Warming up and doing some quilting

Ahhhh it's warming up out there!  Right now at 9pm, its a wonderful 1 degree below 0, and the wind chills are only 17 below!  Amazing!   (that we would think of that as warm?)  After what we have been through the last three days, this IS warm!   But it will go down to 15 below again tonight, and schools are already called off for tomorrow, the third day in a row.

The weathermen are really taunting us by saying this weekend that the temps will be up to FORTY FOUR degrees!  (that is ABOVE zero!)   Wheeeheeee it will be a heat wave and we will be dancing in the streets.

This is how we have gotten through the last few days..... cuddled up on the couch with the pups! 

Got my coffee cup, my laptop, my doggers and my fuzzy blankie...  what a great way to get through the doldrums of winter and these awfully cold temps!


Steveio has done his share of rough-housing with the dogs to keep them entertained.  But then, he does seem to poop out a lot faster than they do.   "Hey, wake up!  Play with us some more!" 

This is the third week of puppy ownership, and we have opened up more and more of the house for him to explore. In the beginning, he was restricted to only a few rooms, and under constant supervision. Now that he is more trustworthy on the house-training, he has earned the right to wander a bit.  The stairs have become a favorite place to hang out. 

        

One of the rooms he LOVES to come and hang out with me is my

LOOM ROOM....

Whether I am weaving, sewing, knitting or spinning, the dogs want to come in, curl up, and sleep close by.  It is very comforting to have them by me, and the little guy even leaves the balls of yarn alone!

Now I just have to try to keep him away from my sewing machine! He wants to do some quilting, but his back paws can't reach the treadle on my old Singer!

I had to put my foot down and tell him that no, I am the quilter in the family, and he can just snuggle under the quilts when they are done! 

Speaking of quilts, last spring I picked up this cool template tool called Strip N Twist from Nancy's Notions warehouse sale in Beaver Dam, WI.  I didn't have time to start working with it till now. 

http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/strip+and+twist+template+and+project+book.do

(it's on sale right now for $9.99 for the template and book)

Basically you sew three colors together into long strips...2 and half inch strips.

 and make 2 sets....    so you are using 6 different colors.  

Then by setting the lines of this template on the lines of the seams ....
cut around all four sides to make the perfect rectangles.

I have to make lots of them, cutting the same exact shape, 

over and over from the two groups of strips... 

Then by using four rectangles of each color combo, 

they can be arranged into seven different designs of blocks!   

This is the one I am going to do a quilt of... I think.  

I got most of them cut out tonight and will start sewing them together tomorrow. 

Unless little Finnegan takes over the sewing machine again?