Wonderland

 Look what I woke up to. This is my kind of snow.

It comes and goes all day but never causes a fuss.

 We call this "conversational" snow around here.

 The air is cold but the ground is warm so you don't have to shovel.

Mother Nature does all the work so we can just sit back and marvel. This is my kind of winter.

PS to Kathy B who asked about the parrot: This is Rosie, an African Gray. I've had her since she was a hatchling. I've lost track of how long that's been but I am guessing it's been at least 25 years. We used to live near a shop that sold only birds. My mother loved birds and since she didn't drive I had to take her to the shop all the time to get seed for her birds. Mom always had a canary or a parakeet in the house.  On one trip, the owner had an aquarium full of just hatched grays and I fell in love with them. At $1500 a piece I couldn't afford the whole tank but I did come home with one. I kept her in a heated tank and fed her with an eye dropper. I know nothing about birds-still don't but I can tell you they make terrible pets and really only belong in the wild. Having said that, Rosie-and yes she is a girl because she lays eggs from time to time, is just another of our very spoiled family members who is treated like the queen she thinks she is in her fancy cage with her cage top playground and her extremely expensive kibble and seeds. She talks and whistles and sings all day when she is not banging her bowls around for a treat. Her favorite pastime is tearing up the cardboard boxes I put in the bottom of her cage for her to play with. Thanks to my Amazon addiction I have an endless supply so Rosie and I are pretty much a match made in heaven.

Oh, Poop

No, this post isn't about the state of the union. That's poop of another kind. This is about real poop.
Bird poop to be exact.

 You know how I like to walk and knit? Well, I've been doing a lot of walking and knitting around the house while non stop listening to the radio about the chaos we have descended into.

 I keep my ball of yarn in my apron pocket while I knit and yesterday the ball jumped out of my pocket and rolled across the floor over to the parrot's cage who was enjoying a morning of hanging out on the outside of the cage where I keep newspapers for her indiscretions. Ahem...

Before I could catch it, the ball rolled right across the paper of shame and before I knew it I had a rather big mess on my hands, literally. After a careful wash job of the affected ball, all is well. The lesson learned was about not getting into poop by being mindful of the consequences of what you are doing. Now if only someone else would learn that lesson.....

New Stuff

My new stitch pattern is here along with the floss.

I also bought this frame. I hate my other lap frame but now that I have this one,  I am realizing that the old one is not so bad. This one is also rather awkward.

I am enjoying the new pattern. My brain works better with this type of predictable counting.

 My other new project is getting a bit more interesting. I am putting colorful balls of yarn in my basket now.

Whew, that was close. This pattern almost ran off the edge of the fabric. I have a little more than an inch so framing will be interesting. I see creative matting in my future with this one.

Carrying On

 The Mister and I scoured the area for postcards on Monday. I couldn't find any that represented the beach town I live in but a trip to the boardwalk during a fierce Nor'easter yielded these so-so ones from a neighboring town.

I was searching for the cards so I could continue with the cause we took up this time last week. Their website is hosting 10 actions for 100 days and the first action is to send cards off to your elected officials reminding them that we are still here. You can print their cards but I wanted mine to show my concern over the state of the Bay.

When I moved here, 20 plus years ago, warm weather meant a stinkfest of slimy water. Our seafood industry was in decline as nothing was living in that dank water. I wouldn't even put my feet in it. It was that nasty. The TMDL environmental legislation set it right so now that the Bay and its industry is on the mend, I'd like it to stay that way.

I got my cards written and mailed off but the Governor (a Republican governor in a Democratic state!) actually thanked me first in a nice little email that caught me by surprise. I am sure it was mass produced but there was my name right on it so it tickled me all the same.

I'm a great complainer but I don't have much to complain about when it comes to the direction Maryland wants to go in this big crazy world.  If I had to be planted, this was a good place to bloom. I know this because I keep track of things by using this app that tracks the votes of my reps. Somehow in all this hoopla the idea that our elected officials (executive branch included) work for us has gotten lost. Hold'em accountable.

Last but not least don't forget to keep donating. Instead of just hitting the like button on an issue, hit that donate button. Every little bit helps.

Crying Uncle

 I started spinning this fiber on my drop spindle at this year's MDSW. My plan was to get enough for a small shawl to wear at the next fest. I have been doing this every year for the past ten but this year I'm out of steam.

 To me it's cheating to use the wheel to finish but that's what I'm doing. If I want to get that shawl on the needles by February, I have to get the lead out.

Speaking of spinning, the gray on the Ladybug is coming along nicely. No drama here. Thank goodness.

Thank You Mary

All I have to hear is the beginning notes of the The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song to feel like the world is still full of possibilities.

 I was in my senior year of high school when the show debuted and she immediately became a role model and fashion icon.

She had spunk all right.

And a cool job with a great boss.

She lived in an adorable apartment in a city I wanted to run away to.

I love snow. I love winter. No one did winter better than Mary.

Promise? You'll be missed.

Yes

 Yesterday I got several questions in the comments about the paper pieces. As you can see, yes, you take them out before you sew the blocks down. It's a pretty easy job. They slip right out.

Yes, the paper pieces come already made. I got these from Connecting Threads with the kit but I usually get mine from Paper Pieces. They have a much larger selection and lots of inspiration. They also host some amazing quilt alongs.

 Today, with the blocks done and the papers out,  I wrestled with the background material.

 I can't sew a straight line with a sewing machine to save my life and working with those tiny strips was no fun. It took a few times to get them to an acceptable place. There is a tiny 1 inch green square in the center of those strips which was ridiculously fiddly to line up. You can't even see it so next time I'll skip it.

Now I am worried about those outside edges. I swear I cut the material to the right size but that's not giving me much to work with for the binding. Next time around I'm adding an extra half inch on all sides.

Piece By Piece

 My little mini quilt is nearing completion.

 I had to order more of the collection material for the backing. I forgot it doesn't come with the kit.

 I really enjoyed this process and can't wait to use this technique with some other fabric.

 If you are wondering about paper piecing, this is what is going on. I am covering cardstock pieces with fabric then sewing the pieces together.

Now on to the applique process. I don't love applique but I don't really hate it either. My little rotating cutting board really helps. Good tools matter.

Saturday Surprises

 Thank you Judy S for giving me something to post about today. I came home late Saturday to find your package waiting for me and it was a most needed happy surprise. Not wanting to be a downer on such a great day, I didn't mention that Miss Mini broke down on the way home from the march. Brakes went out. On the Beltway. Scary, scary stuff. The Mister had to come rescue me once again. Just what we needed, more car drama- after the accident and now this, we are down to our last moving vehicle. Yikes. I am cursed.

Fabulous, right? I love mitts and these are special. Look at those cables.   That is one beautiful pattern. Everyone is going to want to know what it is. I know I do. Can I convince you to share in the comments? Thanks again!

Pink

 When I got to the Metro station at 7:30 I was surprised by a sea of pink. The line went on forever.

Bravo Ravelry. You got your point across but good. I really like the hats that had the tags on them from people who had donated them.

Even the mayor of DC had one on. This is a photo she tweeted after her speech.

 I have never seen such a crowd in the Metro. Everyone was singing and chanting. It was awesome.

 I had no idea where to go so I wandered around and found a corner to stand on. I didn't realize I was in the C-SPAN compound. I looked over and noticed I was standing next to Jesse Jackson. That's him in the blue hat. Golly. Van Jones from CNN was also standing there. I beat it out of that area fast. I wanted to watch the proceedings not be a part of them.

 I wandered again until I found a nice safe spot.

I found a tree to lean on right in the thick of it. There were four hours of speeches and music. My feet were killing me and we hadn't even marched yet.

 When it was time to march, Madonna fired up the crowd with Respect Yourself but there was no place to go. It was people gridlock. A girl right in front of me passed out and the only way I escaped the crowd was to follow the path made by the para-medics. There were five women doctors in the crowd that came to her aid. She was fine. Just overwhelmed in the crush of humanity.

Speaking of being crushed, the DC police were amazing today. They were kind, patient and at times hilarious. They seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Again not my photo, I found it on Twitter but I saw lots of this behavior from the cops on the cars.

 I met people from all over the country. I am not much of a talker but I found myself chatting it up with all kinds of folks.

Everyone wanted to know why you were there.

 

I was there for so many reasons-but kindness really is everything.