Not too bad this morning at 14 degrees but it looks like we will be in the deep freeze again this weekend with a small possibility of more snow.  Sounds like a normal winter to me.  I think most of us have forgotten how cold and snowy winter really is after the past several years of no real snow.  

The snow here has melted a bit but there are no patches of grass visible...only snow which is about 18 to 20 inches deep still!  But what's really nice is that there is light at this hour of the morning...that will change when daylight savings comes back, but it is nice to have more daylight.

During covid, lots of folks made bread at home.  As one person put it, the smell of bread baking was a common thing in neighborhoods!  With the cost of bread these days, maybe baking bread at home is a worthwhile undertaking again.  

The average cost of an inexpensive loaf of bread is around $2.50 nationwide.  It's actually a lot more around here.  You can make a loaf of bread using quality products for around 85 cents.  If you add in the cost of baking at around 50 cents one loaf of bread costs $1.35.  If you make three loaves at a time, the cost goes down to $1.02 a loaf.  And if you use store brand supplies rather than the higher cost alternatives, the cost for one loaf goes down much further.  

The benefit of making your own bread is that you know the ingredients.  If you've never made bread before, try it.  You'll find out that bread making is easy.  And the variety of recipes is enormous...just google making bread and you will find a ton of recipes.

With the beginning of the month, another prompt was posted for my 2026 Fabric Book.  The prompt this month is 'StemStitch'.  I first added some pieces of fabric to my page...

And then I began doing some had stitching.  You will notice in the next picture that I also added tape around the edges of the page to prevent the fabric from raveling...

I'm not finished with the page yet but I have a good start.

I also worked on my wall hanging quilted piece that will be hand stitched only.  I finally added the fabric for the sky and then I basted all of it...

You can see the large basting stitches.  I haven't decided whether I am going to leave the edges raw or turn under, but I left enough room with the basting stitches to do either.  When I finish this base, then I will be adding houses, farms, trees, etc.

Today I'm hosting a quilt chat on zoom.  I also want to work on more sorting in the studio.  I've found a lot of paper for journaling that I didn't realize I had.  And, if time permits, starting organizing the Christmas decorations which are still up, by the way.

Remember to spend a few minutes reading today...

Talk with you tomorrow...