Hey everyone!

Did you miss me? I’m finally home and back at PG after spending last week with my good friend and favorite travel partner, Darci, on our yearly “hooker’s” trip to the Off the Ocean Rug Hooking Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. As always, we had a total blast and the time flew by way too quickly — especially since we had to come home to whatever the heck Mother Nature is trying to accomplish with this weather situation. Let’s not forget — I’m a Wisconsin girl, born and raised, so I’m no stranger to temperatures below zero, but this… this was a special kind of mean! A real air temp of –10 °F combined with a wind chill around –25 °F was waiting for me with open arms, and I can’t say I’m very happy about it. If you’ve never experienced that kind of cold, let’s just say it’s enough to make even the toughest Wisconsinite want to turn around and get right back on that plane. I mean — c’mon!!!

Anyway, despite the cold, we’re truly glad to be back safe and sound because, well, traveling can be dangerous! Here’s a picture of Darci and me taking a break at a Starbucks somewhere near St. Augustine — jussssst before things started to get interesting… but more on that later this week.

As awful as it sounds, the initial shock of landing in the midst of winter’s revenge has pretty much worn off, and I’m just about back to the swing of things here at home. Winter is winter, after all, and honestly, once it gets to a certain level of COLD, it all starts to feel the same. I really didn’t have too much time to feel sad about it anyway, considering my annual Cabin Fever Retreat started bright and early this morning, which I will tell you more about during my LIVE show on Thursday. For now, let’s focus on what I missed while I was gone!

Par for the post-vacation course, I have some loose ends to chase around here at PG now that I’m home, one of which is the release of Ann — the January quilt in my Monthly Minis Quilt Series! Those of you following this series already know that each of the quilts in this year’s collection is fondly named after one of my mother’s nine sisters. Obviously, nine isn’t enough to complete the year, so the remaining three are named after three additional women who I consider to be super important to me somehow. It’s my way of saying thank you, and I LOVE YOU ALL, in my own special way!

I’ll just say it — this little quilt is a beaut! I’d also love to tell you that there’s some crazy story behind it and the birth of its design, but that simply wouldn’t be true. The reason is, I didn’t actually know my Aunt Ann. She was — I’m pretty sure, anyway — the oldest of them all and, unfortunately one of my mother’s siblings whom I was never fortunate to meet, which is why I don’t really know much about her. What I do know is that she was one of the oldest of 17 children and had a heck of a lot of responsibility growing up, and for that I give her a lot of credit.

I hate to say it, but the colorway I chose for Ann was also not based on anything super interesting, clever, or fun. Nope — it was by sheer coincidence and timing alone that Ann won the honor of donning good ol’ red, white, and blue, and I think she looks great! This mini quilt is made with American Gatherings III, which has arrived and is now available both in the shop and online by clicking the button below! Kits for Ann are also available under Ann Mini Quilt!

Normally I would have a video to share with tips and tricks on how to go about making this project if you need some guidance, and Ann will have the same — I just need a chance to work with Kali to film it now that I’m home! We’ll be working on that tomorrow, so don’t worry. It will be out soon!

I just heard my phone buzz and lo and behold, it’s my weather app alerting me that it’s going to be… drum roll please… COLD! Yep — single digits for the high temps for the next several days. Woo hoo — we’re havin’ a heat wave because that’s definitely better than it’s been! Ahhh, blessings. It’s the little things, ya know? LOL! Joking aside, if you’re dealing with crazy winter weather right now, please be smart out there! Cold weather and frostbite are nothing to play around with. In other words, don’t go out if you don’t have to. Stay home and stitch! Have a wonderful, SAFE, and cozy night, everyone and I’ll see you later this week! ~ Lisa