Saturday, February 25, 2023

Snowmageddon

I would call it the Week From Hell, but it would more accurately be described as the week from the North Pole. Frankly, though, some of hell’s warmth would be welcomed about now! LOL.  

Beginning Tuesday afternoon and continuing through all of Wednesday, the Salt Lake Valley was plastered with at least 18” of snow on the valley floor.  The schools reverted to online classes and many businesses were closed. Those people who live on the benches (foothills) of the mountains that surround the valley got even greater accumulations, and the mountain communities were inundated. I think we’ll have no major water issues this year, but snow loads on roofs and trees and plants has been concerning. I’ve been out to brush off my rose bushes a couple times. I didn’t take pictures because I’m a dunce at those things. 

The frigid, moist air seems to have finally permeated the basement where my studio is, and I can’t seem to get warm. Perhaps, however,  it’s the loss of 40 pounds of insulating weight? I’ve been wearing three pair of socks at a time, plus two to three layers of tops / sweaters. 

Some days I just couldn’t bear to sew, even with the supplemental studio space heater going, so my production, like my weight, is down. But I do have a few things to show you.


I finished 10 pink crumb candy blocks. I will put these in with the other colors of crumb candy blocks, because everyone likes pink candy or bubblegum, right? The rest of my crumbs went into making a row of crumbs 4” tall by 40” wide, which I added to the top of The Creature From the Pink Circus quilt top. That little quilt top is sandwiched up and waiting to be quilted in the next week. 

My primary focus was layering and then quilting two more lovely Community Quilt tops that were sent to me by my friend McGill in SC. Her kids quilts are always such beautiful eye candy and a joy to quilt.


As I quilted this cheerful 40x50” quilt using loops and hearts, I had fun checking out all her various scraps. There were so many that I have also had over the years, so it was like sharing a walk down memory lane! Thanks, McGill!

Isn’t the backing pretty? 

This second quilt from McGill is my favorite. I am so in love with the saturated colors and lovely Tula Pink fabrics. It measures 43x45”. 


This was quilted with a basic stipple; light gray on the front and a medium gray on the back. The binding was a fun piece of Allison Glass SunPrint fabric I had in my stash. I love how the colors and intensity match the front and pop on the back. 


On Friday I had my annual mammogram in the morning. I’m glad that’s over for another year. At noon I took my son Ryan to an eye surgery re-check appointment. He had a lasik-type procedure done the day prior and wasn’t cleared to drive until the re-check. We then went out to lunch and just had a great few hours talking and hanging out. 

The only other thing I managed to accomplish this week was to work on fixing up these donation blocks. They were given to me from our Quilts for Kids chapter to “do something with”. On three of them I had to replace stained white background pieces. Two blocks needed to be torn apart and the piecing corrected. The last problem block is the basket block at the center top. The basket is portion is barely visible due to poor contrast. 


I had a scrap of yellow print to replace it, but the fabrics and quilt tops in The Cubbyholes of Shame were hissing and booing (the hooligans!), wanting me to be done with the dang thing already. So the blocks are in Time Out until I make my decision. I’d love to hear what you think…. Replace the basket or not?

Have a good week!
Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. 

12 comments:

  1. I would just take some fine point permanent markers and draw some little loopy swirls or dainty flowers in the light fabric to make it more visible and call it done.

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  2. I think a little touch of yellow on that basket block will be great. Go for it!! So many awesome projects this week! Here in eastern SD we were buried under snow and bitter cold as well, compounded by our typical prairie wind pushing that snow into huge drifts. I'm so glad to finally be dug out.

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  3. It would be wonderful with a touch of yellow! But maybe you could use markers, or fabric paint, or special quilting just on the basket part. It’s such a great quilt, after all!

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  4. What about using a yellow crayon and then heat set. It may be faster and a new technique to learn? Check out crabapple Hill for some tutorials.

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  5. Love those pink candy blocks! For the basket, why not stick a little applique on there and be done? Fabric markers are a good idea, too. Anything to avoid ripping! Hope you have dug out from all that snow by now, and that your sewing area is warmer.

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  6. 18" of snow - wow, that's a lot for your area! Hope you're managing to find ways to keep warm.
    I was going to suggest applique to cover the basket but I see some others have suggested that as well. Shouldn't be too difficult to do considering it's a pretty straight shape.

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  7. Hope you're warming up this weekend! We are - finally! Love your pink candy blocks, Cathy. I was just thinking it's time to get my blue ones back out and get some more put together. McGill's quilts are so pretty! I really like the layout of the second one -xso perfect for a scrappy quilt!

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  8. Don’t replace that block, Cathy. It looks fine and fits in well with the colours in many of the other blocks. Love the quilts you have quilted to finish them. McGill is one clever lady, her quilts are so eye catching and colourful. The snow sounds horrendous - at least your state’s water will be fully topped up. I guess Nature knows best? Take care, keep warm and well.

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  9. Oh My Cathy, I can hardly imagine all the cold in your area. Love the pink candies, and the quilts you quilted are lovely. About the basket block, yellow will be good for balancing the colors on this quilt. Looking forward to seeing what you will do. Keep warm and have a nice week.

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  10. The others have some really good ideas for you. I'll just comment that you have done an admirable job with the others! I'm liking the spools block; I haven't seen that design before.

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  11. Could you put rick-rack on the basket or something similar? But I agree, it totally needs SOMETHING done to it. Right now it looks like only half the block was done.

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  12. Late to comment -- NPR this a.m. had a story from Crestline, CA, about the snowfall--the village is shut in. One of the people interviewed said a house on the block simply collapsed, other roofs had caved in, and he had broken two snow shovels.

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