Deep Freeze

It is beyond cold here. 25 BELOW zero this morning and that is not the wind chill. Home is warm and full the last couple of days. Too cold to send Kyle to work (even if they were not closed down) No Awana's for us Wednesday night. Just home...the 5 of us. We have kept up with homeschool and I have been sewing up a storm. My new separate cutting table is wonderful. Throw on some Little House on the Prairie and I have a great afternoon of working on the Star blocks. The deadline is the end of this month and I only have 2 blocks left to make. It will be done with time to spare...I usually work to the last minute.

The set up for my pressing space is perfect, though portable.I can not find any fault in this new set up. Though the sewing table, pressing table, and cutting table do not form a triangle (the perfect set up) it is very convenient. It was nice when Sweetheart was at the computer and I was at my machine. We could just look over and chat to each other. My time at the machine did not come without problems. I was to make 8 of these sections (or so I thought) Just before piecing section number 6, I noticed something was off. Upon reading the directions, (no, I had not read the directions) I found these were to be 4 of the above pictured and 4 of a mirror image. Ok, not to late, I saved it before it was a complete loss. So I re cut 2, and piece a mirror image. HOW it ended up wrong I will never know (it is really not suppose to be a mirror image is the "HOW"), but when I flipped it over it was the same as the first 4...this time I did all 4 before seeing I had made a mistake. OK, soooo, I pull the book over and do it from the picture. Finally I have 4 of each of these....Did I mention this is not the first time I have made this block? And that the first time I made the exact same mistake? Some people never learn!!! So finally I end up with 4 of each of these sets...To make 4 of these....I ended up happy with this as an outcome of all the frustration and wasted fabric (unless of course I make another one in exactly the same fabrics).The design wall has been a God send! I would have never been able to lay all these blocks out on the floor and maintain some semblance of a plan. So, today I will finish the last 2 blocks and put the top together, sans borders. I still need to go out and buy the fabric and that is not happening in this weather!!

Before the cold came in, we had the pleasure of an evening with our oldest son and his beautiful family. Little Emerson is a dolly!! Full of smiles and flirt!She is beginning to understand the "black box" and after the flash gives a huge smile....I said after the flash.

TJ wanted to help me with dinner so he put on an apron and became "a cooker"!!We made a meat loaf together. He added all the ingredients into the bowl....Once all the "stuff" was in the bowl, Grandma showed him how we mix it all up with our, just washed, hands.Yeah, he wasn't too thrilled with the feel of raw meat. Look at that face....It got done though and was delicious. He is a great "cooker".

We played a round of Phase 10 after dinner. Rachel is pretty competitive...look at this face she is giving her father-in-law just before she skunks him!!!!TJ tried his hand at photography and did quite well. His muse...the Yahtzee can. He played a round of Yahtzee with us too, He sat on Paw Paw's lap and blew on the dice before he rolled them out. I think they won!

It is time to start my day. Housekeeping, homeschool, and quilting, in that order. For those of you who are in this deep freeze with me, stay warm and safe...for those of you running barefoot in green grass (Cheryl...) go barefoot for me too!!!