Baby, it's cold outside! 

 

Our first major snowstorm of the year arrived yesterday and has left quite a disaster in it's path.  It's our second worst snow storm in history.  As beautiful as it is, I'm glad that it's over for the time being.  We are under a snow emergency so no one is allowed to travel on the roads outside of emergency vehicles.  It's quite peaceful without the sound of even one car.  (I did hear several snow mobiles out last night, however!)  Because of where I live, I will probably be stranded for 4 or 5 days, but that's OK, I've got everything I need right here in the house. 

 

This was taken in my back yard, somewhere in the middle of the snowfall yesterday.  I had to shovel every few hours to even try and keep up with the snow.  I was forced to quit by early evening as I was just too beat to shovel one more scoop.  Oh..... my aching old body!

 

 

 

Here's the back of my garage.  You really can't get an idea of the amount of snow out there..... white is white and it's hard to appreciate how deep it is.

 

 

Overnight, we got several more inches of snow and I went out first thing this morning to make another round with the shovel.  The snow storm is over, but the bitter cold is approaching fast.  I shoveled around 8 AM, at the warmest time of the day.  It was -4 with a wind chill of -35.... chilly burgers!  I was able to get things cleared fairly easily by keeping my back to the wind.  Our total accumulation was somewhere between 18 and 20 inches.... it was kind of hard to guesstimate the grand total because of the drifting.  I can only attest to the fact that it was a lot of snow.... too much snow!

 

I'm snug inside now, showered, fed and planning on a quiet day of sewing or reading.  It's supposed to be -20 later today with wind chills at -50.  As unreal as this storm has been, it's predicted to be in the mid 30's by Friday so relief is on the way.  It's hard to grasp how bazaar these extremes can be.  Nothing to do but go with the flow!

 

Is it almost Spring yet? ;) 

Well, it's a snow day around here and I thought I'd take a little time out from shoveling and post the gifts that I made for Christmas.  I've been out once to shovel and will try and make three or four rounds throughout the day to keep up with the snowfall.  Blick..... I'm already bushed!

 

First up is a "tool box" made out of two Altoid tins.  I saw this on Pinterest and thought that it was a clever idea.  You just spray paint the parts, connect them with tiny nuts and bolts, then add a handle.  Although this was an easy project, it had it's problems.  The biggest problem was in opening the tins after painting.  That extra layer, actually two layers of paint, made it very tough to open.  And when you do get it open, it takes off some of the paint.  To do it over again, I would only paint the tops and that would leave the bottoms as purchased and they would open and close easily.

 

 

 

 

They do look cute sitting around on a shelf.

 

I added a little shelf liner, just like a real tool box.

 

I'll be making more of these using other types of tins but taking into consideration the extra bulk of the paint.

 

Next up is a zippered bag that will be used to carry a GPS.  My friend loves Yoda and now carries his GPS inside of his glove.  It was time for a better way to store it.  Although I didn't quilt it, it's heavily padded with batting.

 

 

The other side.

 

Inside.

 

I'm actually planning on making a second bag as I wasn't happy with the end project.  I followed some instructions and didn't like the overall look.  Now that I've made one, I can make my corrections.  That's what I get for waiting until the week of Christmas to make some of these things..... there was no time for fixing or redoing!

 

Here's a little tote bag.  Again, I followed the instructions, but found that there were things that I would change.  In this case, the pockets are very narrow and hard to reach into the bottom.

 

 

 

Inside.

 

This shot shows one of the pockets holding a pen which gives you an idea of how narrow the pockets are.  There are six pockets, three on each side.  I liked the bag overall but will make it bigger next time.

 

 

Here's another tote bag.  This is for a friend who lives in Austin and needs market bags for shopping.  They no longer give out plastic bags in the shops, so cloth bags are very useful.

 

 

I just made two identical bags for her.

 

My label.

 

And lastly, here are some pins that I made for some quilting friends.  I've had the fabric for quite a while and decided that it would make a cute pin with a little fussy cutting.

 

 

Well, it's about time for round two in my winter wonderland of shoveling!  Hope you are all snug and safe!