Cold Snap & Stitching!

Yes ... the temperatures have been dropping here on top of our hill and it's getting harder and harder to crawl out of the warm, snuggly bed in the mornings. Already, the temps have dipped to 4 and 6 degrees Celsius overnight - BRRRRRR!!! Mind you ... at least it's not SNOWING here, like it is in May Britt's little corner of the world ... and it's SPRING in Norway!!! How RUDE! :0) After being brave little soldiers for a week, we decided it really was time to find a heater and since the old one was giving it's death rattle at the end of last winter, we knew Saturday morning heralded a special shopping trip.

Now, being conscious of environmental, energy and cost impacts of heating options, we made the decision a few years ago to have natural gas fitted, a decision we have been pleased with. However, we DID discover that if the powers-that-be want to encourage more people to switch to natural gas heating, they REALLY need to encourage some imagination in gas heater designs!! You can get GORGEOUS wood burning combustion heaters, cute wood-fire-look electrical heaters, but unless you want to spent thousands of dollars (literally!!) it's almost impossible to find a gas heater that doesn't look either ultra-modern or like the grill of a Mac truck!!! SIGH! However, after an extensive search, we found a model we were happy to adopt (we COULD have been influenced by the lowering temperatures as the day went on!!!) and this is our new 'family member' ...

Here it is in it's new home in the corner of our lounge room. It still is a little more modern-looking than I'd choose to suit our decorating style, but it sure does give the room a warm, toasty glow! :0) As a result, once we were home, my Beloved Geek Boy and I were both more than happy to curl up in the lounge room for the rest of the weekend and watch our way through our collection of "Midsomer Murders" DVD's! :0) This is how GB occupied himself ...

See how rugged up he is? And the funny look on his face is cos he's in the middle of telling me how RUDE it is to take his photo while he's looking like a dag! Tee! Hee! Hee! Good thing HE didn't get the camera cos I was REALLY in dag mode! :0) And what was I doing while GB was computing? Why ... STITCHING, of course!!

Yep ... I was stitching my way through the stitcheries for Block A of "A Gardener's Journal" for the Stitch-A-Long challenge. They took a little longer than originally anticipated because I thought it would add a bit of interest (and make mine just a little different to others!) if I added little touches of satin stitch to my blocks. Yep ... it did ... it also took me MUCH longer than I thought it would! Funny how that often happens with our 'bright' ideas, isn't it! Tee! Hee! Hee! Still, I like how it's looking, so may have to re-visit Block G to add a few little patches of satin stitch ... but that's for another time. Hopefully, I'll find some time this week to piece Block A together and I'll pop back to show you.

In the meantime ... it's still cold, the lounge room is still cosy, GB is still on the other end of the couch keeping me company (he may not speak to me after the above photo, but ...! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and there's a line up of TV shows to keep me entertained tonight, so it's back to stitching for me. I've moved back to working on the green and blue baby quilt I'm making for my brother's soon-to-be-born baby, the one that started like this ...

It's now had some appliqué elements added and I'm blanket stitching around them. I promise to give you a peek when I get further advanced on it. Hope you found an enjoyable way to spend your weekend. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS