Land of Cotton?

Nope, look again, they're not cotton bolls; it's snow. Winter has arrived with a vengeance in the south. The weekend before last it was all ice, this past weekend it was all snow. Eight inches plus at Chez Goodneedle. That will teach me to make statements like "it's been so long since we've seen snow"! This snow was light and fluffy, due to the temperature being brutally cold, it is very pretty. (The tracks in this photo leading up from the lower right corner and traversing back and forth are from deer.)  We dodged the bullet again, power-wise; sadly, so many other southerners weren't as lucky. 

In anticipation of the storm, Augie got a coat. He was more than happy to stay cozy and warm! I'm content to stay in and work on projects, and as long as there's power I can do that for weeks on end!

Sarah Barker is coming right along...

...and I was able to get all the remaining blocks cut and kitted to complete the Cream and Sugar quilt. 

This magnificent Amaryllis continues to be a bright spot in the kitchen...

...and with plenty of time (and sourdough discard) on my hands I've even been baking crackers! I'm attaching the link here. I added a pinch of rosemary, these really are yummy. 

Most likely there will be more DIY clean up happening today. Our nighborhood is very low on the priority list, so far no state vehicles with a plow attached have ventured into our neighborhood at all. It's difficult for some to get in and out as we do have some significant hills in here which are heard to traverse with the remaining hard-packed ice underneath.  The public schools have been out for six days straight now and tomorrow isn't looking much better. I received and email this morning that our LQS is closed until further notice. The mail hasn't been delivered to our mailbox since a week ago last Friday, there's been no trash pick up and, for the second week in a row, church services have been canceled. Yesterday it was especially sad to miss worship as it was to be the celebration of the 500th service for our little mission congregation. Sigh. 

Snow... in the land of cotton, 

 days like these won't be forgotten!

Life is Good!

Reflections on January

I don't know where this month has gone. It's been filled with activity, not the least of which is keeping up with breadmaking from two different sourdough starters! What have I gotten myself into? Loaves are being gifted continually. I've branched out into English muffins, cinnamon buns and multi-grain breads too.
Without a lot of words or explanation I'm going to catch up with a post  resembling a photo journal; a look back at this month and what's been finished, what I'm working on and what's been started (there's always something new). 

Driving Age has become a full-fledged flimsy...

...borders have been added...

...quilts have been quilted...

...bulbs have bloomed...

...new starts have made it to the design wall...

...someone has turned ELEVEN, we made our annual pilgrimage to the AG store... 

...sacred stitches have been sewn...

...new recipes have been tried (Pear Pie using Bosc pears)...

...and new perches have been explored!

It's been a snow-less January here, that's not a complaint; we've had some serious cold weather that, hopefully, helps to keep the bug population down come spring. Thank you to those friends who've reached out to check on me in light of my sparse blog posts; I'm  here, all is well... 

 Life is GOOD! 

💗

First Finishes

This one, a block-of-the-month from 2015 that was known as "Creative Options", became a top last year when the blocks were released from their storage bin where they'd been languishing for six+ years. I used creative liberties in setting it together, mine looks nothing like the finished shop sample from almost seven years ago! I loaded it up on Snowbird and quilted it over the weekend. This is, officially, my first finish for 2022. 

I'm pleased with the results. I put the binding on and basted it in place, I'll finish the handwork over the next few evenings; that will temporarily replace the cross-stitch that I've recently pulled back out. 

I had started more little ornaments before Christmas, 

they never got finished for 2021; but, with any luck, I'll be ahead for 2022!

I finished reading this last week; as always, with this author, 

I never saw the ending coming. It was suspenseful suspense FILLED!

Not really a finish, but putting on a glorious FINAL show is this Amaryllis that just won't stop blooming!

What's getting finished this year at your house? I'm reminded of that sign that I saw long ago in a quilt shop: "You'll never finish those quilts that you're not working on". That's certainly true here!

Life is Good!

Progress!

I am still operating with my guiding word for the year: "vision"; I have that, but time is FLYING already. It seems like I take one step forward and two back. Sigh. As promised in my last post, I am reporting on my progress. Here are all the scraps from my bin cut precisely and accurately into sizes that will play nicely together. This amount of work took me two days! So, as impressive as that may seem-- look what I found stashed on the bottom shelf of my cutting table:
yes, another bin! This one is pretty much all civil war reproductions and the like. I have set up a nice little cutting station for this purpose.

Normally my die cutter and table reside in the closet but I have moved them out into the studio (and the light of day) so that nothing is hidden and forgotten about. VISION! If I can spend a few hours a day cutting these up I will get to the bottom of this bin before too long also. (See "where the one step forward, two back" is coming from?)

I am celebrating my scraps by ordering this new book. I'm excited; hey-- I'm not buying fabric!

Mr. Goodneedle is making good progress too; our soon-to-be porch has all of the beadboard ceiling in place. Since this photo was taken he has boxed in the two skylights on the right. 

I'll be happy when he's off that scaffolding once and for all. 

Santa brought me a few new pantographs this year, this is one of them, Easy Peasy Baptist Fan. It will be nice to get this quilted and bound. My objective is to have a new "table quilt" for our breakfast table in the kitchen each month of the year. This is the Summer Sampler from Temecula Quilt Co.; a sew-along from 2015, I completed the top in November. More progress!

I got the tree down and ornaments and decorations stowed for another twelve months. Is it just me or does this seem to come around more quickly each year now? It's never as much fun to put away. 

We are enjoying this Amaryllis, watching its progress; albeit S-L-O-W, but progress nonetheless.

One more photo-- just because! Mr. Goodneedle celebrated a birthday at the end of 2019. 

He had some pretty cute help celebrating too!

So, what's your progress so far for 2020? 

Life is Good!

Up next: Replacements