WIP Wednesday with Snow

Woke up to our first accumulation of snow this fall with a high temperature today of 27 degrees F. First thing I saw when I looked out the window this morning was the Curve Billed Thrasher sitting on the fence next to the big Cholla cactus. He spent last winter with us and only left this spring after singing his heart out to win a mate; when she didn't appear he took off to find her elsewhere. I've so hoped that he would come back to winter with us again. The bird feeders are swarming with the Blue Jays and the Juncoes and White Crowned Sparrows that come down from the foothills looking for dinner when there is a snowstorm. (If you click on the photo to enlarge it you may be able to see some of the tiny birds.)

Luckily, I got the feeders all filled yesterday, but in the process, I stubbed my toe and fell down, wrenching my ankle and bruising and scraping my right knee. The good news is that I was able to get up by myself, but I am sore and stiff today. So I am coddling myself and keeping warm. The cats are curled up, sleeping the day away on my bed. I know that I am part cat; that's the way to spend a snowy day.


I finished another WOTB block last night; the Crown of Thorns for Joanna. Joanna was the wife of an official in Herod's court and was healed of some ailment by Jesus and, thereafter, followed him and helped support him in his traveling ministry. She was present with the other women at the crucifixion and at the tomb early Sunday morning to complete the embalming of his body when they discovered that the body was missing. You can read about Joanna in Luke 8:1-3, Luke 23-24; Mark 15 and Matthew 27.

I chose the red for love, courage and blood; green is for generosity and growth; and acquamarine is for spirituality and healing; as always, the gold represents God's presence. This block was paper pieced.

I am now ready to start on the Beggar Block for the Syrophoenician woman.

The other WIP for me at this time is to learn to use EQ5. I was able to get the software at a good price because the new EQ6 will soon be released. I am fascinated by the possibilities but haven't had much time to play with it. I see that Quilt U online will have a basic class starting in January that I plan to take. Now I hope that Santa sees fit to bring me the Barbara Bachman Blockbase to go with my EQ5. I have several virtual quilts in my mind that I'd like to graph the layouts and get started on, including the Aeroplane quilt for my pilot son, and the series of seasonal photo quilts I want to do next year.

Thanks to Debra who reinstalled my lost Quilt Studio button on the sidebar. She is dragging some of us "kicking and screaming" into the new age of electronic technology. Can you believe we have 47 members in the Quilt Studio webring? What a great bunch of creative and supportive quilt artists.