I was in the Tampa / St. Pete area of Florida for a meeting over the weekend. Since my flight got me in a few hours before the meetings started, I had time to locate a few quilt shops.

Last time I visited St. Pete's Beach (almost exactly a decade ago), I convinced my traveling partner and long-time friend Lisa to run up to a quilt shop with me, so that was the first on my list of possible stops. Rainbow's End in Dunedin, Florida had some fabulous fabrics, as you can see from my selection. I mostly purchased fat quarters, but I did buy a yard of the black-and-white pin dot with the pink flowers because I thought it was unusual and felt a little nostalgic.

Next shop was in Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Florida. The marble print in the top left is a flannel, and I fear it might be a flannel I bought before. The three below it along the left side are fat quarters. However, I bet it comes as no surprise to any of you that the farm print in the middle and the two on the left are more than a fat quarter. I bought yardage of all three. The farm fabric will make very cute and very easy baby blankets, just cut 36" by the fabric length (45") and quilted along the design lines (great experience with that quilting machine, right?). The other two just had such great colors that I had to have them and the ideas are swimming around in my head.



By the time I finished at the second shop, I had to high-tail it to the hotel and made it to my first meeting just in time. It was a great meeting, and after it was over, I shot this picture of sunset over the Gulf. I thought you might appreciate a great view after the colorful fabrics, so I'm offering this one to you. Thank you, Florida for a great weekend!

The other night, I cut out a new quilt. WOO HOO! My cousin Lynette's second daughter, Violet, hasn't yet gotten her Grandma Paper Doll Quilt yet and she's got to be nearing a year old, or maybe a little older. Here's a photo of the pieces; I'll post updates of its progress, highlighting some of the fun tools and techniques I'll be using as I go.

I fussy-cut the border-strip fabric to use in the centers of the blocks so there were two of the dolls in each block and I have two of each doll pair. The sketches at the top are only the rough drafts--I changed the colors right before I started cutting, which is funny because I was shopping for a blue and yellow print at the Quilt Festival for the blocks and ended up swapping the greenish daisy print for the blue. So here are the fabrics cut for the quilt. I'm really excited to get working on it, but I think I'm going to cut the Storm at Sea quilt pieces first. I've found that if I have pieces cut, I'm more likely to work on a project but somehow making the decisions and getting them cut is the part that's been holding me up. So I thought I'd cut a few quilts out (the Storm at Sea and my sister's Stack n Whack) and then, over the summer, I'd sew and sew and get them all done. Then I can start working on the quilting part.

As I mentioned before, I flipped the bedrooms in my house to give myself a little more space in the sewing and craft room and to get my cardmaking station out of the living room and into the craft room where it ought to be. I shared the "before" shot last weekend and thought I'd give you an update. Over the weekend, I organized the fat quarters into great containers from Ikea that fit perfectly on the shelf in my closet. Here's the mound of fat quarters, sorted by color with the help of my favorite four-year-old. It may not LOOK sorted, but it is.

Next, here's the closet "after", looking a whole lot better than it did in the "before" photo. The shelves were all already in place. Before I got organized, the plastic containers were on the top shelf, leaning over because the shelves were sagging. Now, with everything organized and in proper containers, I have a lot more space and everything I'm looking for is in its place. As you can see from the picture below, the little containers that fit so perfectly on that shelf are filled with fat quarters by color. And the nine-section shoe sorter holds fabrics that I bought in the past to make some quick quilts on which I can practice using my quilting machine.

I'm thrilled with how the closet is looking. This is the first step in getting this room pulled together. I still have to put the rest of the fabric, the non-fat-quarter-fabric, in containers by color. That's this weekend's project.

Stay tuned from the next section of the clean-up: the cardmaking station.

I had mentioned that the quilter of my cousin's king-size quilt did a wonderful job. Well, here's are the photos to prove it. I knew I had them somewhere and I ran across them in the reorg that's still going on.

So here are some close-up photos. I tweaked the colors and contrast a bit so you could see the quilting better. In the borders, she quilted lines using green thread and bobbins, which is why it shows up so well on the backing. In the little pieces inner border, and yes, I pieces those strips from the leftover strips cut for the blocks, she quilted those too with ivory thread and bobbin. In the red border strips on either side of the little strips, she quilted a vine pattern. And in the corner blocks of the little strips borders, there's a mini-block--I think it's a mini version of the bigger block used in the center of the quilt. THAT'S the type of detail the quilter put into this project! She did a scrolly square motif in each block using variegated green thread, so it showed in the off-white strips. As you can tell, I was pretty impressed with the quilting--I photographed the back, after all.

To see the quilting better, double-click on the image.

So it's the last week of the year, and if you remember correctly, last year I tackled cleaning out and organizing the sewing room to make room for the quilting machine. You may also remember that the quilting machine didn't get much action this year, a fact that I'd like to remedy in 2010. So I bit the bullet and did what I thought I ought to do when I first moved into this flat--I'm putting my sleeping quarters in the front, smaller bedroom and moving the sewing and quilting and craft room into the back, larger bedroom. Seriously, how much floor space does one need for sleeping and dressing? (And if those of you with master suites with walk-in closets and sitting areas could just keep that answer to yourself and not chime in with your square footage, I'd be much beholden.)

Monday didn't see much action, as I was driving home from Illinois and stopping along the way to pick up things I needed and check out an after-Christmas sale or two. So Tuesday was my first day of really working on this project. I'm proud to say that I got the sewing room emptied out, the bed and two dressers moved in, and a bunch of the sewing room stuff into the sewing room. Unfortunately, things are still crazy, with a lot of sewing room stuff still in the living room and dining room, in addition to the room they're supposed to be in. But I was able to sleep in my bed last night, so that's something anyway. Turns out, head pointing east works for me. The bedroom is by no means tidy and finished, but having most of the furniture in the right room is a good first step. Meanwhile, it's on to the chaos. Just me, my handtruck to help with the heavy lifting, and my MP3 player. Send organizing thoughts my way!

I've been doing some thinking about getting my house organized in between Christmas celebrations (which there have been a lot of). I'm thinking I'm going to swap my bedroom and my sewing room--my current bedroom is quite a bit larger than my current sewing room and that quilting machine is, after all, 10 foot long. And if I'm going to quilt more in 2010, I need the space. So this week, that will be my plan. I'll keep you posted here, but meanwhile, check out what my pals have been up to. 


The Artful Crafter
Don’t toss those leftover holiday candle stubs! Here’s how to organize them for recycling later – after the holiday whirl subsides.

Aileen's Musings
To help bring in the New Year Aileen has a snazzy freebie New Year's card for you to download and send to your friends and family.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Press On with Trylon and Perisphere Cross Stitch using a cool font from the book A Rainbow of Stitches


Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
File this one away for next year...Madge's final Retrofabulous Christmas Craftabration Project for 2009! This one kicks tinsel!


Mixed Media Artist
Mix fabric and paper for a one-of-a-kind collage!


Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside there is a Steampunk-style cam chain necklace, how to make an image have a pop art look, recycle a milk jug into snowflakes, and a tutorial on making domed bead caps.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is going bananas, literally, over amigurumi again. Crochet folks take note!

I designed this quilt a while back and have made several of them in my quilting years. I made one with these fabrics, obviously. I made one with a teddy-bear-in-sailor-suits print with royal and tan blocks and a red border (Randy and Michaelle's baby, I think). I made one with a black-and-beige baseball print; the blocks were black and beige and the inner border and binding being red (Baby Boy Blum who is now 11-year-old Boy Blum). There may have been others, but I can't remember right now. Again, somewhere in my photo files are pictures of those projects---I'll look soon.

The Baby Blocks quilt was published in McCall's Quilting Quick Quilts March 2000 issue. I believe I still have the materials list for this one in my checkbook, so I can quickly pick up the fabrics for this quilt if I get inspired on-the-fly!

Now comes the part that I'm almost embarrassed to admit. The quilting that I did on this was minimal. When I got it back from the magazine, there was much more quilting on it than I'd sent it with. I just put diagonal lines through the 16-patch blocks, forming an X in each block. They added triangles in the plain squares in each section of the X. Then they worked meandering in the borders. These are things I'd like to have the chance to practice on my quilting machine.

I was in Toronto last weekend for a CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) board meeting. Because of how I had to book my flight, I had 6 hours from the time I landed until I had to be at the hotel for the start of the weekend. Yes, you guessed it, that was just enough time to visit a few quilt shops. But since the week prior had gotten a bit chaotic, I hadn't had a chance to do much research online to double-check locations, hours, etc. I located addresses of several shops, thanks to Dad's GPS, but only two of them were still where they were located when I printed a quick map from Google. But one shop staffer suggested another shop, so in the end I visited three shops and still had the chance to look around the town and get ready for the meeting.

What shops did I visit?, you ask.

First, I stopped at Cock-a-Doodle Quilts. I found some fat quarters--I'm assuming they're quarter meters, which is slightly larger than a US fat quarter. But since fabric is more expensive in Canada, I didn't want to get carried away. They had some lovely batiks, this adorable farm print (I'm pretty sure this is bigger than a fat quarter, but I don't have it here to measure), and a panel that I can't yet disclose. As always, you know I'm a sucker for farm fabrics.

Next, after a few misses, I had another hit. The Quilter's Block is a smaller shop, but it was filled with some great fabrics. It's more of an urban shop, which was a new experience for me. As often happens, I ended up with two of the same prints in different colorways. And I also picked up a black-and-white and a black-and-gray print, which are also becoming a pattern for me. And the gal in the shop was very helpful, as we chatted about my mini-shop-hop, she suggested one other store in the area. So off I went.

The shop she suggested was Sewing Machine Factory Outlet in Scarborough. (Again, thank goodness for Dad's GPS!) I found some bolts of fabric that weren't full price--some marked down and some buy-one-get-one-free. Yes, at this shop, I bought yardage, but only off of four bolts. And then there were two fat quarters. As before, the two circle prints are the same print in different colorways--and I love circles and dots. I absolutely fell for the geometric print--it reminded me of some of the ones I picked up in Utah. As for the mosaic-looking print, I thought it would be a great fabric to use to get some practice freehand quilting with that big ole machine of mine. It's beautiful--shades of teal, creams, and brown, and there are birds and florals. I'll do another show-and-tell after I get it quilted--I'm itching to play with that machine again. I need much more free time! As for the two fat quarters, just some batiks that I thought were interesting.

And to round out my trip, here's a funny story. As I walked into the shop, I noticed a gentleman just hanging out in the store. Turned out, he was a fabric rep. I should have guessed--this is not the first time I've been visiting a shop while the fabric rep is trying to do show-and-tell. I don't mind it at all, I love to get a sneak peek at fabric lines, but I always feel bad for the shop owner and the rep, as it's much easier to do fabric selection when there's no one around and you don't have interruptions. I know when I was managing the quilt shop in Florida, we did our best to have the reps come in the evening, which was probably quite inconvenient for them but was very convenient for us. When I was in North Carolina on that vacation I mentioned a few weeks ago, the same thing happened and I bought a lot of fabric then too, partially because I wanted to make it easier on the shop owner, so I just had her cut half-yards. Talk about a tough time getting everything to fit in an already-packed-full suitcase! I was much more frugal with my purchases this trip and was able to get the fabric in my carry-on bag without too much trouble.

So that's my tour of the quilt shops in Toronto. I'm sure I missed some, so if you know of any that I missed, share it in the comment section so anyone who stumbles upon this posting looking for quilt shops in Toronto will have a more complete list for shop hops of their own.

(P.S. If you haven't heard, CHA's planning another Craft SuperShow in Anaheim in January 2010. For a recap of the Summer show, check out these blog posts: Judikins, fabric, Kaiser, JustRite Stamps.)

At the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison, they do allow photography of the exhibition contest entries. I took some photos last year, but now that I have my quilting machine, I look at quilts a little different, as you'll see from the photos over the next few days of blog posts. Here's my caveat on the photos. If I shot several images of the same quilt, I merged them together in one image. However, there are some shots of the backs of the quilts and the lighting causes colors to shift, so believe me when I say the grouped images are of the same projects. So, if an image doesn't seem to fit with the front, it's probably a shot of the back. I photograph the backs (with the white-gloved ladies turning it back of course) because sometimes the quilting stitches show up better back there. And no offense to any of the other entries, but I shot only the quilts I wanted records of, so if I left you out, please don't be offended. I loved all of the quilts, but as any quilter knows, some quilts just speak to you. And to view an image larger, just click on it and it should open in a new window and be larger than in the post.

Okay, on to the quilts. Today's installments are from the following categories:
1. hand-quilted, bed-size, applique;
2. hand-quilted, bed-size, any other type; and
3. Wall quilts, machine- and/or hand-quilted, pieced.
In the days to come, I'll include some photos from other categories.

First, hand-quilted, bed-size, applique. This quilt, called Icing on the Cake is from Linda Roy from Knoxville, TN. It won first place in the category. The embroidery is amazing. The flower appliques are dimensional. The applique bias strips are striped, which you may be able to see in one of the close-up pictures. As you can see, there's embroidery along the edges of the bias strips. And on top of it all, it's hand quilted! This quilt's been in many contests, as I found when I googled it. But I didn't find a website for the designer--sorry about that--so if you know of one, please post it in the comments.

Second, hand-quilted, bed-size, any other type. This quilt, called Floating Flowers, is by Jean Clark of Mount Horab, Wisconsin. Applique and piecing combine in this quilt and the cotton-candy colors seem very fresh to me. And again, look at the close-up of the hand-quilting in each block.

Related Links:
5th installment
4th installment
3rd installment
2nd installment
1st installment

I didn't go crazy shopping for quilt fabric, oddly enough, given the large amount of it that was available. However, I did find a few things, some of which were on my "I should pick that up next time I see it" list. One stop was Vogie's. I'd visited their booth last year before I got the quilting machine, and they had African sun-printed batik fabric both by the yard and as large pieces. I didn't buy it last year, but I've been thinking about it ever since. It's great to use for learning to quilt freehand, as there are branches, leaves, etc., to quilt the details in. So I bought two one-yard cuts of two different fabrics and a fat quarter of a batik that called my name.

Second fabric purchase was Graphic Impressions. I have bought fabric there before--I end up finding things at their booth almost every time they're at a show. However, you know I'm a bit addicted to dots, so the top one was a must. And I really liked the black and white, and I've been picking those up for a while now. They had lots more, but I was being very selective after remembering all the fabric I've posted recently.

My third fabric purchase was the largest, and most of them were cuts that were larger than fat quarters. J&A Stitches in Juneau, Wisconsin, doesn't have a store website per se, but they have this site and they sure had some fun fabric. For those of you who've been around for a while, that brown and turquoise floral on the right will look familiar. And as so often happens, I found a few farm prints.

I also picked up a book/pattern called O Holy Night, impressionist stained glass by Brenda Henning. It's lovely and maybe someday I'll make it!

But best of all, I was able to track down Texture Magic at Superior Threads' booth. I saw this online last week and immediately decided that I wanted to play with it. Here's the way it works: It's a thin polyester fabric--you mark your pattern on it and pin it to the wrong side of the fabric, adding batting between the layers for additional loft if desired. Then you sew along the marked lines--the closer you sew, the more textured the fabric will become. After it's all sewn, you steam it--the Texture Magic shrinks--up to 30% of its original size, leaving the fabric textured. I saw pictures of it on velvet and I've seen it in person on cotton. I can't wait to start playing around with it. As always, I'll post photos when I do.

So that was my adventure at the Quilt Expo in Madison. It was well worth taking the afternoon off.

To see the quilts that I photographed and read more about them, see the related links below.

Related Links:
5th installment
4th installment
3rd installment
2nd installment
1st installment

I just read an article on Oprah.com about what you could do if you weren't standing in your own way, basically. Martha Beck wrote it, and I keep saying I'm going to read or listen to one of her books--just haven't figured out which one I should start with yet, so suggestions are welcome if you've read any of hers. (Sadly, I might have one, or have had one, but I can't remember...) But that thought reminded me of my project from this weekend, so I thought I'd share.

As I've mentioned before, when I cleaned out the sewing room to put in the quilting machine, I created a pile of projects that I decided either got finished by Dec. 31, 2009 or left the house as supplies soon after. So the other day I realized I had a baby gift project that hadn't been given to said baby yet. I pulled it out, thinking that between the cake I needed to bake for the Father's day get-together at Mom and Dad's, and decorating that cake with my nephews, and going to Six Flags Great America on Sunday with my sister, her boys, and Rich, and dropping things off at my cousin's house, I might be able to complete this project and leave it with my Mom would surely wouldn't mind dropping it off to the baby in question for me. And as for my thoughts on how much time it would take, well, it was just a tied fleece blanket--how long could it take?

So after I didn't get it done Friday night or Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon, I pulled it out at 9:30pm (yes, 9:30pm, the PERFECT time to start a project, right?) at Mom's and got to work. My sweet, wonderful, and generous mother offered to help me with the tying once I got the fringe cut. My sister Alice offered to watch and cheer us on until she was too tired to keep her eyes open. So I cut the fringe and Mom and I sat at the kitchen table and got it tied. Getting that project finished took about 90 minutes on Saturday night. Yes, we were up until 11pm. But we talked and laughed and spent some time together, just us girls (or until Alice went to sleep, then it was Mom and I talking and laughing REALLY QUIETLY).

And why did Martha Beck's story on Oprah.com make me think of this project? Well, I think that that stack of boxes, bags, etc., has been daunting to me. So instead of spending some time working on a project in my spare time watching tv, I've been unsure of what to tackle, as few of these projects has a true deadline or a target date, aside from the 12/31/09 date that looms ahead. But now that I've finished the blanket, the relief of completing one project from my list and elimating one large bag from the stack of bags, boxes, and storage containers is really unmeasureable. And knowing that one new little farmer boy will have this blanket to roll around and nap on and curl up under when it's chilly and that my loving momma helped me work on it... well, that part is priceless. Now, it's on to the next project, whichever it may be. Maybe it's a good idea to get some of the quick ones done first, so that I can see real progress in the number of containers of supplies dropping and the number of containers of finished projects increasing or, in some cases, see those finished projects get delivered to their destination. What do you think: start on something that might not be completed for a week or more or knock out some done-in-a-night projects?

I took the time to bind Mom's quilt over the weekend for her so she could give it to Mrs. Grindle on Sunday. We trimmed the threads at her house--that's how "just in time" I work, right? Mom liked the quilting that I did on it. So I don't know for sure if it counts as me actually finishing a project, but it counts for something!

So I started at 8:15pm (or was it 9:15) last night and finished at 1:55am this morning, but I got my Mom's pink and brown quilt quilted on my quilting machine! I watched the DVD that came with my Hinterberg machine once on Tuesday and then popped it in last night and let their spokesperson and really good teacher, Anne, walk me through the steps. Gotta tell you, that was VERY helpful! I did take a class from Anne a few years ago, but I didn't have a machine back then, so it was nice to be able to see a friendly face and hear a friendly voice walk me through the steps of pinning the quilt to the frame, threading the machine, getting ready to quilt, and using the template boards.

I did a very basic quilting job on this project, just using the leaf template that came with my machine. Mom really wanted to get this quilt to its recipient, and I'd spent way too much time thinking about the quilting pattern I wanted to do on it, when I really just needed to get the first project under my belt and get some experience with my machine and the process. So since I'm heading down to Illinois this weekend, I thought I'd get it done and take it to Mom. She was ready to take it right away to its new owner, but I reminded her that it would still need to be bound. Maybe I should take some time this afternoon before I head down and get the binding sewn on. How good of a daughter AM I?

And what did Mom say when I called this morning to surprise her with the news it was quilted? Well, first, she guessed, which took the wind out of my sails a little bit. But then she said, "I've been checking your blog to see if you were working on it," (isn't that sweet) followed by "You've GOT to stop buying fabric!" (Told you she'd notice!)

I get to shop for quilty stuff this weekend! Quilts, Inc. is having one of its festivals in Rosemont, Illinois (next to O'Hare Airport) and I'm going on Saturday (and if I haven't seen enough, I can always go again on Sunday). Now that I have my quilting machine ready to go, I'll be shopping differently, looking at the prizewinning quilts differently, and even come out of there with a different assortment of purchases. For several years, I've looked at the quilting stencils from Full Line Stencils but never could bring myself to buy any. Now that I have pouncers (bought at the show in February) to transfer the chalk to the quilt, I can justify the purchase of some stencils!

Now don't get the wrong idea, I'll still be shopping for fabric. And looking at the masterpiece quilts that will be on display. I can't wait!

I finished crocheting Mom's afghan on Monday night and finished weaving in the ends on Tuesday night while I got my hair done. (How girly is that? Working on crochet with foils in my hair?) I crashed and burned last night, still fighting the after-effects of the cough medicine with codeine which just wipes me out. But this morning, after 13 hours of sleep, I was able to get up and snap a quick picture so I could post it for all of you!

I'm sure there will be many of you thinking "gee, that seems to match Linda's living room pretty well... seems strange...." Well, it is a little strange. Mom and I have the same color schemes in our living rooms at this moment. My decor and accessories of course, are a bit funkier than Mom's (note the swirly area rug), but yes, the colors are similar. This is actually a good thing, because I have a bunch of the yarn I used in Mom's afghan left over. I have a lot of the brown, less of the tan and the aqua. So maybe after I tackle some of the quilt projects and get some machine quilting time logged, I'll whip up a simple afghan for MY living room.

P.S. The pattern for the afghan is called Fantail Fantasy and it's from Under Cover: 60 Afghans to Knit and Crochet, published by Sixth & Spring Books. I found it at the library, so maybe you can too.

So I got some great deals on some of the fabrics the other day, so I bought 3-4 yards of a few of them, thinking I could use them for quilt backs. But then I got to thinking back to my quilting classes from February and how they talked about the best way to experiment with your new quilting machine was to have an actual quilt, however basic, so you could get comfortable creating patterns for a specifically sized block, etc. So I decided that I'm going to create some very simple quilts with big blocks (10" maybe) and experiment with them. And since there were such great deals to be had, I picked up some fabric to get me going. This one will be a bright creation--I may add some additional colors, but for right now, it's these three and I think it will be a blast to quilt the swirly fabric along the pattern lines and then do something more geometric on the blue and purple fabrics. The funny part is, I think I bought some of the same swirly fabric back in December at the same shop, so I may have extra to work with.

So here are the fabrics that I added to the stash over the weekend. I mostly purchased fat quarters, though there are a few half yards, and the one on the far left--the brown background with the teal flowers--is a yard because it was too beautiful. Just thought I'd let you all a little insight into the stash-building process...

I spent a little time last night explaining the quilting machine to a friend and I started to get a little less intimidated and a little braver about tackling something on it. So maybe next week I'll try to watch the video and see what's what.

Hey pals! I had a great day today! I attended a quilt show with a schedule of quilting classes (quilting more than piecing) and I got a lot of great ideas on how to use templates to design patterns for my quilts. I can see that I'm probably going to need a lot of practice to get good at this, but now I've got the ideas to try and some visuals to aspire to. I took two classes: one from Patricia Simons of Quilter's Rule, Inc. called "Unlocking Your Creativity, Templates are the Key!" and the other by Sheri Wood called "Not your Grandmother's Feathers." Both taught me a lot and I'm so glad I attended. And then there were the fat quarters that needed to come home with me.

I'll show you some of the sketches from those classes later, but I did actually get something creative done today! I had a special Valentine dinner with My Favorite Three Year Old and her folks. But while I was up in West Bend after the quilt show, I found the PERFECT gift for the Wee One--fleece fabric printed with Curious George! She adores George and with my penchant for the music from the movie, we talk about George often. So I bought two yards and fringed the edges using my rotary cutter, Shape Cut ruler, and mat. And that's it--less than an hour later, a fringed Curious George blanket! I thought about doing two layers and knotting them together, but she gets pretty toasty when she's bundled up in my two-layer fleece blanket, so I figured one layer was better for her. That monkey is SO cute that I almost wished I was keeping it for myself. But she was so fascinated with the process, since I did all the fringe-cutting at her house. She was right there next to me while I cut the fringe--her Mom said if she got any closer, she'd have had to be tattooed on my arm. I love the idea of teaching her to make things when she gets bigger. I got her the little stitch-around shapes for Christmas (Disney Princesses), so I'm already helping her out with her fine motor skills!

I'm going to do a little more work on my afghan tonight while I watch the end of The King & I. I've been working on it in the carpool (when I'm the passenger, of course) and I can get one complete two-row pattern done on most commutes--four rows or two fans each day. So I'm making some good progress and I'm excited about that.

Tomorrow I'll finish the cards for my One World, One Heart winner, finish the laundry, and go to the gym after Mass. I'm so looking forward to a quiet day at home tomorrow. But I figured you'd all want to see my not-excessively-creative creativity for today.

I braved it today, going into work, but I didn't make it a full day. Don't know what this illness is, but it's more powerful than I thought it was. And with the snow overnight and the wind chill of 9 below, I find being home in my slippers and jammies to be a pretty good place to be. I have a retreat tomorrow for work, so we'll see if I make it through tomorrow without needing a nap.

So I went to the gym after work and then the grocery store. Now I'm going to tackle a few things around the house--straightening up, improving, and then the chance for creative endeavors. We're expecting snow Friday; it's supposed to start at 6am and snow for most of the day--possibly 4 to 7 inches or more. What I wouldn't give for an early start leading to a snow day! Then on Saturday morning, the winds will pick up, so all that snow will be blowing around. Sounds great, doesn't it? (That was sarcasm, folks.)

As for my current plans for the weekend (since the snow will keep me indoors), I'll be making soup and projects. I've got beef broth, ham broth, and turkey broth. I'm thinking kumla (otherwise known as klubb) for the ham broth--I grew up in a Norwegian area of Illinois where kumla dinner was a once-a-year event at the VFW hall, but I haven't had it in a while so it's time. I might make turkey, wild rice, and mushroom soup with the broth from boiling down the turkey breast. I'm not sure about the beef broth yet, so if you have suggestions, send them on ahead. I could just use it for beef vegetable soup.

On Sunday, Warm & Natural batting by the yard is on sale at Jo-Ann (50% off) and that sounds just perfect to have on hand for the numerous quilting projects I've got before me with that new Voyager quilting machine!

Gotta run, stuff to accomplish before sleeping.