The final blocks of the "A Time For All Seasons" BOM offered by Amy Warner at Sew Incredibly Crazy and Friends captured January perfectly!The pine trees were fun and reminded me of our ponderosa pines that we have in our yard.
We have nurtured and cared for these trees for more years than I can remember and they (most) are finally about 6 feet tall.
One block is scrappy style and the other is a little more matchy-matchy...
Since I opted out of the applique this year, I made a few improv snowmen. They look a little funky but were a welcome break from the pattern writing I have been doing lately for the upcoming sew along - Pieces From The Past - that kicks off with the first pattern release on January 23.
These snowmen actually remind me of a giant storm that happened in our part of the state 14 years ago. Five feet... FIVE! FEET! of snow in about three days... It was crazy.
It was while we were all home on Christmas/winter break. Our girls were 19 and 16... while it was snowing Dave spent a great amount of time outside with the snowblower trying to keep ahead of the snow so that, should an emergency come up, we could get out. He even had the snowblower on the roof because he was concerned about the weight of the snow.
We stayed inside drinking hot chocolate, tea and the marathon of marathons watching Grey's Anatomy... I means seasons! The girls had received the dvd's for Christmas and we binged...
I had finally convinced them to make a change and turn off the tv to play a game when Dave came in and wanted to join us. **sigh** Seriously??? (If you are a grey's fan, you will get that 😉) So, we sat down and watched some more...
Once it finally quit snowing and the plows got out to clear the road the plow driver saw Dave out in the driveway with it completely cleared and very kindly turned the blade of the plow so it wouldn't block the drive that he had worked so hard at clearing. NICE!
We all bundled up and headed out... we had a blast!
And you know that "in case of emergency" statement? Yep we had one... my Grandma who was in assisted living ended up being taken by ambulance to the hospital on January 1. Dave put the chains on the truck and we headed out to pick up my parents to get them so that they could meet up at the hospital... we couldn't make it up their driveway so Dave had to walk up and escort them across the highway...
Oh, and Heather, our oldest daughter, dressed up the best she could to make it to a wedding that had been postponed from December 31 because of the storm. The poor bride, Brittany... their wedding cake wasn't going to be ready because the baker couldn't get to the bakery to make it... so on New Year's Eve she was at home baking cakes from scratch and decorating them so that they had a cake to cut. Her skills learned in 4-H baking paid off!
I still needed a few more blocks so I made a pieced Christmas present and a sunflower star (since I had only made one sunflower in September) that includes some of the hand-dyed fabric from my Eco-printing experience.
Now that all of my blocks are complete I need to figure out a layout... sashing strips or not??? Seasonal fabrics? Just a neutral fabric? Checkerboard? I will need to ponder this for a bit...
I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with me throughout the year and the seasons. I have enjoyed the blocks and the memories and thoughts they evoked in my mind.
I think I have mentioned in previous posts about a memory book that my father-in-law filled out for our girls... ahem... me. It is filled with a variety of questions about different topics such as family holidays, favorite family recipes, school memories, and many more.
Recently I shared one of his memories with the larger portion of the Nolan family...
"Tell me about the biggest winter storm you experienced."
"It was the year the Parish Priest was our guest. We had a tremendous ice storm, and lost our power early in the day. Thank God we had a gas stove. We existed with candles and blankets."
"Did you ever go sledding or ice skating?"
"Yes. In grade school we sledded in the street with friends. We also went to ???(can't read his hand writing) Ryan Woods and sledded down a huge hill. I built snowmen and snow forts many times."
Paul's memory spurred some conversation and we enjoyed hearing from Paul's siblings about their memory of the storm... AND we learned that their Mom, Mary (Chisholm) Nolan played the piano. Dave never recalled this, though he did remember that they did have a piano...
From his Aunt Maureen... "I remember that storm it was a bad one! We had hurricane lamps for light! Rest of block in most cases were dark except for candles. We had 2 parish priests over Fr Garren and Fr Marcincus! Don’t know how they got to our house as roads were very icy and the church, St Christina’s was a good Six blocks away. We did have a gas stove and mom was a very good cook. The priests came over quite a lot. Dad was active as an usher and was a Knight of Columbus! When they came over mom would play the piano and we would all sing. We did this on that ice storm day too. They probably walked people were more adventurous back then. I must have been about 10 and Paul would have been 12."
What sort of memories do you have from a big winter storm?
Leave a comment... I always enjoy hearing from my readers.
Quilt Happy!
Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Pieces From The Past Sew Along
that features vintage Kansas City Star quilt blocks!
Linking with:
BOMs Away at What A Hoot Quilts
Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese
Creative Compulsions at Bijou Bead Boutique
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
A Time For All Seasons at Sew Incredibly Crazy
Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
A Time For All Seasons at Sew Incredibly Crazy
Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
UFO Busting at Tish’s Wonderland
Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate
What I Made Monday at Pretty Piney
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Colour & Inspiration at Clever Chameleon Quilting
Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
Living in the South, we have never had a snow storm like the one you experienced. In fact, snow is rare so it is a treat for us.If we get any, it is usually only a sprinkling. One year though, we had a blizzard, and there was about 13 inches of snow. WOW! It was sooo pretty. My husband and I got in his 4 wheel drive and went out "playing" in the snow. It was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is looking very beautiful. Whatever you choose will be great.
Oh Lord that is a lot of snow. Snowmen aren't perfect in nature so I think they look natural. You were correct in your comment and the snowmen and my hexi mini are great examples of how we view our own work. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down. I have enjoyed your post as usual.
ReplyDeleteIt looks just beautiful!! I can't wait to see it all finished up. Thank you so much for joining us.
ReplyDeleteHi Melva! OH, I have to ask - does anyone else have a KIND snowplow driver??!!! How cool was that?! That that picture of the girls jumping in the snow - that has to make you smile. We had snow from the system - I thought 21" was a LOT but FIVE FEET just boggles the mind. I was on the roof, too, and our furnace shut off so I was out trying to recall where the heck in intake vent was. Of course, I guessed wrong three times, and I had to lay across the big drifts to even try to reach them. I was and still am to have a nice, warm, safe house to stay in to weather the storms. We're supposed to have a BIG storm today - all the hype makes everyone nervous and scared. It makes me giddy - I like a big storm. I am happily staying inside this whole weekend! Melva, you are such a great storyteller! I love reading your posts. On, and one last thing - I have a book of questions that my sister asked my mom on a cassette tape. I have converted the tape to a digital version so I always have my mom's voice talking about her past. Some days it is comforting and other days it makes me cry with missing her, but either way I am happy to have it. Just like those notes and letters. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteWow - look at all that snow!! Unfortunately, most of our "winter storms" in Alabama are severe thunderstorms and tornadoes! Which is what we are expecting today. However, we do occasionally get snow. The deepest I recall was in March of 1993 when we had 18 inches at the house we lived in at that time. Our daughter was 10 and she and my hubby walked to my folks house and back (after they warmed up!) which was just a few houses down. We moved in 1995 to our current home and have had a few snow storms and several ice storms since. In January of '14 it started snowing and was not supposed to be bad, but by the time my hubby left work, it took him over 4 hours to get the 11 miles home. And my daughter, who is a speech therapist for our local school system, had to get to day care to pick up the kids and it took her almost six hours to go the few miles from school to day care to home! If we have snow everything pretty much shuts down because most people don't know how to drive in it!! I love it, but just stay inside as I can't risk falling and breaking my old bones, since an ambulance could never get up our hill in the snow/ice!! Better safe than sorry, I say!!
ReplyDeleteReally fun blocks.
ReplyDeleteCute tree block!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun memories - and holee cow was that a LOT of snow!
ReplyDeleteThey are very interesting blocks filled with memories...
ReplyDeleteI think you have an arrangement that works if you want to set the blocks side by side. Sashing never hurts, so you have options.
ReplyDeleteAs to snow storm memories. I was in nurses training in Baltimore in the 50s when there was a big one. Movement in the city stopped. Nurses were camping in the student dorm and working a shift, sleeping a shift. Nurses at home couldn't get in. Student nurses were working as much as they could (allowed to work 10 hours a week for $1.00/hour).
Lovely trees, and I you're snowmen are certainly fun!
ReplyDeleteWow what a lot of snow! We've hardly gotten any this year. It's been wonderful seeing all the Time for All Seasons blocks. I wonder how you'll finish them? Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have taken this on and made it your own by replacing the appliqué blocks. You will have a very individual quilt once you are done.
ReplyDelete