A few days of warmth have been followed by a really cold snap. The deer have been here several days looking for food. I think it is fine for them to eat the vines and weeds out of the hosta garden.

This gal did her part.

Three of them moved through, and I wish they’d stay a bit longer and finish off the weed removal. But, it is hard to find good help these days.

In the birdhouse, I thought I saw a bird sitting in the opening with its head looking around. I realized after taking several photos with my long lens camera that it was nesting materials sticking out. I hope we get eggs and little ones this year.

Inside, the great January clean out has started, and this year will be bigger than ever. We’ve been selling some furniture, and clearing out closets. This was just a part of a carload that went to the thrift shop this past week. The car was so stuffed, we couldn’t put in another thing, and could barely see out the back from the rear view mirror. And I am not nearly done yet.

I pulled fabrics and other donation stuff to take to the guild area meeting. Some things I had that were brand new went to the raffle basket we are putting together for the show in May. Luckily, I only brought back two of these fabrics, and they’ll go to the rehome table at the main guild meeting later this month.

The guild area meeting this time was a pot luck New Year’s party, and I signed up for dessert. I made my Caramel Apple Cake recipe, and baked it in mini-muffin size.

I took a guess on how long to bake the cupcakes at 18 minutes. Perfect.

I baked 48, and put 36 on a tray. The others were put aside for My Sweet Babboo without frosting so he could have some for breakfast.

I frosted these with the Caramel Latte frosting from a plastic tub. Yum!! There were only a few left.

Yesterday, it was pouring rain as we went to breakfast with some car club buddies. We were really disappointed in the restaurant. The food was not great, and service was slow. We went back home, and I watched the bird feeder for a few minutes as activity was brisk in the rain. A titmouse on the left and a chickadee on the right were looking for food.

I didn’t realize that the birds could put their whole heads inside the mesh until I saw the titmouse do that. I have to say the seed is lasting a lot longer now that the pileated woodpecker cannot get to it.

After a moment, another water soaked and bedraggled titmouse landed on the right side perch. Poor things. The chickadee was eating from the bottom of the tray.

They all flew off, only to be replaced a moment later by a nuthatch and another titmouse. The nuthatch loves to hang upside down.

They flew off, and again only moments later, another titmouse was joined by a Carolina wren. The red bellied woodpecker stopped by, but I didn’t get his picture.

I got out the lemon zipper pull and lemon fabric from the mystery box I got back in July. I finally made a decision on what I wanted to do with it. First, I didn’t like the cotton felt that the box had for a zippered case. I wanted something bigger and more durable.

I found a cute lemon orchard print at my local quilt shop, and it was perfect for the project. The mystery box fabric on the left was not a lot, so it will become the inside pockets. The main inspiration for the project was the adorable zipper, with its lemon slice pull and gold teeth.

The first thing to do was to cut the outer side pieces so I could quilt them first. The size was limited to the length of the zipper. I also had to cut two as the print is directional, rather than one long piece.

This coming week, I’ll show you how the project went together. I didn’t do a pattern for it, but I could if there is enough interest. The purse is a bit complex, as I wanted interior pockets and finished seams.

This week will be cold, and we might even get a snow flurry late in the week. I have a guild meeting on Thursday and I am looking forward to it. I’m going to try to pull more stuff for the re-home table, and resist temptation. We will see how that goes! Otherwise, I get to have a couple of sewing days to finish several more small projects for the guild shop.

What are your plans for the week?

**********************

Fat Quarter Shop’s January specials include 20% off the Basic of the Month Tula Pink Essentials Solids, 30% Off the Notions of the Month Mettler Threads, 30% off featured Patterns of the Month from Thimble Blossoms, and book of the month Simply Retro with Camille Roskelley. Then, check out Today’s Flash Sale and see the Precuts of the Week.

Sulky Sew Sweet Sale! – Save up to 70% on Valentine shop items!! Sale ends at Midnight tomorrow night! Also, get free shipping on any order over $60.

Milk Street has added new items to the Sale section of their store. Savings on specialty knives, cookware and some of my favorite cookbooks are on now.

Check out Amazon’s Winter Sale with up to 50% off outlet items. See the clearance specials on holiday items, arts and crafts, quilting supplies and kitchen essentials.