1/1/17

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!!!!

Cat Patches

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.

14 comments:

Dorothy said...

A Happy and Healthy New Year for you as you start the new adventure of a "retiree's wife". I think your new goals are great--simplify--so you have time for all of the great trips coming up

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I knew you weren't stopping - gotta have ya chattin' at us for sure, don't want you talkin' to statues!! Stitching with the furkids during a snow storm is tops with me.

Barb H said...

As soon as I saw the picture of the cats staring at the goldfish, I was reminded of this video I saw recently: Hope you can get it to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWfFoafIxo

Debbie said...

Never heard of blue hour, but you always teach us well the details of life we might miss. And heck, I talk out loud to myself all the time. Drives Sir Old Man crazy...giggle, giggle.

QuiltShopGal said...

Very interesting about the term Bluehour. I've seen that light, but have never heard the term. Love your bag ladies. I wish you a very happy new year with plenty of time to enjoy and create.

QuiltShopGal
www.quiltshopgal.com

ps - stay warm - quilt more!

Denise :) said...

I get to enjoy the blue hour almost every day, on my way into work. Of course, it's not nearly as dramatic as when everything's covered in snow! (Of course, if everything was that much covered in snow, I wouldn't be headed to work, would I? At least not here in North Alabama!) The middle statue looks like Teddy Roosevelt! I saw the Hocus Pocusville pic in the slow stitching linky and knew it had to be you! Happy New Year, Barbara! :)

Quilting Babcia said...

Blue hour - never heard the term before but surely have seen it, both here and in Oregon.

Lana said...

Your blue hour snow picture is beautiful. Brrrrrrr.....glad you have the cat quilt & a real live cat(sweet Sadie) to keep you warm. It was 75 here in south Texas today. Would love to have one snow day & then that's about enough for me. I won't be joining y'all for the bag lady journey other than to follow the progress and see the cute pictures. I have too many other projects started or in the planning stages.

Brown Family said...

I finished up a piece this morning and started Ernestine! I am amazed at how soft and workable it is with the stabilizer on it! I tried to stabilize some other pieces from the same company and used something that was too dense. It was hard to needle! This is not! I will be posting my projects soon.

Dana Gaffney said...

Blue Hour is beautiful and it feels really still and quiet. My favorite is when the sun is just starting it's trip and everything glows gold, maybe that's called the Gold Hour.

Kate said...

The opening photo is beautiful. We are supposed get snow on Wednesday. Looking forward to watching the bag ladies develop.

Judy1522 said...

I love your blue hour picture it is so beautiful. I don't think that I have ever seen one before but now I will have to pay more attention. We didn't get any snow to speak of down here in Beaverton. It was predicted we would get some but very disappointing to get only about 2 flakes. Are you using the thread colors that were suggested in the instructions or colors you already have for Ernestine? Will you be showing your progress throughout the month? I find it helpful to see what stitches you are using. Yours looks great! I am planning to start on mine today.

quiltzyx said...

Blue hour, well that makes sense, doesn't it? Beautiful pic, even if it did give me a chill!
I still need to get my stabilizer for the Bag Ladies, but at least everything is in one place - a bag no less ;)

Quilter Kathy said...

Well done on the hocus pocus blocks! I love how funny the sayings are on each block!