I can tell you really enjoyed meeting my German rabbits! Yes, they are wonderful and always displayed somewhere that the cats can’t reach because they’re very fragile. And if you enjoy looking at stuff like that I have much more to show you – this could take all winter!!!
Love the muted colors here.
The following is a description and pictures of one of my favorite small cupboards.
See how the doors are thicker at the bottom? These doors are actually made from a wood shingle!
The “top” of this cupboard was made from a crate and the bottom “legs” were hand cut and added later.
It’s downright amazing that it has survived!
Two of the houses are by the same maker. I’d love to find more of them. I also have some hand carved animals that I’ll photograph and show you.
This brings me to some new rules about the blog. I know you enjoy it but I would also enjoy it more if you, the Readers, shared more about YOUR life. My life is an open book and I entertain you all the time and all you do is read it and 99.9% of you never once have left a comment. I let the blog “sit” right after it crashed even though Kayla fixed it right away thinking surely somebody will email me to find out if something is wrong. Only one person out of approx. 3500 sent me an email so you can see why I question whether it’s worth it or not. I won’t promise to answer every comment in the future but some feedback would be helpful. If you ask me a question, don’t forget to look for my answer in the comments section.
On to more interesting things. Here is the Dirty Dozen list so far this year.
Recently someone asked for the “best t-shirt quilt pattern” so I thought I’d post this again. It truly is the BEST!
Here are the reader quilts:
Here’s another little drawer unit – the square pulls are hand carved.
Also made from a wooden crate. Very primitive.
So I’ve shown you the white pitchers, the little houses and cupboards, the rabbits, the sewing caddies and the other big collections are the pincushions and the dog pictures. I’m cleaning another small area today – small animal figurines. My mom always gave me a cat for Christmas and I have many others – nothing but dust collectors but I’ve loved these animal friends for years!
Rick update – wound is looking much better – my nursing duties continue twice a day. If I had to make a living being a nurse, I’d starve to death! They have my deepest and utmost respect! We’re headed back to Mayo early tomorrow morning – first appointment is 7:30 am! We’re about the same distance away from Rochester as is Jo who has been there for several days. We are extremely lucky to live this close to one of the premier medical clinics in the world!
Don’t forget the football game tonight! I really missed Yellowstone last night but watched All Creatures Great and Small which I also loved. This has been a very long post – thanks for reading!
Glad Rick is progressing well. We live 40 minutes from Johns Hopkins and couldn’t be happier as they took such great care of my husband. When you see areas of the country that have little or no medical care available.
Ok, I normally don’t comment on these blogs, but i will this time.
Love your blog. Love hearing about your life on the farm (city girl here).
Love your quilts and your animals (Goats!!! And chickens, too)
Just love hearing about your life; it’s so different than mine (I’m kinda boring these days)
Don’t stop writing! I look for your blog every day and am always so happy to see that you have written.
All the best from
Cindy in VA
Mary, I do enjoy your posts. I do love your antique bunnies. The crate with shingles for doors is really an interesting piece. I am a collector of many things and would love to send you some pictures but this smart phone is new to me and not sure I know how to send pictures to an email. Need my granddaughter to help. At 81 years old I need lots of help with these smart phones. We are cold and windy with some snow melting.
Carolyn b Shenandoah Valley VA
Carolyn, if you are using your phone, take a photo. Then write your email and then locate the arrow or plus on the left, and choose photos, then tap on the photo and make it an attachment and when it is uploaded and is called an attachment you can send it. I hope my instructions are helpful. Give it a try!
I also missed Yellowstone, it will be awhile before season #5 airs–too long if you ask me. In the mean time I am enjoying 1893. We added Paramount + just so I could watch it. I don’t know if I could have survived crossing the country on a wagon or walking. We have become wimps compared to the pioneers.
I love your blog, have to omit I don’t comment often, but your like a friend who visits me.
I recorded All Creatures Great and Small too. I subscribe to BritBox on Amazon Prime. Since Christmas, I’ve been rewatching the original series from the late 70’s. I like those too!
I love your antiques that you show! Those unique items add a lot of character. I live in a newer house and they just need some warming up!
I love the original All Creatures Great and Small series!! I watch it at least once a year. Used to watch it every Saturday or Sunday when it was on public television, with my mother. Our ritual was to make a box of Spaghetti, remember when Chef Boyardee sold the box with all the fixings? We’d sit and eat spaghetti and watch the next episode together.
Teresa, I loved the Chef Boyardee box of spaghetti too. It even came with a small can of grated parmesan cheese to top the spaghetti dinner. An idea ahead of its time. Wish they still make it that way.
Connie, I wish it was still sold too, it was so convenient to have everything you needed in one box. I wonder why they discontinued it?!
Love following your blog and do hope you will continue. I will confess I am not very good at commenting but will try to do better.
Love your blog, Thanks for showing so many wonderful things over the years. I’m in Florida so your area of the country is very different from mine. You will probably get more comments than you want!
I am guilty for not commenting but I love your blog. It usually comes through just before I go to bed and I have a nice read. I love all your stories about the farm, pets and quilts. Thank you for sharing with us. Pat
I love your blog. I love seeing the quilts that you do and also those you share of others. I don’t get to sew as much as I would like. We are raising 2 rambunctious grandsons, now 8 and 9 years old. I also love the pictures of your farm. Where you and Jo and Bonnie live is just beautiful. Although I was born in Illinois I am not a cold girl. I’ve lived in west Texas since 1975. Thank you for being here every day.
I love your blog and don’t comment often partly because it would be a repeat of other comments.
I have loved Yellowstone also-it is a shame that the season is so short! My other love on TV are the PBS shows! We had gone out yesterday and I told my husband I had to be home by 8pm as three new shows premiered on PBS. He laughed and said Oh! It’s English night on TV! Love seeing all your collections! I saw part of your pincushion collection several years ago and made myself a duplicate of the Red Cross one using an old army blanket scrap as the background-love it! I collect and make pincushions all the time.
Your blog is a bright spot in my email box and I always read it first when spotted. Please don’t stop writing and posting pictures! So glad Rick’s healing is progressing nicely. My daughter and granddaughter are both nurses. They say the job can be stressful but also deeply rewarding.
Loved looking at your little chests and crates. I am also intrigued by these little make-do pieces. It sure speaks to a simpler time. Thanks for sharing.
Oh no! I didn’t know the blog was down, I just thought you were busy. Sorry. I love your posts.
My internet has been down so I got lots done. I’ll send pictures.
Putting away after Christmas generally causes deep cleaning and organizing. Where’s the fun in that?
We’ve has lots of snow and wind. The drift in the side yard is building. We love that it’s no longer in the drive way.
Santa brought me a new ceiling and light for my bathroom. He has been busy installing it. The light is so bright, he turned it down to medium. Now I want my sewing room and quilting room lights replaced.
It’s some sort of light bar. There is no bulbs.
I’m also posting my ledger for taxes, where’s the fun in that?
Hi Mary,
I love the top photo with the small house and the quilt: it looks like a curated display in a museum! Your crate and shingle cupboard is terrific. We have an old small buffet/cupboard (1 drawer, double doors below) that belonged to my husbands great great grandmother: it is all fancy on the top, front and sides, carved and scrolls and whatnot, which you can see when it is standing against the wall, but the back and the inside are just rough planks, that look like they could well have started life as a crate! I’ve always thought it was very quirky because of that. We inherited it when his father passed: no one else in the family wanted it, but we love it. I also have a fairly plain wooden trunk that my father made for me when I was a teen, when I admired one that was in a fancy store in town. He made a rough sketch on the back of a feed bill that he had in his pocket, and then made it for me for my birthday. Still one of my favourite items. Mostly because he made it, of course. I doubt I would have carted a shop-bought one from house to house for more than 40 years! (I think there is a lesson there, somewhere!).
Thank you for sharing your antique treasures. I love reading about your quilting and your animals. I especially like the curiosity of Hazel. You capture her character well in your photos.
I love reading your blog and even though I know it’s a lot of work, I hope you never stop! Wish I had more room for “stuff” but right now I’m trying to de-clutter and not bring in anything more. I lean toward the more primitive or rustic furnishings so I love seeing yours! My husband just made me a table for the tv out of old barn boards to replace a beautiful, but not rustic cabinet. My plan is to lean an old ladder I dumpster-dived for behind it with quilts hanging. Look forward to your blog.
We all appreciate your blog, Mary, and even though many of us do not often send comments, we read your comments eagerly each day. Most of us readers probably don’t think we have anything that interesting to share. Bailey got a new bone from Amazon today so she is a Happy Girl! She is not hard to please. Have a safe and uneventful journey to Mayo Clinic tomorrow. I hope Rick’s wound is healing quickly!
We had your campfire lunch today (hamburger patty, potatoes, carrots, onions wrapped in foil) – it is one of our favorite meals. My husband asked where I got the recipe and I told him from a quilting friend and he said to tell you Thank You very much!
Mary, That made me laugh out loud. When I was about 9 years old I went to a Girl Scout camp for a winter camp out . We each made our packet for the campfire. I was so excited ! Well my meat was not cooked, my potatoes and carrots were hard. Didn’t enjoy the meal and never went camping again! We had a log cabin to sleep in and had to use the outhouse. Another reason I never returned to camping. Thanks for bringing back the memory.😋
Mary, love your blog, love the animals. My husband grew up on a farm so I share with him too. Thanks for all you do. You’re an awesome nurse too if Rick is healing. Blessing to you both.
I LOVE your blog and all that you share….your love of animals, plants, people, antiques, music and QUILTING! I lived in St Louis for 28 years after my husband retired from the Air Force. We loved it but our children had grown up moved away, the closest of which was a 10 hour drive. After watching my boss deal with his parents 11 hours away and the stress it caused when his father fell then passed away made me decide we should move closer to our children. We bought a house near Pittsburgh PA the summer before the pandemic in anticipation of moving when we retired. Fast forward through 9 months of the pandemic and effectively working remotely, I asked to work just a bit more remotely. I got approved to work from Pittsburgh and we moved a year ago. I joined a quilt guild and am looking forward to making new quilt friends. I live with my husband, Casper my 20 year old cat (who made the 10 hour journey amazingly well) and Harley our 8 year old rescue dog. Thank you for all you share and do.
Another lurker here, I don’t often comment on blogs but I am interested in reading them. If I don’t unsubscribe from the blog, I care! I drove right by the turn for your shop twice a year for years on my way to visit a college friend in St Benedict but never stopped until the year after you closed. LOL I grew up on a farm in Illinois so always interested in the weather and crop reports. I live in the Quad Cities now (Illinois side) but have a special place in my heart for Iowa since my college days at Wartburg. I love that “Bulls Eye” quilt and want to do a block exchange with my quilty friends. Enjoy seeing the reader quilts also but haven’t any to share; too busy working on cross stitch for the last 3 years. One of these days ….
Mary, are we able to send pic’s? Or do we send them to an email? Thanks for sharing, I enjoy it immensely! We live on a ranch in the Texas Hill country & have lots of exotic animals that I feed, shh don’t tell. There are Axis, Fallow, Oryx, Black Buck, Red deer and of course the Texas White tail that have jumped the fence & belong to the State of Texas. I enjoy your blog and you remind me of myself. Always more irons in the
fire than I can say grace over !! And I have a 3 year old granddaughter, that calls me Meemaw & hates to go home!!!
We also watch All Creatures Great and Small. Like meeting up with old friends.
Watched the original series, read the books in paperback somewhere in the last 45 years.
Because I can’t remember when I read books or the titles or authors to tell friends I started a list of books read, the author, and what date I finished. Must be time to use a notebook for a short synopsis of them too. List is easy to keep in the back pages of my planner, synopsis would mean another book gets carried along when traveling.
Glad to hear Rick’s wound is healing. Be careful traveling. Schools were canceled in our area today as secondary roads are ice coated. 11 degrees along Lake Michigan this afternoon.
Oh Mary, I’m one who hangs around but doesn’t comment often because I ASSumed…you had plenty to do just writing your blog, you don’t want to read about life in my small corner! I will do better now that I know better.
My life today, I’m sitting at urgent care wait to be tested for Covid. Been sick since last Tuesday, horrible headache, fever, congestion, cough. If I’m positive, it will be the third time I’ve had Covid since this all started. Apparently, I like to get each variant and don’t want to be left out. I had an acupuncture treatment this morning and my therapist also did acupressure on my face to open my sinuses and oh man, does it feel good to be able to breathe through my nose again.
I adore all of your small cabinets!! They are so precious and I love vintage items that were made with what the maker had available. I have an old China cabinet that I bought from a restaurant owner. Every time I ate there, I asked her if she’d sell it and the answer was always No, because it was a piece that was made and given to her grandparents as a wedding gift. Well, years go by and I find out the business is closing so I stopped in and asked her one more time and she thought about it while I ate my meal and when I went to leave, she stopped me and said she’d sell it to me but only if I promised to not resell it. She was selling her business and downsizing to a new home and none of her kids wanted it. Perseverance paid off. I love that rustic cabinet with its square head nails and my oldest daughter has said she wants the cabinet next. <3
Mary – I love that you share your personal life with us along with all your critters and collections – I especially love the primitive wood cabinet/boxes you shared today; it brings back memories from when I was in grade school (the fifth grade) and we had a combo class with the 6th graders and we made a primitive wooden stool – the only nails on it were for the top to be nailed to the base/legs. We sanded and stained all the parts and the teachers guided us as we put it all together. I still have mine – I stained it with walnut stain back then and the thing is black as coal today. It’s amazing how some find value in the simple things and others look at it and see junk. I like to think my little stool will long outlive me and will be a cherished treasure by the next owner.
I always look so forward to your post. You have a very interesting life.
Hi, Mary, Just wanted you to know I do read your blog whenever it pops into my email & I had wondered where you were. I am gradually collecting all your books and the circle quilt from Aunt Amy is on my list of things to do now that I’m retired – this is my second week and I have been sorting, organizing, donating & throwing away my grands daughter’s toys and books. I’m making headway but it’s a slog. Still several messy areas to dig through – our daughter’s former room and our granddaughter’s current play areas – under and around the piano bench she has a small farm & critter sanctuary and in one of the recliner’s is her dinosaur nesting area. Her mom took her to Jurassic World traveling exhibit yesterday so she is very pumped to add a pterodactyl to her dinosaur & stuffy collection. There’s a peek into my world. I have quite a few WIPs or UFOs but can’t commit to actually finishing any of them in a month but I do enjoy seeing others’ finished projects! I hope you continue to blog.
MAry, I have written before. Love your blogs.,
You and Connie have such fn over the years. n I have such good times catching up with yo, u,
glad hubby is healing well. I DID NOT GET THE RESONING FOR THIS TTROUBLES OF HIS,??
MARY HOW YOU KEEP UP WITH ALL YOU DO. GOD BLESS YOU!!
I have a wooden cedar chest that is made with each side, top, bottom made from an old barn. Just lovely. I treasure it believe you me.
Thsnkd so much for all your fun wooden treasures, Pat H
Mary, I love the blog, I love hearing about things “back home”, weather, seasons , activities, animals and some of the people there as well as the quilting. Your quilt store was the very first quilt store I ever visited, my mom said you just have to come with me and see it, one of the times I was back . I grew up in the Kanawha, Woden, Crystal Lake area. I moved to eastern Colorado in the early 80’s and am now in SW Kansas. Keep up the wonderful blog and keep on quilting and rescuing.
Hi Mary, love all your treasures! So wonderful that you show them to us!! I was wondering about the blog and certainly hoped it would continue, I look forward to it every day and know there are times when you aren’t able to write that day! Love reading what others write too and, of course, seeing everyone’s. Quilts!!
Mary, i love your blog and look forward to reading it every day. I reminds me of times when I was a rural girl. When the blog was down i just thought you were busy. (I think you are amazingly busy most of the time, and you still find time to write!) Please don’t stop! We recently got a huge dump of snow the set a record for Wenatchee. I don’t know what the official amount was, but we got 30” in the back yard.
I don’t have much to put in the comments. Just quilting, cooking, housework, and watching a few football games.
Loved the rabbits too. If it’s an animal I will be in Heaven over it. Liked your comment about all the cat figurines. Since my name is CAThy & I am called Cat by many friends & family I have also had many cat items bestowed on me over the years. Love each & every one. And I have several of the real things too!
I’m with you on the nursing. My daughter is a nurse & I don’t know how she does it. A funny story though. When she was in nursing school & they were doing their rotations one place she had to go was a nursing home & she was told to clean the ears of some of the patients. She can look at gore & be fine with it but built up earwax sent her over the edge. She had to fight not to throw up, 🤢
Stay warm! And tonight…….Roll Tide.
I love seeing all your collections. I hate dusting so help downsized my collections over the years. I really enjoy seeing your primitives. One of my favorite collectibles
Thanks for sharing the love of collectibles and antiques.
Mary, who are you rooting for? Alabama or Georgia? Since I am living smack dab in the middle of Georgia, Dawgs are my choice. Can’t watch the game (antenna only) so I’ll have to check online to see the scores.
It’s sunny and 52 today. Just sitting here thinking about the quilt I wanted to finish today but didn’t because it wasn’t perfect! Trying to decide what to do about. Should I leave it? Should I start a new project? Or should I try to finish a different UFO?
The seed catalogs are starting to arrive. Always right after Christmas. I just pile them up until March…
Hope you have a safe trip tomorrow.
Hi Mary, I too read your blog and thought because of Rick and Christmas you may have been too busy to blog. I do comment from time to time as well. I am a retired bookkeeper though have been called back to work part time. Just when I was getting into a routine. I live in Port Coquitlam, BC Canada and always sign my name with my town and province. I started doing that because of Jo in Wyoming. I think it is a neat idea to see where everyone is from. Our big news is we got a 4-1/2 month old golden doodle on Dec 26th. Not really planned but it was ok. We were still sad from the loss of our 14-1/2 yr old labradoodle but our new pup “Eddy” is adorable. I also have half a dozen chickens so am kept busy. Can’t wait to actually be retired again. Then I will be able to get back into quilting. I will try to send you a picture of our pup. He’s mostly black so they are always harder to get a picture. Keep up the blog and your nursing duties.
I am a newbie to your site and did not realize that you posted everyday or I would have been worried. I look for Bonnie and Jo every day and will certainly look for you, as well, because I love visiting with you. I am older (81) and relatively new to quilting or trying my hand, anyway. I live vicariously through looking at all the beautiful quilts all of you post and just wish that I could make something so beautiful. If only I had started earlier. I remember watching my grandmother quilt and I am sure that is why I finally got the bug. I also love hearing about all your precious animals. I have one sweet miniature poodle left – she is eighteen and now deaf and blind, but sweet as ever. I lost my other dog recently, and a 17 year old cat before that. All of mine were rescues – the two dogs literally off the street, wounded and matted. I am afraid I have reached the point that I am probably coming close to needing someone to look after me instead of my looking after the dear pets. Please don’t think we are not interested. i really love hearing about all your endeavors. My life is quiet and not too interesting, but I will certainly make an effort to comment so you will not ever think we are not paying attention. Thank so much for sharing with us!
I always read your blog. I work full time and try to spend more time sewing that on the internet.
When we have bad weather I always wonder if it is hitting northern Iowa.
I’ll trynto comment more often.
HI Mary, I also watch for your email as I love reading about your life and everything on the farm. I thought
you were busy that stretch that you didn’t email. Am sorry as now need to do my part also so you get emails back. I have put pictures of my quilts for you to display on your sight but not enough. Glad Rick is
doing better. My granddaughter is starting this week in nursing school at Brookings. She has 5 semesters left to get her degree. Excited for her. She has the ability to do that type of work. I would faint at some of
the things that have to be done. Nurses, doctors, etc. are special. Am working on Linus quilts for a few months. Nothing fancy at all. I take 7 strips of 6 1/2″ and the length of the fabric and sew them together. Then I add borders to make them bigger. We (a bunch of girls) have gotten some fabrics from the Linus
group. Plus we have found cotton fabric on rummages. My son had X-rays taken last week. Found spot on his liver, something in his colon and deterioration in his lower spine. Had an EKG and now a
colonoscopy tomorrow. The back is from working construction a long time. Say a few prayers for him. Thank you. Will be better at emailing you.
I bought 2 new quilt pattern books last week including A Step Back in Time and yours called A Country’s Call. I have several marked in yours and am not sure which to make first. Love the cover quilt ! I would also like to try the kind of crosstitch that Connie does on linen I think. Where is there a shop with that kind of crosstitch patterns?
Glad that Rick is making good progress! We also go to mayo annually. Wonderful place!
I’m another person who’s guilty of not commenting enough. I love your blog… the country life, animals and quilts.
I’ll admit when the blog was down, I thought patience was the best way to respond since I know tech things can be difficult.
Thanks again for all you do.
Oh Mary,
I love reading your blog. I don’t comment very often but sure wouldn’t want you to stop posting. It’s like reading a chapter in a good book everyday.
Your different collections are so interesting, I love seeing them. I use to have a few antiques but our house burned in 2008 I decided my kids wasn’t interested in any of them so the insurance payed me for them I just didn’t go looking to replace them. I love a antique shop. My hubby collected toasters lol. We had some really different ones. There were some that didn’t burn the water damage rusted them so bad we just thru them away. Was heartbroken. Also had waffle irons. We still have some but they are in boxes in our garage. They were in the garage when the house burned and weren’t hurt. I collected cookie jars. I have several but not the real old one now. They are gone. More novelty ones were in the garage. I still have 20 or so. I also collected novelty telephone I still have some of them. We built a large room off the back of our garage and the things I just still wanted are in there. I have some dolls to.
My boys aren’t interested in any of our stuff. Maybe the few old cars but only for the money. I want to sale them and take a cruise but not in today’s world.
This is why I don’t comment I’m like a hot air balloon going off Lol!
Have a great day, prays for Rick being so much better tomorrow . Have a good safe trip.
I read your blog with great interest whenever it is available, and I am guilty of reading not posting back. I’ll try to do better. I have several projects in the works but find that this horrid cold and gloom sap the energy from me. I’m a person that enjoys being creative and if there is none of that in my day, I consider it a lost day. My granddaughter has asked me to make an “old fashioned looking quilt” for her and I’ve started it. I like to bake rather than cook so have brownies and banana bread to snack on. A 750 piece jigsaw puzzle is sorted and the border is complete. Have been looking at seed catalogues…spring can’t get here too soon!
I haven’t commented in long, long time but I enjoy your blog. I live in NC but lived in Iowa for 13 years.
My 97 year old Mother was hospitalized recently and Hospital was really short staffed, even transport. My .granddaughter is an RN and I don’t know how medical personnel handle all the overworked areas. My Mother was just placed in Hospice care. I love to quilt but no time in time since my mother’s issues exploded right after Christmas.
Gloria, I’m sorry your mother isn’t doing well. Sending love and prayers to you. ❤️
Love your posts and a glimpse into your home and life. Your collections are amazing. I too like to collect older vintage things. Started going to household auctions in the 1970s. Through the years I have purchased baskets, large and small, miscellaneous plates, bowls, brick a brac, sewing items and furniture which I refinished. My prized furniture items is my round oak table with 6 leaves. Yup, I refinished all of it. 8 mismatched vintage pressed back chairs to go with the table. At the age of 75 I haven’t been to an auction in the last 5 years but I love poking around thrift stores. I sure do not need anything else but sometimes things jump out at me.
Hi Mary, l love to read your blog, but sometimes am too exhausted to comment! The move from a big house on 4 levels to the cabin (3x8metres)is hard, but l have a huge shed for storage. Have given 16 large sacks of fabric to a quilter after a fire and 3 vans loads to charity, still enough fabric to keep me busy. Made pink gingham dresses for Stella and Luna this week, last week of moving stuff out, then my son and daughter in law will clean and get my old home of 43 years ready for sale!Next step, build a new house after we knock down the current house on this section!.My love to you,Rick and fur babies,best wishes from Sandy
When you didn’t post for awhile back, I decided the site was probably down again so I just kept watching. I love all of the really old antiques you have. I hope someone gets them one day that will cherish them as much as you do. A good way to check how many are reading you is to ask a question, I do it with my newsletter. Something like who just read this? Paula in KY
I love all of your collections! I collect fur balls and dust bunnies under my furniture. My husband would say that I collect fabric, floss, wool, and anything else fiber. But I don’t collect yarn, can knit or crochet. I enjoy all of the pictures of the animals you care for and love. Hope to see you again at the KC quilt show.
I didn’t email because I didn’t want to bug you!
I am over the moon with all the animal stories. I am crazy about cats and I love goats and dogs.
I too, collect many things. I love antique quilts and postcards (especially Halloween) and I have one darling doll cabinet that I put small pig figurines in.
I have one very spoiled cat, Beegera, and he keeps me entertained.
Telly and Hazel are a scream!
Thanks for all the wonderful entertainment.
So glad Rick is getting better.
Here is my reply darn cold, my hubby bought me a treadmill so I can keep walking it has been to cold to walk outside. Sew and walk sew machine and treadmill in the same room. Please continue your blog brightens my day.
Hi, Mary–
Another silent reader here. The pictures of your primitive cabinets and boxes looked so familiar and then I remembered the little 2-drawer chest that my grandfather made perhaps 75 years ago. It too has a dark finish over what must have been scrap wood. My sister and I used it for doll clothes and I think my first hand sewn doll clothes are in it. I really need to get it out and put it somewhere in my sewing corner. It may even have that little piece of pink satin from my grandmother. Nana would send a box of trims and fabrics periodically (she made and sold aprons and did alterations) so I could sew, but I could never cut into that beautiful, silky satin! I’ve had it for all of 65 years. Does that make it a collectable? LOL! I also have a wooden chest from DH’s Aunt. She had covered it with oil cloth and stored linens in it. When I took off the cracked covering, we discovered it was made from 18″ wide planks! Then on one side was the word, “corsets!” I used it as a coffee “table” for years until DH’s mobility issues made it unsafe to have in the living room. Oh,my–The things we treasure! I think I’ve chattered on long enough for this time. I’ll be sure and add to the comments instead of lurking in the shadows! Thank you for sharing your treasures, quilts, daily life, and animals with us. My best to you and Rick. Give the critters a hug. Stay well and safe travels. Kris in WI
I always enjoy your posts and I look forward to them.
Wow! Mary…you sure started an avalanche. LOL A very, very good one. I always read the comments from all over the US. Such a variety of ladies and locations and such fun to read.
In my own defense, I did notice your absence but I thought you were taking a vacation from writing. And, though I missed you, I think you deserve one now and then. I know I would take one.
I am only in the habit of emailing you if I have a quilt photo to share.
This is our 3rd day of sunshine. Oh, Glorius sunshine! It rained so much in Dec. and early Jan. that I thought maybe we should build an Arc.
The fabric I ordered for my Jan. 1st quilt still has not arrived. I made one huge block, though, and now I need the ordered piece. It will be a quilt for our great-grandson upon his graduation from HS. so I have lots of time.
Wishing Rick lots of improvement with his wound and lots of praise of your nursing work.
I’m enjoying your emails, but quite often the pictures don’t come through. Do you know what I’m doing wrong or how I should change something. I receive all that you type out. Thanks.
If you want to send Mary a picture, you have to write an email to Mary’s email address and attach your quilt picture to your email. Mary’s email is listed on her blog, under her address. maryehazel2020@gmail.com
Oh dear. I thought you were taking a break for a few days. Yesterday’s post showed that four patch that you were working on. After making a few blocks I lay them out on-point just to see if I like them better. This is the first time I like the straight set better than on-point as displayed in the “Scrap School” book by Lissa Alexander. I think this is because of your fabric choices. Well done. I have a great light swirly gray fabric that will fit this idea beautifully. Thanks.
I love your antique collections. I have collected Precious Moments but haven’t gotten any for a long time. I also collect angels and snowmen. So glad that Rick’s wound is healing. I totally agree with you about being a nurse. I remember after my husband came home after his triple by-pass in 1999 that he thought I should know what he needed. I told him I’m not a nurse nor a mind reader. He then started telling me what he needed. It takes a special person to be a nurse.
I really like that quilt with the plaids. I might try that as a memory quilt from my husband’s shirts. Haven’t been able to cut into them yet. Maybe this year.
Please keep your blog going. Your life on the farm is so interesting.
What a lovely post! I enjoyed your descriptions of items you’ve collected over the years & cherish. We don’t have a great deal left as we’d downsized several years ago…it was sad at the time as the many things I had to find homes for weren’t really of interest to the younger group, and the older folks were doing the same as we were – downsizing. We still have our Roseville pottery collection, our Maxfield Parrish prints & some pieces of the many Mission / Arts & Crafts furniture we’d collected over nearly 50 years of marriage. Our kids will take those when we pass, I’m sure. The many quilts I’ve made over the years were given away to those who needed one (new babies, deaths in family, serious illnesses, etc…), and I have only 1 I’ve kept. I’m in the middle of putting together about 7-8 new quilts which really mean something to me. Each represents a part of my/our life — my time in Australia, our home in Oregon, quilts put together when I had a serious health scare about 6 years ago, etc. The quilts I make until I pass will be the best of the best as I’ve now the time, a lifetime of patterns & fabrics (my quilt room looks like a quilt shop even if it IS small!), particular interests and all I’ve learned over the years. I’m so glad your husband is improving & praying you receive good news at the Mayo Clinic. Take care!
Mary, please continue your blog, I love it. I guess I thought if we asked about where your blog was after you were having so much trouble with it that you might think we were bothering you. (boy, that was a run-on sentence, wasn’t it?) We didn’t want to add any pressure! Computer issues can be so troubling. I never thought that you were remotely interested in our mostly boring and mundane lives, but I will post something once in a while back to you. You can find me on Instagram at bluebirdsandberries, where I am positively neglectful about posting.
Hi Mary! Love your blog! Would love for people to include a note with info about their quilts with the picture they post. I sometimes see one I would like to make but have no idea where to find the pattern. Thanks for the update on your husband. Will keep him (and his nurse!) in my prayers.
Mary,
After today’s comments, you should have no doubt there are many people who would be very disappointed if you discontinued your blog. You have a lot to share and you make it interesting. Am 80, live in Fayetteville, GA, a bedroom community to the Atlanta airport. Am a quilter, not very good, but love the creating process. Carry on, please.
I, too, did not know your blog was down. I was concerned that you were busy with a situation/incident/accident/illness/whatever and assumed you would get back to us when the time was right. I do comment occasionally and share finished projects. However, many of my projects are twin or lap size tops with pre made backings and bindings, all tied together with a long selvage strip, which I donate for completion to quilt groups to support their causes. Many groups have longarmers that quilt and pass on to someone who will bind. So, I rarely have a truly “completed” project. Right now I think I have at least a dozen sets ready to donate. And I know I have 16 more NICU tops pieced that I can finish and deliver.
I retired November 1st and now have more time for family first and to sew. I have loved having daylight to coordinate fabrics as opposed to trying to pick colors and start projects after work, errands, dinner, and whatever else was on the agenda.
Please know how much I appreciate everything you share. I look forward to finding your email in my inbox, like an internet present, just waiting for me to open.
Oh my, how I look forward to seeing your blog. As you miss Yellowstone (so do I ), I miss the days you do not post to your blog. Your “Bullseye quilt” was one of my first quilts I made. Just yesterdayI was showing my sister a new to me book I found on eBay, it was your “Wear warm clothes.” All of your patterns are so timeless they will be made for generations to come. So, wear your warm clothes and please keep posting your happenings on your blog!
I forgot to mention I am in Alabama. So, I am looking forward to the game tonight. Which team are you cheering for? Roll Tide!
Happy new year ‘mary! I enjoy reading about your animals in your quilting life.
Sorry that I’m one of the lax members of your fan club. This will change. I don’t always have time to post a picture but will comment regularly. Didn’t know there were more lazybones like me. My husband keeps telling me not to procrastinate – so here you go. I love your taste in old pieces. My family gives me trouble for things I collect. My mom used to say, “Why would you buy somebody’s old junk.” She just didn’t understand. I have handpainted Easter eggs and Christmas eggs. Like you, white pitchers. Pincushions.
Quilt patterns. Sets of dishes. Never get to use all the Christmas dishes. Recipes – they are everywhere in this house. And I do cook some of them. Board Games. Kid’s toys that were our kids, their kids…who can let them go. Tonka trucks, space stations, and on and on. Okay, if I’m ever going to get into the sewing room, I’d better clean out the family room. Then I’ll enter the sewing room with a clear conscience.
You are an inspiration – keep me working.
I am faithful reader and a longtime quilter. i have an extensive collection of your patterns and have completed several. Please continue sharing all of the aspects of your life. I enjoy reading about all of it. AS a longtime cat lover, I look forward to seeing your miniature cat collection.
All I can say is I’m sorry. Sorry I dont communicate to your blog. I hope you got the picture of fabric that I’m going to make as throw for my cousin. Hard part is backing for the OSU throw. Love hearing about your animals and all different things happening. Right now still recovering the left knee. I think the 3 cats try get even with me for being gone for 3 weeks! The cat sitter didn’t have hairball or litter thrown out of litter box. One cat Ivan the red kept vomiting on me twice a day. I’m at vets waiting to see what is wrong. Its cold very here southeast Ohio. On quilts been working on hexies. Have one contious and working on a throw.
Since I do basketweaving as well. Oct. 13the been weaving with wax linen into miniature baskets, in every color n combination! Other wise quite compare to you. Stay warm!
First, I have a question. You love to do red and white quilts. Do you was the red fabrics before cutting? How to stop the inevitable bleed? Now, I look forward to your posts everyday. And if you don’t post I worry! I love the Hazel stories, the tribe updates, the weather, well, everything. I am super glad Rick is doing better. My dad had something similar. He didn’t have diabetes or anything like that. He was tied to the VA and his legs never healed. Good luck at Mayo!
Wash
Buy a red solid that is name brand. Robert Kaufman, Moda Bella, Kona cotton to name a few from a good local shop, fabric.com, Hancock, fat quarter shop, modern quilt studio. If you test a swatch be sure to include detergent in the test. Sometimes fabric will bleed when soap is in the mix. I had two cuts from a reputable store that I soaked to release excess dye. Worked wonders. The PDF is here https://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/save-my-bleeding-quilt.html#/
Mary – I don’t comment very often but so look forward to your posts! They are always so interesting and I love them. I visited your shop a few times when it was open and absolutely could have lived there. I can’t imagine the work you do every day to maintain all you’re collections and yet find time to quilt!! I am amazed. Please continue to post as long as it brings you joy. And thank you for the years so far!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
Mary your blog is delightful and a real encouragement to keep me quilting and working. I appreciate the interesting stories of your life.
Love reading all the comments. Especially like seeing their location. Would be nice if everyone would tell us where they live. I imagine they live all over the world.
Jeanne in Fresno, California
I have a little shelf unit that I bought years ago really cheaply and refinished. It’s made from a crate of stove blacking–writing on the back. It’s a primitive little piece, but I love it and have never been tempted to get rid of it. It makes me think of someone using that crate to build a piece of furniture–a nice thought.
Love the little houses.
Hi. I love reading about all the things you have around you.
I made it to your shop once for an hour and never got back again.
I’m from Helena montana so really watch Yellowstone closely. My daughter lives south of the chief Joseph ranch. So we’re familiar with the area.
Have been a long time follower of your business. We have the same tastes.
Keep up the good work😄😍
Another daily visitor but not a contributor.
I enjoy the quilts, however my favorites are the antiques. I have a treadle sewing machine from one great grandmother and various old cabinets made from leftover wood, as well as several Victorian couch tables with curved legs, possibly cabriole. Also enjoy the animals.
I do look forward to reading your blog every day. I know it takes a significant amount of time to do this and I appreciate it.
I do look forward to your posts, Mary. When my children were young, we raised chickens too. Loved those chickens! They were always grateful for the garden leftovers. I hate to see anything go to waste. Then some critter came along and killed one chicken each night until they were all gone. No more chickens for us, don’t want to go through that anguish again. We share similar interests. Please continue the good work.
Thanks for the reminder, I got busy with grandkids and forgot about the game!! Live in Indians last 5 years, but was from rural Ohio before that and root for the Buckeyes!!
I love your posts and seeing all your treasures!!
Mary,
A quilting friend sent me an e-mail after reading your CT’s…she said mine was the only comment! LOL!
Was 4o outside this Monday morning; no new snow either…like we need more than the 5+ feet we have already received! Our high today is 23o @ 4 pm!
Sending prayers for you n Rick to have a safe trip tomorrow. Wonderful to read your nursing has helped his foot with more healing.
I well remember your pincushion collection from a few years ago. Was a treat to see some of the unusual ones. Still have mine from junior high sewing and my younger son’s as well. He took a Bachelor Survival class. Sewed an apron, wore it in cooking class! He’s retired now and cooks for us.
Enjoyed seeing your creative wooden homemade items. People used to “make do” in years past.
I plan to watch the Georgia vs Alabama game this evening…Roll Tide! Have the lists of teams who play Saturday n Sunday, too!
I seldom leave comments, but I love reading your blog. You have such great variety in the things you talk about and show us. And I did not email you when you were not blogging because I just thought things were still down and you had enough on your plate to worry about rather than having to respond to me! Please stay with us! I would miss you terribly.
Mary, so glad to hear that Rick’s wound is getting better. He is lucky to have you as his nurse. The quilts in today’s blog are beautiful. Safe travels tomorrow, I hope your weather is good, here in the Northeast will be have some bitter cold temps tomorrow.
I also enjoy your blog and often share it with my husband over our morning coffee.
Be well.
Your posts are so worth it. Thank you for your time and being so open and honest.
I finally figured out how to post here!
Also haven’t figured out how to send pictures of my bullseye either 🙃
There are many of us out here that LOVE your blog. I’ve been following you for years & would hate for you to give up connecting with us. I loved the Goat Gazzette & am still using a number of recipes you shared in the issues over the years. I also love all your primitive pieces – I’m a big fan hunting down old & unusual pieces. I’m fortunately that I live close enough to Canton that I can peruse the acres of “stuff” that is there – I go about 2-3 times a year. If I went more often, I’d be broke. LOL ! Take care of your self, Rick & the fur family
Beverly in Texas
Beverly in Texas – I’ve been to Canton once maybe twice and just loved it!!!
I’m glad to hear Rick is improving. Have a safe trip tomorrow. My great uncle did woodworking, and I have a table, plant stand and some small pieces that he made. I also have a toy box that was my dad’s. I have many projects to keep me busy. One more bone chilling night. Take care.
I love reading your Blog. You have so many interesting things….Loving all of your animals.
I know what you mean about nursing…..My husband has had Cellulitis on both elbows, heel and ankle. Have to be dressed every day. Home care nurse comes once a week and he goes to wound clinic once a week. Things are better but still have a long ways to go. I have learned lots of things. Hope Rick gets good report.
That should be Diane in WI.
Love your blog! Even if I never comment! You are an inspiration and keep me quilting! Have to use up that fabric 🤣
Your blog is totally worth it! No I don’t usually comment and certainly don’t post pictures (not technically savvy) but I do SO enjoy reading everything you do and just seeing all you get done in a day gives me the incentive to get busy and tackle those projects! Keep up the great job!
Hi Mary,
Glad your husband is healing better. I think you know I have only one dog Casey. We guess he’s about 8 years old but could be older. He was a stray on the streets of Miami when the rescue got him.
I cook all his food. Usually in the crockpot today I made him biscuits. Cheddar cheese egg and flour. Cut them out baked them and I keep them refrigerated because no preservatives
One 2 years ago I was at an expensive pet store and fell in love with 2 female guinia pigs. They had been found in a garbage dumpster. People just amaze me.
Anyway one of them sleeps on me when I watch tv in the evening. These girls are like dogs.
But I have to clean them a Lot!
Thanks for your blog I enjoy every post 100 percent!
Blessings to you always!!
Bea knight boca raton
I agree with everything Cindy from VA said. I read your blog everyday and enjoy everything about it. I am a city girl and am fascinated by all the work done on the farm. I don’t know how you find time to sew. Please don’t stop writing. I love reading the blog and would miss it terribly. I appreciate all the time you put into it.
Glenda TX
I so look forward to your blog so I will comment more often. Your blog always brightens my day even when sometimes tragic things happen on your farm. It just reminds me how precious every day is and how lucky I am to have a great hobby that so many of us share. Thank you for all the time it takes to be such a faithful blogger.
Hi Mary, LOVE your blog! Like others, I am sorry not to post very often! I made your Bulls Eye quilt, love it! But then I had all those cut out circles left over. A sewing friend and I make comfort quilts to donate to our Quilt Guild. We used the left over circles for another Bulls Eye quilt, then had more left over circles! We are on our 3rd and LAST Bulls Eye quilt (we didn’t cut out the circles, which kept getting smaller) this time! Am wondering what others did with their cut out circles?? I also collect cats. I have over 300 cat salt and pepper shakers and have never counted the 3 cabinets full of cats. I am also a button collector. The Caldor Fire in CA came very close to us and am planning on downsizing both of those collections and more. I love antiques and enjoy seeing yours and how you decorate with them. I quilt too. Make comfort quilts for my church and also banners, the largest was 6’x12′. Live on 8+ acres which keeps this 75 yr old gal busy! Please don’t give up on your Blog!
Ha! I’ve been wondering about those leftover circles! I made a Bullseye Quilt as a squirrel project during our lockdown here in Australia in 2020. It was gifted through our quilting group to a local church. Now I might have to make another with those leftovers, especially as our meetings have been cancelled for January, possibly February, as we wait to see how the omicron strain develops here.
Pauline in Oz
I am going to a retreat in GA next week in which Sharon Henderson will be attending. I will surely tell her about your recommendation of her t shirt quilt pattern. Sharon is a tremendously generous and talented lady. When she started writing a few patterns she had rescued a little black dog named Sailor. Hence her pattern company name. She is always coming home with some stray animal or one in need of medical care. She will attend to their needs then find them a home. Hmmmm. Kind of like someone else!😇
Darlynn Venne – please greet Sharon for me! I love to promote her pattern!
Indeed!
Mary, Your blog is the BEST! I guess we need to let you know more often how much your stories about animals and quilts and friends are enjoyed! Will do!!!
I love your blog just as I loved The Goat Gazette. I wonder how many of us are former Goat Gazetters? I did miss you and now realize I did not check on you. I usually do if you haven’t posted for a few days. As a long time fan, I have most of your books and many; many patterns. I love hearing about your pets and what you and Rick are doing. Your piano playing, visits to the assisted living etc. I also love your collections!
I am busy with going to Dr. visits with my friend who survived Ovarian cancer, but is battling cancer again. We had to have two Christmas celebrations due to a grandson getting Covid in MN. Also, I love to decorate for holidays. I use lots of quilts and hand carved Santa’s etc. it takes a while to put up and down.
THANK YOU, Mary for blogging. I love it. I do wish responders would put where they are from.
I am another reader who loved the Goat Gazette. Woe betide to anyone who interrupted me when I was reading it. It was like sitting down with an old friend, just chatting (in this case..reading) away. Glad to see another reader write about the Goat Gazette.
Love reading your blog. Today was nice in northwest Iowa so my golden and two of my cats walked out in the field next to our creek. The cats need the fresh air.
I’m cutting 10 1/2” squares for North woods quilt. A pattern I think Country Threads did for Leisure Arts way back in 1995. I’ve always kept that book at the top of my pile and finally doing a few projects out of there.
Safe travels tomorrow!
I enjoy reading your blog and seeing your pictures!
I have been enjoying your blog, and I love seeing all the stuff you have been sharing. I was thrilled to see the reader bullseye quilt. I just started one, I’m not using neutral backgrounds either, but going with a fat quarter pack I recently purchased plus scraps that I have on hand. And I’m really not putting any neutrals in it, so we’ll see how it turns out! Have you watched 1883? It is becoming my new favorite.
I admit to being one who loves to hear about and see your collections, quilts and the general day to day life with your animals. But have never commented. I apologize. I love the little boxes in this post. My dad was an old time carpenter. He was the cabinet maker when you didn’t buy pre-made kitchen cabinets. Whenever I run into someone from my hometown area, they usually comment on how they still love the 30, 40 or 50 year old cabinets. I have so many pieces of furniture that he made. But some if my favorites are the jewelry chests that look like miniature dressers. I keep them on display.
Carol Garverick – I wonder about the makers of my little cupboards – I imagine they may look like your dad or his dad.
I love the little quilt above the small house. The colors are great with the house!
I am going to focus on a small quilt for January’s Dirty Dozen as I have so many quilts at my home. I have bed size quilts, throws, table toppers/table runners, and wall hangings. I love the creating process and certainly don’t need more. My fabric stash has enough fabric to probably make 30-50 more projects. Does anyone else have a large stash? My kids aren’t into quilts. I have given some as gifts. I have an etsy shop, but really need a faster way to eliminate some from my home so I don’t feel guilty about continuing to piece them. My husband says it would be ridiculous to give them away as he knows the time that has gone into them. I am not a “salesperson”, so can’t imagine doing a garage sale or such. Suggestions?????
Vicki – here is what I plan to do – all my quilts will go to my funeral and be laid over the back of the pews. Those attending will take one home in my memory.
Love that…. I guess I just live with my “guilt” in creating more as I won’t mind when I am gone.
I just want you to know I also love your blog even share it with my husband quite often. Also love to read the comments and your answers. I think you have a very interesting life and love hearing about all aspects. Good and bad!
Mine is very boring and I never think I have anything interesting to share. But I am going to try harder so you will keep blogging.
A. Baldwin – remember this – everyone has a story! EVERYONE!
Mary, I’m sorry, I don’t always comment. I too missed Yellowstone or shall I say I miss Rip and John….. 😂. I wish I lived closer – I am a nurse and would have been happy to help with wound care. I do think you should nicely tell them at Mayo if they give a list of supplies then they should be available at their own facility. But it seems these days it’s hard to know what is available and what is in “shortage”. I felt bad for you that it was so frustrating getting everything needed. I hope and pray things go well at the appointment.
HI Mary, I am a faithful reader in an urban area of Illinois and love to hear about your farm life in Iowa. Thank you for your blog and I will do my best to comment and let you know what is going on in my little corner of the world. I own several Country Threads books and patterns and your booth was a must visit at quilt shows I remember you demoing the rug pattern in your booth. I retired in 2021 from my full time job in the food industry and have a long list of quilts to finish and more I want to make. I have also vowed to declutter every room and got your “death cleaning” book from the library. I am looking forward to more time sewing but know the “other stuff” will taunt me too. So, I added a little twist to the dirty dozen list. For each month, next to each quilt project I need to finish is also a room or unpleasant task I also need to do. The plan is to also tackle the not so fun decluttering project during the month and get it done and dusted! in my head it sounds doable but I know in my heart i only want to sew and quilt. Now that I have told somebody else, no backing down on my part! Prayer please!!!
I love that box and little cupboard-so cool to have that history and creativity from a maker from way back !
What a good idea!
Theresa in IL – EXCELLENT IDEA! I should do the same thing – I’ve got a good start.
Hi, Mary
Please continue chatting away. I’ve been behind and as usual playing catch up . I’ve been reading and occasionally commenting for quite awhile. Not much quilting happening around here at the moment. Dealing with the recent loss of my son and wrapping things up at work for retirement in a few months.
Hmm, I’m sorry Mary! I have been away to my daughter’s over the Christmas weekend and have been trying to catch up on all of the emails. Delete, delete, delete!! So much junk. But your emails are always read, it might not be that day but I find them eventually. And I often go back and read older ones. I love reading everyone’s comments. I, too, would love to see where everyone is from – especially when they comment on their weather conditions! I think you can see that we all really would be sad if you stopped writing and hope that you continue for a long, long time! Jan in MA
You never have to worry about me not posting a comment, do you Mary. I seem to find something to ramble on about when I add a comment. Ha! You do know I would miss your blog more than anything else I read on the internet so don’t make me sad, please.
Glad knowing Rick is progressing and your care made sure things were done right. I know all too well how us women have to hold it together for the men!
Good luck on your return trip and will be anxious for that report.
I forgot to mention on the readers quilts in the last post that someone has a good eye for scrap quilts. They were really stunning! And then this post with some very good pieces shown. Now I want to make another Bullseye one from looking at this one!! You know Mary, many of your readers seem to be with you for awhile as I read through the comments and it was so good to hear from names I hadn’t seen in awhile.
Love your blog! This is my first time sending a comment, I believe. I like “All Creatures Great and Small” also.
Hi Mary. I, too, haven’t commented in a while. Here in Australia we are in opposite seasons, and I read the blogs the day after they are posted. It keeps my brain working to figure what day it is, especially through covid lockdown.
Your photos of the cupboards prompted me to tell you about a chest of drawers my grandfather made for his workshop. He was a “blockie”, which in Oz means he had a large rural property (fruit block) on the River Murray, growing stone fruits and sultana grapes, all irrigated from the river. He was also a carpenter, funeral director and Salvation Army officer, and the workshop, fridge (!) and hearse were in a shed next to the house. After my dad died, I discovered the drawers in his workshop, and grabbed it for my sewing room. It is 7 drawers high, and each drawer perfectly holds two rows of folded fat quarters, about 14” square by 5” high. It’s all recycled timber with half a wooden cotton reel for the knobs. It’s never been painted properly, just pink primer. The sides have painted in blue and gold gothic letters “Praise Ye” and “The Lord” from the remodelling of the stage at the front of the S.A. Hall. Each drawer is labelled in felt marker for the contents, being coffin handles, fixtures, plaques and badges. His wonky writing is special to me because he taught me to bravely do crossword puzzles in ink. The top raw timber is covered with an embroidered cloth made by my grandmother. If I can work out how to send a photo, I will.
Pauline in Oz
Please don’t judge us too harshly for not connecting with you while you were gone. I tried and I thought I got another virus so I was scared to try again. I’m glad you are back and am enjoying seeing your treasures.
Love the readers’ quilts today! The colors in that plaid quilt are wonderful, for sure. I’m always so impressed with the variety of quilts you post for us to drool over, and there are always a few I want to make immediately.
Cold in Ohio, but sunny today. My Bengals are in the playoffs! Who Dey!
Drive carefully on your trip to Minnesota…
Mary, I love reading your blog and so admire all your primitive antiques! Also all the beautiful quilts! I’m afraid I’m addicted to scrap quilts, but it’s hard to say there are any ugly quilts. The effort and love that goes into a quilt makes every one special! I have such a long list of patterns that I want to make that I’ll never live long enough to get them all made I’m sure.
I recently moved my sewing space from the basement to the dining room and in the process found so many UFO’s that I had forgotten about! I’m going to assign them numbers and let you help me finish a few of them in 2022 by giving me a push!!
Thanks for all your efforts to stay in touch with all of your quilting family!!
Georgia
Hi Mary. My name is Linda and I’m from southeast Ohio. I’ve been a long time reader of your wonderful blog. I really enjoy your post so much. I’ve only been quilting for about six years so I always enjoy all the pictures of the quilts. Most of all I love reading about all your farm animals and Hazel capers most of all. I have been a farm wife for 47 years and a registered nurse for 30 years. I know all about wound care as I was a home care nurse and loved it. I retired in early 2020. Also just moved into our new home in November so I could grow old gracefully on one level instead of three. My husband and I have always lived in old farm houses and I still love them. I also enjoy old vintage decor and I prefer that over new things in my home. I have one kitty named Kidder and he is such a love. My son wants me to take one of their border collie puppies but I’m just not sure as they are very energetic and need to be walked and exercised but it would keep me active. Although with 9 grandchildren I do stay pretty busy most of the time. I like to do a little gardening and enjoy mowing grass in the summer until about the end of June and then not so much haha. Well Mary stay warm and may God bless you, Rick and all your furry friends.
Mary please don’t stop writing.I’ve always thought that your life is so much different than mine and interesting as I am a city girl from Chicago but actually I guess city girls can share their own lives with country girls too! Just like the book The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Will try to share more. I love your little wooden house and the German bunnies. We have quite a few real bunnies here that my dog Dylan is determined to catch. Thankfully that has never happened.
Mary, a BIG thank you for sharing your life with us. Your house is a museum with collections of things many of us love. My mom was a collector, but had a limited amount of money to spend, so her collections were simple. She had a huge matchbook collection which I was allowed to pick through carefully when I was a kid. She had pretty cups and saucers, many small dog figurines, stamps, etc.
I consider my life to be quite boring, especially since the Covid restrictions, and because I’ve retired from nursing. I was an LPN and worked full time for almost 44 years. I enjoy volunteering, but have put that on hold now because of Covid.
My hobbies are quilting, cross-stitch, reading, and I was an avid knitter at one time. A goal for this year is to practice and become better at hand quilting. A group of women who have Singer Featherweights has been meeting once a month, so that has been a fun diversion.
I am an animal lover-we currently have two spoiled cats. We’ve had dogs in the past.
My husband and I live in a semi-rural area, we have fields on three sides of us, which is nice. There is a garden in the summer, and I used to enjoy canning, but have done less and less of that since there are only the two of us.
We live about 18 miles from Lake Michigan, so I spend time on the beautiful beaches in the summer.
That’s about all I can think of right now. Please keep telling us about your life, I look forward to it every day.
Seeing the bullseye quilt makes me want to finish my quilt that I made along with your sew along a couple of years ago. I really like her color combination.
I love your blog. It keeps me connected to Iowa. The small town happenings and all your quilting. Your quilts and pictures of readers quilts keep me inspired and quilting.
Please know that even tho I haven’t commented before, I love reading your blog! Especially love all the stories about the animals. I guess I always felt that you probably got so many comments that you might get tired of reading all of them, & maybe don’t have time for that!!! I live on a small farm, with horses, cats, & dogs. (Well, only 1 dog right now) We recently adopted a puppy from a rescue organization–most of the dogs we have had were rescues, but the last few dogs we rescued were a little bit older dogs. So we hadn’t had a puppy in 20 yrs!! Boy, what an adjustment!!!
I too have commented on your blog a few times. I have never been one to comment a lot. But I love your blog and I have been a faithful reader for many years. I have followed all your day to day joys and sadness. I have saved directions from your blog on many projects or ideas you have posted. I have ordered patterns from way back when your quilts were published in Country Living. I would truly be so sad if you closed your blog. When I was young and in Sunday school the teachers would always tell us that we didn’t know how many lives we affected just because they were watching us. Don’t give up on us. We are out here even though you here from us you make a difference. So please keep posting. We love your blog and most of all we love you. ♥️
Dear Mary–I love your blog and everything you put on it including your animals (especially that cute little Hazel!), your collectibles, your quilts and just everything–you have a special talent and I so enjoy reading it!!
I live in North Central Nebraska and we have been experiencing extreme temperature changes but not much moisture–the roads are very dusty. We are retired (me from a Medical Lab) and my husband a rancher–Luckily one son came home to run the ranch–we have a cow/calf operation and no crops except native hay. Our special dog, Daisy, died last spring and I really miss walking with her. We do have two indoor cats (one Siamese named Katie (born on St. Patrick’s Day) so a nickname for an Irish “Kathleen”, and the other one is coal black and named “Cinderella”. T hey tolerate each other but are not “best friends”–Ha! I just finished a baby quilt for our youngest Grandson who will soon be One Year old!
Keep writing, Mary–there are a lot of out here loving your blog!!
Hi Mary. 👋
I look forward to reading your blog every day so I hope you will keep it going. Love reading about your animals and what quilts you are working on. I have 6 cats but no other animals. I have been quilting since 1995, but most of my quilts were made in the last 10 years. I retired from a nursing career in June 2020 so am spending more time in my sewing room. Retirement is wonderful!
I don’t usually comment but will make more of an effort to do so.
Thank you for sharing your life.
Love the blog and I do miss your shop and being able to wander the little path to the shop and meet the animals. My husband was diagnosed with Covid a week ago and so far, I’m not sick. We are both staying home for the 10 days. While home I have been deep cleaning, washing walls, door, trim and sorting through our stuff. I have a collection of wooden bowl that are marked Musings from Michigan. I love each of the bowls and we searched for them while we lived in northern Wisconcin. I have quite a few rolling pins also marked Musing. Your little cabinet made from wooden shingles is cute as can be. How resourceful someone was to make the cabinet.
So glad to hear about your Mayo Clinic trip! Hoping that the doctors will be pleased with all of your nursing results. Beautiful weather in Houston…azaleas and roses are blooming like it is spring. Of course, they are bound to get nipped back as winter has not really hit us yet. And, yes, your blog is like a big ray of sunshine in all of our lives! Keep up the good work!
Love your faithful blogging, it seems to be “the thread that binds” for all of us that share the love of quilting. Enjoy regular updates on your daily adventures with all the animal photos, and am amazed at all you accomplish. The dirty dozen project has helped me stay dedicated to completing a mass of pieced tops through nearly 50 years of stitching. I just recently spent two days looking for “my DD list” and ended up recreating it from past blog info, so I was happy to see your year in review reminder! We suffered major tree damage in the past snowstorm. Trees had suffered from our three drought years and couldn’t bear the heavy snow and freezing. Thankfully no damage to buildings, but lots of yard/brush work..no worries about future firewood! Glad for the update on Rick and wish you well on your Mayo visit tomorrow. I do have a question for you that I didn’t want to “bother you ” with…how do you store your quilts? Just read to roll them in lieu of folding so I did but storing them that way becomes an entire new matter! Guess it isn’t always technical issues that keep us from connecting with one another! Keep on keeping on! Mariposa , CA
Mary, I would very much miss your blog if you decide to stop writing and sharing, but that is your choice!
I know it’s a hassle and frustrating for you when it doesn’t work! I pull out my patience when the blog is down and don’t email you asking about it at those times – I figure the last thing you need is hundreds of inquiries and complaints when you’re trying to get the “technical difficulties” figured out or you’re dealing with something in your non-blog life that needs your attention.
I hope you continue! You have so many good ideas and the animal stories are always great, even when they’re sad. They bring out the realities we animal lovers have to deal with.
Hi Mary!
I have enjoyed your posts for many years! I have also ordered patterns and received some Goat Gazettes! Love the Gazettes! Several times I have left post and there has never been a response. I haven’t even seen the comment on the list. Just figured my queries and comments were not getting to you. I did the Bullseye Quilt for a newborn great nephew. He is now six months old and his Mom says, he loves it. Guess being flannel he loves how soft it is and the bright colors I used in it! Please don’t stop blogging. I read you and Jo whenever notice comes in.
She is really having an ordeal to get through and I pray for continued good news and good health for her. The same for you and Rick. Life isn’t always kind to us but we get through it one day at a time. My husband died two years ago on Christmas Eve. There are times it feels like yesterday.
Best wishes and prayers to all with troubles little and large! Make the best of each day and be kind to one another.
I really enjoy your blog and it is one of three I check first thing every morning and evening. Jo’s is one of the other 2. I’m loving your collections!
Hi Mary – I’m one of the 99.9% who read but don’t comment so I’ll try to change that! I love hearing about your dogs, cats and the other animals! I love that you give us snippets of your everyday life. A little about myself – I retired almost two years ago – right at the start of Covid – I had planned to retire then, it wasn’t motivated by Covid. I babysit my 2-year old granddaughter a few days a week. I love her to death! I have no pets of my own anymore, but I have three granddogs and I really enjoy spending time with them. I love cross-stitch, quilting, knitting and crochet. I also love reading – mostly mysteries or spy stories. I watched All Creatures Great and Small also – loved it. My dad bought me a boxed-set of the James Herriot books when I was about twelve. I still have them and was thinking I’d re-read them. That’s it for today – I’ll try to comment more often. I surely do enjoy reading your posts. Have a wonderful day.
Love seeing all your collections. Especially the German rabbits. I have lots of rabbits in my gardens. All sizes and shapes I have collected over the years.
Glad to hear Rick is healing. Really look forward to your post
Thank you
Margaret
I also love All Creatures Great and Small. So many good shows on other networks, dont always need the big 3
Thank you for all the interesting info. Appreciate your sharing.
I am glad that your husband is doing better. We spent Christmas and New Year in Kansas city where we rescued the 5 kittens last spring . One of the kittens was with us as he belongs to my son’s in laws. Fluffy has been living there since the end of October and will be there until April while his owners do some traveling. The big news for us in Kansas city was that my son and his girlfriend got married early in December before we arrived. His wife’s parents were there at the same time as us and we have become such good friends with them so it was very welcome news for all. When they told us we didn’t believe it so made them show us the marriage certificate.
Anyway back to Fluffy. Except for 2 of the kittens that were torties none of them looked alike. My daughter has one of the torties and the little black kitten that was the runt of the litter. He has now surpassed his sister in size and still has his big personality and always into everything. His sister is small and a little shyer but I think a little sneakier about getting into things. They are both so much fun. Fluffy who is currently residing in KC is so huge. In November we went to Prague where we visited a cat cafe. There was a cat there that looked exactly like Fluffy and they said he was part Main Coon and British Shorthair. Fluffly looks like a Main Coon which explains why he is so big. Miss Kitty, his mother, I believe is part British Shorthair as she has the gray coloring and rings on her tail that you see on a British Shorthair. The other two cats I don’t have contact with the owners but my son’s wife does and I know they are loved and doing well.
My son and his wife do an amazing job of caring for the neighborhood feral cats. They make sure they always have food and water and provide them with shelter under their deck. They gave them a two story house for cats and an igloo that they can stay in when they choose. The weather was quite cold while we were there so I am sure they were utilized. We know Miss Kitty stays in their back yard most of the time and usually one or two other cats are there. Miss Kitty will not be having any more kittens as she has been fixed. I feel sorry for her though as she was such a good mother and took such good care of her kittens. The truth though is that it would have been worse for her to keep having kittens that ended up feral.
I have to admit I am one of the people that doesn’t comment too often on the blog but I do so enjoy reading what you write about. Lately I have gotten behind on my blog reading and am now working on staying up with it so will try to comment more.
I learned early on that nursing, or anything medical, was not my calling. I love your blog about life in your area. It’s so different from mine here in SE Alaska. I think if blogs were the thing when my kids were growing up I may have done it as a journal. Back then we were going to a cabin, going in the boat fishing or crabbing or shrimping. Taking trips to Washington State to see grandparents. But now life is living and working alone, making it through this massive snow -ice storm that we’ve had going on for 3 weeks, and dreaming of my next trip South to see grandbabies. Oh, and some quilting. The Isolation of the pandemic has been really difficult. I look forward to your comments each day. When you don’t post for a day or two I miss your comments. But I also realize that you have a life, and have other things going on in it. And if the blogs gone for a few days I just figure it takes that long to get it going again. And every time it’s blank I pray that it gets fixed and you’re back at it soon. Thank you for your time and the information you share with us.
My life is so dull. I sit and stitch by hand all day. Well I walk so that my body doesn’t quit on me. But family is all raised, no animal chores, husband still works and that’s my life. I deal with several auto immune issues but who doesn’t. I love reading your posts and save them for the end of my day.
Mary I live your blog. I occasionally comment but I simply do not have the gift of words that you do. Sometimes I’m amazed at the things you write. So interesting but I would never even think to write about. Words are your gift! They come easy to you. Not so for all. Keep writing!
I read your blog almost daily, I’m home bound with a disabled husband (mentally and physically) due to 3 strokes. Quilting and sewing are my sanity most days and I love reading about what other quilters are working on, thank you for sharing so many interesting things about your life, it allows those of us stuck at home to get to enjoy some things we never would if folks like you didn’t share!! I also follow a few other ladies and I do thank you all so much for sharing your lives with us! God bless and know we’re out here looking forward to these posts and I will try to be more diligent in letting you know I appreciate it!
I also read your blog. I love when you write about the animals and your “treasures”.
I feel for you when you are on “nurse duty” because I’m also on nurse duty because my husband is in a wheelchair. I give nurses a lot of credit for their profession because I would never want to be a nurse.
Mary, I have read every single comment at this point – 141 of them!! I also left one reply about how to get pictures to you to post on your blog, – by writing you an email and attaching the photo to the email. By now you know there must be many many others who read about your life. Thank you! Personally, I like to sew, but I REALLY like to read the stories of people’s lives. Your story about how you and Rick went on your Senior Trip together, and he wrecked his car and messed up his ankle on his way home, was just a tear-jerker for me. So glad the two of you met up and got married finally!
Love reading your blog….please don’t stop! It’s always uplifting and a bright spot of my day.
Hi Mary, I am guilty of reading and rarely commenting! I love reading your blog! Our quilting styles are complete opposites and I am a city girl now but I so enjoy seeing your quilts and animals! Glad Rick is healing! I too would starve being a nurse! Please don’t stop writing!
When your site is down or your having issues I don’t reply as this can cause more issues on your end. I wait till you say you are back up and running.😊
I love your primitive furniture! The people who made these things made do with what they had and made useful things out of scraps. I had several pieces that were made by Mr Jorganson the man who built the house we owned in Loxley, Al. Mr. Jorganson not only built furniture but the whole house including his cement mix. It was a very interesting house to live in. Unfortunately, my prized furniture was left in Iowa when George and Tyler moved us, they didn’t see the beauty in it.
I’m glad Rick is healing.
I love your blog! I love your farm, your house, your collected treasures, and especially your animals! Oh, and the quilts. We also loved the original “All Creatures Great and Small” and watched it multiple times. We love the new one, too. In 2012 my mom died, and my dad, who was a HUGE fan of the books & tv series, wanted to take my sisters on a trip to places he had been in England when he and his brother were in the service. And we had to go to Scotland and Ireland to visit golf courses…St. Andrews and Dornoch in Scotland and Royal County Down in Ireland. We stayed in York, England for a few days, and dad hired a guy to drive us around the gorgeous Yorkshire countryside (my suggestion as DH and I visited Yorkshire on our honeymoon.). Our last stop was at the village of Thirsk, the real “Darrowby”. We took a tour of the house and vet surgery, now a museum. The place is tiny! It was such a thrill to see it. Dad wrote a letter to James Herriott’s son (his real name was Alf Wight) and got a reply. Dad was so thrilled. He passed away in his sleep December 27 at the age of 94.
Your handmade cabinets are wonderful, thank you for including the history of the pieces where it’s known, fascinating; and, you’re right, it’s miraculous that they’ve survived. It’s a testament to the care and value that you attach to them. I love that “Rath’s” chest too. I continue to pray for your husband’s healing and, for his expert care-giver; so glad to hear that he’s continuing to improve, you’re a great nurse! Thank you for posting the data for the T-shirt quilt pattern; I forwarded that information to my friend for her Mom and decided that I best order one for myself too! I don’t know when I’ll need it but, sure as can be, if I don’t order it now and need it later, it won’t be available any longer- I trust your “best ever” recommendation!
I look forward to your blog and enjoy reading of your life adventures and happenings. I missed your blog when it was down and never responded because i thought you were taking some time off.
My husband is pretty much disabled so i’m mostly homebound. Quilting, reading, crossword and cooking keeps me busy.
With the death of our son in October we are selling our Florida home (snowbird for 12 years) and will be in Michigan. I have much to do before the move and have done some packing already.
I enjoy reading about everyone’s life adventures each day. I will try to comment more often.
I’m off on my 2 mile walk now!! God bless everyone and love to you Mary for all that you do.
Sally, Fl/Mi.
Hi Mary,
I’m 1 of the 99% that don’t respond, but after seeing all the comments today, I bet you don’t have much time to clean or post pictures of your delightful collections Ha Ha
You make each day brighter and warmer for me. Thank you so much
Earlene in Arizona
My life as a farm wife is really quite boring. And that is good! We live in the northwest corner of Iowa and farm with the help of two sons, who have full time jobs! My hubby had a full time job for 47 years along with farming. We earlier raised a few pigs and fed a few cattle. Then, transitioned to just crop farming and have a bunch of cats. I started quilting about 35 + years ago and have been hooked since. I always loved to sew, cross stitch, scrapbook, make cards…..anything crafty and I also love to read. (Love it when Mary comments on a good book she read). We have four children, 15 grandchildren, and hoping for one more grandchild in the late spring. I need to make some burp cloths for the new baby. Three of our children live within 20 minutes of the home place. Our youngest son lives in Michigan, so our travel centers around that. They are the couple expecting the new baby.
During the pandemic, I made 14 twin size quilts (not all bound yet😜) and one block of the month king size. I am currently working on a block of the month. The quilt shop I go to – Always Your Design in Dell Rapids, SD offers the entire set of months at one time. This makes it easier for me as I am about 45 miles from them. Plus, it’s dangerous for me to go to the wilt sho every month! 😂😂. This block of the month is a king size.
I am not a collector of antiques, just fabric, and craft supplies. 😂
I love all the animal, outdoor, indoor, anything pictures you post Mary. I wish I would have been aware of your newsletter when you published that. Is there any way to find those somewhere?
I will be thinking of you all day as you are at the Mayo, probably pushing Rick in a wheelchair. Hope it goes well.
We also go there. (4 hours from us) I am scheduled for back surgery in a month. I wish it was next week! Ugh! But, I am still able to sew and make cards.
That’s about it for me….thanks for writing your blog Mary!
Hi Joy,
My name is Glenda and from Lennox, SD and originally from NW Iowa. Dad farmed by Archer, Ia. We had dairy cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs on our farm. I also like Always Your Design quilt shop. I
started with them when they had their first shop on the North side of the street with very few bolts of fabric. Was fun watching them grow . Really like what they now did in their latest renovation with finishing the upstairs. Deb and Diane are such great people. Have you been to the quilt shop at Canton My Timeless Day with Allison?
Just thought if you would like to correspond that would rather be fun getting to know someone with an interest in quilting. Usually there aren’t any body responding to Marys’ emails that is this close and also mentions Always Your Design Quilt shop.
I loved AllCreatures too. Lovely quilts from readers. That bulls eye must be really heavy. Mine is only a throw and weighs a ton!
I loved AllCreatures too. Lovely quilts from readers. That bulls eye must be really heavy. Mine is only a throw and weighs a ton!
Hi Mary-
I just love the pictures of the small houses and cupboards. So full of charm and character! I would certainly consider them treasures if they were mine. Glad to hear Rick is on the mend. I agree that being a nurse is not for everyone. I have tended my husband through back surgury and a double knee replacement and did not enjoy it one bit. Not as gorey as tending to wound care I am sure but still not my idea of what I would choose to do. So looking forward to your upcoming pictures of other collections you mentioned. Thank you for helping brighten these dark, dismal winter days! Hurry spring.
Mary thanks for all your posts. I decided last January that for Christmas I wanted to make a quilt for each of my unmarried granddaughters of which there are 18. So I got started. It did take me all year but I got it done along with a quilt fir a grandson who has 4 older sisters. It kept me busy even though I traveled for a month during the summer. So this year I’m working on my ufo pile. As I get those finished I will take a picture n send it to the group.
Guilty! I look forward to your blog every day but I don’t comment. I don’t tell you how much I appreciate the fact there are caring people like you in this crazy world we are living in now. I often think how fortunate the people who live around you, your neighbors, are. Your life is an open book but it is also a life many would love the chance to live. Don’t change. Don’t give up on us lazy readers.
Looking forward to many more blog posts.
It will take you a while to get through all these posts. I check 3 blogs most days, yours, Jo’s and Bonnie Hunter’s. I noticed yours was down, but figured you and Kayla would get it fixed eventually.
Your collections are interesting. I don’t collect, but do accumulate. One of my living room shelves has my dad’s toy tractor and toy truck, along with a toy sewing machine I found in the basement of the hardware store.
My favorites today are the wooden cabinet, the red-green-cream log cabin and the plaid quilt.
Thanks for sharing with all of us readers.
I love your blog! I check it daily and when its down I assume there is a technical glitch to be blamed.
We live on a small acreage in rural southern Minnesota, I have so much fun with my quilting friends, we try to get together weekly to work on something together. We have 2 grown married children that we both married before Covid hit. We are expecting out 1st grandbaby in March, so have been doing some sewing for that bundle of Joy!!! I am a nurse, so my sewing has to wait till the weekends. I love doing little projects lately . It helps keep me sane. Glad that Rick is making progress, circulation is a tricky thing.
Please continue to share your life and all the beautiful quilts. It continues to give me inspiration.
Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Wound care is a slow business, hope all goes with Rick’s ankle.
I love your site and all the pictures you post whether they are from your home or the dirty dozen. I’m just not a person who responds to the posts I follow. I also love watching All Creatures Great and Small and have just started reading the books by James Herriot. There are a lot of PBS shows I follow as well. I’m not a fan of the Yellowstone series, but my husband is. I loved the pictures of your “shingle door” cabinet as I’m into “primitive” designs. I have a handmade wood candle box made by my dad in the late 70’s or early 80’s (he didn’t label it) that I cherish. Both mom and dad are gone so I can’t ask. My husband and I reside in Montana, less than 100 mi. from Yellowstone Park.
Hi Mary,
So enjoy your blog and hearing about all your adventures. I lead such a boring life in comparison. I do leave comments from time to time. I did notice your recent lull and assumed the same thing had happened as before. One time I was just dumped from the blog subscription by cyber gremlins and figured they were up to that again!!! For a while I could not re-subscribe and a friend forwarded until cyber gremlins granted me access again! I will endeavor to do better …you may have created a monster though!
Right now I am working on a Bullseye quilt (with your directions) for my granddaughter for her graduation from high school next year. I am making it out of 30’s repros because that is my granddaughter’s favorite fabric. I am including some fabrics from dresses, etc. I made for her when she was younger. Hoping it will remind her of home when she’s off at college.
I used to get the Goat Gazette too and you have such a talent writing – please keep it up!
Please keep blogging….yours is one of my top 5! I don’t comment often but love all your down to earth comments!! Growing up on a farm, I relate to all the animals and barns. Also, I love that plaid quilt someone sent in and have a ton of men’s shirt plaids..would be perfect.
Here in the Deep South, we have had very minimal truly cold days. Todays high is 53 and we’ll have one night of freezing cold later this week. Love cold weather as I can breathe so much better. We are often humid, damp here most of the year, so cold, dry air is lovely! Heading out to pick up pine cones and rubbish from a recent windy day! Stay well and thank you, Mary, for your wonderful blog!
Bonnie in GA
Well, Mary. You have heard from a whole passel of ladies that really appreciate your blog, even tho they don’t contribute their comments. I live alone. There are lots of nieces & nephews around, but they are all very busy taking care of their families and trying to make a living in these COVID times. They don’t stop to think that we might like to hear from them. Guess they will learn how that goes in about 50 years or so. In the meantime, I am thrilled whenever your blog shows up on the computer. And I totally enjoy everybody’s comments, projects, problems – everything. Ladies, don’t think you have nothing to write about. If you were visiting with the neighbor, just write down exactly what you are thinking. And add where you live, the weather and all the ordinary stuff. It is nice to have a window to the world, especially while we are staying put at home. Share your thoughts with us. They make us smile, cry and just plain laugh out loud.
Now, Mary. Yes, we get worried if you don’t write. I was about ready to call to check on you. We can’t read your mind. You are doing great dressing Rick’s ankle. Knew you would get into a routine on that. Bet you get a very good report in Rochester. Computer problems can be a big problem and we all appreciate your efforts and stress getting them fixed. Yes, people don’t realize they aren’t insignificant. They have great thoughts, ideas, everything to share with the rest of us. And we do appreciate their time and efforts to write.
Please take care of yourself, Rick and all the critters. You are not alone. And Happy New Year. Things have to get better.
I love it in Rapid City, but absolutely green with envy of those of you living in Montana!
Betty in Rapid City
Glad Rick’s wound is healing, you can’t be a bad nurse and achieve that! Growing up I always wanted to be a nurse but ended up with a family at a very young age and then pursued my education and ended up a fire chief! But as they say, watch what you wish for. not long after marrying we discovered my husband needed a heart transplant and as his fulltime care giver I should have earned a nursing degree. The path to the transplant involved a lot of hospital stays to keep him alive and many procedures to look at the large blood clot in the left side of his heart that wasn’t working. Two years ago he had a knee replacement that became infected because they assume his immune suppressants didn’t identify the device so after three weeks in the hospital the came home with a pick line and I administered IVs twice a day for six weeks. I was ready to go back to fire fighting!
I love your German rabbits, I will have to do some research on them. I have the same problem with my two kittens, they are into everything and everything they can reach ends up on the floor.
Thank you for your blog, yours is the only blog I read and I look forward to it. I’m a bit behind on my emails right now, I was tested for both Covid and the flu today and I feel downright miserable! Stay safe!
Thank you for sharing your life, collections, quilts….I really enjoy reading your stories.
Oh, Mary, the pictures in this post were great! That bullseye with the colorful background is stunning. Your small, muted wall hanging above the blue house is adorable, and I also really liked the men’s shirts quilt.
I am posting on Tuesday and do pray you are now safely home with good results from Rick’s Mayo appointment.
Instead of actually sewing, since the holidays, I have been reorganizing my sewing area. We moved “home” two years ago, and I have things in much better shape. I am looking forward to being quite productive this winter.
I love everything about your blog; my husband always asks about the animal news. Thanks so much. 🥰
I love your blog. I love each post and immediately search for it in my email! Please never stop. I’m not much of a conversationalist so that is why I don’t respond. Sad, but true. Love your garden/flower pictures and the outdoor happenings at your farm. I so enjoy looking at your talent with the sewing machine, plants, and all your animals. YOU have a big heart. Please continue to color my world with your daily life…I love to see and read about it!
Mary, l read all of your blogs & the comments. I don’t comment often either. I was able to visit your shop once in ’07 when my husband & I took a 5 wk camping trip through the western states. We stopped in Britt to visit a dear friend also. 4 years ago we decided to downsize & move to an over 55 community. My husband wasn’t well at the time, so good friends & our church family helped me donate items, pack, & move to our new home. I didn’t expect our home to sell in one day! I have a much smaller sewing room, but it’s a dedicated space & my happy place. My husband passed over a yr ago & I’m so thankful I have a sweet little dog to keep me company. He was a rescue that no one wanted. I’m just now starting to get back into quilting, it’s been a difficult few years taking care of my husband & watching his health decline. I’m currently working on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt & although I’m behind…I’m enjoying it. Having been raised on a farm, I so enjoy hearing about your animals & your life. Love your antiques, too. I had to get rid of many of my antiques when we moved here, just no room for them! Please continue to write your blog, I love reading about your activities!!
Alice in SW Ohio
Good morning Mary, Thank you for continuing to write your blog, I really enjoy reading about your life and the lives of the readers through their comments. A little bit about myself: My husband and I live north of Traverse City, Michigan. We are cat people. Two years ago we adopted two 8-year old cats (brothers). One is a ginger and the other is a Maine coon. They have different personalities but both are really sweet. Last year’s dirty dozen gave me the motivation to not only complete the 12 on my list but all the remaining UFO’s I had collected over the years. Felt good to have a clean slate, if only momentarily. And, thanks to your Bull’s eye sew-along a few years back, I have a really warm quilt to use in my chair on winter evenings. I can’t comment on the TV shows nor sports games because we don’t own a TV but we do have great internet service.
Janice Brown – I have a friend who moved “back” to Traverse City from CO. And no TV? I’d be lost without tv – why don’t you have one? Just curious – if that’s too nosey, I apologize.
Mary, I recall a few years back that you wrote a blog post about a friend wanting to sell her house that was located up here and move to CO. A really nice property. You referred to her as Hazel’s Aunt Jane. Hopefully, she hadn’t found it too difficult to find a home here since the pandemic made the real estate market even crazier. About the TV . . . no, you’re not being nosey at all. Neither my husband or I are big TV watchers, but we were fans of PBS. Prior to moving up here 8 years ago, we could get 4 different PBS stations and we had a lot of programming choices amongst the stations. When we moved up here, we could only get one PBS station and the reception was awful. Ditto on the other local TV stations. We tried a couple different antennas in the house but nothing worked. We also had problems with using our cell phones in the house and we ended up getting a land line. The problem was we lived in a heavily treed area. Neither of us wanted to get cable so the TV sat unused and collected dust. We did have great internet service and we are on our computers a bit more. We moved to a different house about 3 years ago, to downsize and to get out of the trees. During the move, we decided to give the TV away to some friends. Our cell phones worked great at our new home and we assumed the TV reception would be better but we got use to living without a TV. Maybe down the road we will consider a TV again.
Janice Brown – Yes! It’s Hazel’s Aunt Jane who moved back to MI. They built a new house
I grew up on a farm and love hearing about your life in the country. I lived in the country all my life until 7 years ago when we moved to the city to be close to our daughter and granddaughters. I still miss country life.
I enjoy seeing your collections. So interesting!
Wow, I scanned the comments and was quite impressed by all the number of responses, you must have struck a note with everyone today. I am a fellow Iowan living in Washington State. We moved here 30 years ago, but my heart is still in Iowa even though I have no more living relatives there. I became aware of you through Jo and enjoy your blog and all the reminders of home. I am a retired nurse and know the wound care routine. So glad Rick is making progress with your help. Wish I could visit you someday. Keep up writing it looks like a lot of people enjoy the blog like me.
L.O.V.E. your blog!
You are a very gifted writer…your life is interesting and you teach us all something in each post.
Please don’t give up your blog.
Took a road trip to Country Threads (many years ago) while I was in MN, working with Lynette (Jensen).
We both bought Russian punch-needle kits from your shop. To this day, it’s one of my favorite types of handwork!
Funny story…on the way to Country Threads, Lynette and I were ‘chatting’ so much, we missed the exit…drove 30+ miles too far. But we’ll worth the trip!
Good things,
Susie Emmons, Texas
Susie Emmons – I actually remember that trip – about missing your exit – wish I were in touch with Lynette. I don’t think my hands could do punchneedle today but I do love it!
Dear Mary, I hope you are feeling the love from all your readers. I always open your email first as I know it will include such interesting news and inspiration. Thank you for giving us the gift of your time and allowing us into your life. Lynn, San Diego Ca.
I look forward to your blog every day. Love the stories, the animals, the recipes and the quilts. My grandmother was raised in Leroy Kansas. We would drive down to visit the older relatives who still lived there.it was a small town with a big gazebo in the center. I loved sitting on cousin Flossie’s front porch and listening to the stories. Your blog stirs up so many memories. It’s like getting a letter from home.
Thank you so much
Connie – big hugs to Mabel and Addie!
You are the most active lady. All that cleaning. I think about it. Haha.
I saw an idea that really excited me to tell every quilter. It said to make like a pillowcase type bag and hang it near where you are cutting fabric. Any small scraps that aren’t really worth keeping, throw in bag. Once filled, sew across top to close. This makes dog beds which can be given to shelters.
Nancy Finch – what a great idea!
Your blog is where I get my inspiration. The pineapple quilt is gorgeous. The plaid is the first “happy” plaid quilt I’ve seen. How do you have time to find quilts online? If I started down that rabbit hole nothing else would get done. I’m sure I’m not the only one you amaze. Regarding blog downtime: I figure you are just too busy and will catch us up when you have time.