Snow Shovelling Has Started

Okay, maybe not where you are. But here in the Canadian prairies the first snowfall comes in October or November, and although a few milder days may interrupt, usually, that means WINTER has arrived and will not let go until March or April. I was born and grew up here on the prairies, so I have long ago resigned myself - this is how it is. Stop whining and adjust yourself and your expectations.

I still wring my cold fingers to warm them up, and yes, I've started wearing long johns under my jeans to keep my legs warm inside as well as when I go outside. But I try to stay away from long negative thoughts - they just make winter harder to bear.

As I mentioned last week, somehow the garden and yard work seemed longer or harder than in the past, so I'm rather relieved to get a break from that work. I was neglecting my housework through most of the summer, so one of my top winter projects in my domestic Saturdays is to work my way from room to room and be ruthless (unlike myself) about cleaning up and getting rid of things. In a word, Down-sizing!

The hardest part will be deciding what MUST GO and what I MUST KEEP! And then where will I keep it - hopefully in a good hiding place.

I need to mend my favourite winter quilt, but I've already started using it.

Also, I'm planning to re-do my neck braces. I'm not sure if my neck has stretched and become more narrow, but all of them seem to overlap by too much, so I need to shorten the ends by about two finger-widths each, and then move the velcro patches over a bit. Also, I had covered some with cotton. That fabric wrinkles and those scratch and make my neck/throat feel raw and tender. I've found that a light-weight jersey or lingerie material is softer, stretches and doesn't wrinkle. The foam and the velcro are not wasted so it is just a matter of undoing my stitches, and making a new cover, stitching that up with tiny hidden stitches, and also stitching the velcro patches down with sturdy quilting thread. Since I have 6 of them, there is no rush to do them all at once, but I like a litle variety, and then I don't have to wash them by hand so often.

This needle work is really handy for when I'm watching a webinar.

More on my winter work projects in a moment...

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