A BIG JOB FINISHED

All the fabric from the closet has been sorted and binned or given away.  It was completed on Monday afternoon.  Here's the newly organized closet, worlds away from what it was last week:

Organization and neatness always gladden my heart!  Now I can see at a glance what is available.  

--The quilt on the top shelf is usually on our bed in Arizona.  I took it home this year because I want to do some hand quilting in the borders and large squares.  

--The bins on the middle shelf hold scraps, sorted by colour, fat quarter sized and smaller.  --The three containers below them hold larger pieces of fabric. 

--The open bin beneath those containers holds the fabric I kept for making clothing.  I gave away most of that sort of fabric.  

--To the left (not really visible in the photo) is a good sized box of fabric for long sleeved pullovers, Jim's favourite clothing.  They are easy and quick to make, just an hour from the time they are cut out.  Years ago I worked up a pattern that fits him well, gives a good fit around the torso and good long arms and length for the back.  

--To the left of the bins on the center shelf and partially hidden are all the "in process" projects.  One of the big finds was a complete single bed quilt top--bright, cheerful kids' fabrics in a "Turning Twenty" design.  

I've started working on the unfinished projects.  I finished a partially completed block.  And here's one 21" new block that I finished since Monday:

This is fabric that was bought about 20 years ago!  We lived in a small town in Northern Alberta and the local Co-op was phasing out its fabric department.  This is good 100% cotton, priced to sell at $1 a meter.  There were five of these blocks finished and one partially finished.  This is a completely new one and I'm working on a seventh.  I'm pretty sure I can get two more out of the fabric for a 3 block by 3 block quilt.  It would be 39" x 39" without borders.  I think I have enough for a very small border of the orange and a larger border and binding of the brown.  We'll see how it works out.  I really didn't want to get involved in finishing this, but once I got started the interest in the project returned.  

The kids' bed quilt is on the floor downstairs ready to be "sandwiched."

It's been really, really cold since we got home from Arizona.  The first Tuesday we were back, the 13th of Feb. we had some melting.  The downspout by the back door was blocked by ice further down, so the water had nowhere to go, resulting in this pretty impressive "icicle."

It will be a while before that's all melted because it's in an area that doesn't get sunshine this time of year.

Jim was busy piling the snow up from the driveway by the garage:

It will be a while before this big pile is melted!  That's the bricks of the back patio in the foreground.  The driveway is on the other side of the pile.  It is interesting each year to see when the very last of the snow piles, especially those in shady areas, finally melt!