Counddown until school starts again...

I actually love school.  I enjoy the subject matter, the other students and my professors are amazing. However it takes a lot of time and so I have really enjoyed the four week break.  I had a list of things which I really wanted to get done before it started again because I know that once it starts, lots of things have to be left undone until my next break (which actually won't really happen until August because we don't get much of a break between Spring and Summer semesters because of graduation stuff.) It was exciting stuff like getting the floors mopped, cleaning the fridge, and

cleaning and reorganizing the pantry.....

and trying to finish Zander's quilt (yes, I know he was born in December, but luckily there is no prize for grandmothers who have the quilts done before the birth and Zander still seems to like me).

Here is the top spread out on the air hockey table (this table is useful for many things including playing air hockey).  The white you see in the middle are the paper patterns with Zander's name on them.  Jessica had found a quilt pattern she liked which included the baby's name so I got instructions from my good friend, Sandy Lai, and watched two youtube videos on the topic and started the project.  I did the Z from start to finish to even see if I could do this "fancy" stuff at all.  It was moderately successful so I made the rest of the letters and started the process of ironing them on before I sewed them in place.........

Which one of these doesn't belong?

In the middle of copying the letters in reverse, I made a mistake on the "D", I caught it and redid it on top of the one I had originally drawn to save the adhesive. Apparently when I cut it out, I used the wrong one.  As you can see the D is leaning entirely the wrong way.

This is what it would look like it is was at the more correct angle.  Not a terrible problem, simply make another "D"....except I have absolutely NO more of that fabric.  As luck would have it, I had made an error when I first started using the adhesive which ruined 6 inches of fabric which would have been perfect.  I search my sewing stacks twice hoping to find 5 more inches of this fabric with no luck.  So instead of finishing the quilt top yesterday as planned, I have to wait until I have time and good weather to track down more fabric to make one letter.  Hopefully that wouldn't be too difficult.  Every quilt has a story......

And in the wings, plans and fabric for Baby James's quilt (due to arrive in February.)  No name on his quilt but some new skills will be required as well.

As far as the rest of my "to do" list, there are still a few (hundred) books to read but in general I am ready to start back to school on Tuesday.  I have even read the first two chapters of my textbook--probably the only time I will be ahead this semester.

The only other highlights from the week are Jena started back to school, we got to watch Liam and Zander for an hour on Friday night, and Gary has a bit of a stomach bug today.  Plus the snow, lots of snow and today there was freezing rain.  That prevent our trip down to Provo to see Ben today as they suggested people not drive on the road.  I think this is the most snow we have had for a couple of years.

This is a photo from our front porch. That is our mail box which is about 4 1/2 feet tall.  With the snowed packed road and the white fence, it is hard to get a good perspective.  Trust me, too much snow.
Thank heavens for a snowblower
(and Gary to drive it.)