The Day after the Blizzard of 2022

 

Here was the view from every window yesterday as the wind blew and the snow kept coming. The only shoveling I did was to clear a small path for Emma. The snowing and blowing stopped late last night and today dawned bright and clear. Fortunately, we didn’t lose our power. The official count for Weymouth was two feet of light, fluffy snow; all the meteorologists nailed their forecasts on this one. Looking out into my yard, it was difficult to measure the snow depths due to the amount of drifting. My deck was practically clear as were my front steps. Between my house and one neighbor I could see a patch of grass; between my house and the neighbors on the other side, it had to be three to four feet deep. Crazy! 

The forecasts call for fifty degree temps on Thursday!!! Life in New England!!!

I have been recording what I stitch each day in my A Needlework Enthusiast Book of Days. In the first column, I have recorded all that I have accomplished this month.

1.) Finished “When Life Gives You Lemons” quilt begun in May 2020.

2.) “December Dance” - from Lindy Stitches - Red-footed Booby cross stitch piece

3.)  Roll up applique mat

4.)”Snowman and Tree” wool applique piece from Buttermilk Basin

5.) Six pillowcases to be donated

6.) “Time for Hot Cocoa” placemats fromWilmington prints. . . I had purchased this kit maybe a year or two ago, but I hadn’t stitched them until last week. They are cheerful and fun.

Summary: 1 kit finished and six yards of fabric used from my stash . . . 

Now to the question on everyone’s mind . . . will he or won’t he . . . retire that is. After twenty-two years in the NFL, the word is that Tom Brady may be retiring. He is still at the top of his game, and I for one hope he comes back for one more year. 

Have a safe, creative, fun week.

Hunkering Down for a Potentially Epic Nor’easter

 Things you don’t want to hear from meteorologists and government officials: . . . bombogenesis (a rapid, drastic drop in pressure). . . a snowfall rate of 2-4” per hour . . . 24+” accumulation . . . blowing and drifting and whiteout conditions . . . below zero wind chill . . . The National Guard stationed around the state especially along the coast for any necessary rescues . . . utility companies are stationing crews across the state to deal with power outages (these crews have been brought in from other states and from Canada) . . . sustained high winds . . . a doozy of a storm . . . blizzard conditions. YIKES!!!

We have had powerful storms such as this before, but not this big for the past four or five years. Fortunately, it will be on Saturday when children are home from school and most people have weekends off from work. Governor Charlie Baker held a news conference earlier this evening, and he must have said a hundred times that people should stay home and stay off the roads. Sounds good to me!

We have known about this storm for several days, so most people are as prepared as they can be. My plan is to spend the day stitching in between periods of shoveling. Another blessing . . . the snow will be light and fluffy to shovel though as one meteorologist said with the powerful winds, drifts could be four to five feet deep.  

If we don’t lose power, I’ll be back on Sunday to show you what I accomplished this week. Yes, I actually accomplished a few things!!!

I’ll leave you with this photo of Emma after her visit to the groomer on Thursday. Check out those eyebrows. :-)

Stay safe and warm and hope that we don’t get three feet of snow!!!

Wool Applique Snowman and a Three Package Day

I am following through on some of my resolutions. ;-) (Note the word ‘some.’) I am pulling out and working on kits from my stash. This is Snowman and Tree from Buttermilk Basin which is a wonderful source for all things wool applique. The kit came with the pattern and display stand. I had purchased the kit a few years ago, and it is now one completed thing off my list.

Today was a three package day. Early this morning I received a package from the Fat Quarter Shop. It was a small order of floss, pale pink aida for stitching Valentine pieces, and some sticky board to mount cross stitch pieces. All in all, not too exciting.

Next up, UPS dropped off a large styrofoam container. First thought . . . Good heavens what did I order??? Well, it was a shipment of insulin packed in the container with frozen gel packs. (Normally, I get my order from my local CVS, so I don’t know why it was shipped to my house from out of state.) The edge of the container had been damaged and as I brought it into the house,  I left a trail of teenie tiny white styrofoam pellets. I went straight out to the sunporch to open it. Those bits of styrofoam were worse to clean up than a preteen’s party featuring glitter. I had to get them all up as I didn’t want Emma to eat them. 

The third package was one that I had been waiting for. . . Each year I use Blog 2 Print to make a hard bound copy of all my blog posts for the previous year. I have a book for each year since I began this blog back in 2009. This time I chose to combine 2020 and 2021 and labeled the spine “2020 Life in the Time of Covid 2021.”  Little did I realize that it would still be with us in 2022. 

On the cover I selected from my images the marquee of the Cameo theater in South Weymouth at the beginning of the pandemic. It reads: Essential Workers You Are Stars.

The dedication . . . 

For the back cover I chose the quilted piece that I had created for my front door.

In time, memories of the pandemic may dim, but this book will allow me to remember what it was like for us all.

If you write a blog, let me show you what a few pages from the inside look like.

It is super easy to create a blog book, and to my way of thinking worth the cost. Blog2Print frequently offers 35% off deals, and at the start of the new year sometimes bigger discounts; mine was 45% off. Again, if you blog and are interested, sign up to be on their email list. You may go back to make a book of any year that you wish.

Well, now I am going to go do some prep work on some project bags, pillowcases, and another wool applique piece. I’m trying the Field of Dreams approach, if I prep it, I might actually sew/stitch it. Fingers crossed . . . 

I’ll leave you with this silly piece.

Stay warm. Stay Safe. Stay creative.

“December Dance” FFO

 

 

Could you use a smile today? This cross stitch piece of red-footed boobies kept me smiling the whole time I was stitching it. It’s December Dance, a pattern from Lindy Stitches. I added snowflake buttons so I can display it all winter. On the back, I added a snowflake charm and the date. 

We have had some frigid temperatures for the last few days, and meteorologists are predicting a return of an arctic blast over the weekend. I love weather terminology, and I love the names that some stations have given their mobile weather vehicles . . . Weather Ranger . . . and my favorite . . . Weather Warrior!!! Isn’t that something!

Stay warm; spring is right around the corner. ;-)

Shoveling in a Winter Wonderland

 We had been amply warned that a nor’easter was coming, but at 4:00am the ground was bare. Then it arrived at a rate of 1 to 2 inches an hour. By 8:30, there were about eight inches on my deck. As I shoveled, the intrepid Miss Emma set out to explore the winter wonderland. It’s a good thing that she is part jackrabbit as the snow was deep for her. 

It’s 2:30 now, and I’ve just come in again from shoveling another three to four inches. I’m blessed to have wonderful neighbors with snowblowers who do my driveway after doing their own. I shovel the deck and backstairs, the front steps, and the area in front of the garage door. It was a delightfully fluffy snow so it was easy shoveling.

Coincidentally, I began stitching a new cross stitch piece called “Winter Wonderland” yesterday as I had packed  away “Christmas in the Kitchen” which had been hanging in my kitchen. ;-). Cross stitchers on floss tube have been urging “New Year - New Starts. “ I definitely don’t need that type of encouragement. Believe it or not, some folks have said that this month they are starting twenty-two stitch pieces for 2022!!!  I’m currently working on finishing two Christmas ornaments, the Winter Wonderland piece, and two, possibly three, which I have yet to start. That’s plenty.

“When Life Gives You Lemons, ” my covid quilt, was fully finished over the weekend; I stitched the binding and added a  label and sleeve.

The pattern was “Sequoia Sampler” by Alex Anderson. It’s a fun pattern which you can adapt to suit any theme you might choose. Though lacking any real artistic talent, I was able to design a lemon tree for the centerpiece and a pitcher of  lemonade. It was quilted by fellow Crosstown Guild member Maureen Anderson of Anderson Quilting. 

It looks pretty dull here now that Christmas has been packed away, so I’m heading down cellar to bring up the winter decorations. Bring on the snowmen!!!

Life in New England … the meteorologists now say we will have a polar freeze over the course of the next few days. It just keeps getting better and better. ;-() 

Stay warm and stay safe.

“A Tomorrow” and ‘Fleece Navidad’

Tomorrow, Jan. 6th, we will commemorate the violent insurrection at the Capitol one year ago. We are being crushed by the rising number of covid cases as things once again appear to be spiraling downward. In spite of all that, I promise you, dear readers, that this will be an upbeat piece. 

Let’s start with this ornament that I fully finished this evening. It is Fleece Navidad from Misty Purcel of Luminous Fiber Arts. There are so many wonderful cross stitch designers now. You cannot help but be happy while stitching pieces such as this. I did a lightly stuffed, soft pillow finish for this ornament. 

A friend recommended A Tomorrow, a spoken word piece by Canadian poet Shan Koyczan on Youtube. It runs about seven minutes, and I promise you it is worth your time. Hope is something we all need during these troubled times. Go to Youtube and search for  ‘A Tomorrow’ ; it will make your heart a bit lighter.

May we all have happy, healthy, hope filled tomorrows. 

Sunday, Day 2 of 2022

 2022 . . . Doesn’t that sound strange. . . As we start this new year, I have been taking stock of what I would like to accomplish in the months ahead. Indeed, accomplish will be my spirit word for 2022. Do you choose a word or phrase to motivate or guide you each year?  Yes, as noted in my previous post, I did fully finish forty-three cross stitch pieces, but I completely lost my quilting mojo. I am determined to be more balanced this year and accomplish more quilting and wool applique. On Sundays, I’ll hopefully record what I have accomplished for the previous week.

To start off 2022,  I did sew on the binding, sleeve, label for a small quilt “When Life Gives You Lemons.”  I’ll post photos next time, and I stitched a cute cross stitch ornament which has yet to be fully finished.

Today I also began undecking the halls . . . well, outside that is. The old sled which had belonged to my dad’s family is tucked back in the garage as is the tree with multi colored lights that my neighbor made for me a few years ago. That sled is a hundred years old if it is a day. For years it stood in the corner of our cellar until I dragged it out to become part of our Christmas decorations. Tomorrow I’ll start undecking the inside, but I am in no rush. The creche figures will remain up until the Feast of the Epiphany, and I plan to leave up my small cross stitch tree and gradually add winter ornaments. 

Resolutions for 2022. . . I intend to stitch only from stash as I have enough quilting fabric, wool, cross stitch fabric, and thread to last at least a few years. I was also fully determined not to buy even one more cross stitch chart. That resolution didn’t even last for a day, but it wasn’t my fault as The Stitching with the Housewives shop on Etsy had a 20% off sale. Their patterns are fun and irresistible. Oh, and I might possibly have purchased another pattern which had been sitting in my cart for a while. This chart celebrates Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. How could I resist? But that is it, really and truly. ;-)

Well, I’ve rambled long enough. Have a wonderful, creative, and safe week. Let me know what your word  for 2022 will be and what resolutions you have made.

Oh, one more resolution . . . once again I am determined to lose fifteen pounds this year. It’s strange how that resolution always shows up on my list. . .