Snow Day

Monday

We had a huge rainstorm last night and between the wind, the rain and the sump pump we did not get much sleep. This morning we found a rather flooded basement and a completely soaked mudroom. I knew that the roof over the mudroom was leaking but until now I did not know that there is also a leak above the pantry. That part of the house had been added on later and I think that whoever did it was not expecting such a change in the weather pattern as we are experiencing now. If these cold Winters continue we have to start thinking about adding insulation wherever possible. Luckily the leak in the pantry is small and only the floor and the box that holds the cat food cans got wet.
We are currently experiencing a stretch of bad things going on in our lives and I am so ready for a break. It started when the computer died and needed a complete makeover and it just keeps going.
On to more positive things. I finished a new shawl this weekend and I am very pleased with it. It is very soft and warm.

And whenever I finish something I allow myself to start a new project. This is a scarf done in reversible cable pattern and it already bears the Kitty Seal of Approval (very important in this house).

Some food stuff from the weekend.

Oven roasted root vegetables (served with some garlic sour cream).

Spice cake with caramel icing

Today the sun is shining and the cats are happy.

Working on another UFO

I began hand quilting a small wall hanging. It has been a while since I hand quilted anything and it takes me a while to find my rhythm and my poor fingers hurt.

Brownies for the Weekend

Dark chocolate and orange.

One More

Today I caught the big kitty that lives down the road coming to our house for a snack. I don't know if it is a boy or a girl but it is big and has a cute face. It also rolled around in the dirt and is therefore a bit lighter in color than usual. ;)

Cats, Cats and more Cats

I love cats and when we moved into this house a whole bunch of cats soon showed up in our garden. They know a cat person when they see one I guess. These cats are technically nor ours, with the exception of MamaCat who adopted us last Spring when she brought us her kittens, but the eat at our house, sleep in our basement when it is cold or in the potting shed and the carport and they like to hang out in our garden and over time we started to give them names. Yesterday and today I was able to catch most of them in pictures while I was hanging laundry. So, here is the parade of cats.

These are the friendliest ones, they get along with each other and allow us to pet them.

MamaCat (I guess she is our cat now although she is not allowed into the house because Miss Kitty is too old to have to fight for her home).

Brownie (who has been here the longest). She is very independent and comes and goes as it pleases her but is always friendly when she is here and she won't touch canned food.

Floyd (I started calling him Pretty Boy, then Del added Floyd as in Pretty Boy Floyd, the gangster and we dropped the rest). Beautiful blue eyes and the softest fur. Hard to take decent pictures of because he is always either weaving through my legs or curling himself around my ankles which makes hanging laundry difficult, usually I lock him into the mudroom, just to be safe, don't want to find out what he does if I step on him.

Speedy (he is really fast, one evening he sneaked into the kitchen when Del came home and made a beeline for Miss K.'s food bowl). He has lovely soft fur and is very loving.

These two are the bad boys of the bunch, Scarface (the daddy of MamaCat's kittens - and probably all other kittens in the area as well, he is the yellow guy) and Frankie (old blue eyes, although at first I called him Frankencat because he looks like he was put together from parts of different cats, yes I know, he is a siamese, I am sorry. ;-) ). He is becoming a bit of a terror lately, he tries to establish himself as dominant male and beats up everything in sight and even hisses at me. I think I have to take a broom to his backside if he does not stop it.

These two are the dine and dash types. The yellow guy is Blinkie (seems like he has a problem with his eyes or his face just looks naturally puffy) and the other one has no name since I have not yet found out whether it is female or possibly a neutered male, it just does not lift its tail for me. ;) Usually I just call it the big black and white cat. It is friendly but I don't trust it too far one day it dug some claws into my hand.

There are two others who only come occasionally, one is the cat from a neighbor's house down the road, a big tabby with white, gender unknown, and the other one is still a bit shy, she is also a tortoise shell and looks similar to Brownie but with a light spot over one eye. The big grey tom that used to come around has not been here for a while or I have not seen him.

And this is what I have to deal with while hanging laundry. ;)

Project Bag

After seeing these bags on Deb's blog I just had to make one myself. No pattern, no instructions, just a good look at her photos and a few ideas.

Bird Watching

Bean Sprouts

UFO Progress

I made the first of the blue work blocks in 2003 and finished the last one yesterday. Today I put the top together and now I need to come up with an idea on how to quilt it.


PS: The food in the picture from Saturday afternoon was zucchini bread gone awry. ;-)

My Kind of Afternoon

More Stitching

This is a piece of embroidery I have done many moons ago and I finally found a use for it - a birthday card for a friend.

Kimchee

I miss my favorite Korean restaurant.

A Bit of Stitching

I did a little bit of embroidery today, it is part of a bigger project I am currently working on. I have not done this in a long time and I am not sure if I am totally happy with it.

Crafty Goals for 2010

Well, let's see, what have I planned for this brand new year?

• Make quilts for my two nephews and my niece
• Learn/try something new (I am thinking about braiding rugs)
• The good old standby - finish some UFOs
• Do some embroidery
• Knit more hats and scarves for the homeless shelter
• Make all my gifts and cards
• A mantel quilt for spring

I think that is it but I am sure there will be projects coming my way that I just can't resist. :)

Knitting, Cooking, Sewing

It is still cold here but at least it is bright and sunny, which I like a lot better than the dark and dreary days we used to have in Austria.

Here are a few of the things I have been up to recently.

The new place mats are finished.


I am trying to add more soy to my diet so I made pan fried tofu with ginger-garlic sauce, brown rice and spinach. Yumm!

And I finally got the quilt for my niece drafted and the fabrics picked out, now all that is left is to actually make it. ;)

I have a bunch of other projects going on both in the kitchen and in the crafts department, more to come once they can be shown.

Keeping Warm

We woke up to 15 degrees this morning and it never got higher than 29 during the day. Miss Kitty found a sunny spot and a soft bed and was quite warm and happy.

Brrr!

It is now lunchtime and it has warmed up a whole three degrees from this morning to a whooping 25. Yuck! The sun still has some power but there is a cold wind blowing and the wind chill is supposed to get us down to 3 degrees tonight. Time to round up the neighborhood cats and lock them in for the night. The ones that get along with each other well are already inside anyway. They stay in the basement, complete with cat box, food and water. The lay on the heating ducts and stay nice and warm.
We are taking the Christmas tree down today. Since I had decorated so little I did not feel as much of an urgency towards getting the house back in order like I did last year. Most of what is out now will actually stay for Winter decoration anyway, only the tree, the garland, my little angel and the nativity get put away.

Happy New Year!

I started the new year with a bit of knitting, a slice of pie and a big mug of coffee. How did you start yours?

Shoo-Fly Pie