BRRRRR!

Winter has arrived here in Northwestern Wisconsin!  With a vengeance too! Everyone has been marvelling at the beautifully mild winter we've had so far (Gracias, el nino!) but we all knew it would never last all season. Minus 11 degrees F when I woke up this morning, and a balmy -7 now, 3 hours later.  I went out to refill the bird feeders--the birds are all fluffed up trying to stay warm, and eating like crazy to have enough calories to warm them.  The good thing about this terribly cold weather is that it comes with beautiful blue skies and sunshine!  We've had day after day of gloomy cloud cover for so long, it was a pleasure to turn my face to the sun and let it soak in--until I was too cold to stay out any longer! Here's the view from my front door to the neighbor across the street.  Lovely, lovely sun!

I'll be in the house most of the day--television football this afternoon--Go Vikings! (but we all know they'll probably "choke," right?), got to get to the store for a few groceries so I can make something for dinner, and the rest of the time, in the sewing room, making a few doll clothes for my friend.  

(By the way, I finished the "Napkin Quilt" the other day and the customer was thrilled with it!  So glad she likes it and so glad that synthetic fabric is out of my house!) 

I've given several of the doll outfits to my friend already, and forgot to take pics before they left the house.  I have to make up 2 or 3 more outfits today and tomorrow. Have to get them to her in the Cities before the weekend so they'll be all ready for the granddaughter's birthday on the 16th, same day as mine!  In addition to the clothes, I found a remnant of pale pink fleece at JoAnn's the other day and want to make up a little tied fleece throw for dolly as my gift to her because we share a birthday.  Albeit, my actually birthday was approximately 60 years before hers, but what the heck!  

After I'm done with the doll clothes, I'll be finishing up my Allietare! blocks.  I've got more than half of them done and I'm absolutely thrilled with how they're turning out!  The colors are so vibrant--for once, I think I chose the perfect colors for this quilt!

More news regarding Bonnie Hunter:  My husband and I will be spending the month of February and part of March near Gulf Shores, AL this winter and I located a quilting guild down there. I joined them so I could participate in their retreat toward the end of February. Well, the retreat is full, and it's on a weekend when we're expecting guests anyway, but unbeknownst to me, the guild is sponsoring 2 days of workshops with Bonnie!  These too were filled when I joined, but the other day I got a phone call from someone down there asking me if I was interested in taking her place at the workshops!  Well,"YES!" I cried in response.  So, the week we arrive at our cottage on the Gulf, I'll be sewing with Bonnie. How lucky am I!   

We'll be doing "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" which I did when it was introduced as a mystery a few years ago.  I've decided that I'll do it this time in neutrals with pale greens and blues in a throw size.  Then I'll donate it to a charity that I promised to make a quilt for.  The other workshop is for making "Jared Takes a Wife," another quilt that I've already made up.  I'm not happy with the choice of colors in the one that I made, and I have enough coordinated fabric that I can make a second one that will be more to my liking. Again, probably just a throw sized quilt that I can donate--or maybe I'll keep it if I like it enough.  So, I'll be doing some extra packing in the next few weeks, getting these projects assembled and ready to go when I hit the shores of Alabama!

And another, and just as good, piece of news is that my extremely good friend, Bonnie, will be arriving in a week to work on the quilt we'll be making for her AAUW fundraiser next fall!  Bonnie and I were BFFs before anyone had ever heard that term.  We are closer to each other than we are to our sisters, if you know what I mean.  I have 2 people that I consider "sister friends" and Bonnie's one of them. So, spending 3 days with her will be a real treat!

That's it.  Got to get a bit done on the doll clothes before kick off.  Stay warm and dry where ever you may be--if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, Stay cool!