Da Blizzard and Da Quilt

I have been around for the Blizzard of 67, the Blizzard of 99 and now the Blizzard of 2011!!!  Wow, what a storm!  And it's so ironic in thinking back that in 67 I was in Junior High and playing in the storm myself.  In 99 my children were playing in the snow and now in 2011 my GRANDCHILDREN are playing in the snow!  Crazy huh??  And although it's hard to really measure it in inches, the only thing I can say is that it was a shitload!  Reports say anywhere from 12-24" depending on your area.  Even at the lowest, it's still alot of snow. 

I have to admit that I love storms and how they force people to actually stay home and slow down.  Of course the aftermath is not fun with the clean-up but while it's happening, it's kind of a cozy and fun feeling.  This is from someone who does not have to leave the house.  My sister is a floor supervisor for Labor and Delivery at our local hospital and her shift was this morning.  She actually had to go to work yesterday and sleep over so that she would be there.  The hospital goes on emergency mode since that is one profession that you MUST get there.  So I guess I feel thankful that I don't have to be anywhere.

So what do I do during a blizzard? I sew!  Our power went off for about 5 minutes last night and I immediately panicked.  Oh no, what would I do without my sewing machine?  But it came back on and I was able to sew all evening.  I really got alot done on this beautiful quilt out of Bonnie Hunter's new book.  It's called Tomalo Trail and it is such a fun project using up scraps. 

Here is a picture of two rows done out of six!  I am really loving it!

 Of course, it starts out as alot of 1 1/2" strips that have to be cut and sewn together to make 9-patches.  I have a ton of strips that were already cut for a different project.

After they are sewn together in strips of dark/light/dark and light/dark/light, they then get cut apart into 1 1/2" strips and then sewn back together to make the 9-patches.

I need 210 of these babies to finish this quilt.  It then gets a piano key border which is MORE 1 1/2" strips sewn together.

I'm thinking we have one more day of staying in so I'm hoping to get a couple more rows done!  Thank you Blizzard 2011.  You were a big help!!!