Bring on the Bag Ladies!

There's a popular restaurant in Portland called Bluehour. I went with some friends many years ago. It was fine, but rather crowded, noisy, and expensive...not my kind of place, but apparently others like it. The name didn't have much meaning to me until this morning when I looked outside.

Yes, it snowed during the night! And it's going to be cold and sunny all next week, so look for this to be around for a while. It snowed most of the morning, and we have about 4-5 inches accumulation. As for Bluehour...it made me think. So I Googled "blue hour" and found that truly, it is just this time of day that the term refers to...it lasts for about one hour after dawn. Here's what Wikipedia had to say about it:

This effect is caused by the relative diffusibility of short blue wavelengths of light versus the longer red wavelengths. During the blue "hour" (typically the period is about 40 minutes in length), red light passes straight into space while blue light is scattered in the atmosphere and therefore reaches the earth's surface. 

It's the first thing I've learned this year! Now that's something worth celebrating.

Fortunately, we had the foresight to get out and fill the bird feeders yesterday. I know our little bird friends appreciate it and they flock to our feeders on a snowy day. Also, I noticed that the hummingbird feeder is not yet frozen. There was a little hummer sitting nearby this morning, all fluffed up in the cold.

New Year's Eve was spent stitching and stitching and stitching so that I could start 2017 with a clean slate, embroidery wise. Block #9 of the Hocuspocusville quilt is finished.

When I work on this again, I'll be doing Hagatha's Dirty Laundry, which only makes sense, if you think about it. I do all the dirty laundry here at the Three Cats Ranch, and so this one should be second nature.

Getting that one finished left me with a clean slate because today is the BIG DAY! The Bag Ladies of the Fat Quarter Club Stitch-Along starts today!!!!

When we went to bed last night, Ernestine was all hooped up and ready to go. If you don't know about the stitch-along, click there on that button above for all the details. It's never too late to join in.

You might think I chose Ernestine because her hairstyle so closely resembles mine, but no. I chose her because she is Block #1 of 12. If you're stitching along, please choose whichever block you want to. There are no rules to speak of, but if you want to link up at the end of the month, you need to show us that you've made some progress beyond hooping. This morning, she was off to a good start.

And I think it's always good to have your creature comforts nearby while you're stitching. Sadie was keeping my lap nice and warm on this snowy winter morning.

It seems I need to clear up something I said on my earlier goal post this morning. When I said the posts took a long time to write, I was only referring to the goal posts, not blogging in general. Quit blogging? Not on your life. What would I do? Who would I talk to? My head will fill up with words, and they'd come spilling out of my mouth, and I'd end up walking around muttering to myself. I might feel compelled to drive into downtown Portland to talk to this guy:

Or this guy:

Or even her:

And that could give you a serious crick in your neck. So, no. Heavens no. Quit blogging? Not on your life. Phew. It gave me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

Speaking of heebie jeebies, I'm heading back into the sewing room to get back at those Quiltmaker's Garden blocks. I am determined to finish them. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. Oh wait. Never mind. It seems as if you head off on that phraseology it's impossible not to finish it. So, off I go. It's the first day of the new year. Let's make it a good one.