Big old house in the snow -
Cloudless blue sky!
It all seems so wonderful - until I mention it was something like 18 degrees at this point!
We headed over to Quiltville Inn on the 26th (Always known as "the morning after") to double check that pipes hadn't frozen, check on things, drop off some stuff, and move the items that had been delivered to the front porch over to the QPO.
A snow frosted landscape is sure pretty!
Everything just glistens!
But boy, is it cold!
Not much movement on the creek below -
The water still moves, but ice is encroaching in on the little creek.
Our drive is snow packed - with ice underneath!
While the van would likely go slip-sliding away, the 4WD pickup can get us just about anywhere.
The shadows cast by the bare trees add such a wonderful element, don't they?
And the rain chain became ice chain, and grew and grew!
I would much rather spend my time here!
Yes, I am still stringing up the reds - I have something exciting in mind!
Some have asked "Do you include things like Christmas fabric in your red strings - even if it is NOT a Christmas quilt?!" Of course I do! Scrap quilts (for me) are about variety - as much as I can get, and sneaking in Christmas and Halloween into the same quilt makes it fun for me.
The main question with these pieces is "Is it red?!" If the answer is "YES" I go with it - from a pinky or orangy red all the way to burgundy and everywhere in between.
There is even some Nebraska Cornhuskers in here!
Where are these going? Just wait and see!
My weekend was filled with things like this -
It's kind of hard to get quilting stitches in when Ivy is sleeping on top of everything. But how can you move her? It gave my callouses a bit of a break.
A double thank you!
A couple of years ago - when Quiltville Inn was still a pipedream, a friend finished up this cross stitch for me, personalizing it with name and opening year. (And oh, what an opening year!)
Another artist friend specializes in matting and framing and I received this lovely stitchery back just before Christmas.
I love this so much - it means the world to me! I can't wait to find the right place to hang it at the Inn.
Answering questions -
For those who said they couldn't find half-typewriters nor grumpy cat in my earlier photo talking about the assembly of my Easy Breezy top, I have zoomed in and circled. Hopefully this will help you see what I was referring to.
Original Photo:
See if you can find them now...
At the edge of the top - close to center of photo.
Close to half-way done1
This is where I left things on Christmas Eve - with Lola supervising from behind her closed eye lids.
I hope to get back to it today - wouldn't it be great if I could be hand stitching a binding by night fall?
My #mediafreesunday was a great extension of an already wonderfully relaxing holiday weekend.
I still feel in the "slow lane" and that is right where I want to spend the last few days of 2020.
What are your thoughts as we wrap up this incredibly weird, scary, yet in many ways wonderful year?
Quiltville Quote of the Day
Maybe 2020 was a way to go slower - so we could grow in other ways?
Keep pushing those boundaries in new directions!
Enjoy this last Monday of 2020!
38 comments:
We almost lost our 31 year old granddaughter to COVID. Over 100 days in the hospital. Thankful to the bone - she is now home and doing very well. Grateful and thankful! Thanks for all you do! Marilyn Marks
I've been going through old quilt magazines and all my books, sifting out things not needed anymore and just taking up space. Also did a partial closet search and found a couple of things (including what I was looking for) that just need a little finishing up so I can call them done. Hopefully that will happen within the next few days! When you are on a mission, you also seem to finish up quickly..wish I was as quick. HA
Yes, I know it's cold, but the Inn looks perfect in the snow. Glad all is well, you are safe and sound.
I still haven't gotten use to YOUR media-free Sundays, so I've gone back to the early days of your blog, fun read.
MaryAnn in Oregon
I also love using whatever fabric matches the color I’m using. So far my Grassy Creek has red poinsettia, white snowflakes, and orange skulls. I also try to use penguins and bicycles in all my mystery quilts because they are two of my favorite things. So far this year it’s orange penguins and grey bicycles. Thank you for sharing your works with us! ~ Jen
The snow is colder in the Midwest. I'm so glad we only got a half an inch before Christmas. More is coming and it is below zero today. A sew day for sure!! The days of 2020 are almost DONE. We all wish for a much better 2021. We can make it whatever we choose. I choose to be grateful for a New Year.
I so agree with you 2020 was a weird but wonderful year. I retired & now "technically" live in the slower lane. Whatever that means. I'm satisfied with my 2020 progress. But am now ready to amp it up for 2021. I have a lot of projects just waiting to be turned into wonderful quilts & other "quilty stuff". But, Bonnie would you please hurry up with the red string project??? LOL Can't wait to see what it becomes. Here's to a FANTSTIC 2021 & much more Quiltville fun. Bring it!
Oh! That "even some Nebraska Cornhuskers" phrase sure got my attention as a Nebraska Cornhusker myself! Merry Christmas, Bonnie!
That Grumpy Cat fabric still makes me smile. That you paired it with two traditional prints makes me grin. So fun!
Grumpy Cat with Civil War repros, and Cornhusker strings, are the kinds of things that make me really hope to go see the quilts you have in Winterset, IA right now. It would be so fun to see the incredible variety of prints up-close. Fingers crossed!
HAHA!! Good Morning! I love your photos of your "Happy place". So pretty in the snow and bluebird sky. Thank you for pointing out the Grumpy Cat and typewriter. I have never really been good at "I Spy" unless I have a little help, but now I see it and went, "Ahha!! There it is!"
Hopefully this week there will be more time at the sewing machine for me, after a little shopping trip to finish spending our Christmas money. Jumping in on the mystery quilt. Finally. Have a restful week and thanks again for everything you do!! :)
You have such beautiful views there, they make me slow down and breathe whenever you post them. And those red strings are calling my name, I can't wait to see what you are doing with them. Today I will be working on the hand stitching part of the Unity binding....I have one side left to go. I would probably have been finished with it already except that I spent a lot of time just enjoying how pretty your design is. Thank you Bonnie....
At least your temperatures are above zero.
Love the picture of Quiltville Inn with the snow and blue skies! Stay warm and safe as we slide into 2021.
Your view of Quiltville Inn would make a beautiful postcard. Maybe a set of seasonal ones, or future puzzles. Finally I see a fabric that you and I have the colored polka dots next to the typewriter. They will be in my Grassy Creek.
Just breathe. As a retired widow, I make a list for every weekday and allow myself to do whatever fills my heart on Saturday and Sunday. My recipe for making it through the year.
Love the snow, ice chain, typewriter & Grumpy cat fabric & Ivy fabric!
I definitely want to finish out this year in the slow & reflective lane! However I will be sewing also!!
Finishing the year with joy & gratefulness!
Should “auld acquaintance (with 2020) be forgot & never brought to mind”? Perhaps for the sake of surviving a difficult year, we can remember it with a touch of thankfulness; & with many prayers for those whose struggles were unbearable...
Marci H
I have that same cross stitch piece! I have been "working" on it for years...There are even little buttons and objects to attach to it. Maybe 2021 will be the year to finish it and get it up in my newly remodeled sewing room!
Typewriter? Oh my! I looked at the photo before reading what it was about. My first look at the top circle I thought how odd there would be fabric depicting a bathroom ie sink and toilet! Egad what does that say for my brain!?!
I love that you are sticking with media free Sundays. It's plain to see that it is doing you a world of good. Here's hoping all of us can live these last few days of 2020 with hope in our hearts ♥
A fitting 2020 finish - it’s 45 degrees here in Southcentral Alaska!
Love everything you do and day doesnt start until Ive read the blog Ive done the crosssritch for my sister in the 1990s
What a brilliant blue sky. The only time in winter that we see sky that blue is when the temperature is near or below zero. So funny that you have snow in VA and we have none in western NY, although Buffalo, 60 miles to the west had 18". Gotta love lake effect snow.
Pat
I'm trying to catch up. It looks like week 2 will be done today. Then onto week 3. Enjoying this so much. The Inn looks so beautiful -- all white and gray. Thanks for sharing.
I have had my fill of snow as we had 40" a couple weeks ago but your pictures are beautiful! I've been working on ufos which were from taking classes with you. I have finished 3 of them and working on my next one now.
I’m looking forward to kicking 2020 out the door and welcoming in a better year. Having been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in September, I am gratefully & eagerly anticipating getting the vaccine. Not a great time to have a respiratory illness. My plan is to finish up many of my multitudinous (is that a word?) WIP’s this year and bring some order to my sewing room. Best wishes
to you Bonnie, and to your many followers, for a better year ahead!
Lovely winter day here too, especially to quilt. I am still finishing up abandoned projects, one not queen is becoming two twin quilts in completely different patterns. As I started piecing the back of quilt two I had a guilt attack at starting a new pattern. Imagine, retired from a law firm and inserting law firm stress into my quilting, yech.
Still, both new patterns are much prettier than the old one. I might finish in 2022.
Me Too!! Me Too!!
If you need help finishing it, let me know. I love cross stitching.
Me, too!
Red is Red, Red is Red, etc. no matter what the "subject" is on the fabric. So glad you have the snow and I don't (western WA) Very pretty picture though. Thank you Bonnie for all you do for the quilting world. Love and Hugs
Ending 2020 with building my long awaited sewing room/office! I can't wait to push myself in 2021 with learning how to use my new to me mid arm machine and frame! (and maybe finishing some of the mystery quilts I have started and never finished!)
I have that exact cross stitch piece also. But mine is done. My mother made it for me and put it in a frame. It sits in my sewing room. She turned 90 last Tuesday and is still embroidering.
I don't know if it's colder in the midwest - but we had 30 inches of snow last week! The Inn looks like a place I want to have a long visit to.
Hope your 2021 is fantastic and healthy!!
I finished up that same cross stitch piece many years ago - it took forever but is a beautiful piece. Enjoy!
I too have that stitchery, made several years ago by a friend, enjoy it still on the wall if the sewing room, it says welcome above the sewing machine. I so enjoy momentos like this from friends. The love and care of friends and family has meant everything this year.
🙏🙏🙏
Wow! Look at your thick ice chain. Cool! Love the look on the Easy Breezy quilt. Beautiful. The hand quilting is looking so good too. You are getting so much done. Way to go. Love them all.
Go Big Red. Husker power!
Go Big Red!!! Here in SE Nebraska we got 6-8" of snow yesterday. The sun is out today and it is a beautiful day. Now that I am retired I love the snow - I don't have to go out in it to drive to work! I can stay home and sew or read to my heart's content! I am making a list of quilts I want to make in 2021 (Winter Blues is on the list) and also a list of UFO's I need to work on or finish. Your rain chain is so cool - literally! I love icicles! Wishing you a Happy New Year! HUGS... and stitches
Love that !!
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