Above Freezing!

Good morning, my friends. It appears things are looking up here at the Three Cats Ranch. Last night, I woke up too warm for the first time in at least a week. When we got up this morning, our temperature was at 33°F...above freezing, baby! It's still dark out, and so I can't see how much ice accumulation we have. When we went to bed last night, it was just a thin candy coating of the stuff. We're hopeful we didn't get any significant accumulation overnight. 

It started out a pretty day yesterday, but look at that. Sunshine on the mountains as a front moves in, looking very threatening.

Upstairs, I looked out a window to see icicles forming on our Starlink dish. The dish itself is heated to prevent snow accumulation. As the water melted, it formed icicles.

On the opposite side of the house, I noticed this frost on the window. Cool, huh?

Sadie ventured out for all of 14 seconds. I was watching her as she ran frantically back and forth on the front patio. There is a wood box just under the eaves there. The kitties like to sit there in bad weather. They can keep an eye on the birds without getting wet. She was trying to find a path to the wood box that didn't require walking across the snow. When she couldn't find a way, she came back inside.

Inside, I tied the fourth of five rows of blocks. There is just one more row, and then the two borders to tie. I believe I can finish the tying today. If I break it into two sittings, I think my hands can tolerate it. From there, I'm hoping to get the binding sewn on.

Cold weather always puts me in the mood for baking. Maybe something inside of me thinks the oven can do double-duty when it's cold. I decided to make some Orange Rolls. These are like the Pop 'n Fresh ones you find in the grocery store. I like them because they aren't too sweet. They have a nice orange-y flavor, and they're nice with a morning cup of coffee. They're supposed to bake in an 8-inch pan. My pan was nine inches, and so a little too large, but it worked anyway.

I've linked to the recipe back there, but it's another NYTimes recipe. If you can't open it, please feel free to email me, and I'll be happy to share it with you. 

Okay, so with that finished. I headed into the sewing room and finished off the Bumble Sampler quilt top. It finishes at 15 x 17 inches. The embroidery pattern is from Kathy Schmitz. I had some fabrics left over from when I made the Bee Loving quilt. The inner border is one of the woven cottons Matthew's friend Lyndsey brought to me from Bali.

 

For the back, I used another scrap left from the Bee Loving quilt.

Now it's sandwiched for quilting, and it will be added to the to-be-quilted pile.

Also, I cut the binding strips. Now it's one step away from a finish.

And that brings me back to my list of WIPs. It seems we barely left those just a day or two ago. The next one will be the eighth block for When Quilters Gather...this one:

Here's the picture from the book. She's hanging fabrics on a design wall.

That was the end of my sewing day. For dinner I made these Loaded Cauliflower Bowls. Think of a loaded baked potato. Now, remove the potato and add roasted cauliflower. It's yummy.

I've linked to the recipe back there. It's super easy to make. Once before, I made this while we were traveling in our truck camper. The recipe suggests adding some sort of meat to increase the protein. Last time I made it, I added shrimp. This time, I added some ham left over from New Year's. We liked the ham better than the shrimp.

So that's all I have for you today. It's still too dark to see outside. It's very tempting to lie down on the couch and go back to sleep for a while. We're just hoping this warming trend will continue, and our carpet install can go off as scheduled on Monday. The entire contents of my office are now scattered among three different rooms in the house. We're stacking things, trying to keep the chaos level to a minimum, but it isn't easy. Only the things in our dresser drawers need to be emptied into boxes now, and we'll be set. 

How's the temperature where you are today? Hopefully, we'll all be seeing some relief from this cold weather soon.