Winter projects

My “honey do” list is quite long and I can always count on Mr. CnW to cross things off of it during the winter months when he can’t get out on the golf course.   

Have you found Pinterest yet?   The virtual bulletin board of all things wonderful?    Well, I was surfing the inspiring pictures one day when I came across this picture of a very creative way to display quilts.

It was posted by The Pattern Basket blog and I knew it was the perfect fit for the entryway to my nest. 

Showed it to the Mr. and off he went to the big box store to get the supplies.  They are just simple curtain rods.

I decided I wanted 3 rods on my wall. 2 of them would be for displaying finished quilts and the bottom one would be for quilts that were on their way to the quilter.

I love the way it turned out.   Thanks Mr. CnW.   Now on to the next “honey do”.  

Looks like he’ll have some time before golf season starts up again.  This morning we woke up to this.

Hard to believe it was in the 60’s last week.   Sure is pretty tho.  

Hugs, Anne

It’s a start anyway…

Saturday I decided I better start decorating for Christmas since I’m going to be gone some in the next few weeks. It’s such a huge job so I just figured I’d tackle as much as possible this weekend. Here are some “before” pictures.

A mess you say? No kidding!

Why do we put ourselves through all this?

And finally, the shelves are empty and dusted. (the only time the house gets a complete cleaning…LOL)

You’ll have to wait for the “after” pictures since we haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet, but, oh heck, here are a couple of teasers.

I wanted to get the fireplace area finished first because I really wanted to see what the stockings would look like. They are the kits I got from Primitive Gatherings. I’m really happy with them.

Uh oh, this was taken before I put stuff under the candles to stagger the heights!

And a close-up. Hmm, I’m going to have to work on that 4th one getting it to hang straight. Also, too much of the light color on the left. Going to have to switch them . LOL It’s amazing what you see in pictures.

Yesterday morning we woke up to this…

What a better way to spend a Sunday than with some snow on the ground and decorating for Christmas. It actually made the chore task a lot more fun.

Oh, okay, a couple more sneak peaks.

I’ve got lots of tweaking and “phoofing” to do before you can see the rest but at least it’s a start.

And what would decorating be without my little guy, Jack, helping out.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. Cherish your loved ones because…you just never know...

Hugs, Anne

What?

I know I’ve been away from blogging for awhile, but I must have lost a couple of months along the way!  What the heck is this all about?

Poor Jack…he’s probably thinking, “Now, how do I get back inside?”

Our friends, Tom and Lindy Weathers, are here for the weekend…or maybe the winter!

So, needless to say, we’ll be inside, enjoying friends, watching football, catching up on blogs, eating, etc.  

I’ll be back later today to update you on why I’ve been so quiet for the past month and to post the next installment of Tisket a Tasket.  

Blogger's Block

Also known as Writer's Block. I've had a serious case of this and haven't been able to come up with anything to blog about.

On Tuesday it started snowing again, so I thought I would blog about that, but I was a little miffed at Mother Nature, so I figured I better not blog because it would turn into a rant! I'm so OVER the snow. The flakes were huge and if it had been raining, it would have been pouring! The snow didn't last for very long, so I calmed down.

Since I keep showing progress on the things I'm working on, I thought I would show you that I CAN finish things.

This is called "Feathered Stars" and it's from Kim Diehl's book, Simple Traditions. I was in a Yahoo Primitive group and we did it as our Quarterly Quilt. I pretty much used the same colors as Kim did because I think that's what drew me to the quilt. It's hanging in hubby's den.

This quilt is in our dining room and it's called "Holly Basket" from the book, Holly Threads by Need'l Love. It was designed by Gerry Kimmel-Carr. I know it's a Christmas design, but I like it, so I leave it up all year.

I saved this one for last because it actually gave me tendonitis and I swore I would never do another applique quilt.

It's called "Stella's Rose" from Samples of the Past, Part 3, by Blackbird Designs. I was taking a 4 week class and I got the whole blasted quilt finished in those 4 weeks, doing needleturn, no less! The pain in my elbow was so bad that I had to quit doing any handwork for quite awhile after. Taught me a really good lesson about "OCD".

Well, hopefully my blogger's block is gone. I'll be posting block #5 of Tisket a Tasket on Tuesday. Better get that scheduled in case baby grandson decides to arrive a bit early.

Block #3, A Tisket, a tasket.

Well, she's done it again...That Anne over at Bunny Hill Designs has come up with the next darling block in her year long mystery Block of the Month. These little blocks are so much fun to do and so quick and easy. I haven't put the buttons on the basket yet, but other than that...it's a done deal! If you haven't started them, you can get caught up in no time at all. Just click on the above link or the picture on my sidebar and you'll land right on her site to get the FREE pattern!

Here are the first 3 blocks. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next month. Thanks Anne!

I guess I shouldn't complain about the snow we had last week when this is what we see once the skies clear! It's such a beautiful sight. There are 10 mountain peaks that can be seen from all over this area and they are so pretty with all the snow on them. Bend is such a beautiful place to live and play.

Thanks for stopping by,

Anne

Hey, where's spring?

We've been having some really nice weather lately but this morning woke up to this!

Maybe we need to take this down!

On the quilty front. Here's block 4 of Wool Garden by Waltzing with Bears.

And all 4 of them so far. I'm liking the way this is looking.

I prepped Block #7 of "Reminiscence" by the Rabbit Factory, so it's all ready to be stitched down when I have some time.

Got another block stitched of "Winter Wonderland" by Crabapple Hill. I decided to do these blocks in order from largest to smallest. I'm glad I did it that way because even though I love it, it's ALOT of redwork. I tend to get bored quickly with this one. I'm plugging along though and at least the largest blocks are finished.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions about what to watch next while I'm on the treadmill. I just started Season 1 of "24", and I think I'll watch "John Adams" when I'm finished with "24". By then the weather should be nice enough to start walking outside again. You all gave me some great ideas and I've written them all down to check out.

Freezing Fog

Or "Hoar Frost" as it's called around here. (maybe around your area too).


When DH and I moved here, the first winter we had this phenomenon and must have taken 100 pictures. It's so neat to see. We've had fog for the past 2 days with temps in the 20's , so it just settles on the branches forming tiny ice crystals. It is crystal clear above the fog, and the sun is trying to peek through today, so it will probably be gone this afternoon.









Looks like a flocked Christmas tree, huh?

A FREE Block of the Month!

Yes, you heard me right...a FREE block of the month. It's being offered by Anne at Bunny Hill Designs and even though it's a "mystery", if you know Anne at all, you'll know that you're going to find adorable critters in each little basket. The only clue she is sharing is that the baskets will be the same basket for the 12 months but there will be a new little surprise tucked in each basket. I've seen a "sneak preview" and I can tell you that they are all adorable. So, head on over to her web site and click on the icon and it will take you right to the pages to download. I'm going to do it in wool. Anyone want to join me?

And now for an update to the weather report. Here are the "after" shots. (see last post). It's hard to tell how much snow we got because the wind was blowing so hard and it was pretty light, fluffy snow. Hubby thinks we got about 1/2 inch with the deeper spots being "drifts". Who knows? All I know is that we certainly didn't get the 4 - 8 inches that was predicted. (In all fairness though, the weather alert downgraded to 3 - 5 inches after I posted to my blog. Big deal - LOL).

Well, it's all melted now and we're warming up to possibly 50 today but I'm sure there will be more winter storm warnings in our future!!! Gosh, I can hardly wait.

Now, hurry on over to Anne's and see what's in store for you...for FREE!

Another deadline and a winter storm warning

It's time to post Block 2 of Jan Patek's Girl Gang that I'm doing with Karen. Is anyone out there doing this one too? If so, you can join us by posting your completed blocks on the 5th of the month. (I know, I know...today's the 4th not the 5th! Just call me an overachiever.)

The large block at the bottom is Block 1. The rest are all part of Block 2. Those hearts call for little black circles to be applique'd on them but I didn't really like they way they look. So for now...they aren't going on.

Here's Block #2 (on the bottom) of Wool Garden from Farmhouse Woolens. I think Block 3 is on it's way, so I'm glad to be caught up with this one. (When I went to the site to link it to you, I see that there's a SALE going on. Hurry on over there because it ends on the 10th.Wheee)

Now...on to the storm warning. If you live in snow country, you probably know that these warnings can sometimes be a big bust! We've had lots of times when they call for us to get alot of snow only to have a few flurries in the air. So, I'm showing you what we had on Christmas Eve and what we have now. Then, I'll take a picture of what we "get" with this storm and we'll see how accurate the forecasters are this time. They are calling for us to get between 4 - 8 inches.

Christmas Eve. That's an 18 inch ruler and it shows 12 inches of snow. We actually got 14 but I didn't get a picture of it.

Same location taken this afternoon.

Another view on Christmas Eve.
Same view today.

Okay, let's see what it looks like tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a good start to their New Year.