Cold and Hot

Cold is...the weather here. It was minus 20 degrees on my outdoor thermometer this morning (not to mention the windchill factor) and I am already tired of winter and being cold all the time! These photos were taken by the river at the end of our street but they were taken on the weekend when it wasn't as cold, and the river wasn't frozen over completely. On the right is one of my favorite views and the bench where I sit in the summer. It is such a relaxing place to sit when walking the river trail...just to rest and think, or chat with my kids when we take the dog for a long walk.

When the snow and ice weigh down the branches hanging near the water, the branches are frozen into the river, then when it warms up a little and the branches lift up again, you get these really cool effects that I call snow trays and ice trays. The trays eventually start to melt away, or will grow larger when it snows. When the trays get too large and heavy, the branches break off and float down the river. Neat, eh???!?


Hot is...the fun I am having making hot pads/pot holders with selvage edges. I have always tossed these in the garbage after I had enough to tie up my tomato plants in the summer. But after I borrowed this book from my guild library, I have been saving the selvages and making things with them...really lots of fun! This is the pot holder I made for one of my quilty friends for her birthday. I put a little ribbon (from a box of chocolates) on the corner to hang it. Check out Karen Griska's website here for the instructions and her fun blog here for even more ideas of things to make with the selvages.

** Hot Blog News**

I forgot to announce the winners of my recent giveaways.

Deb in New Zealand and Rose Marie in Toronto were the winners of the Trees on the Table "spot the mistake" contest on this blog. Their answers came in my email at the same time, so I sent them both a little gift.

And congratulations to the lucky winner of the baby quilt package celebrating my 300th blog entry (name drawn by my daughter)...and the winner is Julie, who is a frequent visitor to my blog. Send me your address Julie and I'll post your fabric this weekend. Or you can come over to my quilt studio next weekend to the baby quilt bee and we can sew together!!!

Anybody else want to join me on January 23rd (next Friday night) to make up this baby quilt??

See the details here.