Snow'n Wild Oaks

 Hello Everyone,

Yesterday I changed the name of my company to Snow'n Wild Oaks instead of Sew'n Wild Oaks.  I worked in the dining room on Stardance, my newest design incorporating my Hearthstone fabric line with Gentry's Mill. 

It was like being in a snow globe and I kept getting distracted while looking outside. It seems as though I either need to start making smaller quilts or buy a larger table!  I was measuring and squaring up the quilt and cutting border fabric.  It is so much easier to have the quilt on the table instead of crawling around on the floor.  I can get down on the floor okay, it's the getting back up that becomes an issue.  Also, when I'm down on the floor, Mazey thinks it's playtime.

We were going out every two hours to push the snow shovel around on the driveway to keep it open.  It also helps to clear the snow away, so it doesn't turn into the famous Sierra Cement. The berm created by the snowplow freezes solid, and then the shoveling and snow blowing becomes hard work.

The flowering plum tree was buried under a white blanket.  I was so afraid the branches would break, so I shook off some of the snow and soon buried myself!  I said a little wish for Spring by the wishing well.

Big flakes fell for most of the day.

My mountain friend Sue sent me this cartoon yesterday.  The saying up here in the mountains is that Winter isn't over until there's snow on the dogwood.  Our dogwood isn't blossoming yet, so I'm not sure if Winter is over or not.

It's Spring break for a lot of schools here in Northern California, and our grandson and a friend are driving up to stay with us for a few days.  I think my food bill just quadrupled with two strapping teenage boys in the cabin.  But now we will have four extra hands to wrap around the handle of a snow shovel!

Soon,

Lynn

A Quilting Snow Day

Hello Everyone,

Mother Nature is keeping a tight grip on Winter in the Sierra Nevada range.  She doesn't want Spring to arrive just yet.  The best thing about snow, other than the fact that it fills our reservoirs, it makes the perfect day for quilting.

I made all of the first borders for Lovey Dovey. 

Remember all of the little 1-1/2" squares that I had on my butterfly board?  Well now they are all stitched together.  Mr. Joe calls this a butterfly board since I'm attaching all of the squares to cardboard with a pin, and have them on display like captured butterflies.  Ask you local quilt store if you can have an empty bolt, and then you can have a butterfly board too to wrangle all of the little squares.

I may work on the applique today.  I'll see what I feel like doing later on after breakfast.  I haven't appliqued in so long, I'm probably a bit rusty.

It was so snowy that I decided to move my sewing machine out of my sewing room, and set it up in the dining room.  Here I can have a 180 degree view of the snow.  An added benefit is that it is warmer too.

After a extremely snowy morning, the clouds parted in the afternoon, and treated us to beautiful, crystal blue sky.  All of the trees looked like collapsed umbrellas just waiting to deploy.  When they do decide to deploy, you have to be on the lookout or you'll get a load of snow dumped on you.  It's 23 degrees at this writing at 7:30am, so the umbrellas/trees will not be deploying into a full-blown trees until it warms up!

This is my favorite time after a storm.  It is so quiet, crisp, clear, and every branch and twig has been painted with snowflakes sparkling in the sun.

Now we can go for walks after dinner with the start of daylight savings.  This is the lake were we spend a lot of time during the summer with the grandkids.  Just the though of putting my big toe in that lake sends shivers up my spine.

Here is that same spot earlier in the day.  Mazey and I took a spin around the block before lunch during the height of the storm.  Mazey was doing her best impression of an Iditarod dog while she pulled me along the trail.  It was quite an exhilarating walk! 

 

I'm not quite ready for Winter to be over. I love a good storm as long as I don't have to drive in it.

I'll leave you this morning with a picture of a Dr. Zhivago sun and a landscape caught in the grip of ice and snow.  Of course there wouldn't be power, cable, or telephone lines in Dr. Zhivago!   

Soon,

Lynn
 

Snow Days Quilt Continued

Hello Everyone,

I put the foot pedal to the metal yesterday and finished off the borders on this quilt.

I have only one yard of the snowman fabric for the borders, so my borders are pretty narrow.  I had exactly 1" of fabric leftover.  That was cutting it a little close!  The finished size of this flannel quilt is 60" x 70".  It is going to keep me nice and toasty when I'm curled up by the fire this Winter.

This is the panel section cut up and put into the middle of my design.  The fabric is called "Snow Day" by Barb Tourtillotte for Henry Glass Fabrics and it is shipping to stores now.

Every quilt I make has its picture taken on the antique sled.  This Christmas quilt on a sled is perfect.

I have to scoot and get ready for company today.  Since we will be outside, social distancing on the deck, I do hope it's not too hot.

Soon,
Lynn

Snow Days Quilt

Hello Everyone,

I've been wearing my Henry Glass & Co. Madam Ambassador hat over the past few days. In between machine quilting Leaf Peepers, and pattern writing, I've been trying to spend time in my sewing room making blocks.

Little by little the pile of blocks started to grow.  The fabric is called "Snow Bird" by Barbara Tourtillotte for Henry Glass & Co.

I was wondering how to incorporate the panel into the blocks of my Heartfire pattern.

Mr. Joe came up with this idea.  I cut the panel out the exact same size as the rest of the unfinished blocks, and incorporated them into the final layout.  Before I knew it, all of the blocks were made and I was on a roll stitching them together.  I missed Mazey's walk yesterday because I wanted to get this done. 

I still need to add the borders, which won't take me too long, but I won't have time to work on this today.  Our best friends are planning a day trip to the mountains tomorrow, so I need to prepare for their visit.  We will social distance out on the deck, wear masks, no hugs, not even an elbow bump.  Our friend has stage four cancer, and he has to be so careful.  He's been housebound like all of the rest of us for months, and wants to get out of the house to see friends.  They've been sequestered, we've been sequestered, so we feel relatively safe having them here.

If you click HERE, it will take you to a post from 12/14/2009 where you can see our friend playing Santa to our grandkids.  We have such a rich history of friendship, and look forward to adding many more memories.

Soon,
Madam Ambassador