Snow day = sew day!

I woke up far too early today and, after doing a little bit around the house, decided it was too snowy to go to my regular check up.  When I called the doctor's office, the receptionist didn't seem surprised I wanted to cancel and rescheduled me for January right away.

I went upstairs and got to work on the Orange Polka Dot quilt.  It's made of guild blocks of the month and some instructions the guild received from Kristin Laura Designs.  The block which I put on the bottom right was demonstrated at our last guild meeting.  It's larger than 12" finished, but I wanted to try making it anyway.  

It has aspects of Dresden Plate and is just as easy.  The ones shown at guild were in Christmas colors which I always like.  But I needed one block to add to the 15 I had made between Sept., 2024, and now.  I appliqued a cornerstone where one might have gone if it had been 12" like the other blocks.

Of course, I need a little more of that speckled black background to finish putting the top together.  I think it will be a good "stop border" and then I'll add at least one more border.  That should get it up to 60" x 60".   Of course, I bought the speckled fabric at least a year and a half ago, so I doubt my local shop will have it.  I turned to my old friend Etsy and soon found another yard and a half which should be enough.

Here's a "rough draft" of the top without borders.

-7

The photo doesn't show the orange in the polka dots very well.  But they are there.  And I have about 6-7 more yards.  I'll use some in the back, but I really would like to find another nice project for that fabric.  

Winter is definitely here

As is typical for December, we've had a little snow every night and we wake up to the sound of the snowplows on the roads.  Living on a corner makes it more apparent that there's lots of activity in the early morning hours.  This was our view a few mornings ago.

We've had more since then, but none of it has clipped our wings much.  We have still gotten out and, yesterday, even took a walk.  Today, though, I plan to stay home, do laundry, read, and sew.  

My brother and his wife have been visiting over the weekend and are leaving this morning before the predicted freezing rain starts.  I hope they don't encounter any on the way home to NJ.  We did have a nice weekend - lots of good conversation and food.  We went to see the Wicked movie which I loved and also to A Christmas Carol adaptation played by local folks.  Our little town may seem like "Maybury" once in a while, but that's when we love it the most.  The holiday lights downtown, sprinkled with snowflakes now and then, make it very cozy after dark.  Hope you're enjoying the season as much as we are.

Another snow day

We had about 6" of snow overnight but it's still falling.  Schools are closed, and everyone seems to be staying in (unless they have to go to work).  I think it will stop fairly soon because it's already winding down.  Today my biggest decisions will be whether to read (I'm very far into the first Vera Stanhope mystery, The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves) or to sew (I have a few more blocks to put together for the guild mystery quilt).  Guess I'll do both!  We are planning on bacon and blueberry whole wheat pancakes for lunch and leftover chicken casserole for dinner.  I love snow days!

Snow!

Our across the street neighbor took this from her front door looking toward our driveway and garage yesterday.  Just a little snow fell from Saturday to Monday!   The roads looked like those I remember in Wisconsin where my family moved when I was in college.   You could go pretty fast on those icy, snow-covered roads because it was flat.  Here, going up and down hills gets pretty tricky when there's a lot of snow with temperatures below zero.  I headed down to the library after dinner last night to attend a Friends meeting and ended up going about 15 mph most of the way.  The way home was a little easier as it was uphill all the way.   It will likely pack down a bit in the next few days, but I hope we don't get any more for a while.

Another snow day

My across the street neighbor, Winnie, took this photo of our neighborhood yesterday.  That's a little bit of our garage showing along with the 8-10" of heavy, wet snow we received.  This was the third major snowstorm we've had this season.  Or was it the fourth?  I have lost track!  Others posted photos of turkeys, foraging through the snow in their yards.   Maybe if the weather gets all this snow out of "its" system, "it" will leave December unscathed?  We can hope.

The snow kept us housebound but also warm and cozy.  Although I often make a special lunch like pancakes on a day like yesterday,  I wrapped Christmas presents and put together packages to mail instead.  I have six ready to go out but will only mail the two that need to go the farthest today.  One is for my sister Jacqueline in the Netherlands, and the other for my mom and sister Jenny in Colorado.   Having a small, far-flung family means getting most shopping done early, and now I have just a little more shopping for my two guys here at home.

I took a little time to water plants, search for a holiday table decoration for the Thursday night library staff appreciation dinner, and change our door quilt to the tree Paula made me last year.    I had made 17 key fobs for the library staff, so made and attached little "thank you" tags using the computer and a new rubber stamp.

Then I got busy quilting.  I had to unpick a couple seams on my latest Splendid Sampler block and then I started on some placemats for an exchange.  They aren't due at my secret sister's until February, but she asked for a Christmas theme, so I'm hoping to get them to her in time for the holiday.  Last year I put in a bid for a batch of fabric from another quilter's de-stashing, and quite a bit of it was Christmas-related.  While cutting out half square triangles, I again mentally thanked Wendy for her generosity.   I have some glitzy black fabric for the placemat backs and will rummage around for some dark green binding.

A sale!

I have had an etsy shop for some years now and have only sold a table runner... until yesterday!  

My lovely Blue Orange Peels quilt sold to a lady in Washington state, and I am, of course, over the moon.  It is all wrapped and ready for mailing later this afternoon, ahead of yet another snow storm.

This is one of my very favorite quilts, and I'm a little sad to see it go.  But I can't keep them all, and it's nice to have a little "pin" (ahem!  "fabric") money come in.  Maybe I'll make another one soon, perhaps in lavender or pink.  I love appliqueing those orange peel blocks.  You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the border is made of small tumblers.   I quilted a grid in the open spaces which turned out really nice, too.  The plain muslin back shows the quilting really nicely.

Yesterday, I finished putting the piano keys border on the orange and yellow quilt.  I sewed all the way around the outside edge so that it won't stretch while quilting.   It's going to show and tell at guild next week, and when we get back from Virginia, I'll start quilting it.   I have the yellow binding all cut out and ready to sew and iron.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow while I watch the @#$%^&*!snow - 12" expected in the next two days.  Everyone is sick of it, except the skiers.

Snowing like crazy

Yve gave me a lovely scarf, dyed with flowers and plants, by a friend of hers.  I had Paul take a photo so I could send it to her.  You probably can't see the earrings Jenny gave me, but they have purple stones in them.   Just two of my great gifts.

As I write this, it is snowing heavily.  It started early this afternoon and is supposed to continue into tomorrow (Friday).  We may get 10" or more.  Wednesday, after mall walking, Paul and I went to the grocery store to stock up.  It was bustling, but I'm glad we went.  Today would have been crazy.  We were able to go walking this morning, but if the snow keeps up as it has today, we won't be going anywhere tomorrow, not even to volunteer at the VT Historical Society.

Yesterday afternoon I put bindings on two quilts.  One had come back from the long armer a week ago, and the other I just finished quilting myself.   I do bindings entirely by machine most of the time these days.  It takes me so long to hand stitch the bindings down, and I think this method makes them more durable/machine washable.

Today I made the guild block of the month and then started some 6" blocks from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler for a swap.  The blocks aren't due until

September, 2017, but I wanted to get the paper pieced "Amethyst" blocks over with.  Paper piecing is not my favorite technique, but it really is the best for this block.  I have made it with templates before and it always looked wonky.  My mom sent  the fabric from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum gift shop.  She said she had fun choosing it, just as I thought she would.
I especially love the double pinks she picked.