Twenty on the 20th

The official tally from Snowpocalypse 2012 in our county was 20 inches!

This was deck view yesterday, after it had finally stopped snowing.

It was 9 degrees when I woke up this morning, but the sun is shining brightly and it really does look like a winter wonderland!

Despite blizzard conditions, the mail still came through on Thursday and brought with it a squishy containing these beautiful fat quarters from Michelle.

It was definitely a day brightener!  I just love those rich colors and fun prints.

Yesterday was the day to finish my Christmas crafting.  

I got the last of the pin-up guy/girl pillowcases done—and wrapped before I thought to take a photo.  Then I put one last Christmas pillowcase together just for me.

I made candy sleighs using this tutorial, which I first saw when Thea made them—thanks for the great idea!

Somehow I seem to have missed the bottom row of four Hershey miniatures, but they still came out cute.  These will be for nieces and nephews.

It was the winter solstice yesterday, and I am so happy the days will be getting longer, minute by minute, from here!

Oh, the Weather Outside is...

We got a little snow last night.  

That's a reserved Midwestern way of saying "about seven inches."

Which also means:

a) SNOW DAY!!! [schools closed/people advised to stay home]

b) snow removal [no caps or exclamation points].

Right now it's still pretty quiet, except for the sound of my neighbor's snow blower and the occasional siren.  That's because it ain't over yet.  

More snow + wind = blizzard warning today.  Oh, and temps will be about 20 degrees colder tonight.  Good times.

Really, though, it's a matter of perspective.  From inside my cozy house, it's kind of pretty.

However, I was out there at 8:00 a.m., shoveling by hand the two feet of snow pushed into the bottom of the driveway by the snowplow overnight.  That was not so pretty, nor was I, sweating inside my coat, wet from snow on the outside, hair matted to my head under a knit cap, glasses speckled with moisture, drippy nose threatening to form icicles.  On the plus side, my cheeks were rosy.

As I sit here right now, I can feel my lower back seizing up thanking me.  I'm sure my arms will thank me later for all those reps.  This snow was wet and heavy.  On the positive side, I may have worked off those homemade dark chocolate nut clusters, sweet potato chips, caramel corn, macaroons, and marzipan I've been feeling guilty about lately.  Or at least a couple nut clusters, anyway.

Norm is pulling a 12-hour shift today and not due back home until after 5:00 this evening.  Had I waited until then, the snow at the end of the driveway would have frozen into a solid mass.  You gotta do what you gotta do, is what I'm saying.

* * * * *

I'm still finding things in the sewing room under this pile or that.  The other day I went looking for a missing quilt pattern and instead found a Ziplock bag full of old Christmas cards from ancestors and relatives I never knew.

This one is about 100 years old.  Back when the mail carrier left his own Christmas greetings.  I kinda think maybe he was sweet on my ancestor, Melita (or vice-versa).  She has a few pictures of him in her scrapbooks, one with his horse and buggy taken on his mail delivery route.

This next one is about 75 years old.  I actually found this one among the pages of a German Bible (if that's what "Biblische Kausandachten" means), along with numerous tracts announcing the schedule of Holy Week services "in English" from 1930 through 1934.  One of the tracts even had a pressed four-leaf clover inside.  (If you went to church services "in English," why did you take your German Bible, I wonder?  Did you only go during Holy Week?  And why did you date all your tracts—by the way, thank you for dating all your tracts.  And what happened after 1934?)

As you can see, it isn't actually a Christmas card, but the cellophane outer wrapping of a card or group of cards.  I imagine the cards themselves had a similar graphic.  The above photo shows the front (left) and back (right).

Now we get into the early 1960s with this next one, so it's about 50 years old.  Simple yet pretty graphics (click to enlarge).

And finally, this one from the early 1970s, below.  I love the graphics.  Can you see quilting patterns too?  See the interesting negative space (or whatever that's called) where the three candles intersect?

Okay, I have to get up and move now, before I can't anymore.  I hope you are enjoying the day from the comfort of indoors, and don't have to clear snow—but if you do, remember to lift with your legs!