Mostly pics

This is the "path" we took Saturday evening in that Jeep.  All the way to the X where we found we couldn't get out & then back again.  We then got onto the road at the bottom of this pic, headed W (left) & back down to the main road.  As you can see from this pic, we were surrounded by town roads all around.  I can honestly tell you, however, it felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere, those hills were steep, & if we'd had to walk out i would have had a hard time with it.  And it was cold! The snow storm was moving in.

This is the placemat i took for a pattern.  My MIL likes the size & shape, but they are getting worn & the color isn't quite right for her dining table.  

This is what i've completed so far on one placemat.  It will never be finished.  

• I can clearly see that these won't be done until Christmas or so, & i just don't want to devote that much time to them.  
• It is a simple pattern, but needing constant counting & if i mess it up, the mistake is very apparent to me & i don't want to pull out a lot of rows to fix it.  Others might not notice the mistake, but every time i sat at the table i would.  
• The only yarn i could find that matches well is 20% wool.  I'm allergic to wool.  I thought with only 20% i could manage.  My hands have been fine, but my eyes itch the whole time i'm working with this.  
• Time, again.  I just don't want to devote this much time to something i just don't think that important. 

So i bought some fabric & figure i'll do a simple quilting pattern.  I'm not 100% sure about the colors (the green might be a bit bluer in her dining chairs), but i think it will work.  I cut some of the pieces to try out how it will work. 

This pattern is called "around the world."  There is a "simple" way to do it, but for the first one i went ahead & cut all the squares to lay it out to see how it looks.  I learned i didn't have enough fabric, & i don't want to do this pattern.  I probably will do one of these as a thingy for the center of the table, or i might do a runner with the pieces.  But i'm not going to do this for the placemats.

I didn't like the way the top two came out with wider strips.  So i tried doing narrower strips, moving out from a center line.  I think i like this bottom one best.  The strips will be 1 inch wide.  This is just a general layout for an idea of what the finished project will look like.  

Mac was being silly yesterday.  He jumped up on the hamper thingy, then on top of the gas heater to get up on one of the beams.  Nowhere to go from there.   

I checked the trees today.  The pear tree doesn't look like it was much effected by the snow.  The apple still looks hopeful that we might get some fruit anyway.  Neither of the peach trees is doing anything, but that was true before the snow.

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