Valerean

It's time for me to make a quilt entirely on my sewing machine -- piecing, quilting, and binding with my Singer. I have done a few small pieces like mug rugs, pot holders and place mats on the machine, but this will be the first actual quilt. Last year I purchased a bundle of eight fat quarters featuring dragons and castles at the county quilt show, and I think they'd make a marvelous little quilt for my nephew's dog. For the pattern I'm going to rely on my trusty favorite: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs. I love this pattern and it makes some really beautiful quilts. It's also all rectangles, which will not be difficult for me to quilt on the machine (I hope.) The baby size quilt of this pattern calls for six fat quarters, so I removed two that were print repeats in different colors, leaving me with these. The first step is pressing, cutting and piecing, so stay tuned to find out how I do with that.

During my bi-annual checkup last year I had the opportunity to go on a GLP-1 drug. My doctor considered it a wonder treatment, particularly for diabetics, and recommended it to me, but I refused. I have only 20 lbs. to lose before I'm at my ideal weight. Also, I do not want to be dependent on any kind of needle if I can avoid that. I'd rather lose the weight the hard way, by controlling my diet and doing daily exercise. Make no mistake, it is very hard to manage this disease and continue to lose weight. I've hit that last 20 lbs. plateau, and I'm fighting for every pound I lose now. Back to the drug. There wasn't a lot of information about GLP-1s at the time, especially concerning the side effects, but I had heard that the minute anyone stopped the injections, they put the weight back on. That made sense, too -- people were dependent on using the needle, and when the needle went away, so did the results. Big pharmaceutical companies seem to be more...

While we were down in the city last week I asked my guy to stop by a Michael's Craft Store a few miles away, as I needed a couple things I had to see in person. I have not shopped at a craft store since JoAnn closed, and I thought I'd look at their new yarn prices. Hooboy. I thrift 99.9% of my yarn, so I am not used to the price tag of new, but everything in the yarn section was SO expensive! $14.99 for these Caron cakes -- I thrifted two latte cakes for less than a dollar per cake last year. Wool Ease is now up to $9.99 a skein. That's crazy. I thrifted three skeins a couple months ago in a big bag of yarn for five bucks. Even the clearance yarn was $7.00 per skein or higher. I'm sorry, but I just can't justify spending that kind of money on it on a material I can usually thrift for less than a dollar a skein. What did I get while I was there, you may ask? Not much, and no yarn. This bunny basket was marked down 70% and was still $7.99...

Last Thursday I saw my diabetes doc, and while I have a couple of minor issues to work on (getting my A1C down to 6.5; losing the last 20 lbs.) I am in very good shape. Even my habitually low blood pressure was lower, which means the exercise is still paying off. He was quite pleased, and it's always a relief to have a good checkup. As I've been rather anxious over all this, and also deeply upset over recent events in the world, I gave myself the next day and the weekend off to take it easy, especially as the following week was my deadline week for my first day job project of the year. At present I'm working up the last of a skein of variegated yarn into a no pattern moss-stitched clutch for my art supplies, mainly so I can see the color changes in this yarn (Bitty Stripes by Red Heart Super Saver in Moonbeam) and use up the rest of the skein. After that I'm going to make a quilt for my nephew's dog. Maybe. I'm trying not to put any more pressure on myse...

Today I'm going to the diabetes doc to get my bi-annual check. After that I'm going to get started on a little quilt using these dragon novelty prints. I'm also going to try to make it entirely by machine. Wish me luck on both fronts. :) Sometime in the next few days we'll be heading into the city with our nephew to visit IKEA and have dinner out. His house build is going very well, and he's on track to move into his new place in June, so I want to show him some room designs I like (not that I think he'll paint black polka dots on his walls, lol.) While we're there I'm going to pick up another one of these hanging organizers for my yarn stash. This one has worked out so well I wish I had a dozen of them, but I have room for only one more.

After several scary medical emergencies back in 2018 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I was not at risk, nor had I any idea I was sick. In fact I had just lost a lot of weight while exercising daily and closely watching my diet. I had probably developed it after my last pregnancy, and my condition went undiagnosed because I had no real symptoms. I would just get shaky or dizzy on rare occasions, but I put that down to my perpetual dieting. Because I was careful with my diet anyway that probably managed it for about five years, until it finally flared out of control as I got older. I was horrified to discover I'd become a diabetic, as I know how debilitating and harmful the disease can be from seeing patients suffering from it during my medical career. The nurse at my doctor's office said "Some people just get a crap roll of the genetic dice." I know she meant that to make me feel better, but since I don't know who my birth parents were that hurt ...