I've been busy... ok not really

I realized that I haven't blogged since my gym post, and I'm sorry.

So it turns out that spin really isn't all that scary. It is really HARD but it's not scary. If you were ever thinking of trying it but are too scared, you should get over it, because it's a great workout!

Moving On...

I decided to make my bff a quilt for her 30th birthday. I had big dreams (ok, HUGE dreams) of finishing it in two weeks. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course this did not go as planned. I did however get the top done. I was nervous that I was putting in all of this time and effort and she wouldn't even like it. Let's face it, quilts aren't for everyone. I realized, after making one that wasn't appreciated (I will not name names, but I didn't even get a "thank you" from the people who received it), that some people think quilts are for grannies and they either 1) don't like them OR 2) don't realize how much time, effort, and money go into them. Believe me, after I wasn't thanked for the (AWESOME) quilt that I made, my feelings were hurt and I was rather pissed off. After that I made sure to tell my Grandma "thank you" for a quilt that she made me 10 years ago, because I KNOW that I didn't appreciate it and didn't give her a sincere "thank you" for spending all of that time on something just for me. It also brought me to tears that I didn't get to give my other Grandma a sincere "thank you" for the one that she made me before she passed away. It really takes being a quilter to understand how much effort goes into these things! Needless to say, I was elated when Natalie's eyes lit up when she lifted some of the tissue paper out of the gift bag and could tell that there was a quilt in the bottom. She said "I have been trying to figure out a way to ask you to make me a quilt!". WIN!

Pictured is the top folded into quarters. It is a (huge) twin size. I don't know if my little Brother cs6000i can handle quilting it, but we shall see!

the pattern is called "Lucky Squares" from Sew Crafty Jess
the fabric is Chicopee from Denyse Schmidt

Lately, I have really been itching to make a dress or a shirt. Last summer I bought the Wiksten tova pattern and I want to make a sleeveless tova, but I am inexperienced in garments and I will probably need to adjust the pattern size. I think I will need it to be one size bigger than the biggest size offered. I am not too confident in this and I HATE making a muslin for everything. Usually what happens is that I lose all of my interest after finishing the muslin, because I am tired of looking at it and don't ever end up making a real one. I might make one this week. We will see.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July! 

My New (intimidating) Gym

Hello all! First off, I would like to give Holly a big shout out for giving ME a big shout out this morning! Thanks Holly!

I joined a new gym about a week and a half ago and I don't know if I'm in love with it yet.

First I'll give you a little background on my "old" gym. It was an all women's gym. It was small and never crowded. There was an even ratio of fat to fit women so you never felt out of place. They offered a few classes but not many (body sculpt, zumba, turbo kick, ya know the normal stuff). The machines were all old, the cushions had holes, the cup holders would fall off of the treadmill as you were jogging, the treadmill buttons were hard to push, none of the heart rate monitors worked, etc.. It definitely needed a facelift, but I didn't mind. I love lifting free weights so I didn't use the machines often enough to care. The treadmills were kind of annoying, but they got the job done. I LOVE an empty gym, and this one was always empty in the middle of the day. They even had free tanning and massage chairs! Last month I found out that they gym was closing due to low membership and the landlord was raising the rent. I was going to have to find a new gym.

I had a few requirements for my new gym. Some of them reasonable and some of them are silly

1. It had to be fairly close to the house. This narrows my options down by a LOT
2. It had to offer more exciting classes. I've always wanted to try a spin class or pilates
3. It had to have new machines and LOTS of different kinds. I loathe the treadmill and the elliptical. I wanted more options when it came to cardio. I also see Skinny Meg on that stair stepper that looks like actual stairs in her instagram pics and I think "I want a gym with one of those!" (silly, I know, but it was a factor)
4. I had to feel comfortable in it. I NEVER once felt out of place at the women's gym. I wanted that same feeling somewhere else.

So the search began. It was a short one! I found Sky Fitness which is about 3 miles from my house and it has everything.  I mean EVERYTHING. It completely meets requirements 1-3 (it even has the Skinny Meg stair stepper). Requirement 4 is the problem. It is a huge corporate gym. The fat to fit ratio is what seems like 1:100 (honestly, I've seen like 3 fat people in there not counting myself, that's IT). I decided that 3 out of 4 isn't bad and I just need to get over my insecurities at the gym. I signed up.

I am writing this post now, because I tried to go to the 9:00 a.m Spin class and it was full. I got there 10 min early (which I knew was cutting it close) but they stopped me at the door to sign some paperwork and I lost precious time. I am now planning on going to the 12:00 class and I will get there 25 min early just to be sure! That is another downfall of this gym. It is NEVER empty. There isn't a time of the day where a spin or body pump class isn't full. I took a body pump class last week (uses barbells, low weight, high reps), I got there 20 min early (luckily) and by 9:55 the class was FULL. "Don't you people work!?!" is what I want to say and then I am reminded that, oh yeah, I don't work either. haha.

I will be attempting spin at noon. I am terrified. I have heard how brutal the classes are and I am praying that I can hang for just 45 min. After that I can come home and read Game of Thrones for the rest of the day. Just peddle your ass off for 45 minutes!!!! It's just 45 min! (this will be my mantra). If all else fails, they are showing Top Gun today in the cardio cinema. That is where the chubby people hang out (all 4 of us). It's dark and no one can see how red your face is. OH by the way, my very first day at the gym, I went and jumped on that Skinny Meg stair stepper and set that bad boy to 30 min... I made it to 3 min and 45 seconds. FUUUUUCK that shit! More power to ya Skinny Meg! I have found that I like the rowing machine though. That thing will make your whole body hurt! I love it. Wish me luck at the spin class. Here's to hoping I don't embarrass myself in front of a bunch of skinny-minis. If I do, I'll just go cry it out in the dark while watching Top Gun.

Here is a video that Curtis (my fiance) sent me to make me laugh and not be so nervous about spin class...

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Ok, I signed up for bloglovin.  Here is the link to follow me.  Luckily it imported all of the blogs I follow from google reader, so no extra work for me! YIPPEE!

So What...

This week I decided to participate in my very first link up (*canned applause*, thank you).  It's called "So What Wednesdays" and you can check it out over at Life After I "Dew".  So here goes nothing.This week I am saying SO WHAT IF:

• I failed a "merit test" for a state job that I really wanted.  I can't test again for 6 months.  Over half the test was about accounting and auditing.  I only passed accounting in college by the grace of God (and my best friend, accounting major, Natalie).  I wouldn't have wasted an hour and a half of my life if they would have just told me that the test was accounting based.  Btw, the job had nothing to do with accounting... AT ALL.
• I treat my basset hound, Oliver, like he can do no wrong.  That dog gets away with murder.  My fiance's rat terrier on the other hand... meh.
• I am really loving Gypsy Sisters on TLC
• We have a folding table instead of a coffee table in our living room.  I took it out to craft on while I was watching TV 2 years ago and it just stayed. *shrug*
• We eat at said folding table because I always have sewing projects strung out on the kitchen table (sorry Curtie!)
• I like pork rinds but I never eat them for fear of being judged.  THERE I said it!
• I get my feelers a little hurt when no one likes a pic I post on instagram.  It's like a silent insult.
• I do NOT like Mumford and Sons.  I feel like I am the only American who thinks this way.

Well, there ya have it!  My very first link up in the books.  What are you saying "So What" to this week?

Just look at that face!

Viva la Compound!

I decided to make a quilt for an old internet friend who is having a baby in a month.  I have never actually met her in person but she was a part of a group of people that listened to an internet radio station called Compound Radio every day.  The station is no longer on the air, so no one really has a reason to talk to each other anymore.  I wish the station was still around.  I worked the graveyard shift at the casino and I would come home every morning and listen to the radio until 12 or 1 and then go to sleep.  In the morning Oliver Peck (who some might now know from the show Ink Master, he is also my tattoo artist) did a show, and after that came another show by a guy named Josh Lazie (former bassist for Danzig).  The radio station was actually based out of Josh's house and the other guys did their show either at Josh's house or over the internet at their own homes (or sometimes on the road, Oliver did his show from the Warped Tour every morning for one whole summer).  It worked like this, everyone would listen to the live stream over the internet and log on with their AOL Instant Messenger account.  Whoever was on the air at the time would start talking about some random topic and then everyone would join the convo with him via IM.  He would then talk about what other people were saying.  You learned the usernames of other people through these conversations and you would eventually IM them to make silly comments or whatever.  Many of us made friends through AOL IM.  It was social interaction every morning without having to leave the house, much like the blog universe is today.  Eventually it became a burden to Josh, which is totally understandable.  The radio station operated on donations only, there was no advertising.  At the end of the month he'd tell us how far away he was from paying the bill to keep the servers up and we'd all try to pitch in.  He had an obligation to be at his house every single morning to host his radio show, and I'm sure that got old.  Towards the end he got a job giving shark diving tours off the coast of Mexico. He would be gone and the radio would be off the air for a week or so until he came back.  Eventually, he just let it go and I don't blame him one bit.  Christine was one of the listeners that I talked to the most.  She was a fun girl from NY and has her own jewelry line called Candy Apple Jewelry (you should check it out, she has some really cute stuff).  I am friends with her on fb so I knew that she was having a baby in the Spring.  I also follow her on Pinterest, so I noticed that she had been pinning a lot of nautical themed decorations so I assumed that she had chosen a nautical theme for the baby's room.  I found some nautical fabric that I liked and made a simple plus quilt for her. I must say that I felt like a total stalker trying to figure out how to get the quilt to her baby shower while keeping it a surprise.  I had to message her sister-in-law to find out who was hosting the shower.  She let me know that Christine's mother was going to be hosting and luckily she helped me get her phone number.  I then called Christine's mother to see if I could mail the gift to her so that she could take it to the shower. Keep in mind that I had to explain to both of these people that I do not in fact know Christine personally, just over the internet, and I am wanting to send her a handmade gift.  Makes me sound like a creeper huh?  Luckily her mother agreed and did not treat me like a weirdo.  She said "oh of course! I'm sure she's going to love it!".  So I decided to cover the box in leftover Compound Radio stickers that I had laying around, then wrapping it with traditional baby wrapping paper and a bow.  On the outside I only put "Viva la Compound".  I thought it would make for a fun surprise, not immediately knowing who it was from.  On the inside I left a card saying that I thought it would be fun to surprise her and that I like the nautical theme that she picked and thought it would make a cute quilt. I then put the wrapped gift in a bigger box with some bubble wrap and mailed it off to NY in hopes that he mother would receive it in time for the shower. Well, the baby shower was yesterday and Christine messaged me last night to thank me and tell me how much she loved the quilt and how it was such a surprise.  Mission accomplished!  I'm thrilled that she liked it.

quilt front

quilt back

the box covered in stickers

What's for Dinner?

A week or two ago I found a blog called Plain Chicken.  I don't know if you've been to this blog or not, but if you haven't, and you like simple, southern recipes, I suggest checking it out.  I had seen this soup on Pinterest a few times and then I saw it again on Plain Chicken (which I believe she also found it on Pinterest, but I like to hear from someone who has tried it, and gives a review) so I decided to try it.  We LOVED it.  It only takes about 2 min to throw everything into the crock pot.  Easiest dinner ever, right!?!  I DID make one change, every recipe I've seen calls for shredded hash browns, but I think the homestyle kind is better.  I just think potatoes cut into tiny squares is more pleasing than shredded potato.  I just don't know how I feel about shredded potato in my soup, but I am picky about the texture of my food. Just a suggestion!  I think this will be my go-to cold day recipe.  I usually crave beans, cornbread, and fried potatoes, but Curtis doesn't like beans because he doesn't know what's good so I find other soups to make.  This is by far the easiest.  One of my other favorites is Cheeseburger Soup, it is absolutely delicious but you have to spend an hour+ in the kitchen cutting shit up.  I like the "throw it all in the crock pot" kind much better.

Here is the recipe:

1 bag of frozen hash browns (30 oz, I use Ore Ida homestyle)

3 cans of chicken broth

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

2 tbsp dried chopped onion

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 block of cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat)

Throw everything except the cream cheese into the crock pot.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.  15 min before serving stir in cream cheese.

I noticed that the cream cheese will stay in small chunks for a little bit.  They will break down eventually.  It just looks weird at first.  You can also top your bowl with stuff you would put on a potato (bacon, chives, cheese, etc.)

Pay It Forward Quilt Finished!

Well, the Pay It Forward quilt is finally finished!  It was actually finished about two weeks ago, I have just been dragging my blogger feet when it came to writing this post.  It really didn't take all that long to make, I just kept getting distracted by other things (like TV and internetting).  Some might say that this quilt is waaaay too big to be a baby quilt.  I say they are wrong.  It seems silly to me to spend time on a teeny tiny quilt that can only be used for a few months and then put away in a closet FOR-EV-ER (Sandlot style)!  This one is big enough to lay on the floor and let the baby play on it while they are small and then they can cover up with it and carry it around when they are toddler-ish.  I am making another baby/child quilt very soon, but I can't say anything about that one until it is done.  It is a surprise for someone.

On another note, I have been thinking about making this an "everything" blog.  I love sewing and showing off what I have made, but I'd also like to talk about random things and participating in link-ups and other blogging nonsense.  Would any of my seven followers be offended if I converted "Sewin' Shit" to "Sewin Shit... and other shit"?

 Popular topics of discussion would most likely be...

1. sewin' shit
2. trying to lose weight, eat better, excercise
3. recipes I've tried and my reviews
4. link-ups with other bloggers
5. random life happenings

I have pretty much made up my mind that this is going to happen, so if one of you seven wants to jump ship, now would be the time! (please don't, really, I only have seven of you)