12/7/16

Sunny and Cold

The sun is dazzling this morning, and the temperatures are turning colder. We're expecting more snow and ice beginning late tonight and into tomorrow morning. For now, it's very pretty outside.


Look far off into the distance and you can see Mt. St. Helens. We haven't been able to see it for a couple of weeks, at least.

The roads were clear, even though there was plenty of snow on the ground, and so I was able to get off the hill for lunch with Matthew. Here's how the driveway looked as I drove off.


Lunch was nice. Matthew is in a very good place, leaving his job this month and venturing off on a start-up company. It's scary for him, but he's hopeful and optimistic about his future. After lunch, I had a few errands to run. On the way home, I could see that the snow was limited to the very top of the hill where we live.


It's expected to fall to the valley floor overnight, which is never a good thing for the morning commute. Add in the expected ice, and it's pretty much a disaster. Fortunately, I'm not going anywhere, and Mike has the option of working from home.

One of my errands yesterday was to pick up a tree. We're only putting up a table top tree these days. We have some short strings of lights and decorations saved from previous Jackson & Perkins trees we've purchased. Mike put the lights on it last night, and I finished decorating it this morning.


Including time spent standing in line to pay for it, I think we spent about 20 minutes on this tree...my kind of tree. The rooms in our house are small, and we don't have little ones running around any more, unless you count the furry little ones. These days we keep our decorations pretty simple. There's the two dimensional tree hanging in the family room downstairs:


And this beady-eyed Santa hanging in the living room. It's probably just as well we don't have little ones running around. I'm afraid this Santa would put them off Christmas for good.


There are a few other little things sitting around too, but that's pretty much it for us and Christmas.

This morning I checked in on the seed culture. It has barely risen from yesterday. It needs to at least double in volume before I'm ready to move on to the barm.


There are bubbles, and so I know there is fermentation going on. I'll give this another day, and maybe two, to reach its full potential. There's no rush on this, and so I'm being patient and waiting it out.


Also this morning I finished stitching the little quilt, the dog's face, and some of the items in the suitcase on this Summer Holiday block. It's good to have the embroidery finished on the applique.


It can be hard to stitch through, and it gave me a sore knuckle yesterday. You can see how the edges of the dog applique are pretty badly frayed. I'll hit those with some Fray Check and it should be fine.

Today I'll start quilting the Gingerbread Square quilt. It's taken me a few days to work up my nerve, but I'm ready to go now. Wish me luck. Also, be sure to check out my giveaway post for Giveaway Day right here.

18 comments:

Dana Gaffney said...

The tree looks beautiful and so very festive. How nice that you got the snow and didn't need to share it with the under the mountain people, it's a little strange to see those trees covered in snow but all that green where you were.

Debbie said...

There it is....fermenting going on. I am loving your adventure with this. The small tree is perfect and the route I will be taking if anything goes up. Snow is beautiful...ice is hated here. Time to sew when that happens.

Kaisievic said...

Oooh, I love the snow pictures - so very pretty. Your lowkey Christmas decorating looks fabulous (and so much easier) and good luck with the bread making. Loving your stitching on the applique block.

Quilting Babcia said...

Your driveway looks pretty much the way our Oregon driveway did. Thankfully, there's only one big lilac bush next to the current driveway - that and no snow - yet, lol! I'd like to get down to a tabletop size tree, especially with the house being as small as it is, but ... you know the rest of the story ...

Vroomans' Quilts said...

The first snow always looks so lovely. A small tree works for me (I might tuck a twig in a cup). Ice is no good and glad Mike has the 'work from home' option.

quiltzyx said...

Cute Christmas tree!
Applique/embroidered block looks good. I got some hoops for the bag ladies for next month. Need to get floss & new needles & I will be ready.
Glad to hear Mike has that work from home option.
And best of luck to Matthew on the new job!

WoolenSails said...

Love how the snow looks on the tops of the trees, beautiful setting.
I have lots of smaller trees and greens around the house, easier with the pets and love how it warms up the house. Hopefully i can get things done for next year, would love to have quilts to hang around the house.


Debbie

Brown Family said...

Very interesting photo of the snow on the trees on the hill.
I have not put up a tree in several years. Every year, I think I will and then it is Christmas. Where does the time go

Janarama said...

I like the frayed edges on the dog because it looks like fur. Your Christmas tree is the perfect size and it looks nice and full. We had our first snow fall of 6.8" last Sunday and the weather people are predicting between 4-11" starting Saturday night.

claudia said...

YAY! Snow! Ours has melted where the sun hits it and gotten crunchy where the shade is. I kind of like going out to feed, my foot steps crunching all along the way, and it's so quiet out.
I think the dog looks like a fluffy puppy with the fraying. He's cute (she?).
We were thinking about getting a small tree that we can plant somewhere on the property in the spring. There's not much space here for much else. I have a tiny house, but it's cozy!

Bonnie58 said...

Hi. My favourite is old fashioned chocolate chip. Thanks so much for sharing. love the fabrics.

Bonnie58 said...

I am a long time email follower. Love your blog.

Susan said...

We had a couple of inches of heavy, wet snow Sunday evening. It melted Monday. Now we are getting more snow. The fraying edges of the dog make it looks like fur.

Nita said...

We have a tabletop tree, too. I've got lights and a couple of baubles in it, but really should make the effort to dig out a few more. And my santa hat is lost in the Christmas boxes in the garage, too, yes, Christmas boxes plural. Sigh. All I really need is one small box anymore since we don't put up the big tree. I really like the dog pulling on the quilt applique. I wonder if I could fashion something similar for a splendid sampler block. I've been going a bit rogue on that, lol, doing my own blocks when the posted one isn't my cuppa tea.

Anonymous said...

My favorite is always a good sugar cookie....anytime of the year! I also love banana bread. Your tree is pretty. We don't do much decorating anymore either. I'd rather be sewing!! Love seeing your beautiful projects, expecially your embroidery...so pretty! Thanks for the giveaway. Helen G. hrglover at hotmail dot com

Anonymous said...

i follow your blog by email. Love it!! Beautiful snow pictures! brrrr!
Helen G. hrglover at hotmail dot com

Motherdragon's Musings said...

Such beautiful snow photos.
I love your Santa, do you remember by any chance where you got the oattern, please?
The Christmas tree wall hanging is very festive.

Kate said...

Snow is so pretty, as long as you don't have to drive in it. Your new stitching project is such fun. Hope you've had more time to stitch, it's such a nice activity when it's cold outside.