Just a fly-by before I shut down my laptop.
Megan, glad to hear that your son is improving.

Pat, sending prayers that your symptoms do not progress.

I can see the end of this year long tunnel that has been my life. Finished piecing my last quilt, started quilting on the last one I sandwiched. Tomorrow I plan to sandwich the last one - have to have them both finished by Saturday morning at the latest; Friday afternoon would be even better. (Have to return a sewing machine)

I can't wait to watch everyone open my efforts! But til then, I still have lots to do.

I just tell myself to take a deep breath, and SMILE!

Sounds like we are all scurrying to finish up our gifts. I still need to make a purse for a friend. I think I am meeting her for lunch tomorrow. Would be nice to get it done by then. Took me 5-6 hours to make the one for another friend. Maybe I can get it cut out during Allie's nap today and work on it tonight and tomorrow morning.
i bought myself a Christmas gift - an assortment of 14 1-yard cuts of Kaffe Fasset fabric from Craftsy. I love them! They sent me a 35% of coupon. Now I want to buy more!
Stay healthy, everyone! There's too much to do to be sick!

Oh Pam I love Kaffe fabric. I can never decide what to make with it. I pull it out and look at it then I can't cut into it. What will you make out of it?
So far my symptoms haven't progressed. I don't feel any worse than yesterday. My SIL and 2 GS have the flu. Luckily I haven't seen them since Saturday. There are so many teachers out sick we can't get subs. Tomorrow is the last day of school.
I think i have my sewing projects finished. I still need to come up with a gift for the family exchange with my family. I'm not sure what I am going to get. I also have to get something for my sons. I am shopping Saturday. I hope to finish then.
The principal is buying lunch for us tomorrow. I have no idea what she is ordering. I did hear she was thinking of getting cheesecake. I am sure none of it will be what I should be eating. We had a breakfast potluck at school this morning.

Not sure what pattern I will use but it will have to be special. :D

THey are beautiful. I think I am drooling.

So pretty, Pam. I have a couple of those in different colors. Love them.

Gorgeous Pam!! Love those colors, anxious to see what you do with them!

Anyone have any gift ideas for a casual quilter? My mom likes to do small quilting projects throughout the year and usually makes bigger quilts around Christmas. My dad is stumped for gift ideas. I suggested an Accuquilt but I hardly know anything about them. I did some searching quickly in the forums and changed my suggestion to the Fiskar Fuse with the adapters. I'm worried it was a terrible suggestion. I don't know if it will be too limiting.

Diet is going mediocre over here. Once I hit my first goal I've found myself being complacent and going off diet here and there, not enough to gain, but enough that I haven't lost much :( Has this happened to anyone?

I have been gaining and losing the same 2 pounds all month. I will be happy if I can stay the same weight for the next 2 weeks.
I spend most of the day Christmas shopping yesterday. It was very frustrating. I started at Toys r Us. My GS wants a mixer for Christmas. He plays endlessly with his kitchen set. I had order a mixer, toaster, blender set from Zulily way back on Nov 12. I kept checking and it was supposed to ship Dec 3. When it still wasn't shipped on Dec 12 I was concerned. I came home and cancelled my order. Last week Toys r Us had tons of the mixer I wanted. Yesterday they were out. They called another store that said they had it. I drove 25 miles there and they didn't have it. I went to buy a Chromebook for DH, no one would wait on me. They kept taking people who came in after me. I was walking out and they finally waited on me and they didn't have it. I came home and had a piece of chocolate and finished up shopping on Amazon. I am planning on wrapping today and seeing if there is anything else I need. My 2 GS do want a cape so they can play Super Heroes. I need fabric for that.
Frustrating day, but I only had 1 piece of chocolate.
Pat

I REALLY, REALLY hate that!! Why does that happen? I also hate it when there are long lines and a new register opens up and they yell for customers BUT NOT NEXT IN LINE and the closest people who just got in line run over!! These are some of the reasons I don't like shopping! I did a lot of my shopping on line this year. I just had Christmas with my family and I'm going to have to make an exchange due to wrong size. I hope I can do that relatively easy (especially since I paid more for the item than I really wanted to).

But only one piece of chocolate, Pat. That was really good considering.

Meganc, I'll be interested in what your mom thinks of the Fiskar Fuse. I've been looking on line as well. It's so hard to know just by descriptions. Even if you try one out it's hard to compare what the benefits and negatives of each system are. I'm interested in the Accuquilt Go. I just wonder how much I'll be able to use it. Will I have to buy (expensive?) pieces for every different thing I make, etc.

Eating? I'm not doing well and I can really feel it. I just don't feel well like I do when I'm eating properly and exercising. I'm trying to remember to drink my water. I've been sick and remember to drink it when I take my medicine, but I don't think of drinking as often now that it's cold outside.

Pam - those colors are gorgeous --- can't wait to see what you do with them.
Pat -- sure hope some bug doesn't ruin the Holidays for you.
Finished all my baking --- 21 different cookies, candied pecans and a load of caramels. Will Never do it again.
Too much nibbling. Finished all our parties except Christmas with the kids.
Now to get back to my machine.
Went to see Fiddler on the Roof today at the Playhouse...fantastic!
Have got to get back on the diet track.
Merry Christmas to all!!!

Sounds dreadful, Pat. I finished my shopping friday. Still haven't wrapped anything (except what I had to mail). Mine went smoothly. Went to Macy's and picked up the last things plus a top for myself. When I got home I didn't have the top. Guess I didn't need it.
I ate more chocolate than you, Pat, for no reason whatsoever. Hubby brought home a tower of boxes of Gharidelli chocolates. I went to get one today and they were gone. There were 6 empty wrappers in the box though. LOL What a waste of packaging - even though it was very pretty. All the candies would have fit into one of the smaller sized boxes.
I finished the 2 purses for gifts. That wasn't easy. My one friend is very small so I decided to make hers smaller. Big mistake. The zipper was the same size so I had problems with my seams. I couldn't do a French seam on one side. The purse ended up being the same size anyway and now the zipper doesn't totally close. That's what I get for trying to change something up.
We figured out our menu for Christmas eve and day. Now I need to get to the store. Someone called in sick so I am babysitting tomorrow so my daughter can work. Was looking forward to having the day off. Oh well. Everything will still get done.

That's the worst Pat!

We did about 50% of our shopping online this year which is down from past years. We still have to run to the music store this week and buy an amp because my son is getting an electric guitar and my daughter is getting an electric violin. We're the worst about shipping things so I try to order gifts to be sent direct to family but this year I actually had 4 gifts to mail and they all made it to the post office in time. One year I found my brother-in-laws gift buried in my husbands car in June. I couldn't believe he never sent it, it was a movie themed basket with microwave popcorn and candy!!

This weekend has been all about cleaning at our house. We've been going going going so much though that we were only keeping up with the bare minimum so we tackled it this weekend, it's such a relief. I spent almost all day Saturday and part of today in my 8 year olds room going through stuff with her. Her room is really tiny and she has the most stuff so it can be hard to organize. I finally figured out an arrangement that seems to work and she has lots of room to play now. My older daughter whipped her room into shape by herself which was awesome because it was BAD. My son is a bit of a neat freak. He had the least to do of any of us. My hubby was the best. I finally took out all my winter clothes from under the bed and he swapped them out for my summer clothes in the closet! <3 I found quite a few pairs of jeans that I haven't worn in a couple years that fit. Downside is that the pair that used to be my favorites are really outdated now. Oh well!! They were a touch loose anyway!

I realized what my real December diet downfall will be, my 13 year old daughter is off school for two weeks and bakes when she's bored!! LOL Today I ate cookie dough!

I'm so proud of my hard work this weekend I'm posting pictures!!! DD has this dollhouse style loft bed but she's afraid to sleep up top so we made it a solid platform and she has the whole area devoted to Littlest Petshop. The big change this weekend was with her mattress she used to have a twin that was under the loft and stuck out into the room. DH took an inexpensive foam mattress we had and cut it down so it would fit lengthwise under the loft and open up her floor. That created room to move her dresser which helped because before it was angled in a corner so it wouldn't cover the heating vent. The other change we made is we hung a piece of closet shelving above her closet door to put her stuffed animals on.

Good morning Ladies,
I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I pray you are all surrounded by the ones you love most and that you stay safe. I finished all quilts and pillows; just have to get them wrapped today and hopefully get them loaded in the car. We will hit the road tomorrow - I am giddy to see my family.

Have a blessed and joyous Christmas.

meganc, thanks for posting. I need inspiration! I have a couple of appointments this morning and then need to work on the house!! I have a lot of things pulled out (Christmas wrapping paper, partway finished quilt projects, things from work (preschool) that I need to do and then repack to get ready to go back to work).

Thank you, Leann. I second that: I hope everyone is surrounded by loved ones, have health, and can enjoy some time together.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and good luck with diets. I haven't had any snacks the last several days so I'm pretty excited. That Kaffe Fasset fabric is beautiful. For those who are travelling the next few days, safe travels.

Wow no one has been here in several days. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I regained 1.5 of the 2 pounds I lost last week. So this leaves me down a whole 1/2 pound for the month. I had decided I was OK if I stayed the same this month. Only a few days left for the month. I will probably post the new thread tomorrow.

Was just wondering if the color/theme for the next few months have been picked. I'm about to go for a short walk. My eating has been pretty much out of control and I haven't been moving. YUK! Today is a new day.

Don't ask, don't tell!!!!!

I agree with Pete and Cindy. I think I have been doing don't ask don't tell too. I have been so lazy too. I started yesterday saying today is a new day new start. Then DH opened his cashews and dark chocolate covered almonds. My DD and SIL showed up with a pizza to watch football and we grilled hot dogs and metts for dinner. Today is a new start again. I feel gross from all the junk. We still have 2 more parties. New Years and a retirement party for my BIL, it is a dessert party. That will be dangerous.
The fabric themes for the next 3 months is January white/off white. February-purple, March-orange. I am heading over to start the new thread right now.
I think most of us need a start over for December.

I am so very glad that Christmas is behind me and that I finished all the projects I intended. That is definitely answered prayer! The visit with my family was precious. Having some issues now that we have returned home - totally destroys my appetite. Hard to compose a healthy menu when I don't wanna eat at all. I am typically an emotional eater, this can't be a bad thing.

I have huge hopes for the new year - does not involve making 9 quilts. Anything made will be for me and because I want to. Except, my son wants to make some fabric bowls to gift his friends once he returns next month. Those are super easy, even with my messed up machine.

Just staying aware of what we put into our mouths is victory.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I haven't been on a scale in days, I'm sure I've gained or stayed the same, but I almost feel like I've lost. I'll have to check today. Anyone have big plans for New Years? If it's not cloudy we're going to the space needle for fireworks. I'm hoping they're doing horse carriage rides that night because I'd love to take my kids, I wanted to go before Christmas, but ran out of time.

For anyone practicing yoga, have you tried Eckhartyoga.com? We just signed up for a 2 week trial. The first class we did was Yin (I think that's what it's called) style which is much different than what we normally do. I was having a lot of pain in my shoulders though and this one focused on shoulders. I'm feeling a lot better. Tonight I want to try a vinyasa class. But I'm not sure if practicing at home is for me. We had to put the dogs in their crates and then they sat there and cried and our kids were downstairs being rowdy.

I got a fun toy for Christmas, it's a Cricut Explore. I haven't done much with it yet, but it looks like it will be fun. Does anyone have one? What fun projects do you do with it? I like making felt flowers so I'm dying to get some heat and bond and try cutting them out with that. That's my least favorite part of making the flowers.

Happy Holidays everyone

Too bad I can't count my weight loss from the highest point during the month. I lost a bit but I would be down an extra 6 from mid month. Oh well. First of the month to the last of the month is the rule.
I thought I had the flu and then after several hours decided it must be a migraine so took my meds and felt a bit better. Then last night my DDG was throwing up so I'm thinking it must have been the flu that I had. Whatever it was, I was miserable.
Happy New Year, everyone! I am babysitting today and have no plans for tonight. Maybe we will go out to eat. I don't have any plans to cook but we also have no reservations.

I hope the new year is good to all of us. I didn't lose any in December; I gained again. I know exactly where the problem is--portion control and not enough exercise. Now I just need to correct those problems starting in January. I might start using www.myfitnesspal.com again. I used it last year and did really well on it. Then I slacked off recording what I was eating and didn't do so well.

Happy New Year!

Oops. That is my DGD who is sick. She has thrown up twice today. Ick! her mama should be here in half an hour.
I have a headache today. Don't know if it is still part of this flu, a migraine or maybe withdrawal from sugar. I have not eaten any sweets since sunday night. But that night I practically OD'd on it. You know how when you get the flu you kind of blame it on whatever your last meal was and you don't care to eat that food again for a long, long time?I'm hoping that's what happens here with me and sugar. Wouldn't that be awesome.

Happy New Year to everyone. Don't forget to send my you loss for December. We went to a poker party last night. I didn't eat too bad, not too good either. Today is a new start. There were 40 people in the poker game. At 1:00 AM there were 5 of us left so we decided to split the money. I came home with $250. I am sure I will find a way to spend it.
Again this year I am trying to be on a fabric diet too. I have been trying to reduce my stash. I am also trying to finish my UFO's. Both piles are down but still have a long way to go.
Pat

I am a day late but the winner for December with a loss of 2.5 pounds is Megan. I only heard from a few people. Congratulations on losing during such a tough month.

Congratulations Megan! I put on a couple of pounds. Went on a cruise with my mother and then visited her brother in Florida. Came home and had to get Christmas figured out. I've been really busy since....... Didn't help that I picked up a cough that has been hanging on for 3 weeks now!

Good win Megan. It was a close one. You beat me by .1.

Congratulations Megan!