Keeping Warm by Keeping Busy

Dropping in to say hello.  Along with everyone in the East, we had snow days almost all last week.  Actually, we had freezing rain and sleet.









Or, as DH put it, I had him 24/7 for 6 days, expectantly.  We were ice bound for 4 days and had no water for 2 days but we had heat and food, TV and sewing, so all was well.








During the forced confinement DH and I put the TreadClimber together.  Above you see the new shoes I bought just for this.  My plan was to begin slowly, only 10 min a day for the first week and then work my way up to 30 min three days a week.  Monday I began my new exercise experiment.  Funny thing: the first time I got on the TC I only walked on it for 2 1/2 min.  Tuesday I was up to 4 1/2 min and this morning I got all the way up to 5 1/2 min.  This may not seem like much but remember I am 71 and way out of shape so I reviewed my plan and decided to begin at 2 1/2 min and work my way up to 10.  So far the plan is working. 



I wanted to show the knitted hat I made last month and seemed unable to remember to get a picture of it.  I didn’t use a pattern but loved the yarn I had bought in MD in Sept and needed to see it made into something.












And with all the cold and ice and everything, this little had has sure come in handy.  I am thinking that maybe I will be making one of those slouch hats I have been seeing online.













My studio does not have central heat so I directed my space heaters to the sewing area and spent a lot of time appliqueing owls.  I had really gotten behind that part of this BOM.  This is the last of the owls that I had completed and it got me caught up.  However, on Feb 1 a new block came out it it, again, has 3 owls on it.  I hope to get to it later this week.






Saturday I suggested to DH that we start looking at a sectional to replace our two recliners that were literally falling apart.  I thought a sectional would be better in that it would provide puppy space so we would all be comfortable.  Interestingly DH was on board and we began our search.  While looking we decided that instead of a sectional we could use a couch and loveseat and accomplish the same thing.  We found this set that has 4 loungers and they are electric, no more pulling on a lever.  This picture shows all four dogs fast asleep (one is under the brown log cabin quilt).  And there is still room for the 2 humans.  It has really made evening TV viewing and computering much more comfortable.

Tomorrow in mug rug day with the hope of BOMs on Friday.  Gotta keep moving or I will fall behind, again.    Besides, I keep warmer when I am moving.  And this winter I have needed to move as much as I can.

Have a great week,    Gari

Snow in the Deep South

Yes, that’s what I said, SNOW. I complained all morning on Facebook until it finally went away.

But I’m not sure if the roses are going to survive. ;-)

Even the Owl was confused.

However, while that white stuff was coming down, I was in the studio getting stuff done. The first thing I worked on was the last of the Snowbound snowmen.

He is all appliqued down and now I am ready to start on the connecting blocks. Next week I will draw the lines for the hand embroidery that I will be taking as hand work while we travel for Christmas.

The other project that I started was to cut strips for a flannel log cabin quilt. We are experiencing below freezing temps here at night and I am in need of a really warm quilt to cuddle/huddle up in.

Well, that’s it for now. Tomorrow is WW day and then I’ll be back in the studio, sewing and sewing and sewing.

The Weekend That Was

Snow (picture heavy)

Friday it snowed ....................










Saturday it started to melt and then froze.

Sunday it’s almost gone.

My wall has not changed since Thursday when I put the teal inner border on. Next week I hope to get the gray outer borders cut and stitched and then begin working on the backing. Check out other design walls at Judy's blog.

I finally got this baby quilt on the frame and Saturday began quilting.

I chose this panto and it is not as easy as it looks, lots of back/over stitching.

I got 3 passes done before the studio started to cool down (sunset) so I quit. I will try to get back to it today.

Close up of the front.

And the back.

Sunday DH took me to Cracker Barrel where we had Sunday Brunch: French toast, eggs, and bacon. Even though I brought half of the French toast home, I was still stuffed. I may need to try the gym again: need to figure out a regular exercise routine.

WE'VE GOT SNOW

Here we are in South Alabama, looking down our driveway and across the road.



This is our rain guage: you can almost make out the tube. I took this picture at 6am. It was kind of snowing, more like slushing. I laughed, thinking that it was going to just be a "show" of snow.

Here the same guage at 7:30am. Don't believe the number on the guage but by this time we had between 2-3" of snow. Remember this is South Alabama.

I took this picture at 2:30pm. The snow is up another 2" and the tube is almost covered. Who would have believed this could happen HERE!

Because we can't plow roads, all of the county roads were closed last night at midnight and remain closed. We live on a highway but there have been few cars go by.

Oh, and it is now 3:00pm, it is still snowing, and for the first time we are getting some wind so snow is also falling off the trees in big clumps.

This has been a very interesting day. We have watched old TV shows (DVD) and I have been working on the embroidery part of the Bunny Hill Basked blocks I made last year. I haven't hand embroidered for over 30 years so it has been kind of a relearning experience for me. But it has been fun. More pictures next time ..... I have to keep up with the folks up in the northeast. ;-)

Super Bowl Weekend

I got a call from DS#3 Saturday morning. He lives in MD (metro DC) and was buried in snow.

He offered for me to come up to visit (not likely) and sent a picture of his car.

He did say that the dog, granddog Ponce, was loving it, but they were not as happy since the power went off during the night. When we got off the phone I went online to see the radar and it looked like not only were they in for a lot more storm but that the storm was not moving very fast, if at all.

This morning, however, he wrote on Facebook that the temp in the house was down to 45F and without power they were going to miss the Super Bowl so they were off to the in-laws. See, I didn’t raise a complete dummy!

Design Wall:

While we were not enjoying snow here in the South I was sewing on my DNP blocks for my comfort quilt. These were my trial blocks. Notice anything wrong?

Well, it seems that 5.5” squares can’t be cut in half at 3”. Did I ever mention that I never took geometry? Anyway, I cut both of the trial blocks the same way so I seem to be a slow learner.

But I did learn and am cutting the real blocks right. I have 6 of the 12 blocks cut so I should have this top done sometime this week.

Check out Judy’s blog for other design wall projects.

Sunday I was going to work on two BOMs but instead I decided to visit a quilt shop that was having a Super Bowl sale. I walked through the store twice, going in the opposite direction each time, and look what I found on my second trip through.

Aren’t these luscious? I could almost see a quilt just looking at the yardage. And I do see polka dots in my future: no gift quilt here!

Winter’s Still Here

I went out with the dog on Sunday morning and saw this.



The flakes were small and few but came, off and on, until early afternoon. We had strong winds (35 – 40 mph) so it stayed cold even though the temp went up to 42F. Today we have finally gotten into the low 50s but it still feels like winter.


With all the cold outside I have been busy on my rag quilts. I cut and cut








And sewed and sewed

and sewed and sewed. Here is the front and back.

Now I am snipping this little quilt. And I have cut all the squares for the second quilt and am starting the sewing on it.