I am fascinated by fog. It brings a stillness and quiet that has such an ethereal quality. We had a couple of mornings with fog followed by a rainy afternoon, perfect to hunker down and do some sewing and stamping. On this early morning, the fog is so thick that the next house down the street isn’t visible, and the valley cannot be seen. If you look really close at the bottom of the photo, a faint outline of the rooftop of that house is barely discernible.
Looking down the driveway, the same thick fog obscures the road before the bend. The mountain to the east, usually visible in winter, cannot be seen at all.
Later in the day, the fog lifted from the higher elevations, but low clouds still blanket the skies, and fog fills the valleys.
Naturally, the birds were hungry, and keeping the feeder busy. It was still raining when the bluebirds came by. This one shares the feeder with a chickadee.
Later, a break in the rain brought more birds out. A titmouse eyes the offerings.
Then a red bellied woodpecker came by to get his share while a goldfinch sat nearby. The goldfinches are little, so they go inside the cage to sit on the blue perches.
Another chickadee waited his turn by sitting on top of the feeder.
The pair of cardinals came by. The female got a few beak-fulls from the feeder while the male pecked around on the ground.
As I was standing on the veranda, just taking a moment to be still and quiet, I looked down at the base of a pot where my lemon tree is planted. How can this be? Shoots of green are coming up on the little bulbs that are planted shallow in the pot around the tree. It is still January! These shouldn’t be coming up for another month, but here they are. I may need to move this pot to the Carolina room if it freezes again. There is still a lot of winter left, and it has snowed here in April before.
In the sewing room during this rainy week, I kept my embroidery machine humming, starting with some hot pads. I embroidered vegetables on two large pieces of background fabric, then layered them with Insul-brite and batting. The back side is ironing board heat resistant fabric.
I sewed around the edges to keep all the layers together. There is a step-by-step tutorial on THIS POST from Autumn Jubilee in 2019. This time I didn’t quilt the tops to the first layer of batting.
Finishing them up with dark green binding, they are ready for our show’s Quilt Shoppe, where members sell our own handmade items.
Cold days are great times for a hot bowl of soup. I took my leftover pork tenderloin, some green onion, fresh mushrooms and leftover broccoli to make some Asian Noodle Bowls. Yum, warm and filling to fortify me for an afternoon of sewing, and feed My Sweet Babboo, too.
I kept the embroidery machine going, stitching out more motifs. I just got on a roll, LOL, having fun with this.
I got an idea from an email newsletter from Juju’s embroidery design newsletter, and ran with it. I stitched out two of these motifs for a table runner. I’ll post the entire design process later, as I piddled around for over an hour trying to decide how to proceed.
The order of cases of products from Dollar Tree arrived on Saturday, and I went to pick it up. As usual, the order had items canceled, so I had to pick up some things inside the store. This coming week, I’ll make up what bags I can and deliver them to the shelter. I should be able to do 24 right away, and maybe 36 if I can find everything missing in the store this week. I hope everyone read the post from Tuesday, as there were very few comments. I was very excited to share the big news of us blowing past our financial goal! If you didn’t see that, click on Safelight Update. Thank you again to the amazing donors who put us way past our goal.
Next weekend, I’ll show you my Year of the Dragon Tablescape for Chinese New Year. But here is a sneak peek.
I have a Mardi Gras party to attend this year, so I have to get an outfit together for that. It may involve making another hat. Not something as outrageous as my Easter Hat or the Christmas Hat, but something fun nevertheless.
I finished my National Quilting Day project with the dimensional effect. I’ll show you the rest of that process this coming week.
What’s keeping you busy these days?
From My Carolina Home 
Your pictures of your feathered friends are lovely as usual. Glad you had some days to stamp and sew. We have also had some rainy/ foggy weather here too and it has been nice to work on some bindings and curl up with a book. I was planning on doing a sew along with a pattern maker I follow but it unexpectedly got cancelled so now I find myself with a little less motivation to get things done. Oh well, I will keep plugging away.
Congratulations on finishing your National Quilt Day challenge! I’m nearly finished with mine, The one I”m doing is mostly handwork so it takes me time as my hands don’t always want to work as long as I’d like them to! Your soup looks yummy and certainly warms you up on these cold days. See you Thursday.
We’ve been fogged in for days, warm air & rain melting the snow. Great progress on Safelight. I’m behind commenting – short days = fewer hours to get everything done. Same for you, but you’re managing better than I!
You have been most busy!! I love that you have found projects to make with your new embroidery machine. Our weather has been crazy, from nighttime lows early in the week to 16 degrees all the way up to a wild 70 on Friday. Back to drizzle and gloom today. I enjoy seeing your wildlife, and the birds are delightful. Well done on the creative wall hanging for your challenge.
I love seeing your visiting birds. I also think fog is magical looking and occasionally enjoy a foggy day! Happy Sunday!
I always love seeing your bird captures, you have so many different and beautiful kinds that visit! That is so wonderful that you exceeded your fund raising goal for the Safelight Project, you are amazing. I hope you have a great week ahead
Jenna
Your fog photos are beautiful, Carole! Always love seeing the different birds you get, too. The titmouse’s eyes are a fun catch! Looks like you’ve been having fun with your embroidery machine this week, too. The soup sounds yummy! Looking forward to seeing how you finished up your challenge project.
The fog is beautiful! It brings such peace and tranquility to me. We don’t have fog but maybe once a year and I love it. I love seeing your birds also and of course the embroidery! Thanks for sharing your photos.
I noticed my daffodils are up. They are confused and hopefully a freeze won’t hinder their progress to blooming early. Maybe for our early Easter.
Nice work with the Safelight Project bags. Such a huge undertaking. I will have a few case sets in the mail next week. Hoping to add some cards first. I believe quilters are mostly kind people with big hearts and their generosity to the Safelight project sure proves it. Fog brings such tranquility with it. And viewing it from your mountain looks amazing. Thanks for the pictures.
I’m having trouble with commenting, must be doing something wrong. Just wanted to say that the misty photos are certainly out of this world, and I enjoy seeing the birds on your feeders.
Carole,
The machine embroidery looks fantastic!
Many times here, where it is not uncommon for winter weather to last until mid-April, the flowering bulbs emerge too early. As long as they do not flower, the bulbs survive and most flower.
Thanks for a sharing your creativity!
Oh Carole ….
Your mountain fog pics are magical !
Here in northern Indiana we were “fogged in” for several days ….schools had to close …you couldn’t see the end of your car hood
The day we could get out …we drive through miles of harvested corn fields on both sides …you could actually SEE the fog rolling across the fields … eerie & peaceful at the same time…must be very Leary of deer running in those mornings 😬
So glad the safelight project is doing so well ! I plan to help out with that ….
I have finally cut and sewn over 100 neck ties into a VERY long piece and now trying to do the math to make the “Joe” quilt from 5 generations of “Joe”. Love the bird photos, hope you can enter them this coming year! And the noodle dish is spot on for this icky weather. Thanks!!!!
Oh, that titmouse is too darned cute for words. And we don’t see bluebirds here (or at least, I don’t!) so that spotting is a little gem for me! Those hot pads will be wonderful. Mardi Gras is a non-event up here in the north so it’s always fun to see what’s up with those celebrations! Have a terrific week.
Gracie & I have enjoyed walking in the fog lately out here in the Midwest. Your photos are so peaceful. I also love your bird photos. I know we have bluebirds around here because I’ve occasionally seen them on the bike trail. My neighbor has seen them in her backyard too but I haven’t seen them in mine. Boo! Hoo! Love your veggie potholders. I think they’ll be a great addition to your quilt show boutique.
Your pictures are always so much fun to look at. Love the birdies. I’ve been working on some Safelight sets for you. Hoping to get a few more done before getting them in the mail for you.
I always love seeing your wildlife pix, Carole, but the fog pictures are amazing! You have been busy! On Tuesday I finally finished my yoga wardrobe. It was supposed to be 4 pieces, but morphed into 8 as I tried to use up the fabric. I still have a bit left, but I am not in need of a sports bra or a bikini, so I think I am done unless one of the girls would like one!
The embroidery for the table runner is very pretty.
Alexandria