RAGBRAI traveled through North Iowa today when the heat index was 100 degrees! I mowed and suffered in the heat as well even though there was a nice breeze.
Had to take a tour of the hay field. Look at Farmer Tim’s corn!!!
Reader photos
Here’s Chunky, the Bear
Some signature quilts from readers
This is another quilt I made using a men’s shirt
Our pattern 30 Stars has recently been discussed on some online quilt group because I’ve gotten several requests for it. Of course they all expect a download. Nope. I will mail it for $5.00 and a SASE with TWO stamps! TWO STAMPS! I can’t believe it was in 2008 that we did this for Country Living Magazine. Such a story behind the pattern. Sigh.
Tomorrow, in the heat and humidity, I’m going to the fair to watch the textile judging. I hope to take pictures.
Stay cool.
Mary, I love to see Farmer Tim’s crop. I hate It has been way too long since I visited my little crop of corn. I will be passing thru on business next week and hope/know mine will look as nice! As Mary commented on Ragbrai I will only respond that this bike ride across Iowa is the 52nd year. Our guests were the Navyy Cycling Team. We had 50 guests, and just nicest and neatest group! I made some treats: caramel Rice Crispie bars and a friend helped with 300 pickle roll-ups and a friend brought nice big muffins for Tuesdays breakfast. It was hot, they left Milford and were at our home before 10:30. They left the next morning between 4:30 and 6 am. They ride to beat the heat! We participated 15 times, this was our first time hosting! So fun! And so nice making ex military feel great! My son cooks at the local VFW serving 575 RAGBRAI participants. Totaling 20000 riders and support staff!
Linda – thank you for your RAGBRAI report!!! It’s a phenomena , isn’t it? I’m wondering if you got rain last night and were your guests camping? I didn’t drive up to Forest City to see the masses passing thru because it was so hot. That’s a lot of food!!! Thanks for hosting such an elite group of riders.
Love Hazel in the pool.
What is RAGBRAI ???
Ann – Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa
I’m so glad that you shared Farmer Tim’s story with all of us. We’ve been watching his corn grow for years, but now we know the “rest of the story”. Oh that photo of Hazel in the baby pool is adorable! We’re in a wonderful few days of relief from humidity.
Barbara, I hope your neighbors rethink feeding bears. As someone else said earlier, “A fed bear is a dead bear”…by kindness or by gun. I live in PA bear country & it’s illegal- even if a bear happens to come in to bird feeders, you must take them down until the bear moves on. Years ago, hubby & I talked to Gary Alt who was the first to do a scientific study on Black Bears. He told us a story of a woman living in the Poconos, who enticed a bear to come onto her deck. She then opened up her sliding door so it could enter to eat from her dog’s bowl. That bear became habituated to humans and started breaking into homes, putting everyone in danger. People were very upset when Gary was called to put the bear down. He then called a “Town Hall” meeting with the community and told them that THEY were the reason the bear had to be put down because they set it up to became dangerous for other humans. He was mad and understandably upset that a bear lost it’s life due to humans. On the other hand, there are residents in the Poconos, who have bears hibernating under their deck but they live together in harmony without every making contact. (one has a bear cam set up to watch the cubs as they grow, then watch them leave the den under the deck.) It would be better if everyone did what they can to protest sprawling development. Bears are wild animals and need to remain that way to live.
Oh Mary, I LOVED the Country Living magazine magazine back in the day. The 30 Stars Quilt is perfect for the cover! Everyone’s quilts are wonderful and all different – panel quilts, log cabin, sweet signature quilts- I love that we can now put photos on quilts. The Heart ‘n Hand makes a lovely gift. That embroidery is sweet – don’t you want to live there? I especially like your red quilt from a man’s shirt. Wow!
Who do i mail it to ? And do you take check ?
Fran Busovicki
Love seeing Hazel in the pool. Our dog loves swimming on our creek. We bought a pool like your’s. Our dog wants nothing to do with it. The rain missed us last night by two miles so we are able to put up our hay today. We are so blessed.
Chunky The Bear Update: For those of you concerned about me feeding him and being upclose, that picture of me with him is the only time I did it and that was a few years ago. I agree that it’s a shame that their territory is being destroyed by developers but that is the reality of the situation. The bears are slowly disappearing along with the deer, raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels in the areas affected. The animal lovers in these areas are trying to protect what is left of the wild animal life and keep the environment as natural as possible for them but it’s a losing battle. Chunky is the exception and we are terrified some idiot hunter is eventually going to shoot him for sport as they have to so many. It’s easy to criticize while sitting in a safe environment drinking a cup of coffee, but these poor creatures are now at the mercy of humans and their food supply is decreasing or is now contaminated. There is not one racoon left in the area due to a virus that wiped them out a few years ago. I told the story of this gental giant only to express my heartbreak of their futures.
Thank you for sharing Tims story, to overcome such a tragedy shows his inner strength. One never knows what another person has lived through. Those goats are adorable, and I love how they search for the high ground. The Gnome and Bigfoot quilts are a wonderful use of panels. I own quite a few of them and always wonder what to do with them. Our air quality has been in the dangerous zone the past few days so staying in is the best. The fires in Canada are creating it all. I do hope it rains as predicted for today, we need it and hopefully it will cool off and clear the air.
I would love to purchase 30 stars for 30 years. Could you please tell me how I can make this purchase?
Thanks, Sharon
A self addressed TWO STAMPS larger envelope to:
Mary Etherington
Country Threads
2345 Palm Ave.
Garner, IA 50438
Mary will mail it for $5. Many pages
Excuse putting this in twice. I responded to the wrong messge
Hello Mary and everyone,
My son’s wedding was this past Saturday. It was fabulous and no rain for the outside reception. The gardens looked beautiful as a backdrop to their photos. I will send photos to Mary today of the gardens. Today is the first day I have felt able to relax.
I have loved all the photos and responses. Loved Tim’s story and his resilience. Farmers are so tough.
Take care and stay cool as so many areas are under terrible hot weather. 🌻
Enjoyed the blog this morning.
I did something different this morning I went for my walk early with no coffee. 8 a.m. I hit the streets. It was breezy and 76 degrees. 90s expected so I knew it had to be done. Now I can enjoy my coffee with that done.
Now I can spend the rest of the day in my sewing room. Retreat starts Monday so I need to prepare with some cutting. I am also finishing up a quilt with pieced borders. My happy place!
Lovely log cabin quilt. One of my favorite patterns. And your quilt on your bed from men’s shirts in log cabin pattern is one of my favorites, too. I’m very impressed with your talent.
I am worried about Barbara.
Hazel is living the good life!!!
Tim is an amazing man. I’m glad he was strong enough to go on and live his best life. His corn always looks so good. I have to make an effort to get some local corn to eat. My daughter taught me how to cook an ear of corn in the microwave in the corn husk. Yum!!
I made 30 Stars in patriotic colors this year and I love, love, love it! I think it’s just about your best quilt pattern. It was complicated to make, but your instructions were right on. Also, I was so happy to learn the technique with triangle corners–you leave two layers and don’t just whack off the entire corner after you sew the square on. Makes piecing all the squares together so much more accurate. I think I’ll tackle Uncle Sam on his old fashioned bicycle next.
Would love to know more about Barbara and Chinky and how it came to be she can feed him like that. Loved Tim’s story yesterday, I can’t imagine going through something so tragic, it’s a testament to his strength (and I’m guessing faith) that he was able to grieve and continue on.
Am always in awe of the quilts you make from men’s shirts. Have made many memory quilts from people’s shirts and clothing, I put Peking on all the pieces to help stabilize them, do you do that with these shirts?
Holly in Buffalo Center
Holly – no, I don’t use anything to stabilize the shirt fabric so I end up with an incredibly soft, pliable quilt – because those shirts have been washed so often.
Cute little Hazel knows how to beat the heat. Sammie took a couple of dips in the pond yesterday but Nelson stops short at the edge of the water. He does love to feed the fish in the evening and he did catch one a couple of evenings ago. He surprised himself, dropped the fish right away and looked at it as if trying to figure out what he did. I put it back and then he sniffed where it had laid.
Love all the quilts today, thanks for the show and inspiration.
Blessings all, drink lots of water!
It was interesting to read Farmer Tim’s story yesterday and his corn is WOW!
Love the picture of Hazel – she looks so relaxed in the pool!as always the quilts are beautiful! I got a smile out of the Bigfoot one.
Mary, I would like to order that pattern that you just showed with the stars. Do I send you a regular size envelope with two stamps or a vanilla folder with two stamps?
Nancy – since you asked I would prefer a larger envelope – it’s several pages and would have to be folded small to fit into a regular envelope.
A self addressed TWO STAMPS larger envelope to:
Mary Etherington
Country Threads
2345 Palm Ave.
Garner, IA 50438
Mary will mail it for $5. Many pages
holding my breath waiting to see what you make with your new wildflower blooms fabric. (while the questionably stylish mens shirt worked into something quite nice, nothing will beat the vibrant colors of your new fabrics.) bring them on!!
Mary – Bears are wild animals and Barbara feeding Chunky could endanger both of their lives. She’s either oblivious or doesn’t realize the danger. It also might be illegal to feed bears in South Carolina.
Love the men’s shirt quilt. I cut up all my husband’s Hawaiian shirts. I plan on making a wall hanging in his honor one of these days.
Take care everyone
Thinking the same thing…Barbara could become Chunky’s morsel at any time.
Sad to say, I have to agree about the bear. If something startles or scares it someday, it could turn on an innocent person or animal … then it will have to be killed. I don’t know how you would change a learned behaviour now though.
It is dangerous for both of them. A fed bear is a dead bear! Also, it is a federal offense to feed them. We had a neighbor feeding them and he got a visit from the DNR, with a friendly warning. He was told next time it would be a hefty fine and if happened again, prison time long with another fine.
Love the photos everyday, but especially today!! Really nice quilts, I enjoyed seeing them!
Tim’s corn looks pretty good – the fields around here are in various stages of tasseling. We are enjoying a few days of drier, less hot weather with less humidity – back to the sauna in a couple more days, I hear.
While combining in North Dakota years ago, a farm family had a bear inside their garage. The wife came upon it as she was returning from grocery shopping. She was able to get it out of the garage by honking her horn. Once inside the garage she got the door down before it got too close to the house again. She said they will never leave the garage door opened again. . I always thought I might see it when taking meals to the field but never did. However, once when coming in from the field on a narrow winding country road, I went around a curve and there was a massive sized moose standing dead center in the middle of the road. Thankfully I was driving slow enough to get stopped before I hit it or went off the ledge of the road. Wildlife is interesting to watch but I have no desire to get up close and personal-unless they’re in a cage at the zoo. Barbara is a brave woman!
Boy, Farmer Tim’s corn has really grown with all the moisture that your area has received. I’m going to start looking for men’s cotton shirts at the thrift store.
Thank you for the pictures of Chunky. What a great story. We all look forward to updates.
Gotta love Big Foot, too. All the great things that make us smile.
Take it easy in the heat. Betty in Rapid City
Hazel in the pool is so cute! I would be afraid to hand feed a bear or even be that close to one! I was wondering-what size are your men’s shirt quilts and what size squares do you start with? You must have found some really big men’s shirts-there doesn’t look like there would be enough squares to make a quilt. Still very hot with no rain here in my part of SC.
Debbie – when I shop for shirts I buy the biggest size available – they all cost the same. And I’m careful how I cut – obviously each size shirt will yield a different number of squares. Some shirts have long tails, long sleeves – just cut what you can. I learned all of this from Bonnie Hunter – you should get her book, Shirts and Shirtails. It will answer all your questions better than I can.
Thanks Mary. I will get Bonnie Hunter’s book and start planning a men’s shirt quilt soon!!
Debbie – the book is a bargain on Amazon and it will open an entire new viewpoint on making quilts!
I really enjoyed learning Farmer Tim’s story yesterday. And all of the quilts are beautiful. Where do Barbara and Chunky live? Hey to Deb in Japan. I am working on the same panel! Our nephew works for a wood company in upstate NY so I am making it for him and family.
It was actually cooler here today, but the 90’s are coming back. Ugh. Have fun at the fair, Mary.
Our neighbor and her granddaughter came over today. The granddaughter loves to spend with Buddy. She is very good with him and petted him while we were away. i bought her a shirt that has a bunch of kittens on it that says Cuddle Puddle on it. She loves it:)
Diane – Barbara and Chunky live in South Carolina.
Diane, Thanks for the shout out. I made the Bigfoot for my cousin’s grandson who just turned 2. The family has a cabin in northern Minnesota near Remer, which bills itself as the Bigfoot Capital, and has a big festival every year. For a town of 318, it swells to over 4,000 for the festival weekend. AJ was stomping around like the creature and that’s where the inspiration came from. Would love to see what your quilt turns out to be.