At least I don’t have to pull weeds again today because it’s drizzling nonstop. I hate sewing diagonal rows together but Hayseed is calling me to finish – see?
This is my DD #9 – waiting to be quilted so that’s what hits the machine next. I’ll need to post Connie’s #9, too. Did you find YOUR #9?
Good old Iowa black dirt – this is right outside the shop – look at how huge the hydrangea bloom is and the elephant ear, too!
Connie was here this morning and we worked on a free little quilt pattern that I’ll be posting on this blog. It’s time to make a pumpkin! The evenings really feel like fall – as soon as the sun goes down it’s very cool. Soon it will be time for heat bulbs in the barn – as much for my peace of mind and comfort as theirs. I know how sad that sounds.
Our cousin Jill is here from California – remember the red and white Farmers Daughter quilt I made for her? I joined her yesterday morning at Westview Care center to see her 96 year old mother, my mom’s younger sister. We had to sit outside and talk via phone through the window because we weren’t allowed inside. Blanche looks good except for needing some extensive dental work and better hearing aids. She was glad to just see us and was very smiley. We’ll “visit” again next Tuesday before Jill returns to California.
So last night Becky, Jill and I went to Northwest Steakhouse in Mason City which has been in existence for 101 years and was named one of the best steaks in Iowa. My mouth waters now just thinking about it – soooo delicious served with salad, bread and spaghetti in garlic butter.
Reader quilts:
I’ll know what to plant in the trough next year, won’t I? COLEUS!
This is all that’s left of that huge round bale of oat hay. The goats are still enjoying it!
And I’ll close with a picture of snoopy, curious Hazel in the barn – there must be a good smell down there. I take so many pictures of Hazel that I think she should have her own Instagram account! Haha!
This song title cracked me up – I heard it in the car:
Tequila makes her clothes fall off!
Hahahahaha!!!!!
You make me feel like we’re old friends. Thank you for what you do. Beautiful quilts today. Blessings!
Mary, you have to see the video that goes with ‘Tequila makes her clothes fall off’, it’s on youtube. There’s a new song ‘I want tequila little time with you’ it’s catchy too.
Debby – my sister just sent it to me and told me she has seen Joe Nichols at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake – I am so uninformed! Haha!
Debby – I watched it and loved it.
Ooo, that hydrangea!! WOW! What is that metal piece next to it? So interesting. I love your #9 waiting to be quilted and the Hayseed is so cute! The steak place sounds yummy..wish I’d known about it before the trip up there. Maybe another time. So sad you couldn’t actually go in and visit your aunt. So hard.
Sherrill – the metal object in the picture is a cupola. It sits on the ridge of the barn roof to provide light and ventilation to the hay mow where hay is stored. This ventilation helps dry the hay also.
I started buying cupolas years ago at farm auctions when nobody wanted them. Now they are expensive to buy and to find. I hope this helped you understand what a cupola is.
I’ve heard of cupolas but never seen them used in the garden. I think it’s very cool sitting there among the hydrangeas and other plants. What do you do with yours, Gloria? Same kinda like Mary’s? Thanks for the info!!
Sherrill – my cupola is still on the barn but this one belonged to a friend of Rick’s who asked if I might want it. YES!!!!! I love it!
Sherrill – I have 8 cupolas in my gardens. Two of the really large cupolas have a flag pole running up the center with the American flag. Above the flag is a solar light which is still on in the early morning. I’m so afraid that this part of our farming history will be lost if we don’t preserve it.
I like the hayseed quilt and the one ready for quilting. Looks like you’ve been busy. I wish I was faster with making a quilt but it just doesn’t happen. My to do list of quilts continues to grow!
Thanks for the great pictures today, Mary.
The early morning info today on Trail Creek Fire is: 40,459 acres burned; 161 personnel working and 58% Complete…..That’s a new term not to be confused with contained! Still doing helicopter 🚁 water drops.
Attended a birthday meal n cake last night for a friend and his wife showed me the completed (12) Pinwheels sewn into 4 blocks she had just sashed. Looked very nice and a pretty group of fabrics. Is taking a class; recently retired.
Mornings are chilly up here so had a wood stove fire. Bow Hunters are looking for Elk n Deer. The male Elk are starting to bugle..so the rut has started! We are posted NO HUNTING NOR TRESPASSING.
Launa – so glad you don’t allow hunting around your place!
Launa, the news is getting better. Hopefully the snow/rain will come and put out the fire. There was an article in today’s paper that the fire comanders made a major mistake thinking they could “control” the fires. But they will learn.
I keep thinking when Custer State Park was buring at Christmas about 3-4 years ago. The next spring the whole park was just alive with all kinds of new growth, flowers and critters. What fun to hear the elk bugle. Life goes on. Betty in Rapid City
Betty K – it’s the circle of life, isn’t it?
Omg!!! I feel so bad that you don’t like diagonal seams, I love them!!!!!!! Send me your diagonal seams and I will sew them for you!!!! Lol
Ooooops!!! I meant rows, not seams!!!!
Diagonal settings aren’t the most fun to sew but they can be so effective. I love both of your projects.
I’m jealous of your rain. As much as I love Texas heat, it’s been a while since we have had rain. It’s time for a pre-fall rain to perk up the plants. And it makes the weeds easier to pull!
Lots of neat quilts being finished. I’ve been working on different projects – coats, purses, etc.
We just got back from a visit to my son’s family for a baby shower. The big maple in front of his house had carpenter ants and was in bad shape. My husband helped take it down and they took 4 trailer loads of branches and logs to the compost area.
Susan K – it’s sad to lose a big old tree – they’re part of our everyday life!
Unfortunately, the people who owned the house previously didn’t take care of the plants and trees. There is another maple that needs some maintenance and may need to come down and a crabapple that is next on the chainsaw list. They’ve had to take out a lot of the plants. Plans are in the works for replacement trees to be planted.
We do love our trees and their shade!
I see a chicken roaming in the yard. Are they allowed back outside now? While sitting on our porch a huge hawk flew down and onto the trunk of a tree where a squirrel had just been. I’ve never seen anything faster nor quieter. He didn’t get the squirrel and flew away immediately. All I could think of was could he have picked up our Sonny and flown off? We take him out on a leash at night, but not during the day. Ugh—one more thing to worry about. You are sure a fast quilt maker! When I see all the quilt tops lined up for the long arm, it makes me want to get busy but then something else gets my attention. No wonder I don’t make much progress quilt wise.
Pat Smith – yes, the chickens are outside during the middle part of the day – I’m hoping for the best. I count them every night!
Lots of news and pictures today. I think quilts on point is exercise…up and down, back and forth, no rest. But they are so stunning when done. The end is worth it.
I had a great day. Started with dry needling in my hip joint. Almost instant relief.Then PT and after that exercise. All of that went well. Then I went to Laramie. Checked out the flea market, went over and played with my grand cat. My kids are out of town. I went to a fun quilt shop, antique store, new leather shop. Finally a food cooperative for local jam and coffee beans. It was a wonderful day.
Jo in Wyoming – that’s exactly right about sewing together a quilt on point! It’s annoying.
Thank u for sharing your childhood ventures, it brought back many memories for me growning up in Ca.
I was only an child so I had the trees and yard and forts to myself🎈also, Mud pies..
Katie in Gilbert,Az.
76 yrs.old life is Good
Thanks for sharing your day, I have been having dry needling the last two weeks, it’s good to know I am not alone, I have fibromyalgia, the dry needling has help me to get relief and enjoy my summer in Prescott,Az.much cooler area, 2 hrs. away from my Casita In Gilbert, Az.
I do some quilting and enjoy doing embroidery by hand, have discovered 2 new quilt stores this summer, and enjoyed many yard & estate sales.,good fines..
Take care,
Katie ,Gilbert, Az.🎈
What is dry needling? I’ve never heard of that but it sounds really nice.
Betty in Rapid City
Betty, Dry needling is similar to acupuncture. The PT dr. pokes a thin (thinner than a hair) needle into the area where you have pain. They can wiggle it around and it increases the muscle reaction, hopefully bringing relief to the affected area. It feels like a little poke, then a flutter. They avoid nerves and blood vessels. There are different levels of intensity. I started with the lowest. I had relief, but it hasn’t lasted long. Two days without OTC pain pills. No idea the cost or if insurance covers it. I do know the practitioner needs a doctorate in this area to preform the needling.
I’m trying really hard to stay out of the hospital with this hip issue.
I wish some of that rain that clobbered NYC and NJ could have been sent to help the fires out west. We had cooler temps today (70) and felt like 40 degrees cause we have had high 80’s and 90 for so long, so it is just an adjustment to the four seasons we have here. Wonderful projects your readers finished and it’s so fun to see what everyone is sewing. I too like to admire tree branches and trunks but I was a tree climber as a kid. Built lots of tree forts in our backyard and in the woods behind our neighbors. I think that is why I look at trees wondering where I would put my foot next to climb around one.
Kathy in western NY – that’s what I thought about that maple tree – such a good one to climb!!
Thank u for sharing your childhood ventures, it brought back many memories for me growning up in Ca.
I was only an child so I had the trees and yard and forts to myself🎈also, Mud pies..
Katie in Gilbert,Az.
76 yrs.old life is Good
Love your gArden it’s still looking green, and the beautiful tree I also, enjoy checking out the branches,
We’re Blessed..
Enjoy your visit with your cousin, I had a tiny lil steak for dinner, I am sure yours was much tastier..
Still lil warm in Arizona, look forward to October, November our Az.🌵fall ..
😃
I Love the hayseed quilt! So pretty! You have such an interesting, fun and busy life! So wonderful for you to share it with us. Always enjoy the quilts. I won’t get much done for awhile as I am having surgery on my left wrist on Wednesday. Looking forward to being able to do more again!
Mary, I just want to remind you how much happiness and encouragement your posts bring me. It so gets me off my duff and out of the crazy world to step back and enjoy the beauty of nature and quilting. Thru you r blog. Nice. I’ve had Hayseed for years. I want to start it now. Thanks and God bless. Xo
Mary Lund – what a nice compliment! Goodness, I really am so happy my blabber brings you enjoyment! You readers give me somebody to talk to.
Re: DD: Do the quilts need to be quilted, or is a top considered “done” enough? I don’t quilt my own, so there’s a waiting list for actual finishes here. Whether they need to be quilted or not, following along with the DD has helped motivate me and gotten me sewing more regularly, so I’m a believer! Thanks for organizing this effort, Mary.
Jaybirdinohio – it’s up to you how you define “finished “ – I’ll take a photo anytime!
The neighbor and I had a REAL experience this morning. He was working on his pickup and I looked to the west and saw 2 birds riding the thermal currents circiling over the houses about 3 blocks from our house. There is a grade school with a large playground and a park. Then there were 3, then 4 — ending with 11 big birds searching for prey. They were coming closer to us and I was trying to figure out how wide the wings were. Right then 1 came over us LOW — maybe thinking we were a meal — and the wing spread had to be 6′ from tip to tip. Got out the bird book and the closest I can come to identify was they might be young eagles as they were all “black/brown” with no white feathers. Sure glad the neighbor saw, too. It was all over in 2-3 minutes!
Maybe my life isn’t all dull and boring? Not breakfast this morning. Betty in Rapid City
Holy moly Betty! Too close for comfort that one wanting your pretty little head for breakfast. Now don’t go renting the movie the Birds right away. We want you to stay sane, Miss Betty. Okay I am not going to think of this anymore of what could have happened so I don’t have nightmares tonight but the new hallmark movie tonight on here at 9 pm is on eagles. Not kidding.
Kathy in NY – what a coincidence, huh? I’ll bet all those large juvenile eagles were a sight to behold!!!
Betty K – yes, they sound like juvenile eagles! Oh, how exciting!! My eyes are always looking at the sky these days in case I see any large birds. Aren’t you glad you happened to see it? And you have a witness!!!
Talk about taking my breath away!! That eagle was about 40-50′ above us. WOW. We could sure see it’s wings then. An experience I’ll never forget. In the distance they looked exactly like the birds in the picture you posted.
Betty in Rapid City
Marsha from Kansas can we find out the name of the pumpkin quilt shown above. Love everything about it and would love the pattern. Paula in KY
Paula, it is a the Fig Tree pattern Pumpkins and Cream. The fabric is the Fig Tree group All Hallow’s Eve, the fall collection from last year. This year the Fig Tree fall collection is Pumpkins and Blossoms and would work up nice for this quilt as well.
I love that song title and love little Hazel. Going right to YouTube now!
I love the hydrangea and elephant ears! So pretty and so BIG. And I admired the oranges in Marsha’s pumpkin quilt. I have been thinking I need to make a fabric run and this gave me some ideas. Love the quilt show always!