The Calm Before the Next Storm

The weather has been just horrible here the past few days, and it's going to continue on through the weekend. For now the rain has stopped, but we're expecting at least two more big storms before things dry out a little. There is no flooding I'm aware of in our little town of Newberg, and so I was able to get in and out of the grocery store between downpours yesterday. Nevertheless, there is plenty of flooding in other areas. If you click right here, you can see some of the pictures. Flooding is one thing, but we've also had high winds. High winds mean downed trees, and so I'm putting off my trips to two local libraries to see the quilt displays until Friday, at least. More than likely, I won't get there until next week.

That left plenty of time for sewing yesterday, and I finished the Four Fabric Forest 2.0 yesterday. These are so much fun, and this one went pretty quickly.

It joins a pile of three other little quilts that need quilting, and so I'll put that off until January or February. Nevertheless, I picked the hand-dyed green on the left for the binding...it's a leftover from another project.

It's a little hard to see in these images, but the bottom orange fabric has greens and yellows and that blend nicely with the binding fabric.

Also, I have the orange remnant below, and I'll use that for the back. Isn't it great when you can make a quilt from fabrics already in your stash?

Today I'm continuing with my scrappy ways. This Icy Blue table runner was going to be my Let's Book It project, but there is no Let's Book It this month. Bummer. I'll have to make another one next month, I guess. Anyway...this one has some fabric requirements, and I pulled a bunch of fabric yesterday. Then I realized I can do this mostly with scraps too. I have tons of blues. Don't we all? So I'll just work with what I have and try to avoid cutting any uncut yardage.

That's a free pattern from All People Quilt.

Also in yesterday's mail the backing fabric for the Gingerbread Square quilt arrived. This is how the quilt will look when it's finished:

I have all the fabrics I need for the quilt top, but I didn't have anything for the back. This being Christmas, it seemed a good time to go fabric shopping for Christmas-types of fabrics. I chose this peppermint candy print. Cute, huh?

So that's Wednesday pretty much laid out. I need to wander out between rain drops and fill the bird feeders, and I have a stack of recipes to type into my recipe database. Every time I make my way through a stack of recipes, I swear I won't let them pile up again. And if you're anything like me, then you know that's a big fat lie. In an effort to keep the stack from getting any taller, I'm going to endeavor to type them in today. As I write this, the stack is ten recipes deep. Oy.

If I can get all that done, I'll probably make some Cranberry-Orange Bread with Grand Marnier Glaze.  I've made this before, and it's a favorite at Christmas.

The loaves are made with dried cranberries and lots of orange juice and orange zest. Shortly after it comes out of the oven, you poke holes in the top and then pour a glaze made from confectioner's sugar and Grand Marnier (or substitute orange juice if you want them alcohol-free). The glaze hardens to give them a nice little crust and the liquid that soaks down inside keeps the bread nice and moist. You can also make them with dried cherries in place of the dried cranberries, and then use amaretto in place of the Grand Marnier. Of course, I never use the real Grand Marnier...Triple Sec works just fine. Also, you can make two large loaves or six little ones, and so it's a great project for holiday gifting. You can see the recipe at that link I've given yu above. I'm keeping one loaf for us and giving one to a neighbor.

So that's a long list for today. Time to get moving on it.

P. S. I think I already missed my "between raindrops" window of opportunity to fill the bird feeders. Oh well. Donning my rain gear now.