A Rise In Temp

The sun was out today full bore and our temperature soared.

"What the . . . ?!" you say? "This couldn't be the temperature in northern most Minnesota on February 8th!" Oh, but it was. Inside our someday greenhouse. So far, the greenhouse is just framing with a heavy-duty plastic covering but on sunny days, it heats up to this temperature and higher with no difficulty. Tonight it will plummet down to the same temp as outside, but during the day one is tempted to strip, lie down on the gravel, and sun bathe in there.

The outside temp this afternoon was 32 degrees and so gorgeous with the bright sun that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out for a hike.

Although we were tempted to just throw on vests, grab the snowshoes and go, after getting out we were glad we'd been a titch more sensible in our dress because although the sunshine was wonderful, we did encounter a stiff breeze that made things less than balmy.

There's nothing Zoey enjoys more than running on a packed trail in the winter. Enlarge this shot, if you can, to see more of this crazy dog's expression.

All in all, the sun on our faces felt pretty darn good. It may still be winter up here in the frozen tundra but the sun is really starting to have some warmth to it this time of year.

The weather forecast is for a giant ice storm scheduled to hit us sometime tomorrow and last for about 24 hours. Hard to believe such a thing on a day like this has been, but as stated above, it is still winter so we shall wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

It's The Little Things

I've always been drawn to miniature knitted things like mittens, sweaters, socks. They're just so . . . well, for lack of a better word . . . cute. I've been given some and purchased some, and also knitted some myself. (But in case you get any erroneous ideas, you'll never catch me knitting such things as Barbie clothes. Eeeuw. Shudder!)

I didn't make any of the above but love using them as decoration around the house in the winter. You can hang them on drawer pulls, the pegs of a hanging/drying rack, on a miniature clothes line strung from one point to another. (For reference, the gauge in the picture is 6" long.)

These three sweaters are hung in my quilting room as winter time decoration. They're about 6" long. Purchased, not knit by me.

The socks and mittens above I did knit, and I've made many of them over the years. They're attractive tied on the top of gifts, around jars of homemade jam given in the winter months, or as a jumble of them in a little box given as a gift for the recipient to do with what they will.

I just found a pattern book to order containing various patterns for 2-1/2" long knitted sweaters that I'm anxious to get. There is also a source for teeny tiny hangers for the sweaters. I'm thinking these will be nice little gifts to give as Christmas tree ornaments. (Our tree each year has knitted miniature bells I've made, but I'm not motivated enough to unpack the tree ornaments to post a picture of those.)

Maybe the reason I like to knit these little items is that you don't have to make a second duplicate sock or mitten. And who can complain about a sweater that takes only an hour from start to finish?

In A Different Light

I recently experienced one of those rare times when a mother can see her daughter as a fully matured, adult person completely separate from the child she birthed, nurtured and watched grow up. As I viewed my daughter in this different light, I felt impressed and extremely pleased. She's a woman that I am so very proud of, and it has nothing to do with what I may have taught her or values I tried to impart.

There's no way that she's a carbon copy of me, nor would I want her to be. (That would only mean double the work I'd still have to do in order to insure we would someday [sigh] both grow into the person I'd like us to be.) Nope, she's very much her own person with her up-beat personality, warmth, and whacky sense of humor that charms both males and females, adults and children.

She's physically beautiful. (Where DID she come from??) From the time she was a teenager, people suggested she go into modeling. She may have felt complimented but didn't give the idea serious thought because she's never had the time for that kind of beauty.

What do I admire most about her? No doubt about it. Her strength. There's an inner band of steel running through her core that enables her to remain upright when others, I for one, would be a quivering puddle of jello seeping through the floor boards. She can do anything she puts her mind to. While being incredibly talented artistically, she also can figure out and understand the workings of a solar energy system and how to maintain it. She'll tackle and master anything she deems worthy.

And, oh yeah, she's physically strong, too. (I fully realized that a couple of years ago when I had to concede to the fact that I could no longer best her at arm wrestling.) Plowing the four mile long winter driveway, hauling buckets of water, stoking the outdoor wood furnace boiler, slinging around seventy pounds sacks of feed, no wimp this female.

So, my hat's off to you, Dear Daughter. In any light, you're a fine specimen of womanhood. It's no wonder so many people love you, look up to you and like to be around you. You have my admiration, love, and support in all you so ably attempt to do. You impress the heck out of me.

I Like Snowmen

Roy taught elementary school grades for most of his forty-plus year teaching career. In his third grade classroom, there was a good-sized blank wall between two windows, and I made several seasonal quilted wall hangings to fit in the space. It was amazing how much color, warmth and interest they added to the room.

The year he announced his impending retirement, the other teachers teased him saying, "You ARE leaving all your quilts for the rest of us to share, right?”

This one is 3' x 5' and we hung it during the coldest part of the winter each year. I think it's probably my favorite of all of them I made for his classroom. I've always had a thing for snowmen.

Chocolate Craisin Cookies

Remember a week or so ago when I went on my cookie baking rampage? These are the cookies I really wanted to make that day but couldn't because I didn't have enough chocolate chips left after making the batch of . . . well, Chocolate Chip Cookies. ("What?!," my husband exclaimed in disbelief. "You don't have a back-up stash of chocolate chips for an emergency? What if we were snowed in for a week and didn't have any chocolate chips?")

I finally got around to making the cookies today. The recipe was one I had clipped out of who-knows-where who-knows-how-long-ago, and it appealed to me even though I felt compelled to make a couple of changes in the recipe before I tried it for the first time.

What's the verdict on the cookies? Well, let's just say I'm not going to inflict the recipe on anyone just yet because I want to try them once more with yet another adjustment. This batch was edible . . . but waaaay too chocolatey. Impossible, I can hear all of you chocoholics out there saying. Trust me, when my husband says the chocolate is over-powering, you gotta believe it. Really, the chocolate chips in the dough (too many) and then the chocolate drizzle on top (too bitter) nearly mask all the other flavors. I'm going to cut the chips in the dough even more than I did at first and try another recipe I have for a "lighter" chocolate drizzle on top. (Hmmm, light bulb just went on: How would a white chocolate drizzle be? I might try that.) And the other really strange thing was that the recipe for the chocolate glaze made enough to do four times as many cookies as the dough made. I'm serious! Very peculiar. Some kind of a misprint? Could have been.

Basic dough is very tasty though. And the contrast between the chocolate and craisins appealing. (Chief Cookie Tester in the house says especially good dunked in a cold glass of milk.) They sure are an attractive cookie. Gotta give 'em that. But back to the drawing board. I'll try again.

Baby Quilt and Doll Quilt

Yessir, I made it a priority and did spend some hours in my quilt room this weekend. (And a good time was had by all . . . well, by me for sure, anyway.)

Here's the quilt for the little baby boy that was born this past week.

It measures approximately 35" x 41" and should be a good size for bundling around his car seat to help keep him toasty for the rest of this winter.

I machine quilted it since I'm hoping it will get used a lot . . . and, therefore, have to be thrown in the washer a lot. Some baby quilts are made to be hung on the wall in the nursery or used just for decoration, and I have made a few of those which I hand quilted. But bottom line, hand quilting just doesn't hold up if a quilt is being used and laundered with any regularity. I'd like to think this one will be used to keep this little Minnesota boy warm so I made it with durability in mind.

Since the little guy's "big" sister was clutching a favorite doll in the picture I saw of her and the newborn, I thought she might like to get a quilt for her own "baby.”

It's a mini 16" x 20" and should be a manageable size for an almost two-year old.

Machine quilted it, too, since it may get dirtier than the baby's quilt!

Lest you think I'm some kind of Wonder Woman in the quilt room, I must confess I had the larger quilt a ways along before this weekend. So it just needed finishing up. Whenever I make a quilt or wall hanging, I save all the extra bits and pieces of material in an individual bag. I've always had it in the back of my mind that someday (that elusive "someday") I'll take my gazillion little bags of scraps and create this fantastic, original quilt that will knock socks off everyone near and far. In the meantime (ahem), it's very convenient to be able to grab one of those little bags and have pieces of fabric cut and ready to be made into something like this little doll quilt. So that one went together quickly, too.

Now just need to package the two items up and send them off. Sounds like a trip into town and the post office early this coming week.