A frosty Sunday morning in Ontario, Canada

The Aussiedogs woke me up bang on 6 a.m. this morning, Ceilidh making little growly noises in her throat, saying: mom, it's time to get up...as I had been up half the night with leg cramps and the residual gas from a wonderful turkey supper with apple cake for desert, I thought that sleeping in would have been nice. Apparently not. Once out and in, leftover broccoli sliced into their breakfast, the dogs will now go back for another sleep and I am awake. However, one of the pluses in coming into my studio so early on a February morning is that the sun, which is warming up and becoming higher in the sky, turned a firey hot pink tinged with yellow and spread across the sky like so much spilled paint and for two minutes just about took my breath away with the beauty of it...mother nature's slide show.

Joleen, we are watching that storm from Minn., it's to hit London, Ontario later today and we don't know if it will move along the edge of Lake Ontario or move further northwards to us. Your pot of soup on a snowy day felt nuturing just to read about...Many who live in the warmer climates miss out on these few moments of pleasure that comes with otherwise bracing winter weather of storms that allow many quilters an excuse to stay home and sew.

Heather, the bird quilt is enjoyable to make and even a second time, I'm reliving my initial enjoyment of it but having to put it together as a group and following my cousin-in-law, Heather's suggestion (she sees the overall picture better than I do, as I muddle along like a hedgehog often with my designs, one thing leading to another before the completion of it)...we have the whole back sewn together before placing and sewing the birds. Do NOT make the quilt up this way. It's designed to be sewn in rows and then joined together, there are seven rows and if one is careful, the vines all meet together row to row. Also, the trellis covers any slight mistake in placement but sewing it as a whole, then appliqueing it makes the project cumbersome for us all. We are all learning how to accommodate each other's way of working and the makers of the birds have found achievement in their choices of fabrics, which were entirely their own with my approval which was hardly needed. They are opening my eyes to the possibilities which come with linear designs on cloth. Of course, this means more new purchases as I begin my search...more fabric, , something quilters never seem to need.

A cold and frosty Sunday, but hopefully, a quiet one.

Rosey