I am sitting in my "sunroom", which is where my computer is and my teeth are chattering. We have been heating with electric heaters because our furnace needs a $400 repair and most of this winter that has been fine. But with this cold right now....NOT. During the day I keep a heater in here because it is also where I sew, but at night it goes up to the bedrooms, so I am shivering while I make this post. I was not inspired by anything today to take a picture of because my world is still mostly just white and it is all beginning to look a bit boring. Sometime in the last couple weeks I mentioned about my BF getting in a car accident, that luckily didn't cause any serious injury, but boy did she get some doozy bruises. I got her permission to post one of her bruises, which is on her stomach. I don't think I have ever seen a bruise like it before. They say this was caused by the seatbelt. Now, that is a wicked bruise. K, I am ending now and heading for the heat.

Thursday Jan 15 Photo

Today, as forecasted, was horribly cold and I am still sick with a head cold that makes me feel like I am in a fog all the time. Had to go to the grocery as my lovely babies (see above) were out of milk and that about took all my energy for the day. So, here are 2 of my grandchildren, the 2 that live with me and I thought they looked so cute, they are a perfect photo of the day. Little Kamden is in the tub and looks to be having a grand time and big sis, Kyleigh, is helping mom scrub him down.

Carla, thanks so much for the ideas on how to attach some bird food to my tree. There are pine cones up the street, although right now I doubt I could find a one of them under the snow. I am going to do this tho. Course I went out today and needed new bird food and forgot to buy it. Sighhhhhh. I don't exactly know how I managed to spend 250 at the grocery today and forgot flour, sugar, lemon juice, kool aid, bird food......and that is just what I have managed to remember I forgot so far.

Here is a little funny for the day. I opened my cupboard (which is against an outside wall) to get a glass and the darn thing was almost frosted. Now that gives you an idea how cold it is out there. You Canadians put up with this kind of cold a lot don't you? Can't figure how you stand it. Here is to everyone keeping warm.

More SNOW!!PICTURES!! I can't help it. We are under a level 2 snow whatever and Thursday our chill factor is s'posed to be like 35 BELOW zero. The roads are horrid and my DH is not finding his snow blower all that much fun anymore, but I still can't help but appreciate the beauty of it all. The lit tree is in my back garden and we put it up for Christmas, but I like looking out at it and left it up. I had visions of attaching food for the birds to it but so far have not figured out a good way to do that. Anyway, it just looked so pretty out there tonight that I took more SNOW PICTURES. The bird fountains are just for an idea of depth. I have no idea how much we have gotten, just that it is LOTS.

January 13 Photo

I know, I am a day late (and a dollar short, ha ha) I was so sick yesterday I just did not have the energy to post. I had mentioned earlier about our downtown being restored and that I would try to take a few pics. These buildings are 3 stores. The Coney Island Diner has been a part of downtown as long as I can remember, (and I can remember a looooong way back). It looks just the same as it always has and has the best coney's anywhere. When I was young, like grade school (60's), we used to go downtown and spend the day. There was Penney's, Sears, Wards, Neisner's (5&10 with a counter lunch area) Woolworths, just to name a few. I can remember having the whole family grandma and grandpa, their 9 kids (my aunts & uncles) and the grandkids (me and my cousins--and there were a lot of us) going to Coney and eating. This is where the antique store is that I found my braids and my quilt top. There aren't as many stores downtown now, but I do love that they have restored things the way they have.

January 12 Comments

Romona, the fairies are by Maria vanScharrenburg and you can see both of them at the following link on page 2 www.needleworkshoppe.com/lanarte . By the way, my friends are very down to earth and just plain wonderful people. I am so lucky to have them both in my life. For instance, my DH does not buy me a mother's day present because he says "I am not his mother", and my kids, up until recently never seemed to hold a job long enough to buy anybody any presents. So, several years ago Amy and Rob started buying me a mother's day present. Well, needless to say, that almost brought me to tears. I think the first year was a miniature rose bush that still blooms every year in my garden. That is just the kind of folks they are.
Judi A, your comment "you must be a wonderful friend to deserve such a lovely gift!", really touched me. I had never looked at it that way...I always thought what great friends they were to make that for me. I never thought of myself being a wonderful friend to deserve it. Thank you for that revelation and one doesn't diminish the other.

January 12 Photo

This is my best friend Amy and her hubby Rob. The picture above is my Christmas present from them and hubby is the one that stitched the picture. Isn't she just a beautiful fairy? I just love this picture and Rob does beautiful cross stitch. There is a companion piece to go with this one and I told him he would have to stitch that one too, since every cross stitcher has their own style. He just laughed. This is one of the nicest Christmas presents I have ever received and I can really appreciate all the time he had in stitching this for me.

Also, to everyone who says my quilt is "lookin good", a big THANK YOU.

January 11 Photo

I had a great relaxing day today. Even tho I had to babysit 2 of the grandkids they were quiet today and I watched movies all day and worked on my current project. I think in a post not long ago I talked about the cathedral window quilt I am working on. The top picture is "a block". It takes four 9-1/2" muslin squares to create that block alone. The second picture is just a close up and the bottom is all the blocks I have done so far. They aren't sewn together, I just placed them so you could get an idea of the overall look of the quilt. It takes a LOT of muslin to make one of any size at all. The muslin is all sewn by machine, but the inserts are set in by hand. I find it really relaxing when I am sitting watching TV. I am sure, just like most of you, I need to do something when I am sitting and watching TV or riding in the car etc. I hate to have idle hands. The first time I saw a cathedral window quilt was at a friends house, about 15 years ago. I think her grandmother had made it and I spent a lot of time looking at it trying to figure out how it was done. I never could figure it out, but went to the library to learn how to do it. At that time, I only found 1 reference to cathedral window quilts and some really brief instructions. I am not on any timetable with this thing, just work on it whenever and put it aside if I want to work on other things. Have a great week everyone, since tomorrow starts a new one.