Veggies and Log Cabins

This past Tuesday, I put feet to my thoughts. I've been doing some thinking lately about how I feel. You know - tired, run down, foggy brained, etc. I know, a lot of stress can cause issues, but we all have stress, right?

So, I've been thinking.....my body needs nutrition. Not just stuff I LIKE to eat, but stuff that's good for me. I mean, seriously, lattes and chocolate don't do much for you nutritionally, you have to supplement occasionally with really nutritious foods!!! I've decided to cut out most of the Dr. Pepper, which I love, and drink more water. Cutting out lattes is NOT an option. I want to eat better, I don't want to kill myself!!!

So Tuesday, I hopped into the car and drove myself and Dear Younger Daughter to Farmer's Market. When the three older kids were young, it was a weekly trip. We went through so much fruit and quite a few veggies back then. Of course, it was fun for the kids to get to pick out their favorites and they were much more likely to eat them if they had picked them out! Even with two of the older kids gone most of the time, we still have to eat. So, Dear Younger Daughter and I bought the place out! Nectarines, plums, onions, sweet potatoes, broccoli, celery, lettuce, avocados....and the list goes on and on. It was hot and tiring, but it felt so good to be investing in the right foods!

When I got home, Mom helped me cut up veggies for about 1 1/2 hours. What a haul!!! She cooked collard greens and we cut up stuff for salads and for cooking with. The only way all these veggies will actually be used is if I have it ready to toss into soups, salads and dishes! I made a pot of veggie soup that night for dinner and Dear Hubby finished it off the next day. Looks like I need to make another pot!!

Here is a pic of the salad I am trying to eat everyday. Not a difficult thing, really, I LOVE salad. In this bowl we have: Romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, purple cabbage, red onion, bell pepper, avocado and slivered almonds. It's the world's best nutritious salad!!

I know that I have food sensitivities to "trashy carbs". I feel awful when I eat them and yet, they are what I crave!! So, out with the trash and in with the good stuff.

Now, why would I put all this out in the public? I guess I want the accountability to keep it up, and I hope to encourage us all to eat better and to take better care of ourselves. Sure, we'd rather grab something and go. Eat something "easy and quick", but we know what we need. We've got to keep our strength up for quilting!!!

Now, on to the quilty stuff. I've been working on those Off Centered Log Cabin blocks for a while. My original intention was to make a quilt for our king sized bed. Well, when Dear Hubby moved into the hospital bed, the king sized bed went out of the room to be replaced with a full sized bed for me. So, I'm working on making 100 blocks for my bed in our room instead. Hey, it will take less time and blocks, so it works out great.

I know there are many options available when wanting to audition layouts for quilts, but I sat down this morning and worked on Publisher and came up with three layouts for my Off Centered Log Cabin blocks. Please note: this is not perfect work, just me messing around on the computer. Some of the "tiles" are off a bit. Just try to ignore that.

Here is how I did it. I took pics of three blocks. I cropped them so only the block appears in the pic. Then, I copied and pasted them into a Publisher document. Made them smaller and copied ALOT more of them. I lined them up side by side, in the layout I wanted. 10 blocks x 10 blocks. They are 7 inch finished. Then, I used the rotate thingy and turned them around and around to get the design I wanted. When I was done, I grouped all the "tiles" and saved it as a picture. And here you see the work I did this morning. I may play around more with some other designs, but I'm liking the first one best!

Feel free to let me know which one you like best! And remember, this layout is only using three blocks. I'm actually using about 400 different scraps to make this quilt. Every color imaginable! This is just for auditioning layouts.




Happy Quilting and Healthy Eating!!