Truly the "frozen north"

We've been on a roller coaster of weather lately - warm and snowy vs. bitter cold and sunny.  Today, apparently, we'll have a little of both.  Paul is heading out for lunch with a friend, and I will be sewing away on the threaded star blocks.  I have five left to make for the border of the lily block.  

Yesterday, I took a break and puttered around the house.  I worked on Friends of the Library paperwork, sent sympathy cards, knitted while watching Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting, and read a new mystery.  A neighbor stopped by late in the day, and we even had leftovers for dinner.  Everyone needs a "no agenda" day.

While taken a year or so ago, looking out our front door, this is what it looks like almost every day - pretty but very cold.  I watch people walking their dogs, and all are bundled up, even the dogs.  Today I  a cream-colored standard poodle (or maybe a labradoodle) had on a red coat with red booties on.  Very colorful!  Rather than walk outside, I've been rowing in the basement, and on Tuesdays, weather permitting, I head down to the library for aerobic walking and on Wednesdays, yoga.   Spring can't come soon enough.

A bonanza of sweet treats!

I got a message a few days ago from UPS saying that a package would be coming yesterday, Dec. 19.  We watched and waited, but by 7:30 pm, hadn't seen or heard a thing.  Then at around 7:35, we got a message that a package had been delivered.  It was from Peter's Gourmet Market, a Dutch store in Michigan that Mom and I shop at regularly.  I hadn't ordered anything recently, but obviously Mom had - and it is wonderful!  Three layers of yummy Dutch goodness!

Paul hasn't had many of the goodies in the box, but of course, I have and am delighted.  

I was going to bake cookies today, but that isn't necessary.  I think we have enough for a while!  I'll put some into a tin for Chris and then serve the rest when/if company comes or we get a hankering for sweets.  

This leaves me with a little more time to work on Christmas cards and make Chex Mix today.  Maybe I'll even get back to sewing on the Bigfoot quilt.  Some additional fabric arrived yesterday, too, so I am ready to add a few more rounds.  This afternoon, we're getting together with some neighbors and tomorrow afternoon with other neighbors.   These are folks we see almost every day when it's not winter, but in winter we all hibernate somewhat.  It's good to get together during these dark months.

Precious Ramotswe

I think I have read all 24 of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and I just started #25.  There is something so comforting about checking in with Precious and the gang when outside it's Stick Season and gloomy.  While the stories are simple and the writing so repetitious that I want to scream sometimes, I do like her wit and wisdom.  

Yesterday I cut out more flowers for the collage quilt and found I need even more.  I'm awfully glad Marie suggested putting some light blues behind the flowers to fill in gaps, too.  Today I'll move The Beast from the ironing board so I can do a little more fusing.  I may sew a little with my machine.  I haven't touched Dear Jane since June.

I know the collage is going to take quite a while to finish, but I really need variety in my quilting.  I'm not the kind of person to work on one project at a time.  I'm looking forward to my hand sewing group meeting Saturday - miss the fun chats we have.

The yard has been winterized.   The grill and hoses have been put away, and my bird feeder posts are ready whenever the bears finally go to sleep.  A big, noisy project is about to happen behind our house, courtesy of the power company which will be cutting down a long line of white pines that is beginning to die.  Our HOA will be replanting in the spring after the area is cleared.   Meanwhile, our backyards will be more exposed to traffic and passers-by.

Winter's beauty

 

This was the view from our garage yesterday at 7:00 am, when it was about two degrees out.   Today's the first official day of winter, but here in Vermont we've been having winter since at least Thanksgiving.  The bird feeders have been out since Dec. 1 because the bears are asleep (we hope).  The second quilt on the bed keeps us cozy.    

Winter is definitely here

As you can see, there's snow on the ground today.  There was more yesterday, but luckily it melted.  More is predicted for tomorrow night into Tuesday.  We did a few leftover fall chores this morning = putting the grill on the back porch with its covers, moving my flipflops off the porch and into the house, putting up the bird feeder holders.  We won't fill the feeders until we're sure the bears are asleep - around Dec. 1.  

This was the last day we could go to our "secret" spot (by the elementary school soccer fields) to gather some bittersweet.  It's up a steep hill, but we managed to get enough for me to add to some greens and put into an old maple syrup bucket.  I'll put a bow around the bucket when it's closer to Christmas, IF it is still intact.  Right now it serves as a pop of color in a darker time.  I'm OK with the time change in the mornings because it's lighter sooner, but sure gets dark early these days.

We were ready!

Up here in mid-Vermont, we missed last week's storm along the east coast of the US. Yesterday and today, however, we expected 5-12" of snow.  I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and made a pot roast in the crock pot yesterday.  There were quilt blocks to put together and books on the Kindle.  Even though our car has all-wheel drive, we don't have snow tires, just all weathers, and tend to stay home when the weather gets bad.  That is fine with us.  

It was only lightly flurrying when I went downtown for a meeting late yesterday afternoon (at left) and then picked up our food order from Farmers to You.  Then we hunkered down.

We had about 6" of snow when we got up and a little more during the morning.  Here's what it looked like - both pictures were taken by my neighbor, Winnie, who lives across the street.

What a difference!  Still, we are expecting temperatures in the 40s over the weekend, so much of this will probably be gone fairly soon.  It is actually a bit early for us to be experiencing spring, and the winter birds are still very busy at our feeders.   Every day we see lots of chickadees, pine siskins, and juncos, as well as a lovely pair of cardinals.  They are so pretty.

I have yet to figure out the borders for the orange and yellow swap blocks, but a center square of about 54" is all put together.   Because each block was a slightly different size, I ended up surrounding each with either white or black printed fabric.  I have lots scraps left so may add a piano keys border after adding a solid yellow border.  I plan to use the yellow solid as the binding also.  

Twelve of the blocks were made by four members of my local guild.  Each person made three blocks each month using the fabrics in the bag; we swapped bags at the meetings.   I enjoy working on these "block robins," as we call them, because it's fun to work with other people's fabrics and colors I'd never buy.

During the months we swapped, I also made the guild "block of the month" out of some of the same fabrics I had gathered in my bag.  I actually made four more blocks that I could add to make the quilt rectangular.  That's another decision for the next few days.   I'll let it percolate for a while.  But this has been a nice project for gloomy days.

  

"If you say so!"

The last couple of weeks have been particularly trying.  There was a long list of things I needed to catch up on, including following the shenanigans of the town budget committee when dealing with the library appropriation for the coming year; finalizing plans for the April guild meeting; creating a budget for and applying for tax exempt status reinstatement for the state quilt guild.  Oh, how I hate dealing with the IRS!  And why don't people return emails, for heaven's sake!?!

By Saturday night, I was just worn out.  Thank goodness for quilting - my therapy for tough (and not so tough) times.  Brunch with Pauline on Sunday helped, too.   I sold her a lovely quilt to send to her daughter in California, and afterwards, I engaged in a little fabric therapy at Jennine's quilt shop.  Perfect rewards for a difficult week.

But I do need to remind myself to chill out.  Last night's Friends of the Library meeting was one of those occasions.  One of our members, J-, has a drill sergeant way about her.  I think she's actually quite insecure, but she covers it up by issuing orders, even when it's not her place to do so.  We were going over the recent Friends auction and banquet (which I missed), suggesting ways to make it better next year before we forget.   J- had a long list of gripes, including some "very unprofessional" typos she claimed I had made on some of the posters.  I didn't think I had done this (only on some but not all???), but rather than argue as I usually do, I just smiled and said, "if you say so."  Everyone glared at J- who immediately stopped carping.  I went home feeling OK rather than mad.  That helps!

This week the cleaning ladies didn't come for some reason, so I did a little myself.  Later today I'll try yoga for the first time since I hurt my knee a couple of months ago.  Our instructor, bless her heart, has said that she will set aside a chair for me to use when everyone else is on the floor or on their knees.  I walked up and down several flights of steps at the library last night, without much pain, so I think I'm finally on the mend.  Things all seem to be looking up this week - if only the snow would melt!

Need a lift?

It's been an unusual winter in that the temperatures have been chilly and the skies gloomy.  It snows a tiny bit nearly every day.  Often January-February have been very cold - below zero - and sunny.  Occasionally we used to have big dumps of snow, including the still-famous Valentine's Day of 2007 when we had 21" in a matter of hours.  Our relative lack of sun had me worried that the amaryllis bulb Mom sent us for Christmas wouldn't bloom.  Two buds did make their way up, though, and yesterday it burst into bloom!

What's more, when I posted a photo of these flowers on Facebook, 27 people "liked" it!  Sure says a lot about social media.  You can't see it from the photo, but my plants are sitting on a lovely boot tray my cousin Jeannie sent for Christmas.  I had made her a quilt this summer, and this was her thank you - it's far too nice for boots.

I had a stomach bug over the weekend so did nothing but sleep, read, and watch some TV.  I discovered a new British detective I want to read more of - Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope, smart, unattractive, and of a "certain age."  I felt well enough yesterday to go downtown to pick up another gift certificate for the Friends of the Library winter banquet/auction.  While I was there, I got a big container of hot and sour soup - yum!  That can cure whatever ails.  

That old nuisance, snow-sleet-freezing rain-rain, is predicted for later today and into tomorrow.  After early morning errands (walk in the mall, shop for essential foods), I'll get back to cutting up 2" x 3.5" strips for a very scrappy quilt I'm making from The Big Book of Scrappy Quilts.  I need thousands, but I still have plenty from the Curved Log Cabin I showed a few days ago.  And when I need a break, I'll dip into The Little Paris Bookshop, completely different from Ann Cleeves but just as compelling.

Blue scrappy orange peels

Every time I start a new scrap quilt, I think "this will really make the level of my [whatever color] box go down."  Wrong!  I've been appliqueing orange peels on and off since last spring when I taught a beginning applique class.  I'm using cream scraps for the 6" block backgrounds, too.  So far the piece measures 24" x 36" with several more blocks prepared for applique.

I like it a lot but am dithering about whether to keep making more or to stop.   A variety of blues, from dark turquoise through indigo is really fun to work with.  Orange peels are so easy to applique that I think I'll put what I have together, set it aside, and reassess after I tackle a few other projects. 

Over the past few days I've re-discovered how nice it is to sit and applique on a snowy day.  Saturday afternoon we went to an organ concert at the library (unusual and funny), and, when we got home, the weather took a turn for winter with snow and wind.   It has been snow showering off and on ever since.  Just a week ago we were grilling burgers and opening the doors.  That's fall in Vermont, a truly transitional time.   As the weather changes, we add layers of clothing, too.  Time to get those turtlenecks out!

Red sky in morning...

 

...Vermonters take warning.  That was the view from our kitchen window very early yesterday.  After a lovely blue-skied morning, it clouded over.  This morning, we woke to a "winter wonderland:"

 



What a difference!