Wind chill is 20-30 below! My new barn heater is running non stop and my chickens are lucky to have it. Everything is hard to do when it’s this cold. Finn and Ivy are coming this afternoon – I’ve never seen anything like Finn and Keeper playing for hours!
Yes, we are in the American Patchwork and Quilting 30th Anniversary issue! I’ll post more about that later – if you read Jo’s blog she talked a lot about it yesterday. We were in the very first issue and now we’re old ladies and we’re still here! Haha! And we’re in good company in this magazine!
Reader quilts
I am done with winter. It was 9 below when I was outside caring for the animals this morning. The owls were still hooting even in this terrible cold. Love all the quilt pictures.
Stay safe and I hope all the animals are tucked inside. Your temps sound brutal. We woke to freezing rain and most businesses, schools etc were 2 hours late this morning. I’m going to the quilting room to work on a new baby quilt for a niece.
Pretty quilts! We are at 34, predicting below freezing 🥶 tonight and ice here in northeast Texas. Sorry it’s bitterly cold there. 😢
Congratulations on being in the latest APQ! Can’t wait to read about you, all these years later.
It’s 6 degrees where I am in Illinois, but we’ll be below zero tonight. By Friday, it will be a heat wave as we reach the high 30’s! Stay safe, stay warm and enjoy those dogs!
Nice quilts. I need to get motivated! I have to finish one more block on a quilt for our first granddaughter and then layer it and another I have ready. We are getting snow this morning then turning to rain this afternoon and rain for the next week. Tired of winter like everyone else. Have a great week.
We had minus 19 degrees actual temperature this morning. At least it is sunny and the wind has died down from yesterday. Winter in the Midwest!
Love all the quilts today. Very colorful. Good day for sewing.
Timing was perfect for getting the new heater in the barn.
I just mailed out a quilt top to be machine quilted.My usual quilter no longer does the quilting. Thought I’d try an online place for the first time. The postage to send the small package was crazy. Guess I’ll look local for a long arm quilter.
I think it’s awesome you sew every day. I’m housesitting for a friend and have sewing everywhere in her beautiful house. I’m making a kit by Jason Yenter called Harmonius Quilt and I’ve never sewed on so many bias edge before in my life. Making flying geese the way the pattern calls for has been challenging and fun.
It’s beastly cold here in Minnesota and looking forward to a short break in March to sunny skies and warmth in Arizona. Stay warm!
Congratulations on being in the first and the 30th anniversary of AP&Q! I have a subscription, but haven’t received this issue yet, so I am very much looking forward to it. The colorful cover quilt is certainly inspiring.
I am enjoying lots of sewing time in my sunny sewing room with a big picture window facing south.
Are you planning any sewing project for Super Bowl Sunday? I found several mystery projects on the internet, but I’m not into mystery projects. But if I see a new project I really like I might do it that Sunday.
Mary says sew – what a good idea for Super Bowl Sunday – let me give it some thought.
What a cool idea for a quilt. Love the charity quilt, Jeanine!
Thank you, Sue. I just used leftover strips of fabric I had, but still have a lot more! Seems they never go away. I used all different sizes of strips, and just created as I sewed it together. It will go to our local hospital infusion center or Hospice House.
Congratulations to you and Jo. Keep up the good work. Stay warm.
Stay warm Mary and all those with freezing temperatures! It is cooler here in AZ than I like, but I will take it. My husband and I walked to church on Saturday. Saw 2 cardinals in the trees. I always think of my late mom and dad when I see them.
Great completed projects. Chris in Alaska, your quilt looks so warm and cozy. Jeanine in Iowa, it is fun to see all the different fabrics used in your charity quilt.
Will try to make some progress on my rug.
Thank you, Lynn. I enjoyed making it.
Thank you ! It is warm and cozy but not heavy like our old comforter .
I don’t blame you for missing your porch, Mary. It’s a good and close place to keep the wood, though. Brrr
It’s even way below normal temps here on the OR coast. Pretty hard frost every night and more to come. I am happy to see Jan. be done today.
This is such a busy group of ladies. The quilts have been so great lately and so many, too. Love seeing them.
I can’t wait to buy that magazine. Is it on the stands now? I will go to town and check it out right away.
Sue in Oregon – yes, it’s a great place to keep the firewood dry and we don’t have to go outside to get it! Don’t really know if the magazine is out yet – I haven’t been anywhere!
It was 33* this morning. Not as cold as the rest of the country but it’s cold for us. The quilts today are great! I want to try Jeanine’s charity quilt. Maybe I can get rid of some leftover strips. They do seem to multiply!
Glad your barn heater is working, Mary.
Mary, I have been wondering how you are battling that brutal cold. It’s coming here Friday. Thankfully only 2 days of single digit temps. It’s sunny though so helps my sewing room mood! I have been doing a big sorting of kits and fabrics and narrowing down to what I really want to spend time sewing. So a bagful is going to my favorite senior quilt group who use everything for charity’s around here. Mary, do you keep your fabrics together by designer or colors? I finally have all my solids and blenders in one spot to pull from.
We went to buy a new tv and gosh the fancy ones have come down quite a bit in price. At Target we got a 55” one for $150 off and not bad a price at $249 for it. A gallon of milk is now down to $2.89 at the grocery store and eggs are in stock so what I had to buy was there and at good prices.
HI Mary, You are BRRR. We had 18* this AM and now are at a WARM 20*!! The quilts today are
so bright and pretty. I also love the picture (photo) from Chris in Alaska. Beautiful.
Congratulations to you and Connie on your second time in APQ. That says a lot for your designing and
longevity. . Good for you and Connie:)
I just put my Country Threads Valentine flying geese runner on my front table. I have put away all the snowmen so maybe the weather will get the hint that it is time for Valentine’s Day and warm weather.
Take care everyone in this cold blast.
Thank you ! Our friend here who also surveyed our property when we bought it , is a professional photographer too ! He took this not far from where we live!
It is beautiful. We visited Alaska I 2008. Big, beautiful state😃
You mentioned Jo’s blog, but I don’t know who Jo is. Can someone let me know? Thanks!
Carol – look up Jo’s Country Junction
Thank you! I found it. Appreciate it. Cold in Illinois as well, but the sun is shining!
So sorry Mary. We are on the GA/FL line camping with a/c on due to extreme humidity and 70 degree weather. Sewing while watching dozens of robins frolic. Life is good.
Holly – haha! It’s fine – I’m conditioned now!
Congratulations Mary and Connie, can’t wait to pick up American Patchwork and Quilting the next time I go out! Love the Reader Quilts!
Have one question, how do you keep snow out of your screened porch? We had to wrap our screened porch in our other house and my husband refuses to put up another screened porch in this house for that reason it’s a lot of work and we are getting old!!!
Carmen – do you remember my post last fall as well as last spring? We have custom covers for each screened panel. You’d have to go back to the posts last fall to see them – I don’t have the time to research all those photos.
My magazine came in today’s mail! Haven’t had a good chance to look at it yet. I just love all the scrappy quilts, probably because I just can’t throw fabric away. Darn Gramma — don’t waste it! We had our really cold weather starting on Thursday and probably end was last night. And about 8″ of light and fluffy snow without much wind here. Now the sun is shining and it feels absolutely wonderful outside. I’ll have to get out with the shovel in a bit.
Ladies, if you want an adventure in parking, come to Rapid City. The Winter Stock Show started on Friday, Jan 27, and lasts 9 days. Bring your cameras as you will see hundreds of trailers, pickups of all sizes, cars parked all over the place. There are different things for EVERYBODY, tons of vendors, rodeos, bull riding, mutton busting, sheep dog trials, sheep shearing, petting zoo (my favorite), show cattle, sheep, horses, art and quilting. Some of the most beautiful livestock you will ever see. One horse sold for $51,000. And you still have to feed the horse! You thought quilting was expensive? Probably my favorite is the ranch rodeo — NOT the professionals — just the ordinary ranchers doing all the stuff they do on the ranch, only in teams to see who gets it done the best/fastest — maybe with a bit of liquid refreshment! They have a wonderful time.
And no, I wouldn’t even attempt to find a parking spot. I’m not going!!
Have fun everybody. This weather just tests us and we will win, it just seems like forever?
Betty in Rapid City
Betty, Your comments are a great addition to this blog. It would be interesting to see the Winter Stock Show, but I don’t think we will come to S Dakota during the winter. We were out there a few years ago in September and it snowed quite a bit there the week after we left.
Beryl – I agree that Betty helps make this blog very enjoyable. She’s got good old Iowa common sense – right???
Betty,
Wish I could be there. I was born in Miles City MT so not so far away. I’m in FL now without winter clothes so probably will pass on the Stock Show. Al that “cowboy” stuff still runs in my blood.
Polly
How do I find Jo’s blog? The girls at quilt group were talking about an auction(?) that Jo was having in Iowa. I was guessing it was her. It’s very cold up here in northern Minnesota. We are better off than my daughter in Texas where it is thundering with freezing rain. Sure hope and pray they don’t lose power. I just got home from having cataract surgery. Now I am resting in my recliner.
Jo,
Look up Jo’s Country Junction.
Thank you!!
Here you go:
https://www.joscountryjunction.com/
I think we’ve gotten over a foot of snow in the last 5 days. We too, are so cold. Double digit lows, single digit highs. My wonderful neighbor came over and plowed out the driveway. He drove around the trees so Loretta has a pathway to go into. Her feet get so cold, she doesn’t dilly dally outside.
I’ll add that magazine to my list, so when I go to the store, I can get one. Congratulations to you and Connie. Being published is thrilling.
I’m glad we have warm flannel quilts to snuggle under when it’s this cold.
Congratulations on the magazine notation! So glad they are recognizing Country Threads for the great influencers you and Connie are! Keep up the great work!
APQ is one of my favorites; if Betty got hers today, mine should be here soon. Congrats to you and Connie on being honored again.
The quilts today were great, love them!
Stay Warm, Mary 🥰
Congratulations on your beautiful quilts in the APQ magazine, can’t wait to get to store to get it, hopefully Thursday. Down to 12 degrees tonight, not much snow yet!
Congratulations on being in the APQ magazine. I started a subscription to it when it first became available and I saved quite a few magazines from the 1st couple years. Looking through them recently I saw that yours and Connie’s quilts were featured regularly. I hope to make some of them because I still like them.
It was minus 22 degrees this morning in northeast Wisconsin.
Celeste – oh my, that’s very cold!
Well I like all the quilts but Jeanine in Iowa’s charity quilt especially speaks to me.
Jean in NH —- Thank you for the compliment. It is just made with leftover strips in different widths. It was fun to sew together.
It’s cold and icy here. We’re hoping to thaw out tomorrow afternoon. Weather here is so crazy – January was fairly warm and then the ice hit. February is always our coldest month.
My nephew is a new pilot and we live 15 minutes from DFW airport which he flies out of. He lives 60 miles from the airport. He’s been staying with us so he doesn’t have to drive in the ice to get to work. It’s nice to have a visitor when we can’t really leave the house.
Susan – I’ve been wondering about all my friends in the Dallas area and the south in general. Very unusual weather for you. We become conditioned to it and it becomes normal.
It took my nephew about an hour and 45 minutes to get here when normally it’s an hour. He said south of Sanger the highway was the worst. He drove slowly and had to go around quite a few accidents. Trucks are jackknifed all over. I know that in the Austin area they are iced in too. We had thunder sleet yesterday morning that covered our yards and streets. Some places have enough ice on roads and sidewalks that people are ice skating on them.
We are definitely not used to ice and snow. Although it seems to have become an annual event lately.
Susan – we saw them skating on the streets tonight on the evening news! Unbelievable!