It’s time for us all to move on and have a good laugh – and Hazel is just the one to give us a smile.
Our high temp for tomorrow might get up to 1 below – brrr! It’s cold where you are, too, isn’t it?
Reader quilts:




This box arrived today – look what’s inside!

I found her on EBay – isn’t she wonderful?

On another subject – look at these great cat shelters that Ginny’s son George made – for the feral cats in his area.

And here is a much improved Colton.

This really simple winter quilt is hanging outside right now.

I read this book in less than a week – and there was literally nothing on the cover that gave a hint to what it was really about – historical fiction about the most prolific woman serial killer in history. Very good!

Good Night, Friends! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unwavering support today and always. Mary
Hazel is so funny! Here in western Washington it was in the 40’s today.
Hope everything will be resolved soon. We all learn from mistakes, You have a kind heart, that is a quilter!
What is Hazel playing with? My daughters dog would be thrilled with one of those toys! Thanks for the laughs, Hazel is so cute!
Dianna – the toy is called ifetch and I got it from Chewy. There are other “launchers” available, too. This one uses tiny balls which then cost about $3 each! Hazel goes thru a ball nearly every day if I let her play with it. And they get you on the balls.
Thanks for the info. I think my grandchildren would enjoy it just as much as Benny!
I will check Chewy…………..Hazel is an amazing sales dog🤣
Dianna – also check Amazon
That Hazel!! It was in the 40’s today & back down to single digits tomorrow, brrrr…
It was in the 40s here in Columbus,Ohio today. Getting much colder tomorrow.
What a neat pin cushion! I collect pin cushions and display them often around the house but have to keep eye on my cat, Peaches as she likes to pull pins out. Love the blog and all the animal pictures!
Hazel is darling! So cute! ♥️🐾🐾 Love your furry family.
We had a short heat wave in high 30’s but back to snow & frigid temps tomorrow. I love snow just not ice. FYI: Instead of ice melt or cinders I use cracked corn on my sidewalks- great traction & no damage to environment plus the birds love it! xxoo
Have a good sleep tonight. Things will look brighter in the morning! Stay warm tomorrow. We had our very cold temperatures the end of December so have been hovering around low 30s for our highs now. Have to drive to Wenatchee tomorrow, my husband has an appointment at the oral surgeon to check on the 2 implants he had placed in September. So we’ll have a chance to go to Costco and Hobby Lobby for some shopping and also go out to lunch. Looking forward to our outing together! It’ll be a long day as the drive is 2.5 hours each way. Wenatchee is the closest big town to us.
Love your new to you chicken pin cushion❣️ It is adorable and what a great find. Take care.
I love when you share a good book that you’ve read. I immediately check to see if my library has a copy. I am a prolific reader when I’m not sewing or taking care of my 3 poodles. I’m not much of a tv watcher. This weather has been so cold this month in central PA. Some single digits at night , often below freezing during the day with enough snow cover that I haven’t been able to walk the dogs. They are so bored and come into my sewing room to rest their heads on my lap so I will stop and pet them or maybe bundle up to take them outside to play ball. We are expecting more snow early tomorrow morning.
It is 1 degree right now, wind chill is -8. Going down to -9 today, and with luck get up to 3 tomorrow. Then down to -13 tomorrow night. Brrr, I used to be okay with this cold, when I snowmobiled, but not anymore. But still love our changing seasons, Wisconsin is where I live and intend to stay here. Hope our Packers win on Saturday, our daughter and SIL will be at the game.
Loved the video and the picture of Colton! Was 50 here today but windy so didn’t feel warm to me. Snow predicted for tomorrow morning and then clearing. Brrrr – Mary, it is really cold in Garner! Stay warm!
That Hazel is a character! Love to see what she gets up to.
VERY cold and windy here in Lincoln, NE. It’s now 8 above, but wind chill makes it 5 below. The bad news? My furnace went out over the weekend😱😱😱😱!! It’s 40 years old so not totally unexpected. Got estimates yesterday, made a choice this morning, but they can’t install until Tuesday!!! YIKES!!
The good news? I have TWO heating systems: one downstairs, one upstairs. Downstairs one went out, but one upstairs is working fine now. Plus I have a gas fireplace in the bedroom🙌🙌🙌🙌!! Have several space heaters going downstairs to keep pipes from freezing. It’s a bit uncomfortable, but I won’t freeze to death. And I have 2 furry dogs I can snuggle up to. IF they let me🤗🤗. Little Pom will snuggle, but big Chow? Not so much😂😂.
Everyone stay warm out there. Those wind chills are nothing to sneeze at!
It was 45 here today, but we are going down to the low 20’s tomorrow and the rest of the week. I got out to see my “pups” on my walking route so all’s good🐶🐶.
Hazel is adorable! I have a big bunch of 4 patches to make Buddy a quilt , but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to put them together. Thank you to the 4 patch person for the idea😃
I am hoping all is better tomorrow. There is a Robert Browning poem called Phipps Passes. The last two lines are, “God’s in his Heaven, All’s right with the world.”
Be still.
Pippa Passes. It’s a great poem.
What a fun toy for Hazel! She can entertain herself.
I’m glad Colton is feeling better. What nice accommodations for feral cats.
It’s cold here tonight and wind chill in the morning is supposed to be in the teens. My Klaus is a skinny cat and he gets cold. He gets under the blankets to sleep at night and when I sit in my recliner.
I’ll have to look for that book. I’ve been listening to a lot of audio books while sewing.
Karla T I’m impressed by all the triangles in your quilt. It’s great!
Karla T, that quilt is fabulous!
Hazel is a hoot! I’m glad Colton is better and on the mend. Thank you for sharing your part of this little but vast world!💌
Oh, Hazel!! She keeps you entertained! This cold weather is trying but we will get through it! Glad we can walk Penny at Lowes store when it is so cold!’
This was just posted on the FB page of simple Simon : “ Just to let everyone know we are very aware of the situation and are in the process of contacting those involved. We are both currently running kids around to and from after-school activities and will then need to help with homework and work on getting everyone fed and mom life, but we will respond to each one of you soon. Just know there was absolutely no mal-intent. Thanks for your understanding and patience. 💛💛💛💛”
80 degrees here in Hawaii! We’re taking a raft tour of some ocean caves. But we’ll be back in MN soon enough and sharing your pain.
Jan, the tour of ocean caves sounds awesome, enjoy!
I love Hazel!!!
Right now in northern MN, it is -10 headed to -22 overnight. But it’s going to warm up to 1* tomorrow. I have thought of getting one of those for Tucker, but I’m afraid he would destroy it like he does with all his toys. You should check out the wobble ball.
Joann – we also have a wobble ball. Hazel destroys the ball used in the launcher every time I let her play – it gets soggy and chewed on so I have to keep buying those little balls!
Hazel does make me laugh.
Mary, you are a champ. But, I’d still pass it on to Martingale. Let them deal with the thieves.
It snowed all day here. Only about 2” accumulation. And cold. I think the high was around 10.
Stay warm and safe.
Mary, I love what you did for the corner’s of your ‘Simple Winter Quilt’. And thank you so much for the book suggestion! One of my daughter’s loves murder mystery, listens to murder podcasts, etc. I’ll get the book for her birthday. I love historical fiction so I may read it myself before I gift it!
I’ve been sick for three weeks with Covid. I’m getting better but fatigue so easily and the cough, if I don’t wake up with a headache I have one soon as the coughing starts. If you’re trying to buy extra strength Tylenol or Excedrin, forget it. Every covid sufferer has bought the supplies out! On a good note, my USPS package that has circulated around the US was finally delivered today! It shipped from Poland and processed through customs in five days…it then went on a 15 day sight-seeing tour of the US. 🙂
Teresa – 3 weeks? Oh, no! I’m just praying I don’t get it – had 3 shots, wear my N95 mask and stay home except for groceries and appointments- no wonder I’m getting so much sewing done! The USPS should have some ‘splaining’ to do!
I had Covid twice before I got vaccinated, got sick from the vaccination and now have it again. I’m not usually one to get sick so I don’t understand why I can’t fight this particular virus off.
I did call the USPS about my errant package, they were absolutely no help. Told me as long as the package was moving, it wasn’t lost. The fact that it was traveling from coast to coast to coast and not actually being delivered was not a concern and there was nothing they could do or explain why it was continuously being sent everywhere but to my address. I just don’t understand how that happens and actually there’s more to the story. The same person had sent me two packages at the same time. One got held up in customs in Florida, an agent called me about the contents and I had to provide proof of the purchase, send him all of my invoices and why I had purchased the item. So, while this is going on for three days, the other package sails through customs and I get a notification it will be delivered the next day ( this is the one that took 15 days once it was here). So, the package being held in customs had been opened by the customs agents to inspect the contents so I asked them, who will pay for the postage from Florida to my address since you’ve opened the box and who’s going to be responsible if the item is damaged once it leaves customs if they don’t pack it well? Just a mess really, my first experience having this happen. Anyway, the box that was held in customs arrived three days later while the other one traveled around for the next two weeks. But, the thing about this experience that bothered me was, the customs agent first called my husbands cell phone looking to contact me. All that was on the package was my name and address so with that information they were able to find out I was married, get my husbands name and his cell phone number. If anyone thinks their personal information is private, guess again. They probably know where I bank and my account numbers too!
Cute hen. Is that the box she came in? Seems way too big besides being beat up.
I just finished The Searcher. I loved it. It’s a NY bestseller that I got for Christmas.
It isn’t cold here on the OR coast. Just damp. Dampness can feel cold even though temps aren’t low.
Wow! What a prolific post. I love the Chicken! What a cool pincushion. And the picture with the red truck and barn. And Colton, what a sweetie. I’m glad you took the bull by the horns. Striking a blow for all designers everywhere. In the old days they could get away with that, but in the age of internet advertising, it’s all over. Hugs
Love Hazel and adore that pincushion Hen, totally awesome!
The fog has finally drifted off, but still have the drizzle but that is supposed to let up later tomorrow with several dryer days coming up.
Well tomorrow is looking up, hope the cold doesn’t cause too much trouble for all of you living in the extreme weather area.
Love and Prayers from Oregon , Jan
We had really cold weather starting the week before Christmas and ending about a week ago. There’s still snow piles, really ice berms on roads and sides of roads. As the temperatures has remained in the low thirties to low forties things are slowly melting here in SE Alaska.
I’m going to look for that book at the library — thank you. Always on the hunt for a good book. Another good one — The Lost Apothecary.
The temperature southwest of Minneapolis MN is currently -14 but the windchill is something like -40. Way too cold to go outside so I’ll go to our quilt retreat instead. Have a lovely day everyone.
What nice quilts to share with us. It’s the kind of bitter cold weather to keep us busy inside sewing and reading, that’s for sure. Hazel sure can be entertaining and I bet Colton spits up some mighty big hair balls with that gorgeous fur coat. I know you will keep us posted on what happens next. Hopefully Martingale and Riley Blake will be monitoring this for the sake of their business.
Kathy in NY – yes, the hair balls are impressive – haha!!
Hazel is one ball of energy for sure. Glad Colton is better. 13 degrees here today in Western NewYork. Driveway is a ice rink yuck. Going to run the vacuum then sew on my turning Twenty pattern making it with flannels. Have a great day. I just want to say all the wonderful quilts everyone makes inspire me each day. Thank you
I will have to show my husband those ferrel houses. He made some for our ferrel cats out of plastic but this looks so much nicer.
Love the quilt you have hanging outside. What a great find with your new pincushion. It is so pretty. I hope you can get the pattern situation worked out soon.
You’ll always have my support; you can count on it! That Hazel is so funny~ she wants to give that ball a good chewing before she has to retrieve it again! Your “Simple Winter Quilt” is precious, I have that focus print in my stash, always loved it; you’re so clever to not cut it and use it that was a central panel.
I really like your ‘simple winter quilt’. The way you designed the corners made the quilt much more interesting . Very nice.
Bobby in Md.
Thank you for the book recommendation, from sunny Southern California where it will be 75 degrees today (I’m sorry but I have to brag). I found the book on Libby and my husband will listen to it first.
I love that chicken. My grandmother used to make so many of those. She worked for Campbell soup at a chicken plant. I need to look and find the one packed in my mother’s things. I even had the pattern at one time.
My grandmother used to make so many of those chickens as door stops. She worked for Campbell soup at a chicken plant. I need to look and find the one packed in my mother’s things. I even had the pattern at one time.
Nancy Poole – really? A doorstop? It isn’t real big – what kept it heavy enough to hold open a door?
The pattern she used made it the size of a chicken. Had flat bottom and was filled with sand. It kept the mud room door open in warm weather so air would flow thru screen door and thru house. I thought it was funny in the 70’s when she sent me one for my house in California. We didn’t have a mud room or entry porch like in Minnesota.
I’m really wanting to search the garage and see if I still have it.
Good news today – covid test was negative! Now I can eat with my husband again. Meals have been lonely.
Susan – that’s the best news I’ve heard all day!!!
Oh my goodness…the truck in the snow panel is the quilt I have hanging over the doorway to our deck to keep some of the cold out of our drafty old farmhouse!!
Jan in Grundy Center – I love it, don’t you?