Start of winter

 So, in my last post, I said February was either the end of winter or just the start - this year it's just the start.  Like most of you, storms have lined up with little respite in between.  Unlike many of you, it hasn't been Arctic cold (although much colder than average) and we haven't yet lost power (although we were as prepared as we could be in case we did).  The latest winter storm warning has been lifted and it looks like we'll warm up into the high 30s F for the next couple of days so the ice should all melt off before the next storm hits on Monday.

The birds have been mobbing the feeders all week.  Most of them are seed eaters and the ice has covered all the grasses they rely on through the winter.  No unusual sightings this week, but a couple of robins (American robins are in the thrush family while European robins are in the flycatcher family so same name/different birds) are hopping around in the yard right now.  They will appreciate a bit of a thaw.

Before we get to the making, I have been very remiss in showing pictures of this young lady:

Cassie is almost 8 months old now and is a very happy, smiley little girl.  She is also very much a little night owl.  Although today she seemed to be much more of a morning lark - I guess there's just too much going on for her to miss any of it.  

Sooo, making happened and it all aligns with the two SALs that I'm also doing check-ins for.  

First, the easiest SAL you'll ever participate in   TUSAL is hosted by Sharon at It's Daffycat (clicking there should take you to February's post).  If you want a no stress event, this one's for you.  If you craft there are always little bits of leftovers.  Save them up in a container rather than tossing them (or wearing them to work on your pants) and every month on the new moon (I said "full moon" in my last post - sorry for any confusion), post a picture and then link over to the check-in post.  Here's the bits I've generated since the beginning of the year:

My actual stitching fits perfectly into  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It is the perfect way to say "thank you" to people that have given you stitching goodness or to highlight gifts you are stitching or show stitching that you can shoehorn into the theme.  Stitch, take a picture and post around the 15th of each month.  Jo said she keeps the check-in open through the end of the month so plenty of time to get your check-in done.  My two focus pieces fit the SAL perfectly Goldie and Japanese Zen Garden.

Goldie was charted by Heaven and Earth Designs from a picture my SIL took of my in-law's dog and will be a Christmas gift some year for the in-laws.

In my last post she was here and now she's here

I decided that as there was miles and miles of blue stitching once her head was finished that I would complete one color in the head and then do one or two lengths of blue.  I am afraid that if all I have left is all that blue, I'll stall out and I really would like to get this finished sooner than later.  She's done on 28-count antique white Monaco with DMC - 1 over 1 with full crosses.

The next piece is Japanese Zen Moss Garden by Chatelaine.  This will be my son's when it's done.  When I finished in January, it was here  and today it's here

I'm stitching this on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with Martina's DMC conversion (except for a couple of threads that didn't have a good substitute) and the called for PTB and beads.  I was making very slow progress on this one.  I thought it was just a lighting issue, but it ended up being a magnification issue (guess 32-count is now my limit with my current glasses).  I moved my magnifier over and things are now moving along nicely (after I fixed all the miscounts).  Zen is on the frame through tomorrow.  

Even my knitting falls into Gifted Gorgeousness as this is for Baby W.  I was not happy with the way the blanket was looking so I ripped it out and started again.  I am much happier now.  Here is the whole blanket and here is a closer look    I have some work to do on uniformity but I suppose an individual bubble won't show up in the hundreds (thousands?) that will be in the finished blanket. This is three full repeats of the pattern, so only 20 more to go.

As I mentioned, Zen is on the frame until tomorrow.  I hope to finish the corner bit and maybe do some of the specialty stitches in the center before it goes away until next month.  Temperature Tree by Stitchin' Mommy will be going on the frame Sunday.  I hope to finish the branches and get caught up with the leaves fairly early in the "leftover" days in February.  I'll spin the wheel of projects to fill in the rest of the time.

Hope you are all well, safe and warm.

A tree grows in Virginia

 January certainly flew by and February has fully taken hold.  February in central Virginia is a very iffy month.  It's either the end of winter or just the start of it.  This year it seems like it's just the start.  We had snow last week, the forecast is for snow on Sunday and then for it to get cold (well cold for here).  February is also "that" month - even though it's short it's terribly long BUT now we have a bright note. This guy.  Doesn't seem possible but Grady celebrated his first birthday this week.  He began his celebration by starting to walk and topped it off with a delicious mess  .  Hopefully we can get things under control and I can get over to see him in person soon.  I didn't get to visit but I did make him a "card":

When you take off the roof you see:   and in the center another dog - which is a vague approximation of his dog Winston.

With our move into late winter/early spring (maybe) we've had another shift in the birds.  The goldfinches have returned in droves.  I had almost 40 of them on the feeders the other day.  There are also several pairs of cowbirds that came in last week - they are really early as I don't usually see them until late March.  This morning there were two surprise visitors to the feeders They're hard to see, but it is two male Evening Grosbeak(click the name to go to the Audubon Field Guide entry).  They visited the feeders when I lived in New Hampshire but have never seen them here. In looking at various maps, I am in the "nonbreeding scarce" area which explains why my Merlin bird app didn't bring them up as a choice when I tried to enter seeing them. Not sure if these two are just on a road trip or if it's a statement about the weather in southern Canada and the northern US.

I don't suppose you stopped by to read about birds or birthdays or cards did you?  So my post title - Rather than spin the wheel of projects, I decided to start my 2021 Temperature Tree for the last January rotation slot.  There is nothing to show as a start but I did get to here:

I probably could have finished the tree but I had a couple of nights when stitching was not lighting any fires.  I'm very happy with the progress I made and will make this my February rotation project too.  It won't take the entire ten days so will spin the wheel of projects once this is done.  This is done on 18-count Fiddler's Aida in Lite Oatmeal with DMCs.  The fabric is MUCH lighter than shown. I can't wait to get to the leaves and compare them to last year's.

On those nights when stitching didn't call to me, knitting did and I started the baby blanket for the expected addition.

This is the first row of actual pattern (I have done a second set of the bobbles but forgot to take a picture). I made a counting error in this row so the bobbles didn't line up for the second set of bobbles, but I think they will line up after that.  The pattern is Puffed Baby Blanket.  It's a freebie from Plymouth Yarns.  The yarn is Baby Soft DK from Lion Brand in the Twinkle Print colorway.  This is the most stereotypically baby of the baby blankets I've made but I really like it.

After Temperature Tree came off the frame, it was time for Goldie to go back on.  She's gone from here:

to here:

She's done on 28-count Monaco one over one with the called for DMC.  She's on the frame until Wednesday the 10th so I am hoping to finish her head.  

Now that I have figured out the pattern repeats, I have been working on Habitation throw during Teams meetings and webinars. I have used three full 10 gram skeins and a bit of a fourth so far.  

Colors from right to left:

 Smeagol, Real Elvish Rope, Don't Follow the Lights and a little bit of What Do Your Elf Eyes See?

from Bumblebee Acres' 2020 Lord of the Rings Advent Calendar.  All in their squishy sock base.

Those two padlock looking things are holding dropped stitches - of course they're in the border and it's an i-cord border so I will have to do some work to figure out how to fix them - and also marking the front of the throw.

I'm off to do some housework, order groceries and then spend some quality time with Goldie.

Hope you are all doing well.