It’s Cold Outside!

This has been a bit of a cold spell for us – well on Saturday it was 71 but since then it has been in the 30’s daytime and 18-20 night. Last night to get down to about 10-12 I guess.  Too cold for us here in the south.  I am so glad that we have a fireplace with the insert that makes it a wood stove with a blower.  It really helps to heat the house.  We loaded the wood rack with wood last week and it was high – rounded at the top – now look at it.  We are going to have to cart some more up here, the wood pile is a bit of a distance from the house  – this weekend it will warm up then back to the low 20’s at night again – it will warm up sooner or later – just wish it was sooner.  This will be at least the 3rd time this winter that we will have loaded this rack up.  We mainly just use it when the temperature is in the low 30’s to 20’s.

Yesterday I set my mind to finishing Ciera’s quilt and I was working on it all morning and I finished the stars! So good to have that done.  Now I just need to bury the threads and then get the binding on it – I have decided what to use for binding – I need to look through the stash and strip box and see what I have.  Well we are all sitting inside because of it being so cold outside spend some time looking at all the links to beautiful quilts – I am linking to My Quilt Infatuation today – such pretty quilts are shown and she usually highlights two or three quilts each week – one that she shows today is from Tanya Quilts in CO – such a colorful quilt you should go look at it.  It isn’t a hard quilt to make it is the colors that she chose to work with that attracted me to it – I love it.

I got my embroidery fabric cut for the Winter Wonderland quilt and now to transfer the designs to the fabric.  Different products had been mentioned to me but I decided to just go with the fabric pen and light box – I finished one today and it is working out alright.  This is a different type of project for me I do not usually do embroidery all that much – it will be a nice change.

I have two pieces of Plexi-glass taped together for strength and balanced on some books and a flat light laying underneath it to use – worked out pretty good.

I thought this light is pretty neat that I found – it folds flat, has batteries or can be plugged in, 3 light strengths.  Tap it once, twice, or three times for brightest.  This will go in the camper when we travel and in the suitcase when I go to our daughters for a visit in March.

My first design ready for the embroidery.  I’m not sure how many I will bring with me, I know I won’t have all that much time to work on them some days and then other days I’m sure I will.  I copy the design to freezer paper and iron it to the fabric then trace from there – the freezer paper helps stabilize it.

Work progressing on Kansas Twister – worked on it again last night and it is just about ready to crank down again and then the whole design will be showing on the frame.

And here is a little bit of spring to show – Mike got me these tulips for Valentines and they are opening up really good right now – I love this glass container that it came in and will be able to use this for other bulbs throughout the year.  They sit on a little plastic holder that is in the base and you put water to the bottom of the bulbs.  Seeing my bananas behind them remind me I need to make some banana muffins today they are getting too soft for my taste.  I like them firmer.

Have a good day everyone – I am staying home today, our daughter Melanie wasn’t able to come over earlier in the week because of weather and she is coming over for lunch today and we will sew/stitch and catch up on Downton Abbey and maybe get those muffins made too.  Maybe I can get those threads buried while we watch the show and get Ciera’s quilt finished.  More ice/snow/sleet on Friday then a big warm up for Saturday and cold again.