Come Stitch With Me

If you’ve never attended this event put on by Riley Blake Designs and Ashton Gardens, it’s definitely worth going at least once. I chose this event as my retirement celebration trip last year. I had so much fun!

Registration opens Saturday 4/15. Psst: the class list is already up if you want to take a peek at the class offerings.

The VIP packages are a really good value if you want to take classes. I purchased the Ultimate Quilter’s Getaway ($999) and made sure to choose classes that included the kits. This year I’d do the Quilter’s Weekend Getaway package if I were going. Hubs and I really wanted to return this year, but we couldn’t make it work with our upcoming trip to Alaska.

Edited to add: It appears that many of the classes have a bring your own fabric rather than a kit requirement this year. If you take a 3 hour class, realize that you are only going to have enough time to make 1-2 blocks during that session. For most classes, you need to only bring or precut enough fabric to make 3-4 blocks – not the entire quilt. Label the pieces and place them in a ziplock bag for easier transport. Also pack a small power strip with a 3′-6′ cord and a travel iron & pressing mat. You’ll thank me later.

Bummer for me, yes. I will definitely miss seeing all of the gorgeous quilts hanging in the gardens! However, there’s a good chance several of the instructors will also be teaching at an event closer to me within the next 18 months. Instructors often teach at multiple events – OSQE, AQS, QuiltCon, Mancuso shows, regional quilt shows, quilt retreats, larger quilt shops, etc. Peruse the Garden of Quilts class offerings and make note of any classes that catch your eye. Perhaps you can catch a live class closer to home. If not, there are probably online classes or a YouTube tutorial.

Therapy Dog Visits

Therapy dog visit with Sadie’s bestie, Baron, at Lost Mountain Middle School at the end of March. We have many more visits scheduled including the regional Special Olympics, Georgia Tech, Life University plus our normal library READ program. I also train prospective READ teams.

Quilting

2023 BOM from A Quilting Life (online) – April block is below. To me, this block is very bland on its own. However, when paired with the other blocks, it provides a place for your eyes to rest.

Home Again Vintage 2 Color Quilt from Lori Holt and FQS

This is my version of the popular 2 color quilt FQS promotes every so often. There is an online QAL scheduled from April 4 to about mid-May, but I haven’t seen much about it online. It’s almost as if it got lost in all the QALs currently going on. Rather than doing 3 blocks each week, I prepped all the FG and subunits first. I’ll be putting the remaining 11 blocks together this week.

Scrappiness is Happiness QAL

I’m a little behind on this one, but it shouldn’t take much to get caught up.

I added 8 new design boards to my stash. Used peel & stick foam core board from Hobby Lobby for one set and the plain $1.25 variety foam core board from Dollar Tree for the others. Yes, there is a difference! The peel & stick feature made it much easier to apply the batting and the board itself is much sturdier. The Dollar Tree foam core board resulted in perfectly serviceable design boards. However, I think it’s worth the splurge for the peel & stick foam core board, if your budget allows.

I’m also prepping for upcoming seminars and retreats I’m attending, plus classes I’m teaching.

Current Reads:

The Quilted Home Handbook by Wendy Chow

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (this month’s book club selection)

Marie Bostwick, quilter and fiction writer with novels set in the southern US, will be in the ATL at the end of May to promote her forthcoming book. She’ll be speaking at a luncheon sponsored by a local quilt shop. Yours truly has a ticket to the event!

Walking/Outdoors

Sadie and I have been visiting area parks to get in our daily walk. Today, we ran across a Great Blue Heron and several turtles on our walk. Normally, we encounter aggressive Canadian geese at this park. No dodging goose poop today! The water is muddy from all the recent rain.

Our challenge this past week was to spend time in the grocery store scanning items to learn point values associated with various foods. It was an eye-opening experience! We were tasked with finding snacks with point values = 3 points or less that we would actually eat. No more cheese/peanut butter crackers for me!

Here’s my snack attack list:

Raw veggies: Grape tomatoes, baby carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumber slices

Fruit: Berries, sliced apple, banana

Dairy/frozen: Light string cheese (2 points), fat-free cottage cheese and plain nonfat greek yogurt*
Yasso chocolate bar (3 points)

Prepackaged snacks:

Fruit cups packed in water or own juice (0-2 points)
100 calorie packs of nuts (3 points)
Pretzels (1 oz twists or 8 honey wheat braids) (3 points)
Simply Nature Sea Salt Organic popcorn (Aldi) (1 point per cup)
Elevation Snack Advance Peanut Butter Fudge Crisp (Aldi) (1 bar = 3 points)
Cheerios – 1 cup (3 points)

*Add 1 tsp confectioner’s sugar to 1 cup of greek yogurt to counter the tartness. (1 pt)

One of my favorite hacks when my sweet tooth comes calling is to eat a Yasso chocolate bar OR make a parfait from plain nonfat greek yogurt, 1 tbsp Hershey’s syrup and raspberries. Either treat is a mere 3 points.

I carry bottled water, assorted cheerios and a 100 calorie pack of nuts with me when out running errands. If the weather is cool, I’ll take a snack bar (chocolate melts in the heat). This keeps my hunger pangs at bay. I love popcorn, but it gets stuck in my teeth, so I only eat it at home.

Do you have any favorite low calorie snacks to share?