Devon Daymon Rachel and Colton

     This weekend I will have my twin grandsons Devon and Daymon who will be 9 in Nov and their baby brother Colton 21 mos come to stay. The 3 boys belong to my youngest son. And my daughter's youngest  Rachel who is 10 will be coming too.  They all get along really well.

   Rachel and Devon love to take care of Colton. Last time they came I only changed Colton twice all weekend! Devon and Rachel changed him the rest of the time. They all love to play house and Colton is always their baby!   I love to listen to them playing!!

Rachel standing in the back.

Devon  Colton  and Daymon

                                                        Daymon               Devon                          Rachel
                                                           Colton

Serenity Elise-Lynn

Time to update some grandkid pictures!! I thought you might like to see my littlest one.

Serenity called Renny for short is going to be 10 months old on Oct 1st! She is my youngest great grandchild. She is pulling herself up on things and walking around stuff holding on. I imagine she will let go and walk any day now!!

She is growing up so fast!!  Such a pretty girl!   She is a really good baby.  Very calm and quiet most of the time. She has a brother and sister and loves to be in the middle of what they are doing.

Wheat Free Eating

Recently I have been experiencing problems with exzema on one hand and a few small patches other places. I read something about someone who went on a wheat free diet and it helped their psoriasis alot. So I thought after over a year of trying all sorts of solutions including going to a dermatologist several time that I would check into this wheat free thing.

So I did some searching online and found the Wheat Belly Diet.  I also read other threads pertaining to wheat free eating. I had already cut out bread and now seriously considered cutting out all wheat.

Surprisingly I found wheat is in alot of things I just wouldn't have thought about. Like soups and my sugar free koolaid has a wheat warning. There isn't any wheat as an ingredient but there is a possibility it was processed in a plant where products containing wheat were also processed. So if you are allergic or have Celiac disease then you need to avoid this product. However I am not giving up my koolaid! at least not yet.

We gave up pop a couple of months ago or more. So I drink only water and sugar free koolaid. As I am not diagnosed as allergic I am not going to worry too much about a trace at this point.

Now on to the good news!  My hand has greatly improved and I am so ecstatic for that. I also have been suffering breathing problems for years. I have been wheat free for almost 3 wks and I noticed a few days ago I am not having the suffocating episodes that make me stop and catch my breath every little while when I try to  do anything.  It is sooooo much better.

I have tried to exercise to lose weight and I can't get past doing 10 of any type of excersize like touch toes etc.   Yesterday I tried it just to see how my breathing would be affected and I did 50!!!! touch toes and no breathing problems!!!

I may have discovered a Wheat allergy I didn't know I had.  So I am a firm believer in going Wheat free!!   It may not be for everyone but it is really been good for me

I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks.  One of the reasons I started this was to se if I could lose weight the easy way. I haven't done any more exercising and haven't done anything but go wheat and gluten free. 


This may be a life long thing for me now!!    Rhonda

Making HSTs My Way!

Do you have trouble making HSTs? I think my method is really easy. No dog ears no cutting out squares and sewing down the middle on each side of a line.

A mini cutting mat or a turntable cutting mat would be good. You can cut without a mini but it would make it easier to do.

You will need a template of whatever size you are making. If you don't have a template you can cut one from stiff cardboard or template plastic but these will be prone to getting cut. And the corners may not be accurate with cardboard or thin plastic.

But you won't have to buy any thing to make your HSTs. No paper piecing or Thangles or any other expense.

If you need a template just let me know.  I send out a 2 1/2" and a 1 1/2" for free.

We make these up ahead and then have them on hand for whatever I decide to make. This works well with scraps too. I just make two piles one dark colors and one light and then I take one of each and sew them together and then cut out the square from the center. You can sew them like flags and it goes pretty quick. Then we go back and cut out the squares. Any leftovers can be recycled.

Ok here we go. Here is my cut down version for making Half Square Triangles.

I used a 2 1/2" template and cut my strips 2 1/2" x 11"
This will give you 5 HSTs. You can make your strips longer but this works well for me.

Turn your mat and cut along the next side

Sew your two strips together

Iron the seams open for a flat surface

Place your template on the strips at the bottom. Place two corners on the seam. Make sure your corners are accurately placed for a better HST

Cut along one side

Continue turning the mat and cutting as you cut the other two sides

                   

Now the pieces that are left at the top and bottom can be used to make a 4 patch. There is very little waste with this method.

The two ends facing each other

Trim the edges

Match up the seams

The two seams together

I like to tack the seams so they can't move when I sew

Use a template to cut out the 4 patch Make sure your template corners are on the seams accurately or your 4 patch will be off on the corners

Sew them together

And voila a 4 patch!