Break out

So. Today the sun is shining,  nothing is falling out of the sky, the winds are gone, the driveway is plowed and we are breaking out.  From the forecast for the coming week, this may be our only chance for a bit.
But first...how did YOU spend your confinement???

 

 I spent my time cutting and piecing a little nine patch from my big scraps.  I do so HATE sitting at the machine trying to make things work. I do.  Friend Jenny thought maybe if I spent more time doing it I would become more comfortable with it.  And she is right.  I did think of that.  Thus, the week I spent doing this.  Yes, a week. I had to take a lot of breaks. I did discover one thing.  Whoever brainwashed quilters into thinking that ironing seams to one side and then the other so they abutt nicely -  well, that makes for clunky, thick seam meetings so for this I pressed the seams open and it made a huge difference for me. The squares lay flat (when they aren't rippling in snow.)  But still, by the time I got this little thing together I was tied in knots, snarly and wanted to be alone in a padded room.  For a nine patch!  Don't look too closely at how the balance of color worked out. I didn't notice myself until this picture the bottom row with two browns in a row.  Oh, well. Live with it.  I'm going to.

The thing is?  I have a pile of 50 more nine patches, all blues and white to put together with 50 solid whites needing my attention.  I won't wish another round of weather on us like these past two weeks, but it's only mid-February so I think there's time.

 

With the weather calmed down and the sun out we had company for breakfast. In the bottom photo you can see in the lower right of the photo the windowsill I'm standing at just on the inside of the house. There were five of them but this one was the only one brave enough to come this close. The others were just out of the photo.  As I look out the window they are all running and chasing each other over the hills and through the trees out back.  We are ALL happy the weather is pretty today.