White World

Good morning, my friends. It snowed off and on for most of the day yesterday. It was warm enough that it also melted as it was accumulating. There was still some accumulation, though. This is the view from my window this morning.

Our Snow-o-meter is measuring three inches. And I must say the Snow-o-meter is doing a bang-up job. I think this might be its third season, but we haven't seen this much snow since before it was installed. The little snowman is happy to have something to do. Look at that. He's smiling!

I'm glad I filled the bird feeders for our birdie friends. I see these dark-eyed juncos out pecking at the snow, and I wonder how they would find anything to eat if we didn't put out feeders. Also...with the avian flu going around, don't you think these birdies should be wearing masks? No wonder so many are getting sick.

Okay, so back inside, I finished off the 8th block for Grandpa's Bridges, as expected. After washing out the Sticky Fabri-Solvy and then giving it a good press, it looked like this.

I'm really loving these blocks. It'll be nice to have them finished off and sewn into a quilt top. I have some great fabrics set aside to use when I'm ready to sew them all together.

I had one housekeeping chore to do, and it was a Bow-flex day. After some lunch, I made my way to the sewing room where Sadie helped in her usual way...by throwing herself into the middle of what I was working on. The cat goes all in when she's helping.

She helped so much that I ended up finding her a different job holding down the little rug in front of the fireplace. 

We bought that rug at Ikea many years ago, probably because we thought the kitties would like it. At the time, the original three cats of the Three Cats Ranch were living here. Only Krissy would lie on the rug. She was a tortie too. She was our longest-lived kitty, living to age 19, and such a sweety. She was a good friend.

And all of that to say that our two torties are the only kitties who have lain on the Ikea rug. They must like the way it sets off their beautiful furs.

Okay, and then I could get back to my sewing, undisturbed and unperturbed. The first block was for Hickory Hill Quilts in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This was a very nice shop.

We were in Hot Springs to visit Hot Springs National Park, and so I chose this water fabric. Generally, I only buy a fat quarter, but this fabric would work well in a landscape quilt. I bought a full yard.

The next block was for Poppy Quilt 'N Sew in Georgetown, Texas. This was another great shop, recommended by a friend from high school who lives in the area.

I bought this one because it reminded me of the Texas bluebonnets we'd seen along the way. This was my favorite picture of the bluebonnets:

So that makes six of 16 blocks for the Shop Hop 4.0 quilt. I still have four fabrics to make into blocks, which means I'll need six more to finish this off. Let's hope I see that many quilt shops along the way on our upcoming trip to Alaska.

Before I finished for the day, I traced out the names and places for the next two blocks. These are the ones I'll make when this project makes an appearance on my to-do list next time around.

This morning, I'll take the first stitches on February's block for The Sewing Room. There's not much to see here. It'll show up better when I take a few stitches.

I'll finish this one, and then the quilt shop names and places above before moving on to the next project.

Next up, I'll finish off the last three blocks for The Story of My Day. These are the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

It's close to being ready for the next step of sewing it into a finished quilt top, but that will be down the road a bit.

Today is the day we planned to do our grocery shopping. Driver Mike informs me the snow won't stop us, but we'll probably hold off a little before we leave. If there's time today (probably), I'll get a start on remaking The Great Outdoors quilt. 

I've been thinking about this project for weeks, and so I feel ready to get started on it. If it's possible for me to love this quilt any more, I believe this remake will do the trick. And if it doesn't work...well...I still have an embarrassingly huge stash of flannel scraps. Somehow I'll make something that will keep me warm.