Ruthie had a wonderful 10th birthday yesterday. Her cake was made from a new recipe using sprite...and it was yummy! I kept thinking back to the day she was born in 2000. My Y2K baby...born in the midst of a storm that brought 16" of snow. My midwife delivered five babies in two days...thanks to the change in barometric pressure. Fortunately we were only at the hospital an hour when Ruthie was born...for which our weary midwife was thankful.

This is Anna's latest baby quilt she made for the Asst Pastor's daughter who should be born in a couple weeks. Lizzie is still working on the matching dress.

This week I went to the thrift shop and bought three quilted wallhangings for a dollar. I bought them so I could show my daughters.

The machine stitching on these first two quilts needs to be ripped out and sewn again. It looks like the quilter didn't have the proper foot for freestyle quilting. This quilt is made from many 1" squares.

And this is my favorite. This pattern is called Windows. Some of the leaves are appliqued on top. I especially like these fabrics. Somewhere I read a cute saying about quilting: "I cannot count my day complete, til needle, thread, and fabric meet." ~ anonymous.

Sarah, my eldest daughter, babysits my niece, so today they came over for a visit in front of the warm fireplace. Abigail didn't mind that we put her hair up in a ponytail. Our family loves this "palm tree" kind of ponytail, but Abigail's hair is so straight that we call it her "tall oak!"

Sarah was excited to show Abigail our cat. Anna wrapped Ranger in a towel in an effort to keep the dander controlled...thanks to our allergies. Abigail loved our cat and birds. It was too cold to take her out to the bunnies and goats.

Excitement is in the air: the weatherman says we may get snow on Saturday! So we are busy stockpiling the woodpile. The cold weather is already in place and is about to get colder thanks to an arctic blast.

My friend Diana wrote a hilarious comment on facebook today: "4 out of the 6 are coughing today. Here is my non-ending chant: I hate winter, I hate winter. Oh ye feckless global warming, I counted on you, I wanted to believe in you, but you have disappointed me." Mike and I got a good laugh out of that!

Many blessings ~ Kathie