of one pattern fabric

I'm also keeping track of how much money I've invested in this project:

$31.23 - King-size cotton batting

$133.58 - patterned and cream fabric for the pinwheel blocks

$164.81 - total to date

And, of course, a few photos:

patterned fabric - pre-cut

patterned fabric - cut & purchased 

considering this fabric for the entire back of the quilt

patterned fabric - washed, dried, trimmed, and ironed

cut pieces for one patterned fabric's 15 pinwheel blocks

Wicked & Jenny's Birthday

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Wicked with some friends from the book club! Everyone really enjoyed the hit musical. In case you're wondering, the tickets were worth the $88 we paid - a must see performance, especially if you are a Wizard of Oz (film and/or novel), Wicked (novel), or The Great and Powerful Oz (film) fan. I didn't have a favorite part of the show, but the lady who played Elphaba was phenomenal - spot on. She had a set of pipes and could really belt out her songs. I also really enjoyed the references to the film.

Book Club after seeing Wicked

Afterwards some of us went downtown to celebrate Jenny's birthday. I brought cheese cake and red velvet cake, and we hopped around to a few bars. Jenny was feeling it the next morning, haha, but that only means she had a blast!

Birthday Girl, Jenny, & I

2012 Athletics Recap

2012 was a really exciting year regarding athletics. I continued running, and I added swimming, cycling, and triathlon! Here are some highlights from the year:

• Completed my first running series, the Track Shack Running Series

• Completed my first full marathon

• Hit Level 20 on Fitocracy (I've acquired a milestone number of points, but I'm not sure what number of points/increments determines the levels)

• Hit Level Purple on Nike+ (I've ran 2500+ KM since 2007)

• Made a new Personal Record (PR) for the Half Marathon: 1:56'56" at the Beachmania Half Marathon

• Set a PR for the Sprint Triathlon: 1:10'57" at the Central Florida Sprint Triathlon Series, Event #1

runs by month for 2012

some random statistics

the pace trend went down hill because running upwards of 18 miles for marathon training will drag the pace a bit

I like to run in the morning to start the day and get it out of the way so it's not hanging over my head. = )

lots of new records per Nike+! (note, some are slightly off when compared to official race results (which are better times), but that's okay)

I started using a social fitness website called Fitocracy this year. You track your workouts, earn points, and level up! Here's how I ended 2012 per Fitocracy:

Here are some fun 2012 running statistics (thanks to Nike+):

2012 NY Resolutions Recap

All righty - 2013 is nearly here! That means it's time for my annual blog to recap my year's resolutions' success and to announce my resolutions for the upcoming year!

The following are my resolutions for 2012 and their results. (Click here to see the related blog post.)

• pay off another significant chunk of debt - 100% successful! In 2012 I put $15,650 towards debt (and interest...)! In 2011 I paid $11,365 towards debt (and interest...). That puts me at a total of $27,015 of debt (and interest) paid in 24 months! As with last year, my student debt is a monster, so is my car payment since I bought new. Moving twice in May didn't help, but over all the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover method has continued working for me.

• finish in the top 10 of my age group (Women's 19-24) in the Track Shack Running Series (2011-2012) - 100% successful! I placed FOURTH in the series, and that was with entirely missing one of the seven events! Click any of the following to view the event's related blog.
• First
• Second
• Third
• Fifth
• Sixth
• Seventh

• run two half marathons (13.1 miles) and my first full marathon (26.2 miles) - 67% successful! I ran the Beachmania Half Marathon, missed my mark on running a second half marathon, and FINISHED my first full marathon at the Space Coast Marathon. (I know, I have yet to blog the marathon - I'm working on it!)

• earn Bs or better in all of my PSU master's courses (1 in each of the spring, summer, and fall semesters) - 100% successful! I earned an A in the spring, an A in the summer, and a B+ in the fall!

• read 10+ books of the Bible - 0% successful... I haven't read one page of my Bible this year. I'm going to set a smaller but related goal for 2013. Maybe I should shift it to be related to attending church service. I really want to study the Bible, but I'm clearly not making this a priority... I'll have to give this one some thought.

• scrapbook Heidi to the present - 2% successful... Well, another year has come and gone, and I'm not anywhere near having Heidi's scrapbook up to date. I did, however, get 2 pages done in November. That's worth something, but not much.

• make a quilt - 0% successful... This stemmed from an idea to make my parents a quilt for Christmas. Given the multiple moves, a rough summer, and school I totally had no time to devote to making a quilt. I might return to this resolution in 2014 when I'm totally done with my master's degree.

• make a baby boy blanket - 0% successful... This one also stemmed from a gift idea, but I never even picked out the yarn. This one really shouldn't have been made a resolution. My heart wasn't in this one.

• learn to ballroom dance - 100% successful! Yay! After all of those red success rates, here is a great, big green one! I took two 6-week sessions of ballroom dancing at The Longwood Ballroom. Rick, Jennifer, and William - the instructors - are wonderful - just absolutely outstanding! Over the two sessions I learned Foxtrot, East Coast Swing, the Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha, and Tango! I really miss the dances - I think I may make a resolution to attend some ballroom and/or swing dances in 2013.

• continuously train with Heidi (agility, Schutzhund, or otherwise; formally or on my own) - 65% successful! I marked this 65% for a couple of reasons: (1) agility was only in session from January through April and from September through December since it's so hot in Florida in the summertime, and (2) because I didn't practice squat with Heidi over the summer like I should have (even though she retained quite a bit when we returned in September). So, I get credit for this one, but not full credit.

I achieved a 53.4% success rate with my 2012 New Year Resolutions. In 2011 I achieved a 64% success rate, so I'm naturally a little disappointed in myself percentage-wise - BUT! 2012 was a difficult year for me in general and financially, and I accomplished a lot of good things despite that fact - - - which leads me to 2013!

Now for my 2013 New Year Resolutions (in no particular order):

• pay off $15,000+ of debt

• run the Walt Disney World's Donal Duck Half Marathon

• run the Chicago Marathon

• earn a B or better in my final PSU master's course

• graduate my PSU master's program

• graduate my Leadership Development Program

• attend church service at least once a month (attending church service can be substituted with an hour of studying/reading the Bible)

• level up to Level 3 at Dog-On-It Agility

• compete with Heidi in 1+ Dog-On-It Agility trial(s)

• complete 5+ projects that have been on-going for (ahem) years (this could be anything from finishing my Australia puzzle, to using up the fabric purchased for making laptop sleeves, to using up some yarn that I've accumulated, to making my running t-shirt quilt, to puppy bandanas that are practically ready to be sewn)

• compete in 4+ triathlons (can be any distance - will likely compete in the Central Florida Sprint Triathlon Series again)

• read 24+ books (this year my number of books read was considerably low - probably a combined result of reading 3 of the Game of Thrones books (each is approximately 1000 pages) and having a rough year

• do 3+ pages of scrapbooking (doesn't have to be Heidi's scrapbook; it can be my general scrapbook of life)

• keep one weekend of each month deliberately open so that when that weekend arrives I can do whatever I please with no pressure or obligation; this is to help keep my stress levels in check (I've been consciously not over-busying myself since late October, and I've noticed significant benefits; if the month is truly too busy to do this, 2 free weekends must be set for the following month)

• experience the Ultra Music Festival (this is lined up for March!)

• go on a fun hiking trip

Lastly, I came by a neat infographic about New Year's Resolutions on Pinterest. Click here to check it out.

That's it from me for now! I hope 2013 brings you good health and an abundance of joy! Happy New Year!

Rock My Run

A couple weeks ago a friend introduced me to Rock My Run, a website dedicated to sharing awesome running music with runners. It's free to register, and, upon registration, you get your first credit - for free! Songs less than an hour long are 1 credit, songs 1-2 hours long are 2 credits, etc. Also, you get a free credit each month!

My first credit went towards a mix called Dub Run. It kept me going during my 20-miler last weekend, so I guess it works.

Thought I'd share!

Space Coast Marathon



It's official! I'm registered for my first FULL marathon! I'll be running 26.2 miles on Sunday, 25 November 2012 in Cocoa, Florida for the Space Coast Marathon!

I think this is perfect timing because I'll be running 26 miles at age 26! = )

My best half marathon time is 1:56'56", so I'm hoping to finish this full marathon just over double my half marathon time: somewhere around 4:15'00". However, my real goal is just to finish and have fun along the way.

Over the next few weeks I'll switch gears from sprint triathlon training to the Jeff Galloway marathon training plan (I have been reading his book called "Marathon: You Can Do It!"). 99 days until the big day!!!Be sure to let me know if you'll be at the race - I'd love to meet up with you at some point during the event!

If you're interested in participating in the full or half marathon, register here and be sure to apply one of the following

registration discount codes:

SCMDAYTONA - $10.00 off Marathon registration
SCHDAYTONA - $5.00 off Half Marathon registration

TSRS 7/7: ZKS Winter Park 10K

 

Several Saturday's ago was the seventh and final race of the Track Shack's Running Series: the Zimmerman Kiser Sutcliffe Winter Park 10K in Winter Park, Florida!

Here is a snap shot of my race results:

Nike+ offers some neat stuff for runs. Here is a map of the route (with start, finish and mile markers):

 Here are some details of the run (the blue lines represent my pace throughout the race; I'm not sure how the Instant Pace works since my pace was actually 8'42"/mile):

Here is a graphic of my average pace throughout the race:

And here are my mile splits (blegh, Mile 4 was rough, apparently):

It wasn't my best 10K. In fact, the start of the race was one of the worst I've had: (1) late start because the lines for the port-o-potties were insane; since it was chip timed and a 6-mile race I decided to wait in line, (2) because of my late start I had to pass hordes of walkers and slower-paced runners, (3) I didn't get too much sleep the night before, and (4) I didn't eat a proper pre-race breakfast. Despite all of that, I was only 1'38" off of my best 10K time (52'13"), and it was still a heap of fun! Plus, my friends, Felix & Jordan, ran the race with me! It was a lot of fun having them along to catch up with after the race. They did really well!

So, a recap of the series, play-by-play: after the first race I was sitting fairly well in 7th place in the series for my age group (Women 19-24) because I came in 7th place in the race. After the second race, I was sitting pretty in 4th place in the series because I took 3rd place in the race. After the third race, I was still sitting in 4th place, and I was okay with that. I injured my back and had to sit out of the fourth race; this dropped me down to 6th place. After the fifth race, I bumped up to 5th place in the series, and after the sixth race, I was back in 4th place. Finally, after the seventh race, I landed in 5th place in the series for my age group. My goal was to finish in the top 10, so I'm quite happy with my results!

And that wraps it up for my first running series! I can hardly wait to register for the 2012-2013 series come July-ish! Thanks for all of your support and for tuning in to see how it went!

Dave Ramsey LIVE!

This is another post about something that happened a while back, but I felt it still worthy of posting, so here goes.

On St. Patrick's Day I took advantage of the opportunity to see Dave Ramsey LIVE! at UCF. A year ago, in February of 2011, I began taking control of my finances using Dave's Debt Snowball program. Let me tell you, it has made a WORLD of difference. I've paid off $13+ in debt since I started applying his practices to my wallet.

So, I'd been sticking to my budget and being smart with my money for a year or so, and I figured that attending this financial seminar could only help to keep my momentum going. So I went. I thought it was really cool that Dave only accepted DEBIT cards for online plastic purchases! Way to practice what you preach, Dave!

The seminar was set from 1-6 on a Saturday afternoon. Holy moly - 5 HOURS? Really? Really. It went by incredibly fast; it felt like I was only there for maybe 2 hours. Dave is a super energetic, down-to-earth, straight-forward guy. He's easy to listen to and knows his stuff. He also has a sense of humor: he opened the seminar with a statement to the effect of "when you leave here you will walk out thinking, 'man - I knew all that; and I PAID him!'"

Throughout Dave's seminar he outlined key concepts of the Debt Snowball program, provided financial statistics (that weren't skewed or taken out of context), and pointed out how society behaves (and how past generations behaved) when it comes to money. Did you ever pick up on the notion that your grandparents acted as if incurring debt was a SIN? Now Visa backs the Hasbro financial game, Monopoly; the game no longer has paper cash - instead it has plastic credit cards and a swipe machine. I was shocked to learn that, and grateful that I have the vintage cash version of the board game.

The seminar was a great experience and reminder of why I'm taking control of my money. I HIGHLY recommend attending one of his live events if you get the chance to do so.

PS - the book that got me started is "The Total Money Makeover." Check it out. You can thank me later.

TSRS 6/7: House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5K

A couple Saturday's ago was the sixth race of the Track Shack's Running Series: the House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5K in Winter Park, Florida!

Here is a snap shot of my race results (I'm 9th):

Nike+ offers some neat statistics and graphical views. Here is a map of the route (with start, finish and mile markers):

Here are my mile splits:

After the first race I was sitting fairly well in 7th place in the series for my age group (Women 19-24) because I came in 7th place in the race. After the second race, I was sitting pretty in 4th place in the series because I took 3rd place in the race. After the third race, I was still sitting in 4th place, and I was okay with that. I injured my back and had to sit out of the fourth race; this dropped me down to 6th place. After the fifth race, bumped up to 5th place in the series, and now, after the sixth race, I'm back in 4th place!

And that wraps it up for the sixth race in the series! Next up, and last but not least, is the Zimmerman 10K in Winter Park, Florida on Saturday, 24 March 2012! Here's a snap shot of the Track Shack Running Series (link to my blog about it):

Pandemic

I recently had the pleasure of playing Pandemic! It was so much fun I thought I'd share a little bit about the board game.

The basis of the game is that there are several viruses on the loose, and the world has to discover their cures in order to survive. It's a healthy challenge as there are numerous ways that the virus wins and only one surefire way for the world to win.

There are various roles with various talents (i.e., a researcher who can build a research facility in any city), and - here's the neat, unique feature of the game - the players must work TOGETHER to win! I love that! It's not an every man for himself game, but rather the opposite: every many for everyone.

If you're interested in learning more about the game, check out Board Game Geek Pandemic Page.

Happy gaming!

May 2012 Cruise

To celebrate my paternal grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, my family is taking them on a 7-day Western Caribbean Carnival Cruise aboard the Liberty!

I've been on two cruises before, both to the Western Caribbean, so let me tell you from experience, these adventures are amazing! All you can eat food is probably my favorite aspect of being on a cruise, in addition to the fact that everything on the ship is included excepting drinks (I'm certain) and specialty services (I think), but here is a grand list of other things the Liberty has to offer:

• 24-hour room service
• Spa
• Shopping
• Piano Bar
• Live Music (DJ Irie)
• Arcade
• Yoga & Pilates
• Live Shows
• Formal Dinner Evenings (I'm taking ballroom dancing to prepare for the dancing opportunities after dinner)
• Cantinas & Bars
• Coffee Bar (the desserts and pastries look amazing)
• Gym
• Jogging Track
• Art Gallery
• Library
• Salon
• Pools
• Seaside Theatre
• Basketball
• Shuffleboard
• Pool
• Table Tennis
• Miniature Golf
• Comedy Clubs
• Night Clubs

Oh, I can hardly wait. I've been saving money for this trip for nearly a year! I'm so proud of my financial endurance on this one. = ) Saving is fun and so rewarding!

2011 Running Recap

2011 was a really great year for running for me:

• Ran a race in 9 of the 12 months of the year. (Missed May due to plans to move to Colorado, missed November due to back injury, no race planned for December.)
• Pretty much DOUBLED my annual mileage from that of 2010.
• Found a good friend to do local races with: Joel. = )
• Began really learning and understanding speed work.
• Participated in my first running series!

Here are some fun 2011 running statistics (thanks to Nike+).

Here's to a great year of running in 2012!