These Happy Winter Days

 

Ice is forming on top of the snow.

 

We are snowed-in, and that means getting very resourceful with time and energy and supplies at home. It is not possible to do the laundry or wash dishes, run the sweeper or cook. There is unlimited time to do things, as long as they do not require running water or electricity, so today I made two Valentines. The light is limited also. I have been using tea-light candles in jars in the evening, which adds a little heat.

 

This one is a heart surrounded by pink pleated crepe paper streamer and topped with a foam glittered heart. I have used a glue pen to make an outline for fine pink glitter.

This white heart, also backed with ruffled crepe paper, is something I have been formulating in my mind for several weeks. I was in the mood to make something white and bright and simple, yet soft-looking. so I again used the glue pen and very fine white glitter, finished with a piece of clip-art from my box of scraps.

Here is what they both look like on a magnetic bulletin board. I have made loops from the card stock for hanging.

One of my earliest memories of using fabric is wrapping pieces of it around dolls and tying with scraps to make a garment. Here I have used the same technique with fleece to make a doll cape to match mother-daughter capes I have made this week. Most of the pictures of the people-capes did not turn out well enough to post because my models looked like apparitions in the fog and snow, but here is what the capes looked like from the side:

 

Each cape has a white rose on the hood, sewn from the same fabric.

 

 

 

When I last visited the fabric store there were a lot of Valentine themed items, including a pretty pink dish towel. I was able to imitate it with a dollar store hand towel, tinted with a few drops of liquid rit dye, and a piece of lace from a discount catalog.

We finally got the car out of the snow and went to pizza place to get a meal with a salad and connect to the internet. I will still have to return home and be without heat and water but it is a nice break from winter hardship to come into town and thaw out. I am sure it is time to equip our house with a couple of generators and a gas fireplace and gas cook stove. We are getting too old for this kind of roughing-it!

This is a scene of our church meeting-house from one of the windows of our home. This Lord's Day, the only people who were able to come were those who lived close enough to walk, so our family and one neighbor family attended. Because there was no heat, my husband decided to keep the sermon short and serve communion and not allow people to get too cold, especially since some of them were small children.

While my children were growing up, I always let them have pencil and paper during the sermon, to keep them quiet. Our grandchildren carry on the tradition. This time, though, one of the children was rather stunned when the meeting was dismissed. She said, "Papa didn't even have a proper sermon! It was not long enough for me to even finish drawing a face!"

 

 

 

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