I made these blocks yesterday afternoon while the snow was falling.  This is the same block sewn with two different fabric lines.  This BOM series was offered by Sew Lux Fabrics and this is block #4.  Like yesterdays BOM series, I'm very far behind.  I have blocks #5 through #9 piling up in my sewing room.  And this is "times two" since I'm doing the blocks in two color ways. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm done shoveling for the day and now I can focus on more BOMs.  We only got about 5" of snow last night, but it was enough to make shoveling an Olympic event at my house.  I made my first round of shoveling around 6 AM while it was nice and peaceful.  Then I went back out later in the morning to tackle the driveway. 

 

A warm up is on the way for a few days and no more snow is expected until Sunday.  Of course in Indiana, this is subject to change at the drop of a hat (or snowflake). 

Spring in December?

 

Just a quick post.... I was putting the newspaper in the recycle bin this morning and noticed these crocuses (croci ?) coming up next to the house.  Needless to say, it's a wee bit early here in Indiana for the flowers to be surfacing.  The weather has been extreme.... extra cold and extra warm.... so even nature is a bit puzzled.  The crocuses always seem to be OK when Spring actually arrives, even with these premature sightings. 

 

 

So .... for today, anyway .... I'm going to

enjoy this little taste of Spring!

Indiana......February......Circa 2012........

IMHO, this is just wrong.  I'm a winter lover and there have only been a few days that I would call wintry.  We've had very little snow followed each time by warm, thawing weather.....even the crocuses are confused.  They started coming up in December and after each snowfall melts, I see that they continue to grow taller.  Oh well.  I can't control the weather and it's been easy on my back to let the sun do most of my snow removal.  Maybe next year will be white, bright, and snowy!

I joined a mug rug swap recently and finished them today. I mentioned that I had joined this swap in an earlier post, but didn't give any details since the swap was closed. Oh, there were 330 swappers from 25 countries.....that's one HUGE swap!

The swap instructions were to make two 6" x 10" mug rugs for a secret swap. In a secret swap, I send these to ???? and I will receive two mug rugs from someone other than ????.

I made two coordinating mug rugs to match ????'s kitchen colors.

Here's a shot with a mug in place. These are large enough for a mug of coffee or tea, joined by a cookie or snack. They are washable, of course.

Another "action" shot. I used Insul-Bright for the batting, so these would also work well as trivets.

I enclosed a little goodie in the package too, a Simplicity mug cozy pattern. I bought a pattern for myself too, thinking these would be great for storing small items.

And finally, I made a third one for myself (or maybe it will become a gift). It ended up being a tiny bit smaller than 6" x 10 ", so I decided not to send it along. I paper pieced this one, as the tree blocks are only 4" square.

These were fun, quick projects that didn't overwhelm me to meet the deadline. I'm planning on making several more for myself and for gifts. They are a great way to use up your fabric stash.

OK, now on to real life, where I am nursing a leaking roof in my den. My gutters are so full of ice and snow that as they melt, the water seeps under the shingles. It has been cold enough over the past 3 days, that the dripping has stopped, but we are expecting very warm temperatures over the next several days. I have the furniture covered with tarps and pray that there will be minimal damage. Thankfully, there is a ceiling fan in the middle of the room and that is where the water is dripping from. If it weren't for this place to release the water, I'm sure my ceiling would have collapsed! Hopefully, a few more days of monitoring the water will end this latest winter saga!