Waiting for More

Yes, more snow. Tonight. I love snow. I do. I just have enough thank you, plenty. Really. No more needed, not tonight, not Monday, not Tuesday, none. Thank you.

But the birds are flocking round in droves, and eating more seeds than ever. I have smeared pinecones with peanutbutter and bacon grease and rolled them in seeds. The squirrels carried some off and I wired some to the posts on our deck. Cardinals, jays, woodpeckers and more have been snacking. The squirrels are quite protective of the peanuts we through out. As my dh was tossing out nuts, one of our cats snuck out and found himself nose to nose with a (much smaller but very interested in peanuts) squirrel. It was the feline, not the sciurid who backed down! That squirrel was not going to give up a single nut!

February Fury

They are running out of names for the storms! (This one is pretty lame.) I think I liked Snowpocolypse best. I am running out of energy to fight the snow. I am also running out of room for piling said snow. The piles are not just higher than my head, but higher than my 6'3"+ husband! The pile on the table on the deck is prodigeous, and I am not moving it, it will have to melt! It already lost some from the "warmth" we had on Monday and Tuesday, as shown by the icikles above the table. Those may have to be brought down, they are giant and sharp. Shudder. The cats finally ventured out to the deck when we had a sufficient amount of shovelling done. They needed to get their dead herb munchies and look for birdies. We were worried about the weight of the snow, it was really quite heavy, and there was quite alot of it, so we shovelled. And shovelled. It was also well compacted. Trench Meister was much better at getting the compacted stuff into handle-able chunks. I am afraid I am just a wimp. Sigh.

Well, well, nothing to do but go downstairs and knit! And drink cocoa and tea. And eat gummibaren! I believe I will watch Born of Hope tonight!

Oh My!

We have barely gotten the snow from the last blizzard of about 30" piled up, and now we are expecting another this afternoon. It was supposed to have begun this morning at 0900, but is now slated for afternoon. THAT MEANS THE SYSTEM IS MOVING SLOWLY. Crud! That means it will stay over us longer. Oh my. oh my oh my oh my oh my. Oh my.

Note that the piles of snpw are higher than the cars. They are higher than our heads. The storm drains are all covered. The door to the deck was frozen shut this morning from the melt yesterday... even though the temp wasn't higher than about 32, much melting occurred. Yup, large puddles of now well frozen ice now litter the roads too. Sigh. The trip in is likely to be a nasty one. Better get going.

Winter Powerhouse

At least that is what the weather channel is calling it. I am calling it one heck of a storm. I will take pics in the morning sun (such as it is or will be) for the final tally but this was quite early in the day, and it snowed til about 2000, or 8pm for you non sailor types. I spent the day quite happily stitching inbetween shoveling and salting and warming the men and finding my son and the shovel and restocking the birdfeeder and peanutbuttering and seeding a pinecone ane and, well, you get the idea. It was pretty at night tho, don't you think?

I grew up around plenty of snow. Germany, Chicago, Nebraska, (the latter has nothing between the north pole and it other than a line of stunted linden bushes in South Dakota). The difference is that those places all had the equiptment and funds and plans in place to handle even a 30" snow without it doing much more than slowing things down. Except that little snow in Lincoln where we had about 28 inches overnight. But we were back in business the following day. Here in Northern VA, we spent our small snow allotment already, haven't enough trucks etc anyway and they don't build the streets and neighborhoods condusive to plowing. One trying to do our road (trying is the operative word) drove in, dropped the bucket and backed out. Better than nothin' but not all that effective. We will all be out tomorrow again to keep at it. Problem is it is a long 1/8th mile to the first road they can actually plow... but they haven't yet, according to my Marine son. His car was on the other side of the truck who tried to get out and managed to get stuck in the road, crosswise. Sigh. I am on the wrong side. My car looks like a Japanese van... the tall ones! It's all snow. Is it really worth it to get out tomorrow?

My son is home from Okinawa!!!!! Best thing that has happened in two years! Welcome home Josh!

Another Finished Object!

This week I have taken time off my obssessive Lord of the Rings project, to make a gift for a friend. She is a sweet woman who has done alot for me, for many who work here. She is Orthodox Christian and has beautiful icons in her home, so I decided to embroider one for her. It was quite the project! I searched websites for a suitable image, downloaded and printed onto Transfer Artist Paper from Lesley Riley. If you haven't discovered this yet, it is a fabulous tool, quite the best and easiest method of phototransfer I have ever come across. You can find it here. I ironed it onto a smooth cotton sateen and choose my thread colors. Unfortunately at this point I managed to get a virus that put me down hard for 2 days. I did live through it (not a sure thing, you know!) and stitched my little fingers off, until at last I sewed on the 6 pearl and diamond buttons, and declared it DONE! My DH went out the next day and got a lovely shadowbox to house it, and it now awaits Mary's approval, she will see it on Saturday. I hope it cheers her , I think she will like it.

First One Done!

Well, that was a long time coming, but I have finished my first piece of clothing inspired by Lord of the Rings! It was actually to be the "muslin" for a wonderful teal mohair/wool coating that I have, and was based on the "Ice Blue Coat" Eowyn wore in the extended version of The Return of the King. I got the pale greyblue floral velvet for $2.97 a yard from the fabric store I work in, and some nice sandwashed silk in gunmetal grey for I think $6.88 a yard. The collar was cut off a thrift store coat and the silver buttons were from a bargain bag, so the whole thing was very affordable indeed. In the making and wearing though, I have decided that it is wonderful as a robe (though a little tough to make breakfast in) but I will make the coating into a shorter more modern coat to actually be able to wear more frequently. Even this one is tamed by cutting down on the length of the body and sleeves...after all, Eowyn only had to wear hers on a sleeping couch, and didn't have to actually move in it!

Merry Christmas

Joy and Peace come to you...

Several more inches!

The snow is considerably deeper now, and thanks to the help of 2 young neighbours and my dh's hard work, we have a well tended path to the car. Unfortunately, tomorrow we will have to dig out behind the car. Church has been cancelled, so dh won't have to preach and so can dig. Brave and good soul! The store I work in was open today, though a snow emergency is in effect and the governor has asked everyone who can to stay off the roads. Tomorrow we will surely be open too, and I will schlep in as usual. I figure on an hour for the 15.5 miles.

I got more of the creche up too, so enjoy the pics of the travelling kings and holy family and the cold but hardworking shepherds, and the diligent women who keep the homefront comfortable!

SNOW and a few thoughts

There is SNOW! Real snow, thick snow, 12" of it! So pretty. The roads are not pretty. If you don't have to go out, better you not go. If only it would stay until Christmas.... but we are supposed to have highs in the 40's next week.

I am well on my way to finishing the "muslin" for my coat from Lord of the Rings. It is in pretty greyblue floral velvet, very silky, and has a gorgeous drape. I got a fur collar on one of my thrifting trips, it is really dry and fragile, but I am working with it. Only the hem left to do, and a little handwork around the collar. It has definitely been a learning process. I haven't ever worked with fur before, and not much with velvet, but that will help with the coat. The fabric for that is a fabulous mohair clipped pile wool coat-weight, heavy and rich.

I am almost through with Christmas too. I still have a bit of work to do on a couple presents, and a bit on decorations too. Here is the first go at the shepherds for my creche, the town is under construction, and the stable nearly empty. Mary and Joseph are travelling, and the Kings not yet seen. More as they appear. I encourage all of you who blog to put up photos of your decorations (especially my favorite, creches) and if you facebook and it is appropriate, to join Calling all Christians... see how many we are!

First Snow!

Our first snow of the season... I wasn't sure we would have snow, the forecast changed every time I turned on the telly. I woke to the sound of rain, and a sinus headache, and the temp at about 40 degrees. The temp fell slowly, and the snow started after a couple of hours. Nothing stuck at first, but as the ground cooled it began to dust the ground and cars. It is so pretty! If the rain/snow line had stayed stationary, we would have several inches, but it would snow for awhile, and then rain for awhile, then snow and so on. The result is a slushy thin snowcoat, but I loved watching it anyway.

So while I was enjoying the flakes, I also enjoyed sewing. Though I would love to say I got to sew on my LOTR project, my son's Christmas easily
took precedence. I hope what I made him fits... he's been gone 2 years, and is fit and muscled. Anyway, I enjoyed making it. Another shopping trip and we will send the packet off to Okinawa. It is a very long trip, halfway around the world. I miss him.

I did try to sort through all the gorgeous fabrics I have been fondling for my Arwen and Eowyn dresses... I also got a soft cotton dress cut out to try as the underlayer of the Requiem Dress. I dyed the knit fabric along with the silks last time, and it turned a gorgeous blue color.

And, I took pictures of some stuffies I made, which will be for sale soon! Seems things are marching along...