Not much sewing going on here

     As you can see, my cutting table is now my computer desk.

 

     Just move the tubs of fabric, take the table down off its bed risers and abracadabra, my cutting table is a computer desk. Course that means I'm not doing any cutting and sewing, but it's time to do some genealogy work. 

     First off I had to re-enter some stuff  I inexplicably lost last fall. Then work on entering some material received from a kind gentleman in the Netherlands on my DH's elusive Veenker family. He sent me so much, and so detailed. I decided that after a certain point I would only enter the direct line ancestors in my database and then keep his file for reference.  I don't know of a single soul in the family who would be interested in all those collateral lines. 

      Then there was more information from a website that includes the descendents of DH's great-grandfather's sister. I've contacted the site owner, asking her to share some of the information about still living people that aren't included in the online version. I hope she responds favorably because I am willing to share what I have if she can use any of it.  

     Through the contacts I've made in the last few months there's finally been some progress. Once all this information is in my database I want to start trying to figure out how "our" Veenkers might be connected to the ones in Iowa. I feel sure they are, somehow. I also want to scan a lot of pictures and find Census images and copies of original records to include in the database. There's always plenty to do.

What a day!

The sun is shining AND it's snowing at the same time. Only in Nebraska!!  :-D

More Snow

Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day. And relatively warm too. I actually walked from the library to the post office wearing a light fleece jacket and it was just right.  Felt like Spring might be just around the corner. However, later in the afternoon the clouds came back and by 4:00 it started snowing again and was still snowing when I went to bed around 11:30. This morning it's snowing again.

 

At least the wind isn't howling, but this is Nebraska so it can start up any time.  Ole Man Winter just can't loosen his grip on us.

I wish I had taken my camera to Tues. night's Quilt club meeting.  We were quilting machines!!!  The project was working on a quilt for our friend who banged her head in a fall on the ice & has spent much of the past month in the hospital. By a little before 10:00pm we had the blocks all made, most of the sashing made and rows sewn together. Jennie took it home to finish up and quilt. She thought she might be able to get it to Linda P. yet this week. 

Ahhhhh, just now the sun is peeking through a little bit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the snow is finished for this round.

Still listening to the wind howl

I'm still sitting here listening to the wind howl........at times almost a bad as last night and the night before...and all day yesterday and today. Enough already!!!  Many highways & roads in the area are closed to normal traffic...one way for emergency traffic only. At this rate they will all be drifted shut again by morning. One closing notice said the road would be closed until further notice. June, maybe??

Since all the schools in the surrounding area were closed today and the wind chill at 8:30 this morning was around 18-20 below zero I called a snow day for the library too and stayed warm inside out of the vicious wind. I didn't see any sense in struggling through the blowing snow & bone-chilling cold to get to the library to babysit a bunch of bored kids playing games on the computers.  It's not like they'd actually check out books to read or anything constructive like that. Let their parents enjoy their company.

Sunday while I listened to the wind I did the machine applique on a couple blocks for a friend in Quilt Club who wants them for a quilt for a grandson getting married soon. I think at tomorrow night's meeting we will be doing something for her. Not to long after our last meeting she fell on the ice and hit her head. She's been in the hospital & rehab ever since.

 

This afternoon I got myself moving to iron the pillowcases I made and washed for the Million Pillowcase challenge so they are all ready to be donated now. It was a great way to use up a bit more than 20 yds. of stash.

Some of the wind gusts make the whole house shudder.  Makes me feel cold. It must be time to go crawl under the quilts & flannel sheets and try to sleep, but the wind noise makes it hard.

From your roving weather reporter

Though it seems I don't rove to far from the recliner when the weather is like this. COLD and WINDY with light snow. Please refer to earlier photos on the blog. I look at pictures of the snow-buried east coast and am thankful we haven't gotten that much all at one time.

Tonight is our Quilt Club meeting at the library. I sure hope the weather doesn't mess it up. I need the inspiration of seeing and hearing about what everyone else is working on. We've had so much gray, gloomy weather that I just don't have much ambition for doing any more than what's absolutely necessary each day. Must be the "winter blues." Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

What I've Been Craving

I haven't made Cranberry Nut Bread for a couple years now.  I used to make up a big batch every year for the FCE Club bake sale, which we haven't had for the last couple years.  I've been craving it so today was the day:

A quadruple batch fresh from the oven. As soon as it was cool enough I cut off a good sized chunk, spread it with butter and enjoyed. Yummm!!  Love that crunchy crust.

Usually I grind the fresh cranberries but experimented with using them whole today. Still good, but I prefer them ground up. The cranberry goodness is more spread out through the loaf that way and you don't bite into a large tart berry.

I made roast beef for supper yesterday and today I used the leftovers to make Beef Vegetable Soup for supper. I sometimes make it with browned hamburger but think the flavor is so much better from leftover roast. My lunch for work tomorrow will be the soup and a couple of slices of Cranberry Nut Bread.

Yesterday and through most of today we had bright, sunny weather. Wow, BRIGHT!!  We're just not used to that any more. By about 3pm today  the heavy clouds reappeared. Now it's very damp out and we may be in for some more snow. I hope it doesn't get too carried away.

Small Things

Just getting a few small things done. I've always been afraid that someday Bonnie Hunter's great web site would suddenly disappear from the Internet. She has so many great quilt patterns on her site, many of which I'd like to make someday. So gradually I printed off my favorites & have them in a big ring binder.(I have lots of favorites. LOL) Leafing through it looking for a specific pattern can be a pain so Sunday I started putting index tabs on the first page of each pattern. Still have to make the little labels that go in the tabs, but it's a start.

And here is a pile of pillowcases all washed & ready to iron before donating. With postage costing so much I think I'll sort out some for Alycia's QOV project and take the rest to the Quilter's Candy Shoppe in O'Neill. They are participating in the Million Pillowcase challenge as a drop-off point.

Lately I've been spending way to much time on the computer & it has affected my sewing time & book reading time as well. I got sucked into a great travel blog.  It's written by a retired gentleman who realized he couldn't afford to live in his home state of Calif. on his Social Security alone, so he used his modest savings to buy and equip a small, used RV and set off to become a "Vagabond-Supreme."  He spends at least six months a year traveling around in Mexico because it it less expensive to live there, finding places to camp for free. His motto is "never pay rent." His blog has lots of pictures and descriptions of the places he visits. It will make you see Mexico in a whole new light. Very interesting. The blog is The Adventures of Tioga and George, starting in 2003 & continuing to the present. He's fixed it up so it's very easy to navigate and has a little calendar that breaks it up into quarterly segments so you can easily start & stop anywhere. Just don't blame me if you get hooked too. LOL