Got another foot during the night and it’s still coming down. We’re up to 54″ and will probably have 5′ by tomorrow. 
Yes – I went outside. In the snow. Really. For anyone seeing this that doesn’t know me, I’m 5′6″ tall.
For the Grandgirls – what do you think of your swing now?
Driveway yesterday - Jan 29, 2008. At least there are no new trees down this week.
This morning the snow is now deep enough that the seat of the swing is completely buried.
Tanner enjoying a snowy stroll.
In the absence of snow, there’s a 3-4 foot drop off this porch. If Trinity and Nevaeh could get here, they could build a snowman almost without leaving the house!
Looking out the sliding door. Seems the snow is crawling across the porch trying to get inside! Is this ever going to stop?
Went to bed to a clear sky. Woke up at 3am to several inches of fresh powder snow. And now that it’s light, I can see we’ve got a good 6 inches or so of fresh snow (on top of the foot of old snow) and it’s still coming down gently. As today is the 28th, this makes a full month that I’ve been snowed in. Ok – enough already! I’m missing the grandkids and my only daughter’s first pregnancy. And there’s a birthday I cannot miss mid-Feb. But we’re predicted to get another inch or so today and 5-7 inches tomorrow! Guess I’d better prepare myself for breaking out the snowshoes! (Just kidding.)
I’m pretty happy with this block – especially for a first attempt. And it took a lot less time than I had anticipated. Learned a lot and am really looking forward to February’s block. It is so cool that The Quilt Show has this BOM by Sue Garman free to members!
Making good progress on the Jan applique BOM from The Quilt Show and will post a picture in a day or so. I’m far from expert but improving stitch by stitch. I am totally sold on silk thread after fighting with regular sewing thread which is all I have in the right colors for some pieces. I now have several pieces on which I can use my one spool of silk thread, however, and it is heaven! I plan to also try some Bottom Line by Superior which I hear is comparable to silk in appearance and how it stitches. If I like it, I can buy the SuperBobs sets (prewound L bobbins in 12 colors – 118 yd each) to cover most of my applique needs.
The guys went to town again yesterday so they could mail the jewelry orders off this morning. It took the 3 of them about 10 hours just to get the 4×4 truck from the top of the hill to the paved road – about 5.5 miles. As it was getting dark, they still had 15 trees to cut out of the road – but they were 2/3 done so committed to continuing on. The orders are now in the mail so they are reversing the process, without the tree removal of course, to come back home. With already-broken track, they made it about 3 miles by truck before they had to abandon the vehicle and walk the rest of the way – about another 3 miles or so to the house. Still have 3′ of snow some places on the trail so hopefully it will be frozen enough they can cross those areas without too much trouble. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the worst for this winter is behind us now.
Want to try a few new things this year and thought applique would be a good place to start. I’ve done some – in fact, included applique in a block I just designed for Cotton Spice’s Breast Health Awareness Project - but never a whole project. I embroider, though, so how hard could it be – right?
Novice that I am, I looked through all my applique books and selected a cute 5″ block. If that wasn’t difficult enough for a first project, I selected silk for my leaves and flowers. Silk really frays! Especially when the pieces are the size of a dime. Hmm.
Well, The Quilt Show came to the rescue. Starting this month, there is a BOM from Sue Garman available free to members so I decided to switch gears and try that – using cotton, of course. So far, so good! Have the reverse applique on the vase completed. (I no longer believe that reverse applique is just as easy as regular applique, however.) Beings it’s a BOM, I should be able to keep up with it and not get overwhelmed – sure don’t need any more UFOs!
My eldest grandson is 13 today. How did that happen? Doesn’t seem that long ago that his dad was a kid – now he’s 32. And I’ll hit the half century mark in a few months. But what I’ve realized as I get older is just how cool it really is. I am blessed beyond measure in ways that were not possible at an earlier age. My kids have grown into responsible adults and are people I really like and respect. And I have 8 grandkids with a 9th (another boy!) due in May. And that won’t be the end – I can count on at least a couple more down the line. Think of all the quilts I get to make – life is good!
Here are a few pictures my husband and his brother took on their snowshoe trip to the Post Office to mail off some hornsjewelry.com orders. First, it’s a mile and a half (and 1,200 foot elevation gain) up to where we usually park the cars. Then another 5 and a half miles to the paved road where they could get a ride the additional 18 miles to town. The trip out took almost 8 hours to get to the paved road. We are serious about getting orders mailed to our customers!
Here’s my Jeep with snow up to the widows. And it’s in a somewhat sheltered spot.
My husband on our “driveway” – good thing there was too much snow when we came home 12/28/07 to get the Jeep all the way to the top or it would be blocked in by these fallen trees.
Not such a clear picture due to fog – both in real life and on the camera’s lens – but here’s another driveway scene. All together, there are 29 trees laying across the half mile driveway.
And here’s the Corolla sitting in it’s usual parking spot on top of the mountain. This is not just a picture of a car with snow covering it. Rather, it’s a car with 3 and a half feet of snow all around it and more piled on top. Won’t be taking it anywhere too soon!
Here’s our swing. Even the smallest grandkid could get on there now without help!