Staying inside

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from church yesterday, like half of NE Ohio; they sure were busy. I am all set to stay in till the snow is over. It didn't look so bad this morning at 7AM and it could be worse now but it is snowing and dreary and I am glad I do not have to go out. Do you get the idea that I do not like snow?

Jack got the tree out of our locker and put it together yesterday while he watched football and he is putting the lights on now.  We don't do it all at one time anymore. I will put the ornaments on later today, maybe after dinner.

I spent the afternoon and evening yesterday cutting strips and bordering blocks that I made 2 years ago when our group at church did a block of the month. I used Christmas colors. The fabric was from a BOM from a local  quilt shop. I don't usually do  BOM or mystery quilts but I had done one from that shop and really liked doing it and not having to agonize over fabric choices myself. I decided to sign up for the next year and 2 months in I decided I would purchase the BOM packs but use the fabrics for something else. Turned out the fabric was  still used  for a  BOM just a different one.  I started out thinking I would  make 3 blocks every month and then I would make 3 quilts. Well that didn't happen. I think I did that for only 3 months and then one a month was enough for me. I had to make the blocks every month because I needed to show the sample block other wise I may have quit.

In the photo above are 4 of the 12 blocks laying on the sashing fabric with the 9 patch cornerstones. Last month I bought the sashing fabric and yesterday I started working on it. I decided I would make the sashing 3 inches wide to make the quilt a more usable size because the blocks were only 9 inches. The cornerstones are 3 inch - 9 patches and after I made 4 so I could audition them I put them aside while I made the rest. I spent 40 minutes (on and off) looking for them before I found them where I put them so I could find them. Here they are pinned to one of my design boards which was behind my door but still in plain sight.

If I get the sashing cut I may get the body of the quilt together today. Maybe not though because I still have to decorate the tree and then when it is all done I will have to sit and admire it. I have way too many ornaments but every year as I hang them on the tree I remember where I bought them or who gave them to me or made them for me. Some of them go back to my childhood. Maybe when I am too old to decorate the tree someone else will do it for me so I can still enjoy all the things that bring back special memories.