Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get back to projects again. One quilt I recently had on my machine to quilt I like to call Primary Mystery. This is a version of our guild’s mystery quilt that was done in the most striking primary colors
Primary Mystery
There are so many things about this quilt that I love – from the vibrant colors of the pieced blocks.
…To the Adagio pattern stitched in bright yellow thread. There is just so much to like about this pretty lady.
You may recognize this pattern as I have had similar quilts on my long arm in 2018. My version of The Mystery Quilt for 2018 was in Christmas colors.
I was also very happy to see a bright orange backing fabric laced with bright yellow quilting – How fun!
And for those that are interested, the E2E pattern came from Urban Elementz.
Not only was there a lot of quilting going on in 2018 – there were quite a few 2018 reproduction garments as well. As many of you know, I love to create and sewing is a perfect outlet for creative energies. Also, I prefer to create something useful, so sewing for Renaissance Festivals is a perfect choice.
Below are some of the garments from 2018 – unfortunately, I am unable to wear all but one of these and that one is with some major adjustments.
Did I say unfortunately? HELL NO! this is a good thing. In a bit, I will be posting about some major changes in my life. Until then – what non-quilting projects have you worked on in 2018?
If you are interested in seeing more garments, check out Queen Selesti’s page as well as these links:
As I mentioned in the first installment of our Keto journey, I wanted to revisit what we are up to and expand on some of the different elements that have evolved over the course of the last few months. As with any journey, there will always be adjustments along the way.
Drinks
Water, Water, Water – yep that is a mantra that we should be
chanting all through life. Doing the
Keto diet (more of a lifestyle for us now), is no exception. There just has to be more to life tho.
Coffee – We are all coffee drinkers, and thankfully we gravitate to black coffee. For others this can be a challenge. The best alternative I have found to milk is heavy cream and this will help you to keep up your fat intake as well.
You will hear a lot about bulletproof coffee – I hate it. To sum up, bulletproof coffee contains coffee, butter and oil. There are many varieties and some pre-packaged versions as well. The one piece of advice I hear a lot about is to blend your coffee well, this makes it more palatable.
Soda – No, just no.
me
Artificial sweeteners – So far, there is only one sweetener that I have found that stays true to no sugar and healthy. That is Stevia. I recommend only using the liquid version in drinks. The keto journey doesn’t have to be without some sweetness.. Another great sugar free drink is Sobe Water. I am in love with the Yumberry Pomegranate. The downside is that this is pretty pricey.
Sweet Tea – living in the south, it is darn near impossible to throw a rock and not hit a glass of sweet tea. Happily, I can report that this is something we drink quite a bit of. I simply brew tea on the stove, add it to a container filled with ice and splash the liquid Stevia on at the end. This is saving me from sweet cravings and helps keep me hydrated when I get sick of water.
Stevia Sweetner
Fat Bombs
I touched on the importance of these little cuties in my
last post. Do not let their importance
escape you! Not only do they do a great
job of keeping you regular – they are also a perfect sweet treat. Our family has one or two every night after
dinner.
I posted the original recipe on my last post. For reference, here it is again:
I also said that I had made some alterations. Here is what you may want to know
You can use other forms of nut butter, just be sure to watch the carbs. I add up all the carbs in the batch and divide by the quantity of bombs made.
For nut butter, I like to use a ½ to ½ mixture of organic peanut butter and Tahini sesame seed butter. Tahini has 4g of carbs per 2 tbs, or 16g of carbs for the entire recipe.
You can use other forms of fat too! I use Ghee instead of coconut oil and not only do my bombs retain their shape and don’t melt prematurely, they are delicious! You can also use butter if you like. Just don’t make the mistake of using a liquid form of coconut oil. Your bombs will never set – even in the freezer.
When it comes to Fat Bombs, I don’t get too creative. The fact is, our diet has become much less
varied, we eat to live – not live to eat.
Keeping things simple really works for us.
Bomb Ingredients
Finished Bombs
You can find a gazillion recipes for fat bombs if you search. Just be careful that you keep tabs of your total carbs or before you know it, you are gaining instead!
Wrapping it up
The most important thing I wanted to relay is that this is our own personal journey. We spent no money on programs, plans or prepared foods. If we can change our lives like this, so can anyone who wants to. It’s your life – it’s your journey!
I really wasn’t sure what to title this post, mostly because it is so different from other posts I have made. Please bear with me and while I will talk about some clothing issues, they are not the type you are used to. So here goes… our family has been loosing weight like crazy! (no this isn’t one of those stupid infomercials so don’t expect popups, flashing ads or other stupid stuff – this is just another blog post with a bit of a twist). I am talking about a resolution that didn’t wait until New Years – Keto 2018.
Big Changes!
In August of 2018 our family (Terry, Alexa and I) decided to ban together and try to become healthier. To be more specific, we decided to try KETO.
Now before anyone gets upset about the health implications, the first thing we did was consult our family doctor. Many of you may not know this but Terry had a triple bypass about 6 years ago, so we were concerned. Interestingly enough, our doctor was all in and said that she thought it would be a great thing for us to do together.
How did we do it?
As many of you know, I have tried so hard to loose weight and because of a variety of factors – gender, age, stress.. whatever, it was always hard for me.
When our son and daughter in law mentioned the Keto Diet, it was interesting but we were also skeptical. This is when we decided to consult Terry’s physician. She was so for it that the decision was made.
In order to be successful, we knew that big changes were in order. On August 1, 2018, these were some of the changes we made:
Eat all meals at the table – no more grazing
Switched to salad plates (this has become fun as I collect different styles of these in sets of 4)
We figured out our macros (how much fat, protein, and carbs we could have each day)
I create specific dinner meals with macros recorded on each *see image below
We keep our carbs below 20 (actually most days below 10)
Alexa and I do the intermittent fasting which means we eat dinner and then not again until 11 AM. Yep, no real breakfast. At 11 AM I eat 2 hard boiled eggs.
I make extra meals and put them in containers for lunches etc.
Meal prep with macro labels – found these storage containers at Sam’s Club
Below is a few images of what our meals look like as well as a link to the program that we follow. This program is something I compiled from various sources. It is what works for us. Note the list of good foods with their values – this is how we eat when not having the prepared meals.
In total, if we were a quartet, we would now be a trio! Total loss of 185 lbs!
There is more to it than this. As many of you may know, Terry had a triple bypass about 6 years ago and was put on the normal regime of medications. Since losing the weight, the meds have been cut back by 2/3!!!
First Negative
What are the negatives? (besides for no bread or goodies and such?) Well for one – CONSTIPATION!!! Luckily there is an easy and fun way to combat this. By adding one or two Fat Bombs each evening, the problem is gone. Also, they are a well-deserved treat that doesn’t kill the diet. The recipe I use is below:
*TIP – do not use liquid coconut oil or your boms will NEVER set.
Make your boms in these fun shapes and keep them in the refrigerator.
Other Negatives
Another negative, well sort of – is that I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!!! In fact, I am in the process of making new fair-wear. None of my gowns fit. I actually have some good deals on sizes 18-20 gowns if anyone is interested. On a positive note, Queen Selesti will be wearing leather pants and her battle gear much more often this season!
Yet another negative is cramps. Both Alexa and I suffer from leg cramps off and on. This can be alleviated in a variety of ways, the easiest is to drink more water. Bananas are a big no no, so leave that off the table.
Overall
Overall, we are raving about this experience and while Terry has no more to lose, he is still refraining from eating like the old “him”. Yep, no pie, donuts or other sweets on a regular basis. These are the exception now, none of us want to head back down old roads.
Our energy levels are higher than ever and for you ladies out there that understand these things – the first time I walked into a Cato Fashions store and turned RIGHT… I was the happiest girl in the world.
I will also be posting a follow-up to this post with some more specific details on meal choices that we have discovered, ways to add some sweet into our daily lives and variations (specific products) we use for our BOMS and meals.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about our journey – each is different, but change is good!
I love to make one last post each year to look back and see all that I have accomplished. Looking back at 2018, I can see many fun quilts, and some neat garments. Yes, there were/are challenges, but those are for another post! For now, I want to share with you some of the amazing quilts I have worked on over the year.
While this is just a few of the projects I worked on this year (feel free to browse my blog for lots of others), I must say that there is quite the variety. I like that. Was this year all fun and quilts? Nope, we also lost some very precious family members and while I hate to make this about sad times… I believe remembering them can help relive the happy times.
Bart 2003-2018
Molly 2004-2018
Diablo’s Spirit Princess 2006-2018
Spaz 2003-2018
Here’s to hoping your 2018 was as memorable and your 2019 is full of fun and adventure!
