Quilt is a comin' and life

It's been a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks of childhood illnesses but we've come out of it all well. During that time it's been hard to get motivated to do much but now I've really picked up again.

I've been wanting to make a quilt for each of the children's bedrooms for a while now, and while working on cutting out squares for C's I was thinking that if I had to cut out one more square with scissors I'd throw a fit. Dramatic stuff. So last weekend I went to Spotlight (my personal Australian Mecca) and bought a cutter and Matt bought me a self healing cutting mat. Dance a jig of delight, what a difference it makes! I zipped through cutting out the squares in no time at all and now am wondering what the hell took me so long to get these little treasures.

After much shuffling around I got the pattern sorted and so here it so far sewn together.

Looks really sweet I think (keeping in mind I haven't done the final iron).

I'm so enjoying this quilting process and strangely enough I'm really looking forward to doing the hand quilting. Something I can do while watching the telly.

I'm hoping that it will be something that C will have for ever. I would really love that.

And reading wise, this is what I've been dipping back into a lot lately.

This book and its healthy eating plan have made a huge difference to my life. It was actually about a year and a half ago that a visit to my very honest (read "harsh") doctor made me sit up and take stock. Overweight, unfit and constantly exhausted, looking after a 7 year old and a 3 year old, I knew it couldn't go on that way. My doctor described a future of insulin dependent diabetes (I had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies so I know the horror of that), injecting myself every day, movement restricted, loss of circulation etc etc. Weighing in at a too large 83kg I decided then and there that was it. CSIRO diet here we come. Reduced carbs but not eliminated, less sugar but not too much and more vegetables! And I stuck to it. And lost 25kg. And I've kept it off. Some days it may go up a little (wish there weren't so many cake days at work!) but I remember my brother once saying that its easier to lose a little than a lot. So every time I see the weight go back on, I adhere to the diet for a week and then I'm back to normal.

I feel so much healthier and happier. I can run around after the kids, I have more energy and realise it just takes a little kick in the butt to make you realise what life is worth... and it isn't having that extra half a block of chocolate.

Lx