Squirrel

I was shoveling the walk, yes again, and I kept hearing noises from the neighbor's tree. I figured it was the squirrels. This is the first time I remember seeing squirrels in the wintertime, and these like to make tracks in the snow. One of them was making noises the whole time I was shoveling. I was trying to figure out whether I was being yelled at for clearing "their" space, or maybe I was being told about spots that I missed. I missed a good squirrel-on-the-post photo yesterday, so of course, I brought out the camera.



I couldn't see the squirrel from the viewfinder - transition lenses, coldness, laziness, and bright outdoor light, so I just took some pictures until I finally aimed the camera at the right branch.



Just eating, and not talking to me. I like the wrong ones I took as well, so I'm sharing those as well. Yes of course it's snowing again.

Snow

It's been snowing everyday, enough to have to clear the walk everyday. There is going to be 2-4 inches of snow today. Our first significant accumulation. Schools are closed early - the forecasters are calling it a blizzard. The police have stopped taking accident calls unless there is an injury to a person. You can compare the photo to the one in this post. There is a street and a couple of driveways under there. The street doesn't get cleared unless there is significant accumulation, so it is slippery under the snow. Oops, got water on the lens.

I was expecting this, so I went shopping for my free stuff yesterday. Yes, more office supplies. I like to use my cash back from free stuff to buy more free stuff so I can have cash back so I can buy more free stuff. I was expecting to stay home and quilt today.

The daughter had other plans and decided to call and get a job interview today. I told her we could go early and hopefully get back before the snow gets a chance to start or accumulate. They offered her a chance to stay and visit, and she took it. I got to pick her up when the snow is at its worse, before the snow plows had a chance to get to it. As she says, it is a short drive. And I didn't tell her this, but I need short stints like this to strengthen up my winter driving stomach muscles.

I've finished quilting the circles. I can stop singing "You spin me right round, like a record, baby." I tried doing some free motion, but the planets have not properly aligned for it. I tried two different brand new needles, two different threads, and all of the tension settings. I have done free motion before, but for me, it either works or it doesn't. Besides, the quilting idea I want for this quilt, zigzag, actually looks better with a walking foot. Hopefully I'll be able to finish quilting it today. I have more windows to cover with plastic, and maybe wash the curtains while I am at it, but I'm not going out again today.

2010 Plans

As I was looking at blogs during the holiday season, one thing that really jumped out at me were the banners. So many beautiful banners. I thought it would be really fun to make banners to decorate the house with. Most of the banners were triangular pennant, using a couple of fabrics. Some of them were half an oval shape, with each half oval having it's own theme and design. I really like all the ideas - the similar pennants, and the decorate each piece idea, the semi oval idea. Except that I didn't have time, since I was busy making holiday gifts.

I really enjoyed having some progress everyday, and I'm pretty sure that my readers enjoy seeing new projects, instead of the same old "I quilted another circle today" post. One way I thought I could remedy that is to make a little scrap quilt out of the leftover fabrics. But that still doesn't amount to a lot of projects. I thought seriously about making journal quilts - maybe one a month, and I could use my new quilt hanger that came with the apron pattern.

Today, I received a couple of emails referring me to this French blog. There is a translator on the blog. It's a group of people who make something similar to ATCs and postcards and twilts and journal quilts, except that they make them the shape of a CD circle. I like circles, in case you couldn't tell that from my African Circles quilt.

I'm not making any promises, and not joining the group officially, but maybe you might see some CD circles on my blog from time to time, and maybe those CD circles will eventually become a banner of some sort. It worries me, because it sounds an awful lot like starting a new quilt when I have lots of old quilts to finish, but maybe I'll be able to think of some reward system to fit it in.

Progress on African Circles

When I showed you the picture from the archive, I realized that I hadn't taken a recent picture. Because this quilt isn't made with blocks, I was thinking progress pictures wouldn't be able to show very much, but there has been a border added that doesn't show in the photo, and circles quilted that probably won't show in the photo. Only four left! I folded over the green backing fabric on the right so you can see it. Parts of the extra batting was borrowed for the holiday gifts!


I am still quilting down the circles. Since I wasn't able to free motion, I am zigzagging them, which requires turning the quilt all the way around under the machine for each circle. It feels like there are many more circles than you can see. Makes me think of the toy Sit and Spin. Remember that I already zigzagged them down to the top, and now I am quilting another zigzag round the same way. After this, I will try to free motion again, with my fresh brand new pack of needles.

When my shoulder muscles are tired of going back and forth turning the quilt around in the machine, I am taking a break and letting my shoulder muscles go up and down putting up more plastic in the windows. I have lots of old windows, and it is really cold outside. I've had this on my to-do list since October 1, but there is something about really cold weather to motivate me to do this task.

Movies

When I was younger, I had a magnetic photo album. More than one, actually. And I had recently learned about scrapbooking, when it was in its infancy. One of the things they did, was to save stuff for the album. Stuff like movie tickets. So I saved them - I think it was a nice recap of the movies I had seen, even though I eventually forgot what some of the movies were even about. And some people would ask me why I was saving movie tickets - like they were something important. Eventually, I threw them out, and I regret doing so. Because I think the movies I saw are important to me.

I enjoy going to movies. I usually go with someone, and that adds to the experience. I'm not going to start saving ticket stubs, but I have a blog now where I can document my movie watching, hopefully with enough details so I will remember it.


On Christmas Day, my princess and I watched The Princess and the Frog. It was a good movie. It has been brought to my attention that Disney has a good and evil theme in so many of their movies, and this one was no exception. It does bother me that they do that. The world isn't full of good and evil. There are many shades of gray, and there isn't evil lurking around every corner. I didn't mind watching it, I just don't think that that lesson should be taught over and over again to children. the feminist in me didn't like the ending, but it is a fairy tale, and I don't know how they could have made it work except how they did. The graphics were great, including a couple of scenes that had me designing some quilts.


There were lots of people at the theater. Apparently, we aren't the only ones that make movie watching a Christmas tradition. When I first walked into the theater, I didn't see any children, which I thought was strange, but apparently they were all sitting up higher than I was. The main character in the movie wants to own a restaurant, and they talked a lot about foods from New Orleans. I've always wanted to visit there. It seems like one of those places that would be like a different world than plain old Ohio. Anyway, the movie made me want to try some of the foods, so I went home, and looked up "New Orleans pastry" recipe because I didn't know how to spell beignet. A few days later, I made it. The recipe calls for 7 cups of flour! Yikes. I halved it, using only half of the yeast. I should have halved it again, but that would have involved using half an egg and throwing away three fourths of the yeast packet. Looking for the recipe again, I can see that there are recipes that make a smaller batch, but I couldn't find one at the time. They were really good. My mother has forbidden me to eat donuts because they are not healthy, but beignets are not on the "do not eat" list. The princess ate some, and I shared them with my friend and her family when they came to visit.


Yesterday, my brother, daughter and I went to see Avatar. I was told the plot was trite, but I really liked the movie. I thought the plot was great, and the computer graphics was wonderful. I found it very believable, and everything was tied together at the end.

New Year - New Quilt

Picture from archives

I've seen a couple of blogs where the quilter resolved to start a new quilt for the New Year. Tempting. Very tempting.

But when I was doing my annual recap of 2009, I realized that I have to take the opposite approach. You see, I've been trying to get away from feeling bad that I don't have a lot of finishes to show you. I have been telling myself that it isn't about the quantity. I should make the quilts that I find beautiful, and not worry about how long it takes to make. So many of the projects I like have piecing and applique, and I am very, very slow when it comes to applique.

I am not going to make resolutions this year. It seems like when I tell myself that I can't do something, or that I must do something, I become very disobedient. No one tells me what to do, not even myself!

Instead, I am trying to think of this positively. I have lots and lots of quilts in the works. It's like with your taxes, they tell you to save up and use it all in the same year so you can get the most bang for your buck. If you are expecting a big medical expense, do all your medical things the same year, so that you can itemize and get a big refund. I didn't have any big finishes last year, but that only means that I have a lot of quilts that are close to completion. This means I can have double the finishes this year. I have lots of quilts that have made good progress, that it shouldn't take to much more to take them to completion this year.

Does this mean there won't be a new quilt this year? Absolutely not. There are lots of kits that are calling my name. But hopefully, I'll get a couple of older quilts finished before they start jumping up and down and screaming.

Happy New Year 2010

I hope that this New Year brings you lots of fun adventures, health, wealth, and happiness. I am still trying to start the new year right, finishing up the leftover tasks, sewing, and blogging.