I've been everywhere man..................

Before I went to bed last night, I knew there was going to be snow to shovel this morning. It was coming down pretty hard, but the flakes were big and fluffy. The temperature was quite warm and I suspect it would have been a nice night for a walk. I'd already done my steps for the day - I wasn't going out for more.

I decided that instead of going to the gym this morning that my exercise would be to shovel the driveway. I looked out the window first thing to steel myself for the onslaught of snow, but it didn't look too bad. However, look who I saw walking along.

Can spring be far away when the skunks are out???

A skunk traversing the driveway

He went under my car and then beside the car and back in front of the house.

Skunk path

Then through the front yard. He was moving fast, so I missed getting a picture of him but he was almost right to the step. Brave little soul.

Through the front yard

Across the neighbor's driveway.

Through the neighbor's driveway

And through the deep snow in the front.

He even trudged through the deep snow

The temperature is above zero and that snow is HEAVY. Thankfully I went when I did as it's only going to get heavier as it melts. The snowplow was out and he did an excellent job of not leaving any snow at the end of the driveway. I was out shoveling and if he would have so much as left an inch - I'd have killed him. I gave him a big thumbs up as he gently scraped the snow from the end of the driveway. Then the backhoe came by and he bypassed the end of my driveway completely. Yeah!!!!

No snow was left at the end of our driveway

I hate to say that he left lots in my neighbor's across the way and I saw him madly shoveling so he could get his car out. It was glorious out there this morning. Nice and warm, and I have to confess that I found it very therapeutic to shovel. I didn't get quite as many steps as I would have on the treadmill, but that's OK. I'm miles ahead of my pace on both Virtual Challenges. Pretty much every day, I exceed the limit and I don't find it hard to do that. Sometimes, it just takes me a bit to get on a roll, work out a routine and understand the distances. I'm good.

I'm happy to report that I had an amazing day yesterday. I was listening to a Sue Grafton book - V is for Vengeance. After V, there are THREE left and then I'm done that series. I've so enjoyed her book series. It's a shame that she passed away and there will not be a Z. They were great training for learning to listen to audiobooks. So while I listened, this is what happened.

I got another customer quilt done. Yep - the third North Star quilt. This one used a few of the fabrics from the kit including some of that yard-dyed fabric. But the borders were cotton and that made it a whole lot easier to deal with.

Customer quilt - done

 This was a small one, but it got quilted as well. Also for a customer.

Customer quilt - done

I had to trim all the quilts to get them ready for delivery today. A total of four quilts, but they are all packaged and will be dropped off today.

I also got the binding on this quilt which is slated to be dropped off today for Quilts of Valour.

Binding completed on this quilt

This is my delivery to Quilts of Valour. The one on the left is one that I received from Quilts of Valour that needed to be quilted. I'm going to let them put the binding on. The other three are ones that were made as a result of our Community Project days at my house. The three of them are quilted and bound. Do you know what a good feeling that is to have these quilts go to a good home? I used up some of my stash (for the backings), we had some fun while the quilts were being assembled or the kits made up and now they are gone - out of my house. It's a win-win for sure. The good news? There's a lot more where those came from.

Quilts to be dropped off for Quilts of Valour

I want to thank everyone who has helped out with that project so far. It's been an amazing journey. There are loads more to be quilted and there are kits to be sewn together and then there's still fabric that needs to be dealt with. But we are making progress and that's all that counts.

OK -- so I promised to show you what was in that big tub. Are you ready??? And you can call me an idiot right upfront. I'm good with that.

This is ONE UFO. She had it packaged into NINE of those scrapbooking boxes. Holy!!!!  None of the boxes are full, but she had things very well organized (I think).

One UFO in nine separate boxes

So what is the UFO? This is where you can call me an idiot for even thinking of taking this one on.

It's a Double Wedding Ring with a twist!

But WAIT - there's more. I remember Paula buying extra of the paper piecing sheets so she could make her quilt larger. I know - you're saying - DON'T DO IT!!!

Extra foundation sheets

I haven't made any promises. My commitment at this point is to take inventory of the project and understand how much is completed and how big it could be. NO commitment at this point.

I also found an e-mail dated 2012 that I had sent to the students to get their fabrics ready. With my phone number on it. Oh, dear......................

Today, I'm just reviewing the pattern and seeing how many of each component is needed to make the original size. I've already mentioned to the daughter that it would be better to make a lap quilt than the bed runner and she's good with that. So I did set some expectations right up front. We'll see how the rest goes.

But I wasn't done. I went through some of the fabrics that came in the pile. As I mentioned, there wasn't a whole lot of fabric.

There was a box marked white material. I found one large piece of beige that has gone into the community projects box.

White material

 Then I found a bunch of quilt sandwiches already sandwiched and ready to practice free motion quilting. I'm going to use them for practicing quilting on the embroidery machine so they have already found a good home.

Quilt sandwiches

I found a bundle of flannel already cut into squares. That has gone into the community projects box to be dealt with when we get to the flannel.

Flannel squares

 I found a bag of ribbons cut into short pieces. I will bet that these were to make one of those tactile toys for children. I should know - I have a bag of them set aside for that very thing - actually I have ONE small bag (it's a kit) to make. I added these to that bag so I can make two.

Ribbons

I added the freezer paper and stabilizer to my stash. I'll be using the tear away when I finish off one of the projects and so it'll go to good use as well.

Freeze paper and stabilizer

 Then I went through more of the fabrics. A bag of pre-cut squares. A pile of flannel scraps and some fat quarters. All of that went into the community projects pile. The denim went in my basket of denim that I need to deal with. There was a small piece of velvet and some leatherette scraps which I added to my collection of odd fabrics. They will get used to make or embellish a project.

Fabric that was sorted and has been put away

What I love about this process is that I have a home for everything. And once I sort through the stuff, if I don't want it, it'll go to someone else. Like the denim. I explained to the daughter what I was going to do with it and she was fine. There are some tools to deal with as well. That's for another day.

There's still a lot sitting on the kitchen table and the island. However, I was informed that I need to get it off the island as it's encroaching on the cooking surface and the chef couldn't be responsible if something got food spilled on it. OK - got the message. I'm focusing on clearing the island. That's for later today.

So - it was a great day and I'm excited about today. More good stuff because it's Monday sewing. Once I get everything packed into the car.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!