And a happy new year to all

It is beautiful out today - 47 degrees, sunny, with a clear blue sky. The snow is melting nicely, but I'm sure we'll get more in a day or so. It's an early January thaw I guess. I just rearranged our basement storage closet in preparation for untrimming the tree and putting away the Christmas village tomorrow. I am ready to have a little more room upstairs, but it is always so unfestive when all the decorations are down. I'll keep my Beanie bears with scarves around the necks in the kitchen with me for a while longer.

Wed. night we were invited to Ruth's for dinner. What an adventure - we hadn't been there before, and I had forgotten that she lives far into the hills of Northfield. After dark, all dirt roads begin to look alike, but we did finally make it up her steep driveway. Ruth had won a turkey dinner at the holiday farmer's market and needed friends to help her eat the 31 lb. bird and all its trimmings. Her son Jack did most of the cooking, and we had a nice pumpkin cheesecake for dessert from a new restaurant called The Square Biscuit. We'll have to try it (it's in "downtown" Northfield). Yum.

The driveway wasn't too bad to negotiate on the way down, and we headed back the way we came. Or so we thought. We came to a strange fork in the road with a sign that read "dead end," but it was unclear which way the arrow was pointing. I kept going straight and soon came to said dead end. The snowplow turns around there, and so did we, going down the other way. We did finally end up on Route 12A and then the interstate. The whole trip took about an hour, and we had new appreciation for Ruth's devotion to the Old Labor Hall and its monthly meetings in all weather.

I've been working on a feathered star block from Quilter's Cache in black and white with a hint of red. It ends up being about 21" square, and I hope to surround it with some blocks I'll be receiving later this year in a swap. It's quite a complicated block but, having never attempted one, I thought I'd see if I could. And it looks like a large snowflake, particularly with the white on black print. I will put it aside until after the swap in a pizza box with some other blocks I've made. Next up will be another pieced 16" block on which to applique from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, vol. 2. I don't know how large the finished product will be but I do like having some applique to do on a snowy afternoon.

We're staying in tonight, and I have a nice roast in the crockpot with carrots and potatoes. I will roast some acorn squash to go with it. Max starts to follow me around as the crock pot smell permeates the air. Every time I go into the kitchen, he races along and then looks a little disappointed to find it isn't for him. We will probably fall asleep long before midnight, but tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice as today. That's a great way to start 2011!