Today

Today we had a pretty major snowstorm. It's actually still pouring down snow right now...

I think we were at about a foot of snow around dinnertime. My workplace let us out early, which was dandy, because driving was mighty slow. I used to have all wheel drive, but when I bought my Mini Cooper I got front wheel drive and traction control instead (not by choice--that's just what they come with). I was a little nervous about how it would handle, but so far it has been a real trooper. My real concern is if it's too deep I won't be able to get through it since it's such a shorty, but for regular snow driving I'm satisfied. Aren't you glad you asked? Oh, wait...I don't think you did.

The early out from work was a fab opportunity for finishing up the slice and dice I was doing on that stack of Happy Zombie's 'Winterkist' that I bought last year because I absolutely had to have it... I've got everything cut (might need to throw in some solids) and ready to lay out and sew up. I'm not looking to make this a huge quilt, so it would be nice and serendipitous if I had the perfect amount for the throw I have in my head. After an afternoon of that I finally had a chance to flip through this magazine--

Yes, it's blurry. No, it's not on purpose. And yes, it's the Christmas issue...I'm a little behind. It's not as much fun to flip through a crochet magazine with everything oriented towards Christmas when Christmas is now just under eleven months away instead of one month away...

I didn't want to devote a whole post to the valances I made for my parents, but I wanted to show you anyway. They're perfectly straight, I don't know why I can't manage to take a picture of a straight thing that looks straight... I did the ruffly bit a little different this time--usually I lay it on top of the main piece and have the ruffle visible, but this time I sewed it on the way you would a normal seam--both pieces right sides and raw edges together--

I used my ruffler foot, which is a marvelous attachment. I did a few practice bits, and the super ruffled one was great, but that would have been a huge amount of fabric sewn in there, so I went with more of a pleated look. I used my serger on these. I had to use three threads instead of four and it was just not the same. I know you can do fancier things with sergers, but I use mine only for finishing raw edges. The four-thread finish is my favorite, so in the future I'll have to make sure I have four full cones of thread... And then the threading of the thing...just...ugh. Have you ever threaded a serger? I'm not even going to get into it. It definitely takes practice. Which is why I use the tie-on method. When I remember not to cut the stinkin' threads and pull them out before putting on the new thread cones. Just...ugh. Sorry. Again, you didn't ask...

And finally--in this post I mentioned a hoosier cabinet. They must be more of a local-ish sort of thing as there were a few "Huh? A WHAT?" sort of comments. So a hoosier is a piece of furniture, originally made by the Hoosier Manufacturing Company (and a few others) in Indiana, that is traditionally used in the kitchen to hold kitcheny things (duh, right?). Here's a picture of ours:

We use it for big hot chocolate mugs and boxes of tea that overflow the regular cabinet, and underneath are my mom's large serving bowls and platters, but they were originally used to hold various kitchen...things...as kitchens used to be built without a lot of cabinets, which proved to be a problem. Furniture such as this was a way of dealing with a lack of cabinet space as well as providing a work surface. The center vertical cabinet in the top half used to hold flour--

We now store napkins in there. You know, those big rectangular sleeves that never seem to fit anywhere fit perfectly in the flour bin of an old hoosier. Anyway, if you want to read slightly more here's a link.

So that's that. A varied day, the kind that I love. I guess I best be trotting to bed as I have a sinking feeling I'll be clearing off and digging out to get to work tomorrow. If everyone could just cross their fingers and close their eyes and sincerely wish that my work would be closed tomorrow I would super appreciate it :)