Safe at home

Should we congratulate the weather people that the freezing rain and the ice storm finally hit? I'm not sure. Let's just say the traffic at the CreativFestival was slow, but I was very surprised by the number of folks who did venture out in the morning. Kudos to them all and I hope everyone got home safe. There were a number of firsts that happened at this show. It was a first for me in the Husqvarna Viking booth and it was a lot of fun. I got to visit with quite a few people and learned a lot from people and made a few commitments which I certainly can't tell you about at this point in time.

It's very much against the rules to start packing up before the show closes. However, this was the first time that people openly started to pack up (with one hour left) and no one said a word. Most of the audience was gone and we were all standing around. It's time to pack up!

I had heard from others that the ice was thick on the cars and I was not looking forward to going out. I had to bring a sewing machine home and so around 6:30, I ventured out to see the damage. It was slushy, it was wet and it was thick!!! It's hard to see in this picture, but the accumulation was about 2 to 3 inches of granulated ice on the windshield of the car. Only on the front windshield of course! And I never thought to lift my windshield wipers when I parked the car in the morning and they were frozen solid to the windshield. I managed to scrape enough off to see and then another first happened.

Lots of granular ice on the windshield

We were allowed to drive our cars right into the International Center. Bless their hearts and a HUGE thank you to them. That made loading a whole lot easier. I parked my car inside and after loading the sewing machine and its parts (which made the car FULL), I was back in the booth for a bit more and then headed home. I still had to chisel my wipers out, but it was a bit easier inside. But not warmer! And all the wet made that floor very slippery. My hands were frozen! My glove was wet and I couldn't get it back on so I was in my bare hands with all that snow and ice.

Waiting to thaw the wipers!

It rained ice pellets all the way home, but the roads weren't slippery, but they were slushy! Fortunately, everyone was driving with care and I was home in about 40 minutes. Yes - there was no way I was going to drive further north back to the retreat and then come back today. I love my friends and I love being at the retreat, but let's just say I don't love those things that much to do all that extra driving on ice-covered roads. This retreat was a bit of a bust, but no time to dwell on what could have been - let's just focus on the two days of fun I had with them. I just heard that they are advising people to stay off the roads today - perhaps they are all going to get an extra night?  Now I'm jealous!!!

I was getting notices all day of various quilt stores in the area that were closing and will be closed today. Hopefully, quilters get it. No one can be that desperate for fabric.

When I popped out this morning for Murphy's early morning business, the driveway is thick with ice pellets. It's got a crust which I didn't even break through. I'm guessing, we won't be shoveling this! Thankfully, it's not slippery - just thick with ice pellets.

Now I can hear the freezing rain hitting the windows and I don't think we're going to the park. But don't tell the girls that. I'll pop out for our usual walk and they won't know the difference. I hope!

I've got the entire day ahead of me with no quilts to quilt, and no deadlines that I can work on. How did that happen??  BUT a bad thing happened at the show - I found (and bought) a couple of things that I want to work on and so I might work on one of those or I still have a lot left in the retreat bag - I might work on that. Either way, I'll keep busy for sure.

I now have oodles of edited pictures to share with you so you better be sure to come back each day!

I thought I would share with you what I did with my English Paper Piecing. I went out one day with my little pouch and realized I had left my scissors, thread, and needles in another EPP project I was working on. They are now all consolidated into one bag. But I needed more thread for the basting. I went through my thread drawer and all the partial spools are now in the EPP pouch. There isn't enough on these spools to do anything so they are perfect for this task. I love getting myself organized! And someday, I'll find that other container with all the prepped hexies. Someday!!

Supplies to put in the EPP pouch

I have a number of calendars around the house. I should share them all with you because they all have a special meaning to me. Here is the one with quotes on it and I thought it was fun! I hope this is what happens when people are around me. I love to be happy. I'm not always happy, but I try to be and I try to see the silver lining in everything. So hopefully you all want to hang around because I'm happy!

April quote on my word calendar

On that note, I'm out of here. It's going to be a very busy week, but there's nothing I can do today to help out in any way so I'm going to enjoy a FREE sewing day just for me.

Have a super day - stay warm and don't go out if you don't need to. It's ugly and no sense endangering ourselves or anyone else.

Ciao!!!!