Cabin Fever

 

This is the time of year that we usually get out and get some work done in the yard. We did get the outside lights down while dodging rain drops.

January and February are usually when we work on getting all those trees cut up but it's been too wet. The place is a muddy mess. Nothing has frozen. 

We get a few days of winter weather and then it gets warm and rains and rains and rains. Our little creek is happy.  I'm not. 

It's not like we need more wood. We've got more than enough.

All that wood has sprouted fungus. It's pretty but kind of creepy.

Look what else is sprouting. My entire front bed has come alive with all of my spring bulbs. Everything is  coming up. 

Even the Black-Eyed Susans are awake. It's crazy out there. 

Playing Hooky

 

The downstairs craft room was a disaster after all that Christmas card making but I finally got around to cleaning it up.

Since I have no reason to be making cards and I have no soap to wrap I decided to use the space for my winter rug project. 

Unlike many of my other hooking projects this one has all the material I need to finish it so I set up a little wool cutting area.

All I have left is the background on this one to do and it's pretty boring so I bet I run out of interest way before I run out of winter. We'll see.

TNT: Promises Kept

 

I said I was going to do it and I have. I started that Vintage Avon crewel pillow cover. Yesterday I learned the split stitch.

I was so fired up by it I even got one more 10 by 10 block across the lawn finished. I now have one more shrub.

Since the scroll frame was empty I decided to roll this old WIP onto it. I am not sure if I will get much done on it in the near future....

...because I am still working on the Winter Patchwork project. I've got two evergreens now but I have to say that giant squirrel has me wondering. 

A Sew Sew Sunday

 

Well look at that. I am sewing something that is NOT a mask and is NOT something left over from Daddio's quilting days. 

I am finally getting around to putting all those blocks together I made two winters ago using the leftover material from a baby quilt I had made for a friend of Daughter. It's a four square block and I had made half blocks but hadn't joined any of them. I was expecting the worst. 

There's a lot of moving parts with this block but for some odd reason known only to the quilting gods they are going together fairly easily-though I probably just jinxed myself. 

In With Some New

 

I didn't get any yarn as a gift for Christmas this year but I did get this in the mail a few days ago. It seems that The Mister's brother and SIL have moved near an alpaca farm in PA and they had an open house. They saw this yarn and thought of me. It is going to be mitts that I am going to send back to them as a surprise. I don't think they read this blog. I hope not or it won't be a surprise. 

I also bought this right before the holidays. It's the yarn that Dee hated. I hadn't read her post before I bought it so here it is. It can't be any worse than the Pairfects I am wrestling with now. I least I hope not. That makes 7 balls of Pairfect I have collected that I hope will be socks by next Christmas. We'll see. 

When I ripped back the Festive Doodle I realized I needed more of the Palette main color so I ordered more. This jumped in my cart. I could use some rainbow goodness right now but first I have to get those blankety blank Christmas sock off the needles. The problem is that all I want to knit now are those alpaca mitts.....

....and to finish this. Lofoten has been calling my name for a while now. It really needs to be done. 

Resolute

 

I don't usually make any resolutions but this year I am in need. Maybe it's not an actual resolution. Maybe it's just my adopted word. What ever it is I need to do it. I had to buy a super soft toothbrush and a mouth guard in order to possibly have some teeth left by 2022. 

I worked off some stress yesterday taking care of the holiday decor. 

I made short work of the little tree.

The cookie tins were emptied and washed. Note to self: We really don't eat the cookies. Stop making so many.

We had 5 big boxes of  Christmas stuff in the downstairs closet. Now we only have 3. I was brutal at tossing. I did not toss this box of uber vintage stuff. That's the cellophane wreath that hung on my great grandmother's door when I was a tot. It still works. 

I didn't toss Dad's latch hook rugs either. I don't put them out anymore because...cats but I can't part with them. Aren't they beautiful? He loved making them.

How about a New Year's miracle? We got the Escape back on New Year's Eve. It only cost us a small fortune to have it towed from the dealer but it was worth it for the peace of mind.

Miracle aside I started the New Year off on the completely wrong foot when I forgot to add any black eyed peas to my last grocery order. The soonest we could get anything was on Monday so it's Chinese takeout for the next few days. I've been eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day for luck all my life so it's going to

be an interesting year. 

Unclench. Unclench. Unclench and breathe.....it will all be okay. Right?

 

Out With the Old

Happy New Year everyone!

Wash your hands.

Wear your mask.

Keep your distance.

Get your jab.....

and maybe, just maybe, this time next year we really will have something to celebrate.