Busy Days of Summer

August is here at last. It is not my favorite month because my work as an Athletic Trainer is at an all-time busy season. So I survived today and have 2 weeks of practices before school starts in 2 weeks. Yes TWO weeks.

The weekend was a big last hurrah for me to get some ends tied up. I was able to list my newest Etsy listings on eBay and edited some of the existing listings. I hate it when I use free templates that others have offered but don't keep their graphics current. My listings were pretty sad looking at them with the Tinyurl logo in the background. No more templates like that for me!

On my table lies 6 more stacks of fabric to make into 3 more rag purses 1 table runner and 2 baby quilts for my church charity. I have sewn 4 purses, 2 table runners, and 2 pincushions in the last 3 days. I have spent most of my free time sewing and will continue while I am feeling productive. They lie in wait for the clipping part.

My husband and I finished edited my newest rag purse tutorial: listed both on Etsy and eBay and ready for this season's sewing projects!

This was day 9 of my venture dieting on The 17 Day Diet. I have lost 9 pounds and am really proud of myself because I have not cheated one time. I am staying the course and my mind is in a good place. I can feel the fat melt off my legs and thighs. My yoga practice is helping too. It is just so good to feel mentally, physically, and spiritually stable for once in my life!

The New Rag Purse Style / Five pounds down

I was able to complete a new purse in a new style of rag quilting this past weekend. I am in the editing phases of having the tutorial for this one ready. I hope to have it (the tutorial) complete this weekend and ready for sale.

Here is a picture of the purse and it is listed on Etsy for sale....

Today I am starting day 5 on The 17 Day Diet. I have lost 5 pounds! Yay me! I am finding this diet easier than I imagined to do. I was concerned with being hungry during the first few days, and to my surprise had very little hunger issues. I did not even eat my snacks I had allotted to me. I have 10 more pounds to go to meet my goal. Five more pounds come off after that to meet my mid BMI range.  

For exercise I have been doing some Yoga and weight training. I will be doing some running and weight training this afternoon with a co-worker. I hope I can keep up!

Have an excellent day!

New Tutorial for Baby Rag Quilt Burp Cloth set/ 17 Day Diet beginnings

I have had a Rag Quilt Tutorial Instructions for sale now for almost 4 years. It was created with mindset of using chenille fabrics on the backside and it is a larger lap size quilt. I see so many baby rag quilts for sale and am seeing burp cloths as well, so I wanted to make a tutorial that brought both of these crafted items together. Making burp cloths can be a great way to use up the extra fabrics from a baby quilt project and add something special or additional to your work. My new tutorial for the Baby Rag Quilt and Rag Quilted Burp Cloth can be found in my Etsy shop at this time.

Over 2 1/2 years ago I lost 40 pounds on the Atkin's diet. I have been off and on the maintenance program now for over a year and have gained 15 back. Recently I spoke a co-worker that had lost over 50 pounds since January and inquired what she was using for her diet. She stated she was doing "The 17 Day Diet" and explained  a little bit about it during our lunch period. Her explanation interested me greatly and I ordered the book that night. Two days later the book was lying on my kitchen table and I had the first 3 chapters read that  night. I wrote out the grocery list-spoke to my hubby about it and he agreed we would do it.

Yesterday he spent 2 hours at the grocery-God love him! But he is 100% committed to this venture as I am, so he is helping me with meal planning and cooking. He even stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my Vitamin D 1000 iu that I am ordered to take now.

This morning I weighed in like I do every morning.....finally down 2 pounds. That needle on the scale has not moved in a very long time!

The more I talk about this diet, the more stories I keep hearing from here and there.   People are losing weight. It is working. It is rapid. So as long as my mind is not on chocolate I am good. Chocolate is my favorite!  Here is my trick though: I have to try this and do it honestly for 17 days. I want to see what happens. The next 17 days the diets changes again and that phase allows for more weight loss. I am eager to see what happens and test it out for myself. My co-worker said that once she is on the maintenance phase she  eats off the diet on weekends, but Monday-Friday is back on it. That sounds doable for me. I was successful on the Atkins, but am looking forward to some changes.