The Aftermath of Winter Storm Jonas

In case you hadn't heard, there was some snow that fell on the eastern seaboard.

A bit of it fell in my yard. On the sidewalk. On the driveway. And on my car. You can just see my reasonably-priced sedan. It's hiding under that white stuff. Maybe buying the white one wasn't such a good idea.

On closer inspection, the pile on top of my car doesn't look any more reassuring. Darling Husband and I spent 10 man-hours digging our vehicles out and clearing a path down the drive to the street. The sun came out and the temps reached a wonderful 32 degrees.

Once we found my car, I discovered this fun fin extension on the back. Someone on Instagram said it would help me go faster. I still don't believe it.

The throne of the winter king! This was the last patch in the driveway. Where the plow had piled the snow at the curb it was a solid three feet of dense pain-in-the-back. I'm so glad this is an uncommon occurrence here in Maryland. I'm so glad I don't live in Montana any more.

We wished we had a snow blower. We wished we had another snow shovel. We wished we were younger.  We'll be sore long past the Monday that our workplaces are closed. But we had a great day.

Mischief is a Batik Kitty

I had to grab this quilt from a few years ago (dated 2009) and take it outside to see the sun.  There is a quilter's show and tell over at the Quilting Gallery and I wanted to play along.  And... a great "Pets on Quilts Show over at Lily Pad Quilting.

Here is the text I included with my quilt in the Show & Tell:  "I made this quilt in memory of my cat Mischief.  She was my first baby after I got married. Every day she managed to live up to her name. She brightened my life and kept my feet warm for over 16 years. Today I have two beautiful, fun-loving, rescue dogs to keep my feet warm and make me laugh."

This picture doesn't show the quilt very well, but it does show you the smiling faces of my puppies.  The pattern I used for the applique is by Darcy Ashton  in her book Claire's Cats.  This book doesn't appear to be in print any longer, so availability may be limited.
The contest starts on Friday, so please go check it out and give me a little voting love.

Joanie over at Joanie's Trendy Quilts pointed me to Pets on Quilts.  Check it out at the link above.  I'm totally torn on this one, is it a "dog on quilt" picture or a "pet-themed quilt" or both?  Can it be both?  I don't know.  I suppose if I had to pick one, if I can't pick "dog on pet-themed quilt," is pet-themed quilt, since it really is about the quilt.

Leaving Montana

Okay, so this will be extremely short on words but plenty long on pictures. (If you see something out of order, please forgive me. Blogger loads pictures funny and IE won't let me move them around like Mozilla does.)

July 1st, we packed ourselves into the car and started driving east. I managed to take a few snaps along the way.
That is the way we aren't going.

Blue Bear car wash, one of the last things you see on the way out of Havre.

The Milk River.

The Milk River.

Malta.

Lunch.

We heard a rumor that there was a UPS shipping store in Glasgow, about 150 miles from Havre. I'd over-estimated the room in the car and we needed to ship some stuff out.

I had to tell Honey that he couldn't really get the Subaru under that thing.

Look, the UPS store. Three boxes are on their way to Maryland. They should arrive about the same time we do.

Honey said I missed the signs for Duck Creek, Cow Creek and... some other creek. This was well before I started knitting, so I would take pictures of anything.

The really, really long load.

Bismark, ND is our first stop for the night. Assuming we can get a room on the Fourth of July weekend.

North Dakota!

Puppies!

If you ever wondered where it was.

I couldn't make up something like this if I tried.

For reference, taking pictures at this speed isn't easy.

I'm sure this picture is out of sequence. It isn't important. Taking a pictures are high speed is challenging and you take what you can get.

It said scenic overlook, so I took a picture. I think that is Mandan.

Evidently, when you begin to enter civilization, you are required to slow down.

Missouri river.

That there is what we like to call the wrong way.

Dinner! Okay, so I ate fried eggs, biscuits & gravy and bacon.

Finally, some room at the inn.

I'm not sure what the stopping point will be today. We shall see.

Knitty Ditty Bag... just a little smaller

Since the bags from yesterday were too big, I made a smaller version today. I basically just shortened the length and width. Two balls of sock yarn do fit inside, but it wasn't easy getting them in there. (I had to put one in and kind of squish the other ball in beside the first.)Still plenty of room at the top to hold the work in progress (WIP is such a wonderful term). I think it is a good size to hold a hat project. A wonderful hat can be knit from a single ball of yarn.I'm not sure I'm entirely pleased with the size. I shall have to make another to decide.