YEAH!!!

Short post here...I couldn't say anything because we hadn't told the grandchildren yet.  Now that they know, I can tell you that we are NOT moving to Utah.

It has been increasingly evident that our dream and the reality just aren't moving toward each other.  Our house hasn't sold.  The cost of living in Utah is so much higher than we'd thought and employment for me is iffy at best.  I suppose if we'd made this move 10-15 years ago, it might have been do-able anyway.  But not currently.  So, after several heartfelt, and weepy, discussions while I was in Utah for the holidays, John and I have made the difficult decision to remain here in Missouri.  He has given his notice at work and will be coming home in mid-April.  This is bittersweet but it sure will be good to have him home!

All I can say is:

Thanks for stopping by. 

Scraping Snow

The ice storm we had on Friday nite put a small layer on top of the nearly 9 inches of snow we had earlier in the week.  My office partner/neighbor kindly picked me up and brought me home on Thursday and Friday - crushing the snow with his wheels on the apron to the garage.  Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but the ice on top of the crushed snow just made it more of an ice cube!  I watched several people try to go out to the mailboxes yesterday - slippin' and slidin' all over the road.  Now, that may be because they were young and thought it would be fun to do wheelies in the ice.  I don't know about that, but I'm not going to try to drive to work tomorrow till I know what the road looks like...and I'm not going to drive the road to find out what it looks like and then get stuck somewhere.  So I'm going to take my wonderful neighbor up on his offer for a ride into work again tomorrow.

I figured the ice on the apron will make it difficult for him to get traction to get to me and then to back up to drive out...so this morning I bundled up and wore Mr. Wonderful's chicken/pig boots and tried to shovel the apron to get some clear spots for him.  Here you see what I was able to get done.

There on the left is the double garage door...I got about 4-5 feet scraped.  The rest is a solid sheet of ice - you can see the tire marks from Friday..there's no scraping that yet.

Then I decided that maybe I should try to do the front walk cause if he can't get near enough on the apron side, he can drive straight on the drive and pick me up at the end of the walk...so I trudged thru the house and cleared that.  There was no traffic on it since before the snow so it came off relatively easy - well, easy for some.  I'm so stinkin' out of shape that I need a nap now that that's done.

We've got a bit of sun till nearly 2 o'clock today so maybe some more melting will be accomplished, in spite of the temps getting only near 22 degrees.  Then we are to expect a bit of snow from 3:00 till about 7:00...and, of course, falling temps.  I'm really done with winter!

I spent the day sewing yesterday.  Made a little table runner using a new mini tumbler template.  It's not quilted yet but I think I might use my embroidery machine to embroider swirls or something in those long white strips between the coloured stripes.  

Well, I've got a few more chores to do (including getting the tax stuff ready to mail off to the accountant tomorrow) and then I'm rewarding myself with knitting, or maybe some more sewing...or both.

Thanks for stopping by.

Frost Report

Hello from frosty southwest Missouri....we've had quite a week here...temps in the single digits or teens most days, over 9 total inches of snow, and last night insult was added to injury with ice!  Not a lot, but enough to make it dangerous to drive on the roads today. Thank goodness my 'taxi' driver and office partner needed to go to the grocery store before he brought me home from work yesterday.  I  got a few things to tide me over and have no further need to venture out for a few days.  It's still a tossup whether I will gird up the courage to drive in to work on Monday...perhaps I'll avail of my nice neighbor one more time.

I looked out the back and front of the house this morning and this is what I saw.

Ice crystals on the branches make these trees look gray and creepy...or beautiful, depending  on your perspective.  If I can look at them from the warmth of my home, they are beautiful.  If I have to drive thru them, gray and creepy. See? Perspective!

Please be safe and warm...know that I appreciate every single one of you who take the time to come to Pieceful Harbor Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

5 of 5

I DID IT!  I can't believe I posted each of 5 days...in a row!!!

This is day 5 of the Art Chain Challenge started by Donna Greenburg. Each day for the next 5 days I will post one art piece and each day I will nominate another artist to participate. The projects do not need to be new and they do not need to be made especially for this challenge. I was nominated by Angie

I nominate Karen.

I took a class in miniature log cabin foundation piecing while living in New England. This is the result - 12 inches square, with each square being 2 inches finished and 36 pieces in each unit. It took over an hour to piece each 2 inch unit. The title? "This Guy Must Be Crazy If He Thinks Size Doesn't Matter". I exhibited it at Ozark Empire Fair and won Grand Champion for it's category.

And there you have it...5 in 5 days.  

On the weather front, we had a clear day today but it was wicked cold (for here - I don't begin to compare to New England's winter; they win the prize for most awful winter!) I snagged a ride with my neighbor into work and waited around for him to get off work to bring me home. Thank goodness we work at the same place (and even share an office!).  I'm wussing out and riding in with him tomorrow cause we are expecting freezing rain tomorrow morning. The operative word being freezing.  With luck, we will only have rain and temps above freezing on Saturday that will melt some of the ick that we've got built up and I can drive myself to work next week. 

Thanks for stopping by.   Keep warm and safe. More soon!

4 of 5

This is day 4 of the Art Chain Challenge started by Donna Greenburg. Each day for the next 5 days I will post one art piece and each day I will nominate another artist to participate. The projects do not need to be new and they do not need to be made especially for this challenge. I was nominated by Angie

I nominate Sue.

Daisy, Daisy started out as a test knit for one of my favorite designers, Meagheen Ryan...It was so much fun to knit this child's shawl...it ended up being gifted to one of my granddaughters.  

Today is another snow day.  We have received upwards of 6+ inches of snow over the last 3 days.  I'm told the roads are packed and slick and I'm really glad I don't have to be anywhere other than safe and snug at home.  I have arranged a ride with a co-worker for the next 2 days in the event we have to work and the next 4 days are expected to be icky as well, with rain, sleet, and possibly more snow.  I'm so ready for spring!

Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow for the wrap up!

3 of 5

This is day 3 of the Art Chain Challenge started by Donna Greenburg. Each day for the next 5 days I will post one art piece and each day I will nominate another artist to participate. The projects do not need to be new and they do not need to be made especially for this challenge. I was nominated by Angie

I nominate Meredith

I participate in an annual speed sock-knitting contest called Sock Madness. I have absolutely no illusions that I can win but it's fun to knit the patterns and learn tons of new techniques. Cool Beans was one of those patterns. Two colours knit on the same row. What fun! Again, not my design, but it IS my workmanship!

From freezing and snowy southwest Missouri, I thank you for stopping by.  See you tomorrow for day 4.

2 of 5

This is day 2 of the Art Chain Challenge started by Donna Greenburg on Facebook. Each day for 5 days I will post one art piece and each day I will nominate another artist to participate. The projects do not need to be new and they do not need to be made especially for this challenge. I was nominated by Angie

I nominate Carole.

Our property is called Pieceful Harbor.  Combining my love of quilting and Mr. Wonderful's long military career in the Navy.  This is our final harbor, our anchor.  And I love lighthouses!  So when I saw this pattern, I just had to make it.  The quilt hangs in the entry to our home and has won awards at the Ozark Empire Fair and at the Webster County Fair.

The quilt was quilted by Genelle Reaves of Rogersville, Missouri and it's amazing.  I did not design it but I pieced it and someone once said that makes it my art!  

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you all tomorrow.

1 of 5

"This is day 1 of the Art Chain Challenge started by Donna Greenburg on

Facebook. Each day for the next 5 days I will post one art piece and each day I will nominate another artist to participate. The projects do not need 

to be new and they do not need to be made especially for this challenge."

 

I'm a quilter so most of my art is quilting - or sometimes knitting. This quilt is called Chocolate Chips Throughout the House - made for the gentleman who advised Mr. Wonderful when he built our house. Dennis loved chocolate chips so it made sense to put them throughout the log cabin blocks. I machine quilted it with huge hand-drawn chocolate chips along the borders and stitched-in-the-ditch between the blocks.

We're expecting a huge snowstorm later tonight...at one time they said we would have little to no accumulation.  Now they estimate between 4" and 6" tonight with another 1-2" tomorrow.  Thank goodness I have the next 2 days off...nowhere to be till Wednesday. Plenty of food for me and for the fur people who live here.  The electric bill is paid and there is a full tank of propane outside.  All that said, I am not worried one tiny jot about the coming weather.  I've got plenty of things to do around here - quilting and machine embroidery and knitting projects galore! And, or course, deciding which project to show for tomorrow!  

Thanks for stopping by. See you on the morrow!

February 1 Already? Really??

I can't believe it's already February 1st.  I've been home a whole month since spending the holidays with the family in Utah.  Time is so precious.   

February 1st is always a day for decisions for me.  It means I must decide whether I will again compete in Sock Madness.  Signups begin today for next month's beginning to several months of fevered sock-knitting.  I don't know why I continue to even think about it - I know I'm going to sign up again...there really is NO decision necessary.  Sock Madness 9 signups started at 7:00 a.m today and I am already signed up! 

Now to await the suggested supply list and then to scour the stash for preliminary selections.  Of course, once each pattern is released, I reserve the right to change my mind about the yarn I selected a whole month or more previously.

I teach several quilting classes as well as knitting classes at the library where I work.  One of my students, Chrystal, brought in her first quilt for me to see.  I tend to talk a lot during class - giving really important information and my own opinions - and evidently I used the term clown barf to describe a multi-colored fabric or yarn and Chrystal decided to name her quilt Sally's Clown.  It's really bright and cheerful and definitely qualifies as clown barf.  Thanks for sharing your first quilt with me, Chrystal...You even quilted it yourself!  I'm so proud of you! 

I've been doing a lot of quilting the last few weeks.  I'm working on a block of the month that I started in 2010 - a Halloween quilt called Happy Hauntings.  There is a ton of fusible applique involved and I spent my last day off tracing off images onto fusible webbing and then fusing those images onto the back of fabrics, and then cutting the images out and finally fusing the images onto the background for each block.  

Here you see some of the blocks I have done so far.  The top two and the one on the left are already complete.  The other one on the bottom right (actually there are 10 blocks - one on top of the other - need to be stitched down with invisible threads to secure the parts.  That is quite a time suck, believe me.  And some of the blocks need some hand-embroidery done as well.  Then, and only then, can I sew the blocks together and get on with the borders.  But I am really encouraged to get this quilt done by Halloween this year...I have one more block ready to fuse to the background and then only have one 36" skeleton left to do...

I can't believe I don't have much knitting on the needles right now.  I have a Stephen West shawl (Barndom) and an entrelac shawl currently awaiting my ministrations.  I also have a mini sock shaped like a jellyfish in the process. And that is all!  I really want to cast on for a pair of socks but I know they won't be done before Sock Madness 9 starts in early March and I don't want them hanging around longer then necessary. Will probably just plug along on the two shawls till the Madness starts.

Thank you for stopping by.  I love when you leave a comment.  Until next time.