Brrrrr, it's cold!

When I went to bed last night, it was -13 degrees F. When I got up this morning, it was all of -8 degrees. We finally have reached -4.

Thankfully, temps will be rising over the next couple of days. We might even see close to 50 degrees by Sunday. Here's hoping!

I already have had a chance to sew for about an hour this morning. I'm still working on the mystery quilt from Quiltville. I am working on steps 4 and 5 at the same time. Should have them done this weekend. I will be already for the next step next week. Yeah!!! Bonnie says we will start putting it together. No more little units. I am looking forward to seeing the end result.

I have never done a mystery before. I tend to like to know what I am doing ahead of time. But, I must say, I am enjoying this process. Maybe it is the small steps, rather than a whole piece, that makes it go so quickly and almost effortlessly.

I know one particular reason I was drawn to this was because it is scrappy. Most of what I do is scrappy. I don't feel overly confident about my fabric choices when I only need three or four different fabrics.

I go about quilting pretty much the same way I make soup. I throw a little bit of everything into the pot. As long as I have a good base broth, the soup, though never the same twice, always ends up tasty and satisfying.

My style of quilting is the same. I toss in whatever I grab. As long as I have a neutral for a calming effect, the end results is usually very pleasing. I use a lot of white-on-white and off-white for my neutrals. Even those are usually scrappy because I am always combing through the remnant bins.

As well as working on the mystery quilt, I have been making progress on my string stars. I have two stars completely done. The blocks measure about 20". I have most of the small 5.5" blocks that make up the stars, done. As usual for me, I am working on two star quilts at the same time. I have not decided just how many stars will go into each quilt. Not sure what I want to do for sashings or borders. Haven't decided how big I want to make each quilt. These quilts will be going to a homeless shelter next winter. Generally, I make my homeless quilts at least 60" by 84", give or take a bit.

I am also working on a quilt called "Arlington Squares". It is from the "Nickel Quilts" book. I have had the darks cut for a long time, just needed to get my neutrals cut. While cutting for the mystery, I have been cutting for this quilt and several others. I have quite a bit of the small units done at this point. Started work on the last stack of units this morning. Should start putting the blocks together sometime this weekend.

The other day, I started a BOM from Claudia's Quilt Shoppe. This is an on-line shop offering this BOM free. The BOM started in Oct., so I was only 4 months behind. As of this morning, I have two months done. I will be checking what I need for the next block and getting the fabric together today. This will also be a homeless quilt. The quilt pattern, itself, is not my style. I tend to be rather traditional, but it will use a lot of scraps and be very interesting. It also stretches me out of my norm.

Well, while I have been sitting here typing this, it has warmed up to a whopping -1 degree F. If we are lucky, we might actually get above 0 degree today.

Have a wonderful day.