Business As Usual

I finally saw a crocus!   We had the most beautiful day on Thursday, 68 degrees and sunny.  I took
my second outside walk of the season -- as is usual for me this time of year, I passed people in short sleeves, shorts and tank tops, while I was dressed in jeans, socks, long sleeve shirt and a fleece jacket.   I was only a little chilly.    Yesterday was nice, too.

Of course, the sweet Spring weather was short lived.  We have winter storm warnings today, threatening 3/4" of ice and up to ten inches of snow.  Just to keep us on our toes.   It is a bit over 30 degrees as I write this, and temps are dropping.  Frankly, I'm starting to resent the ice and snow a little bit.  And it is obvious that the ice and snow doesn't care one bit.

The simple quilt top I was piecing earlier is finished, with a thin border I found in my stash, and I resurrected an old one, probably the first one I tried piecing together, and will have that quilted, too.  What the heck, I might as well start a whole stack of quilts, going from nothing to a dozen in the first half of the year.

In other news . . . I tried a new bread recipe this week when I had dinner with my kids.   They call it Miracle Bread and, although that might be an overstatement, it was pretty darn good.  I hesitate to even call it a bread recipe since it was so ridiculously easy, but what else do you call a process that ends up as bread?   There is literally no kneading.   Dry ingredients are combined, including a smaller than usual amount of yeast and a larger than usual amount of water, with a spoon -- not the kneading hook of my mixer! -- and it sits overnight.  Then the whole mess is gently dumped onto parchment paper and baked in a pre-heated, screaming hot dutch oven.  That's it.    For sure, it is probably not as good as the artisan breads I used to make, or as good as my bloggy friend Barbara at Cat Patches makes now, but it is delicious nonetheless.   And in my lazy elder years, easy peasy has a charm of its own.  

I am hunkering down now, watching the freezing rain outside my window and tamping down any hope of seeing my sweetie or my family this weekend if the weather gurus are right.   I am also wishing that I had stocked up on comfort (let's face it, I really mean junk) food!  No matter, I will find something to make or cook or bake from the staples in my pantry, because pretty clearly I am not in danger of starving anytime soon.  :)

A/K/A WINTER

Michigan Spring, known in other parts of the country simply as "Winter."  It was 17 degrees when I left the house for an Anita Goodesign embroidery "party" last weekend and there were white out conditions on the freeway.  I am getting a bit tired of dressing like a lumberjack and still feeling cold.

I am even more tired of scraping ice off the windshield.  But a friend who just got back from a few months in Florida told me it was 89 degrees when he started the drive north and lord knows I don't want that either.   I guess I am a weather malcontent; just no pleasing me.

I've sent in my 10th scrappy quilt to be quilted and I think I am ready to take a break from piecing quilt tops.   I have a list of other projects to mess around with.  I have material set aside for bags and table runners I need to sew and I have some machine embroidery to do.   I am (slowly) working on the periodic quilt -- the pattern is by My Fair Lady Designs and was the only one of its kind that I could find.   I am making the element-blocks, but don't think I will use the intended layout.  I haven't figured it out yet, but I would like to incorporate some quilted blocks, probably in the border, instead of having all embroidery.  I'm a long way from having to worry about those decisions though!

My latest quilt top, number 11 for this year, is a simple one.  I had planned to do other sewing this week, but this one accidentally got thrown together.

My sister tells me that it is supposed to be warm enough to walk outside in her area next week, so I am planning to drive down and spend a day.    We've been made no such promises here, a couple of hours north of her.  Fingers crossed that she is right!    I am ready for some outdoor exercise!