Snow Happens...

How does that saying go: "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"? Well, sometimes SNOW happens too! The best laid plans, one for a retreat weekend with my quilting friends at a not-too-far-from-here state park, was preempted this past weekend for this forecasted snow event. Since the retreat was supposed to commence on Friday I jumped right in at home. Disappointed, but resolute, I pushed forward with determination to  make the weekend count!

Working solely from precut Tumbler scraps I was able to get this lap quilt (58" X 70") pieced by the end of the day on Friday, the snow began falling in the early afternoon. This is one of many that I've made this way (Leader-Ender style). I will quilt it up later this year and pass it along wherever it can be best used. The scene at the top was taken outside the sewing room window on Saturday morning. We had about 4" of the white stuff and it was done snowing by dawn. 

Our son and his family drove out to our house for some outdoor fun: rural-road sledding and snowman construction. Gregory had already called it quits by the time Frosty was complete and was indoors with Nana making hot chocolate!

Staying snug and warm inside, the remainder of Saturday and Sunday (church was canceled) were spent getting "No Scrap Too Small" joined into a 60"X 80" flimsy. Another lingering UFO comprised of 4-patches that had gone together L-E style for the past year, at least, were finally set together; I'm calling this one done. ✔

Here's the 10" block. Each one has 43 pieces, the bitty 4-patch sub-units finish to 2". I loved using them up and combining them with Low Volumes that I have squirreled away. All in all, it was a productive weekend.

Naturally I missed my friends, but it's not like I was alone in the sewing room, not at all! Our group has already rescheduled and have our collective fingers crossed that the snow won't return again, at least not this season. 

And sew, the decks are cleared and could that be an entirely new project already in the works? You betcha! This weekend was a perfect illustration of the fact that we are not in control, He is. So, it is up to us to turn an unexpected event into something else, something positive; to learn and to be thankful for whatever comes our way. Sometimes the unexpected might just be white flakes falling from the sky, and that's okay. What a great lesson! 

Life is Good!

Five?

Five? Really?? The passage of time seems to be measured in days rather than years to this Nana. How could time be passing so quickly? Yes, our youngest granddaughter is five years old.

January 2013

We had a fun day shopping for clothes and accessories for her newest doll, Kit, on Monday. Our trips together to the American Girl store have become a birthday tradition. My dad calls it the "Grandparents Store", there's a lot of truth in that. 😉

Tuesday was Lynneligh's actual birthday, we gathered with her and the family for dinner and for her to blow out the candle on her cupcake. It's a good thing, too. Because yesterday this was the scene in our parts; when this happens here no one goes anywhere! It was so pretty and peaceful, we had 6".

The children all had a snow day from school to play; I spent the snowy afternoon playing, too!

Today the sun is shining, the temperatures are rising and a clean-up is underway.

There's a clean-up underway inside too. As we s-l-o-w-l-y put our house back together after the floor refinishing I am dedicated to cleaning out junk and debris that has been accumulating in the closets.

This 1991 planner surfaced. I have no clue why I kept this. Back then I kept track of how many hours a day I quilted (hand quilting in those days) and the projects I hoped to complete each month. I had to squeeze in as much time as I could while the children were in school or at other activities. It would seem that I got much done, too. I barely remember these quilts now. There is a notation in there that is laughable to me today: "This month I plan to finish up all projects already started!" Alrighty then. 

Some things change dramatically and some don't. I still keep a planner, but I do not log in quilting hours. I wish that I finished every project already started; but today I pick and choose what I will devote time to. I remember when our children were growing up someone told me that "the days are long but the years are short". I can fully appreciate that today. I have always crammed my days full, I can't recall a time when I didn't; and, yes, the years have grown incredibly short. I measure them in a different way now-- through my grandchildren. How are you marking time today?

Life is Good!

"To Do" List

What's on your "to do" list this morning? I am wearing mine*. If you're in the southeast or mid-Atlantic area you most likely won't be going anywhere anyway.  Mr. Goodneedle and I were at a workshop south of Atlanta for the last couple of days but ended up leaving early to rush home ahead of the storm. We made it with a few hours to spare and rested well last night, we awakened to winter. This is the scene from my sewing room window this morning.

The power is on, it's warm inside. I know what I will be doing for the next few days, how about you?😉

Life is Good!

* If you're interested in a T-shirt contact me by email, my daughter-in-law 

creates these to order; you, too, can soon wear your favorite "to do" list!

Snow Day(s)!

Snow in the south usually results in just about everything being shut down, all activities are canceled or postponed; the inch+ of snow (plus a healthy layer of sleet on top) that arrived on Tuesday did all of that here!  I know my friends and family to the north are shaking their heads; that's okay, as a result of having nowhere to go I have done a LOT... my "to do" list is punctuated with nothing but check marks!  You know how you pile up the supplies for certain projects and think to yourself "sometime... when I have nothing else to do and nowhere else to be... suddenly it dawned on me, today is that day, I can work on all of those things! I sewed pillowcases, I put binding on a quilt, I loaded a quilt on the longarm, I caught up on my block-of-the-month and I stitched up a monochromatic block for the True Colors workshop being help at my LQS. (At first I tried my hand at improvisational piecing but that was an epic failure; I went with a traditional Blazing Star block instead and even designed a setting for this ongoing workshop/challenge.) I'm feeling successful in my accomplishments, all of this gives me time for my newest hobby: watching the meterologists and news anchors make the most ridiculous to absurd weather related comments in overly dramatic tones. Yesterday on the local news: "Prepare yourself for the coldest temperatures you've ever experienced!" Really, how would he know? If he's referring to temperatures here, I do recall it being this cold before. But, this morning, I heard one even better; our local weather person was all bundled up standing outside on an interstate overpass, when she wearied of reporting about the visibility of her own breath she said this: "what people have to be careful of is the black ice, mainly because you cannot see it. Can I get a close-up camera shot over here of this patch of black ice?" Huh? I thought you just said one could not see it! Yes, it's cold. Yes, it can be dangerous driving if you don't know what to look for and you don't adjust your speed. This all makes for some pretty hilarious viewing. I honestly don't know why it's important to bundle up the weather people and send them outside to report on just how cold it is... you can't SEE cold; all we can see is how many layers of clothes in which they manage to wrap themselves! Personally, I'm content to stay inside where it's not cold and check off all those pending projects one by one... today is the day! How do you spend your snow days?

Life is Good!