January 15: Bitter Cold

In the big studio cleanup I sorted through most of my quilts to see what I had and to find better ways to store them.  I came across this piece that I had made about three years ago in an online class taught by Cindy Grisdela about improvisational design and techniques with fabrics.  I had chosen this palate because the class was in February and I was tired of winter and needed to play with spring like colors. I thought my end design was okay but didn't really say "Welcome Spring,' so I just set it aside as a class piece. 

 But when I found it the other day I had the idea to turn it...

...and to add some flowers to it.  I made some notes on a Post-it and hung it on the design wall to wait for attention after the studio cleanup was done.  

Yesterday was the day, so I cut some flowers out of a piece of commercial fabric and played around with placing them on top of the quilt. Here's the first arrangement. 

And the second.

And what I think is the final design. Once it's not freezing in the basement quilting studio I'll take it down there and add decorative stitching to all the flowers.  It should be a good piece to hang above the fireplace when spring approaches. 

It was bitterly cold today but Meals on Wheels didn't cancel so we were out making our deliveries. It had snowed during the night and into the late morning so there was about five or six inches and I don't think it ever got out of the minus temps.  The cold seeped though my long johns and heavy "deep winter" pants and even through my boots. 

Near the end of my route I took this photo which I think captured the mood of the morning. 

On the way home we picked up some nice hot Thai food, which went a long ways to warming us up, as did our cozy house. Later we were warmed by leftover homemade chicken soup and companionship shared with a good friend who came by for dinner. 

Tomorrow is predicted to start out warmer but still very cold --10 degrees at 8 AM-- but then warm up all the way to 32 degrees by 2 PM.   Whoohoo!