Oh, Snow!!!

 4 PM yesterday...

 8 PM.

This is why our lights flickered on and off all evening, and why eventually there was a county-wide power outage for about half an hour. Wet, heavy snow. Twice I had to go pull branches out of our driveway, and my husband had to remove more when he got home so he could get in the garage.

Why, hello, Winter, I see you've announced yourself rather loudly.

In sewing news, I had a friend call and ask for 2 knitting totes. This is what I came up with. It's large enough to hold 4 large balls of yarn (and I'm talking those one-lb beasts), has 8 needle pockets, and an interior pocket for scissors and other necessities. 

Yesterday, I reinforced the top corners to make it stay more boxy.

Now to make the other one. 

Enjoy your day! I've got snow to shovel.

My year in Christmas cookies

USAF half marathon, Tough Mudder, and a cookie to show what the big, dumb dog did yesterday because he didn't want to go outside in the rain. I had to re-wrap four presents. Oh well.

A new purse, a new PR, and reflections.

 I'm getting better at putting zippers into my sewing projects. This is the first time I put one on a purse of my own design- usually I avoid them because they can be tricky, but I'm tired of stuff spilling out.

I'm apparently also getting better at running- I ran my fastest 10K ever in 47:57!!! I was worried about having forgotten my watch, iPod, and road ID. I ran by feel, and felt awesome through the whole thing, and was ecstatic when I rounded the final curve and saw I was going to make it under 48 minutes. If I hadn't been cheap when we registered, and had paid for the chip timing to be eligible for prizes, I would have won 2nd place and a small prize! Next, year, I want to win that coveted Turkey Stampede gravy boat... :)

I learned a lot about myself, and my limits, during the Tough Mudder. It made a 10K seem like nothing. The Tough Mudder has shown me that I can handle much, much more than I thought, that I can keep going when nearly every fiber of my body is malfunctioning, that I can climb walls, jump off platforms into cold water despite my fears, run through smoke, and get shocked on the forehead by 10,000 volts.

I credit the Tough Mudder with my amazing 10K finish, and with my recent phase of super-productivity.
I feel like I'm more focused in all regions of my life. Running, crafting, my relationship, even. I made my husband a personal Thanksgiving meal yesterday- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes- because it's the least I can do for a man who never ceases to amaze me.

I am thankful for everything I have, for my family, my husband, our dogs, our house, our lives. As the year winds down, I can look back and be amazed by everything we have accomplished. Next year promises to be just as awesome, if not better.

I'm a dirty girl

With that grin, you'd never know how damn cold I was.

Today, I proved that I'm a badass.
Our team finished the Tough Mudder in 2 hours, 20 minutes. We're all badasses.
I've never been so cold in my life.
I've never earned my bruises as much as I did today. For once, I know where they all came from- probably the toughest run I'll ever do.
I've never had so much fun being so miserable.
It was awesome.

But right now, I need to drink my hot tea (that might have a little something extra in it) and try to get warm under my pile of recent quilt finishes.... and I might not move for 48 hours.

11-11-11

Take a moment today to remember all the veterans, past and present.
I'm lucky enough to have had three grandfathers (divorce math) who served, one uncle, and am now married to the most wonderful man who happens to be a veteran and is still active duty.

If you love our country, thank a veteran. If you love your freedom, thank a veteran. If you are against the war, thank a veteran for volunteering so you didn't have to. If you enjoy protesting and stretching the limits of freedom of speech, you damn well better thank a veteran.

I'm sending molasses cookies in with my husband for his unit to have. It's the best way I know to thank these guys, and so far, they've never complained about dessert!

Two posts in one day!

I made some changes here. New photo at the top, new blog title.

Over the summer, it seemed like the was a correlation between frequency of running-related posts and loss of followers. So, to appease people, I tried starting a separate running blog.

But then I got to thinking about it.
I run. I quilt. I bake.
This is MY blog.
Why am I trying to make everyone else happy?

With that said, welcome to Stitch. Bake. Run.

I'm not begging for followers, especially if they're just going to jump ship when I'm being myself. Being MY blog, I should be able to write about what interest me- all of it, not just what some readers want to hear. The beauty of the internet is that you don't have to read every post- so if you're a quilty friend, feel free to ignore anything running related. If you're just into running, I'm not offended if you fail to understand why I play with fabric.

That little number of followers has about as much impact on my self-worth as the number on the scale. Or the size of my pants. Or how many cupcakes I eat before my husband gets home.

And, if my quest to run a marathon next September bores you to tears, then we probably would make good friends in real life. I give you full permission to unsubscribe if you never want to hear about another long run or PR or new shoes again.

To all of you who have stick with me: Thank you. I love the support I get through blogging, whether it be quilt-related or running-related. You're the ones I'd love to have lunch with, if we weren't separated by states and continents and this strange thing that is the internet. You are my blog friends, and I thank you for that.

And for you, there will be a Thanksgiving-themed tutorial sometime before Thanksgiving. I can't promise a specific date due to Tough Mudder training and other fun stuff, but it will be up before Thanksgiving. My way of thanking YOU!!!

Stay tuned!

Huh?

Can anyone tell me why a "Giveaway Scout" posted on my blog that I should join their site? And, why was that comment left on my Halloween 5K post??? Does this make any sense? Didn't think so.

In other news, I have a semi-secret project in the works. It's awesome- you'll just have to trust me.

Hope your weekend is filled with fun and fabric!!!