The small herd of five deer have been hanging around here lately. They were back earlier in the week on the mountainside behind the house. I believe they are all females. Two appear to be adults, while the other three are likely juveniles almost grown.

One was moving ahead of the others, and paused to look at me near the rhododendrons with their leaves curled up against the cold.

The others behind headed up the west side in the morning sun.

They nibbled their way behind the rhododendrons. I put an arrow to the one almost hidden.

They ate the green weeds they could find, then headed back down the east side in the shade.

A day later, the meadow out front was covered in robins. I estimated about three dozen of them. There are nine in this photo.

These guys were right beside them, pecking at the ground. They did appear to find something now and then.

One was a bit bolder, and came closer to the house.

Soon, more of them were pecking around the hosta bed and in the grass near the house.

I knew it was going to get very cold, so I decided to make a suet cake for the songbirds. They really need the extra calories when the temperatures go below freezing. That with freezing rain and snow on the way meant getting it up before the weather hit on Saturday. See my recipe on my post Making a Meal for Our Feathered Friends.

I vary what I put in the suet feeder based on what is in my cabinet. Sometimes I have corn meal, but this time I didn’t. So I added some grits and whole wheat bran. I also had some dried cranberries that were a bit too dried out, so I added those as well since the store-bought cakes have dried fruit.

Chopping up and mixing the ingredients well, I stuffed it into the suet cage.

Then My Sweet Babboo hung it up with the seed feeder. It wasn’t really popular at first, but more birds found it on Saturday. This chickadee was the first to take advantage. He grabbed a beak-full, then went to the seeds.

In the sewing room, I worked on the third denim jacket. This jacket is an extra large size. I am concentrating on larger sizes because it is always the little size 2s and zeros that have the cutest stuff. We fluffy girls like pretty things too! I put a lace panel over the yoke just like the last one.

Cutting out the yoke is still the scary part.

I added rhinestones to the buttons on this one as well.

Extra rhinestones will be sold with the jacket to replace any that are lost.

I need to find some kind of lace applique for the front pockets. This one has nice pockets on the lower part of the front, so I cannot put lace panels down the front. But it needs just a bit more. I left the waistband on this one, so there isn’t any lace at the bottom. There are riveted buttons on the waistband, so putting lace over it isn’t a good idea.

I’ve been working on more small projects for the guild shop. I cut out more produce bags and made one like this one. The others will be saved to sew at retreat. See my post Produce Bag Tutorial for the pattern.

My friends in my small area group gave me a gift card to my favorite restaurant as a thank you for leading the group for the past two years. Of course, I couldn’t wait to use it! So, we had dinner there with friends on Friday night. A gift like this is so much better shared instead using it on take out. My Sweet Babboo and I shared this platter of rolls. You know how I love sushi!

This morning we woke up to a lovely winter scene, a little dusting of snow over the sleet that fell overnight. Luckily the power didn’t go out. We have a generator so we can still cook with small appliances, sew, watch TV, and keep the refrigerator running if it does later.

The weather is predicted to be freezing rain all day today, changing to just rain late today. Then, the temperatures will drop again forming ice overnight into Monday. It is a good time to hunker down and sew in my warm basement with meals in the slow cooker. If you are in the path of this storm, stay warm!!

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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’s 70% Off Clearance Sale – New items added and get free shipping on any order over $60. There are a few Haute Cocoa Mystery Boxes left, fun projects to try something new in this cold weather.

Milk Street has added new items to the Sale section of their store. Today only, take 50% off the small Nakiri knife. Savings on specialty knives, cookware and some of my favorite cookbooks like Tuesday Nights are on now.