It Was A Snap!

I did get the little "snap bag" made last week.  When I make something new, I like to make just one so I get the process straight in my mind.  I used the pattern by Stitchin Sisters.  I borrowed the pattern from one of my quilting groupies.  These little bags use old metal measuring tape to create the snap closure.  DH brought me about 10 feet from the shop to use.   I learned a lot making the first one and hope to get some more made for some Valentine treats.  It was quick and easy.  It took me longer to cut out the pieces than to sew it together.   There is a tutorial for one here too.

I've been in a "January funk" this last week.  It has been overcast and super, super cold. It has snowed off and on the last 3 days.  High winds a couple days blew the snow around and into the shelter belts. It was -18 this morning, but at last the sun is shining.  It is amazing what sunshine does for me.  I see on face book that a lot of people take extra Vitamin D in the winter time.  I'll have to look for some next time I get somewhere that sells that kind of thing.  When it is so cold I just want to wrap up in a blanket and vegetate.  Rocco loves when I do that, so I'm appreciated by him.   Linda sent me the book, The Quilter's Apprentice, so I was reading instead of sewing.  Thanks, Linda, it was a good read.

Peanut  had a successful surgery last week.  She was back to wanting outside in two days.  I worry about her naked tummy and getting too cold.  She whines and nags until I give in and let her out.  At least she comes back sooner than before.  I thought maybe the surgery would slow her down, but so far not a bit.

These three shared some snacks together the other morning.  "Bad Cow" walks over the cattle guard gate, which is suppose to keep her out of our yard.  She likes the corn and oats that get spilled by the grain bins.  She was joined by a cotton tail rabbit and a blue jay.   The pheasants and deer like to stop for lunch too.

I ran letters to the mailbox this morning, so I took a sunny day picture coming back.  The snow doesn't look as stacked up as it does in towns, because we have more room for it to spread out.

The cows were all waiting for "Meals on Wheels" to show up.  I don't want to come back as a cow in my next life--not a South Dakota cow, anyway.  They don't seem to mind as long as they have a lot of food.

Well, I hope to get over my funk and back into my sewing room.  With the sun shining it should help warm it up in there too.

Borders and Backing

I got the borders put on the Pinwheel quilt.  I wish I had made the outside border 4 inches instead of 3.  The quilt ended up being a 67 x 67 inch square.  This is the biggest quilt I've ever made.  I'm more of a baby quilt/table runner quilter.  This will be a challenge for me to quilt on my machine.  I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt it. 

This is the fabric for the backing.  I bought this from the clearance shelf at a LQS for $2.99 a yard a couple years ago.  I really liked it and bought it thinking it would make a pretty backing.  I spent yesterday ironing and piecing it together.  Now I have all three pieces of the quilt laying out and resting on the bed in the computer room. 

 Of course I'm procrastinating the sandwiching process today and worrying about how I should quilt it. So  I got out some Valentine fabric.  I have Terry Atkinson's pattern for "Snap Happy Bags" and I want to make some for Valentine's treats.  Don't you just love Valentine fabric?   I have quite a bit of it too.  lol  I got an old broken measuring tape from DH to use.  He's interested in seeing what I'm going to do with it. 

 

I finished up my Little Birdie block  #1 this morning.  I wasn't sure I was going to like using 6 strands of floss or the colors I chose.   I'm using the light gray fabric from the Sunkissed line and the snow is a cream color.  I have never embroidered with 6 strands of floss before either.  It has a very "chunky" look to it.  Now that I have it done, I'm kind of liking the different look.  It's good to try new things and have it look different than what I've always done.  It's growing on me every time I look at it.  I do need a different needle to work with next time.  There are some blood spots I'm hoping come out on the snowman's tummy.  I think a needle with a bigger head might pull through the fabric easier.  I'll have to check in town tomorrow for something like that.

I'm headed to town early in the morning with Peanut.  She is scheduled for her spay surgery at the vet.   She needs to be there at 8:00 am and I can pick her up after lunch.  She loves being outside, but she's sleeping on our bed with Rocco this afternoon.   Too cold for her, I guess.    It was -15 F this morning with a -42 wind chill.  It is suppose to warm a little tomorrow.  The sun is shining brightly today tho--that always makes it more bearable.   : )

January Progress

 After looking through all my starts from last year, I decided to set 2 goals for January.  The first one was to catch up on the Raggedy Ann & Friends blocks.  I completed block 5 & 6 the last couple days.  I know the next one will be out pretty soon, so I wanted to get all caught up.  I really want to stay on track with this quilt.  I like doing the embroideries and I love using my stash to piece the scrappy blocks.

My second goal is to put borders on my pinwheel quilt and get it totally finished.  I really like the Blush fabrics I used.  I got this one out today and layed it on the bed.  Now to measure and decide what borders I want to put on it.

I haven't joined any UFO groups.  I guess I have committment phobia.  lol  I know how little I can predict in my life, so it's better to set a couple small goals and proceed.   I can do the stitchery for the Little Birdie BOM now some evening too. 


We had quilting last night.  I sewed strips of fabric for 3 hours.  We are making a rails and stars quilt. The fabric was donated by a friend of one of our members.  It's mostly odds and ends, so this is a scrappy quilt.   Each year our group likes to make at least one quilt as a group.  The quilt will be given to a family who most needs it.   Last year a family lost their home to a fire and we gave them the quilt we had made.  I brought beef vegetable soup, buns and apple butter for supper.  There were only 4 of us.  Cold weather and family deaths made for a small group.  It was 9 F when I drove home at 9:00 pm. We will meet again in two weeks.

DH just doesn't understand how it can be fun to haul my sewing machine, sewing equipment, pot of soup and fixings 30 miles to meet for 3 hours.  It is such a soul restoring time for me.  Of course, I still had time to pick up 16 bags of medicated feed and buy groceries.  It's so nice to sew and visit with other women, especially the others that drive from the country.  We had a nice "bitch" session last night about husbands and ranching.
It's nice to know we all have the same challenges.  I'm certainly glad we aren't lambing like some are right now. 

DH is grinding feed today. I helped him get everything set up this morning after feeding. I'm so glad it was 30 degrees out and the sun shining. He didn't stop for lunch. Rocco and I delivered chicken salad on a bun to him. He will grind enough feed for 10 days. I hurried back to the house to start piecing block 6, before something broke down. : )


I'd better get planning my borders, before I need to go help DH unload the truck.  Until next time..........

Snowy New Year

I decided to catch up on my Raggedy & Friends blocks first.  This is block 4 completed.  I have block 6 embroidered and patchwork pieces cut out.  Tonight I worked on embroidering #5. 

We had a 3 day blizzard to end 2010 and begin 2011.  It started Thursday with flurries and wind.   Friday was the day with the most snow and high wind.  We stayed home New Years Eve--we usually do.  lol  We actually stayed up past midnight.  We watched a movie and it didn't get over until 12:15.   Saturday morning was very windy, but suddenly after dinner it went down and the blizzard was over. 

At times I could hardly see the road and not the trees at all.

We had a bank on the deck to shovel off.

The barn doors were snowed shut.

Nobody in the dog house--completely covered up!

Today, Sunday the sun was shining bright.  The white was blinding.  Sunshine makes me feel so much better.

DH got the snowblower hooked up and went to work.  It attaches to the back of the tractor and he backs up into the snow to blow it out of the way.  He cleaned out the calves' yard and made a spot to feed the cows tomorrow.

It was -10 F this morning.  January is my least favorite month--it's usually the coldest month.  When it's cold that makes me want to bake.  I made buns and cookies.  It warmed up the kitchen nicely. 

Happy New Year to all of you!

A Special Win

I won a special handmade bear from Michele of Soggibottom blog.  She had a give away for her birthday (Dec. 7th) and the cottage's 342nd birthday.  She lives in Devon, England.  Her blog is so cute with the bears she makes, her furry friends Amie Soto Blossom, Frank and Mew and the lovely Devon country side.  My birthday is December 6th, so we are almost birthday twins.  lol   Thank you, Michele for the amazing "one of a kind" creation from Soggibottom.  He is most wonderfully made.  I knew I had to find a special place for him.

I put him by my Mom's memory picture.   She loved bears and collected many of them. She also had ceramic bears.  As she got older she started giving away her bears to her grandchildren.  When she passed away my siblings and I divided up the remaining bears amongst our families and her special friends.   Whenever I see a bear I think of Mom.  She would have loved this sweet little bear, who traveled here all the way from England. 

What fun friends I have made in blogland, not only quilters, but other creative people and people with furry loved ones.  "Birthday" bear will always have a special place at my house and in my heart. 

I just had to share the cute little card that came with "Birthday" bear.  It is a sweet 2 1/2" x 4 1/2".  So bright and Christmasy with its matching mini envelope.  Thanks again, Michele!!

I am off to piece a Raggedy Ann block.  I'll hopefully post it and blizzard pictures later on.  Stay warm!

What to do next?

We had a wonderful Christmas--lots of family, food and fun.   I didn't take any pictures.  I borrowed one Jen took, so I wasn't totally photoless--and it looks fuzzy.  I'm exhausted.   Lots of late nights just hanging out as a family again.  The girls are back to their jobs and homes.  DH and I spent yesterday recuperating.  lol  Today we made a business trip and DH bought a snowblower for the tractor.  We had snow last week and are expecting more tomorrow.   The snowblower will make it easier to get around the hay yard and clean the calves' yards.  It will also help keep the road to the highway clear.   I really hope we don't get that much, but now DH is prepared for the worst.

Now that the girls are gone I can get all my sewing stuff out again.   So many quilts, so little time.  I should have January and February to sew.  I really need to get projects out and get organized to finish some things.  Of course, all the new BOMs will start in January and I haven't finished any BOMs from last year.  I need to catch up on Raggedy Ann & Friends.  What to do next?  I need to do borders for one Pinwheel quilt, sash the Jelly Roll blocks, make 3 more Pinwheel blocks in the purple/green colors and practice my Free Motion Quilting.  There are some Snowbound blocks to make and quite a few blocks to embroider for a variety of projects.  Oh my, but I can't resist starting the new BOMs.

The first BOM is from a German blog, All About My Quiltshop Kaleidoskop.  There is a translator gadget on the right side.    

I love hearts.  This is such a pretty design.  I'm going to do this BOM or at least save the patterns.

Little Miss Shabby is starting a BOM in January called Birdie Stitches.  Of course I can't resist this BOM either.  What's a blogging quilter to do?  So many cute BOMs and so little time.  : (

There is going to be a Blog Hop with Valentine Designs.  I bet there will be some give aways too.  It's good to get started thinking about Valentine themed projects now.  You know how I love those blog hops.  : ) I put the button on the right side.

Do you struggle with all the wonderful things there are to do online?   I'm not going to let it overwhelm me.  I'm just going to enjoy working on whatever I am working on whenever I have time to work on it.  This is suppose to be fun--right? 

Merry Christmas Friends