June Color Block of the Month

I love June....school gets out....I am done with work until fall.....and this month's color for the Color Block Challenge is PURPLE!  This month my block was designed by Jen at Patterns By Jen.  For as much as I love Purple, I didn't have enough of the right purple for this project and had to call upon some friends.  My friend, Robin, came through and had the purple that reads almost solid that I was able to use....you see....I am trying to use only fabrics that make the whole block "read" the color for the month.  I am actually not sure I succeeded this month because my 2nd fabric was fussy cut from a scrap piece that was left from the back of a different quilt....you be the judge, how did I do this  month?

May Color Block Challenge

So....Happy Accident this month!

I was not paying attention when I pulled the fabrics from my stash for this month's color block challenge and I set them in the wrong order to cut...it was supposed to go from light to dark...well....I mixed up the medium and the dark fabrics....I am happy to say that this was a Happy Accident and I actually really like this month's block!

April Color Block

I do have to say that I love this month's block!  I actually really love the color, which is funny because I had to go buy fabric to complete this month's challenge....orange.  For those of you not familiar, I am doing a monthly color quilt block challenge by Patterns by Jen.  This month, my block choice came from Powered by Quilting.

2018 Color Block of the Month - March

I have to be honest with you guys, I am not 100% in love with this block.  This month I chose to use the pattern that Jen made (here).  Yellow is apparently not something that I use all that often in my quilts because I had to call on a friend to send me some fabric because who wants to buy 5 fat quarters (at roughly $3 each) to make one block....that is the same as at least a yard of fabric! 

Anyway.....back to the block....I made poor cutting choices and ended up not having a wide enough piece of plain yellow left to cut all of the background pieces.  So I used the only other yellow piece of fabric that I had thinking that it had to be different than the triangles....not sure that was such a good idea...I think that is where this block went sideways.....overall I am hoping that you won't notice it when the quilt is all put together.

2018 Color Block of the Month - February

No, the winter blues don't have me down....it is this month's color for the 2018 Color Block Quilt Challenge by Patterns by Jen.  This month I chose to follow her block pattern, but since my blue stash is a little slim, I reversed the dark and light colors.  I love the way it turned out.

2018 Color Block of the Month

January

 

I am participating in this 2018 Color Block of the Month to try and use up some scraps.  I must say that the first block presented (here) was very scary to me for a January block.  However, the cool thing about this Block of the Month is that you can do anything in the month's selected color....this month Red.  So here is my block.  I didn't design it and off the top of my head I can't remember who did.  With this block under my belt, I actually think I might go back and try the presented January block, only maybe in white and red instead of all red.

So....how did January Go???

 

Credit Joanna Vaughan  

 

That is a question that I am trying to honestly answer.  When I break down the different parts this is what I get:

Health:
Fairly decent.  I would not say that my eating has been perfect by any means.  I am still working on drinking enough water and trying not to stress eat as the auction draws closer.

Physical:
I can't say that I have been to the gym all that much.  I am continuing to work out with my trainer, but getting their on my own has been difficult.  Again, the auction is almost here and people are placing a lot of demands on my time to get ready.

Mental: 
If I am 100% honest, I am having trouble here.  If you have ready my last post about the Navy Commander you would probably know that I was shaken to the core and very, very, very angry at both this person and myself.  Myself for letting it get to me and thinking that in anyway he was correct. It was actions unbecoming of an officer.  Anyway I think the hardest time I am having was that I went to a private group and asked for a pep talk from people there.  The response I got was that I was completely wrong for thinking this person was out of line, that people have bad days and it was o.k. that he reacted like this.  After four different people told me that I didn't have a right to be angry I deleted my post.  The fact is that I still think I have a right to be mad.  I don't think that my feelings were invalid.  I am actually really hurt that this community of people who are supposed to be supportive were anything but.  It really made me question if I wanted to continue on my journey. 

Self esteem is something I have struggled with my entire life.  I was never the popular kid in school, I take a while to open up, but when you are in my inner circle you are almost there for life.  I worked very hard through high school to get good grades.  I worked my way through college most semesters while studying Mechanical Engineering at Purdue.  I know I am smart.  Getting married and moving to Seattle was tough, I have no family out here.  I got my first job and got my first taste of discrimination and unequal work assignments.  I got transferred from job site into the office with out a reason.  I was given very little guidance in how to do my office estimation job, then fired because I didn't know how to do it.  My son was stillborn at 22 weeks.  My second pregnancy was 16 weeks of complete bed-rest and 11 weeks of partial.  Yes, I struggle with self esteem issues and depression.

I am getting back on track.  The "Commander" can kiss my ass!  I have not been as active on the private group.  I have not left, but I am very selective about what I answer and/or say now....which to me seems not as authentic but.....

Relationships:
I recently read a blog post about this dad's experience observing another dad in Costco.  You can find the article here if you haven't read it.  It is old, from 2010, but the facts still remain that this is the time that shapes my kids and I need to be present to help them grow and not allow TV, X-box, or video games teach them.  I am trying.  Maybe I need to close my laptop between the hours of 6 and 8 pm?

Action items for the remainder of February:
1.  Drink 6 glasses of water a day
2. Track what I eat at least 4 out of 7 days
3. Work out twice a week
4.  Try a new group work out class that I haven't tried before.
5. Once a week take a 1 hour mental (aka me) time break - read a book
6. Have a friend "date" once a month - coffee, MNO, craft night., etc.