April SNOW-showers

If April showers bring May flowers, what exactly can we expect from April SNOW-showers? Had to drive home from the guild meeting Wed. night in the storm. This is the result Thurs. morning. About 3 inches of snow. Very wet and heavy - it stuck to everything. I was surprised we didn't have power outages as it was covering all the trees and wires. To its credit it did not stay around long, it did melt by later in the day.

But that is not the end of it. As I sit here this Saturday morning it is currently snowing again.

The March Report

All of Jan., Feb. and March we were waaaaay below the average temperatures - both highs and lows. A very brutal winter. So I did not mind at all when Damon got some Sourdough starter in early January and started experimenting with bread making. After experimenting with a variety of different flours and ratios of them, he found the right combination of all-purpose and bread flour. So now, every few weeks he has been making two loaves of sourdough bread. I am picky about the bread I eat. I prefer softer not crust bread and this is just perfect. My favorite thing is to take a quarter inch slice, butter it and then microwave it a few seconds to get it nice and warm. It has a great flavor.

The quilt guild's challenge this year is to make a seasonal banner 60 inches long and 6 inches wide. Based on the season you got (which you drew out of a hat for) you had to stick with the assigned seasonal colors - I got summer which were blue, green, yellow and purple. You also had to have at least one stitch of handwork and at least one bead or button. So I went with a crazy quilt blocks and did a variety of machine and hand embroidery and added several buttons and beads.

My favorite block is the bottom one with a button and bead spider hanging from its web. The Banner is due at the April meeting so I got it done just in time.

The February Report

So the first picture is of the flowers I got for Valentines day. I also got some chocolates - the flowers lasted longer than the chocolates!

As usual the start of the semester in late January and continuing into Feb. and March means neglecting lots of other things like updating the blog. I did manage in Feb. to bind three quilts that had been sent out for machine quilting. The first two are quilts for Tim (Damon's boss). His mother had some unfinished quilts when she passed away a couple of years ago. I had already finished a few of the smaller mostly done ones. The Jar quilt had blocks done but needed a few more and then I had to put together the rows and the bookcase. The Fish and Flying Geese quilt was not actually started, Tim's mom had bought the fabric to make him a guilt, so I make it instead. This is my original design. The idea is that the flying geese look like ripples on the water that the fish are in. As I was trying to maximize use the of the fish fabric this is actually close to a kink-sized quilt.

The Diamonds are Forever quilt was previously pictures but now that the binding is on it is officially done! I opted for wool batting and it is nice and soft and puffy and warm.