One more week of winter... Spring is around the corner!

So here I am, surrounded by cleaning crew and trying to get things done on my virtual cruise (on a real cruise, the stewards only come in and clean when you are gone, but I don't have that luxury today).

I did spend part of my morning making a fabric post card for an exchange in my Post Card Mail Art group.  The theme was 'silhouettes' this time.  Here is  mine:

Silhouette postcard

Of course in reality, a dragonfly's wings wouldn't make much of a silhouette, as light would just pass right through them, but I took artistic license.  I hope the recipient likes it.

I am still working on today's 1-3-5 lists, and I've got about half my tasks done for the day, with the other half questionable at best... more 'work-ons' than 'finishes' in reality.  Still I will at least try to do some work on each project on the list.

I found the cutest flannel Christmas/winter panel at Quilting by the Bay, and while I don't celebrate the holiday, my mini-group secret pal does, so I bought it for her, along with a few other things for me since I wanted free shipping.  I have a love-hate relationship with shopping online, of course.  I love the ease and simplicity of it, but I hate not supporting my LQS (local quilt shop) by shopping locally.  I also prefer to handle fabric before buying so I can 'feel' it... that tactile sense has a lot to do with fabric I like to buy, it has to have a soft 'hand'.  Also, you can't exactly tell colors online - how they display has a lot to do with the quality of the photograph AND how your individual computer monitor handles colors.  On the other hand, the LQS doesn't always have what I need or want.  Can you say 'ambivalent'?  I can!  Needless to say, I have reservations about buying fabric online, but I do it anyway from time to time.

Here's the panel I bought today... isn't it cute?  I hope my secret pal likes it!

In four days, it will be St. Patrick's Day, so I am working hard to finish my Bertie block for the month.  Since the block is full of shamrocks, it's appropriate for the month of course.  Today I worked on mastering the Cretin stitch (the black stitch embroidered on the gold in the borders).  I never quite got it down well enough that all my stitches were the same size, but at least I got it done.  There's still a gold outline stitch that goes around the block just inside the black and gold border.  Perhaps I'll get that done tomorrow.

Bertie for March

We are now just seven, count 'em... 7... days from the Spring Equinox on March 20th.  Here in southern California we haven't had much of a winter, sadly.  We had one good strong rainstorm a week or so ago, but before that (and since) - nothing, nada, zilch... just a long dry winter.  Hopefully, we will have some rain in the springtime, but so far, it's not looking good.  Other areas of the country have been inundated with precipitation of one sort or another... and we have been getting zippo.  Our reservoirs are down and they are talking about water rationing in re: yard watering and such for the summer if things don't turn around in the spring.  Restaurants have stopped serving water already unless you ask for it specifically.

So here's my fervent wish for a big WET springtime this year - with lots of snow in the Sierra Mountains, where we get most of our water from!