Zills!

Zills are little finger cymbals used in belly dancing. I started a new dance class last night (it was awesome!) and we will be using zills in our choreography; I've never used them before so I had to buy a set.

They're very pretty. But here's the bag they came in:

 

Blah! Boring!

Since Swoon and I still aren't on speaking terms (or I'm too afraid to try again right now), I decided to do a little low-stakes sewing this evening and I made a zills pouch.

 

I used Anna's Gathered Clutch tutorial and just decreased the width. It's the perfect size to hold the zills and it just makes them that much more special.

In other news, we have entered the deep freeze. We've had surprisingly mild weather this winter with temperatures barely below freezing. That all came to an end on the weekend. We got snow and now we have extreme cold. Tomorrow it's supposed to be -47° Celsius (that's -52.6° F) with the wind chill. Brrrr!

Sounds pretty crappy, eh? I had to think really hard to find an upside to that kind of weather, but I did manage:
1. The dogs don't linger when they go out to do their business so I don't have to stand on the steps begging, pleading, and finally using my stern teacher voice to get them to come in.
2. It's a good excuse to take out the slow cooker. We had beef stew for supper tonight. Mmmm.
3. I have no problem justifying my reluctance to go out in the evenings. I can stay inside and sew!

Stay warm, friends.