It’s become a part of our lives – high winds which means no outside work can get done. Ugh.
Pet Parade
Reader quilts
We are so fortunate to have many little kids in our church family and I have a perfect view of their faces during children’s sermon. I couldn’t resist snapping these pictures last Sunday.
Can somebody remind me next year before Easter that I want to make these eggs? I will never remember.
I bought this piece of purple floral last week at the quilt show because I’ve never ever made anything in purple. The fun is deciding what I should make.
Do you follow Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville blog? She is writing the pattern and remaking this antique quilt – oh, I am so tempted to start it. So tempted. She often closes with a quip or quote and this one really hit home. This is me. Thanks, Bonnie! I couldn’t have said it better!
That quilt is made is easy blocks each with about 80 pieces….. If one of the half square triangles went the wrong way NOBODY would ever notice it?
I was talking to my cousin in Fort Dodge Sunday and I mentioned my scrap pile was taking over and I should do something about it to which she immediately said ” We can’t do that.” We have the same grandmother and she didn’t throw anything away!!! She always was saying not to waste things. Ruined me for life.
You are set up for bad weather. Hope you are safe. The wind is supposed to blow hard here Thursday and Friday and it will get cold. It will pass.
The animals are God’s creations. Wonderful.
Betty in Rapid City
Betty – you’re so right about that quilt – it’s very busy. I am determined to finish up several projects that were already cut out before I start another one. I screwed up on March Madness today – ugh. Gotta fix it before I can quilt it.
We have missed all the bad storms and heavy rains but tonite may be different. If it thunders I won’t get any sleep because Hazel will be laying on my neck!!
Thank you Mary for sharing the fur babies pictures and wonderful quilts. We have had wind for the past few days and all the whirly wigs o that fall from the maple trees are over the property. This morning I swept 6 five gallon buckets from the driveway. More to come down. Tomorrow 87 to 89 degrees. I am finishing up my granddaughter’s wedding quilt. Hope to send picture when i can get a picture.
Carolyn b Shenandoah Valley Va
Carolyn – 30 gallons of whirligigs!!!! I hate them, too. They land in my rocks and sprout.
Thank you Mary! Great quilt show and pics!
I needed the saying to make my day better!
LOL at “some days I put the laundry in the oven”
Bless you!
What a beautiful post today. The quilts are fun to see.
We has 3” of heavy, wet snow this afternoon. My friend reminded me snow waters the hills and valleys, rain only waters the valleys.
A year ago last valentines I came down with the shingles, I’m still having “shocks “ on my back from them. The lesson is get the shot. It free if your on Medicare. I have scars too.
Isn’t it fun to see dogs curl up to keep each other warm. They love taking care of each other.
Jo – I literally forgot about your shingles – Shame on me! Will they ever go away for good? Yes, I got the shot. You just keep that snow out there!
Loved seeing all the pets and quilts in your blog today Mary. Mari D. had a clever layout for the bull’s eye quilt. I follow Bonnie Hunter’s blog religiously ( as well as your’s and Jo’s) . I have made some of her quilts and have several in various unfinished stages. Just finished one up today thanks to your Dirty Dozen Challenge. Now on to the next one! Cold and raw here in New Hampshire today. Lots of daffodils, well at least the green leaves. Not many blossoms and I’m pretty disappointed about that. I need to do a little research and see what’s up with that.
I love the large floral quilt! Just simple squares but oh so striking! Our second goat had twins today almost exactly colored like the other set of twins. One brown and one black and white moonspot. The first set of twins are both boys and this second set are one boy and one girl. Both moonspots are boys.
Debbie – I am jealous / wish I could visit your new babies. Moonspot – new to me
My favorite pictures, pets and quilts. Thanks Mary
Hi Mary, another fantastic post!! Great quilts, the fancy bullseye is called snake in the hollow l think. Suppose to be flying to Norfork Island today, but it’s foggy there, so we will try again tomorrow! My brother has a tricolor poodle called Millie with a Tina turner topknot! Hope to b3 at Norfork Island tomorrow, take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
Forgot to say can you point out the snake please Mary,!
Look closely!! The snake is dark colored with a light yellow stripe down its back, lying on top of the log right up against that piece of trash.
I love your blog…… do not comment often, but I have to this time. The wind stops me from outside work too…. and I am amazed by myself too! Trying to remember, how did I do that? Like knitting & other wonderful things I made. I am still making good stuff, but there are so many roadblocks some days!
I did find the snake! If I did not have to clean house, or manage moving my family member to a different nursing home, which will be so much closer to my home, I could maybe have more time to do the finish on many quilts, and do the yard work too! Thanks for all the entertaining and interesting stories you tell! Good for you to have young people in church!
My husband took a short trip this week and I pack for him. He ended up with my deodorant And I have his.
oh well, some days just go that way.
Hi Mary…If you make the easter eggs next year, maybe you could teach us too. They would look great in a glass bowl on the table.
I am fascinated with the car quilt. I need to make one for our great grandson who will graduate next year. He wants to race in the Baha Bug race (Volkswagon) and I would love to find some fabric with Volks beetles and bugs on it. I have looked, but nothing out there where I have looked. Anyway, that design would be perfect.
Let sleeping dogs lie. Love that photo.
very interesting blog today…….
Yesterday the weather man said April is our windiest month. I imagine Iowa is pretty much the same as Nebraska.
Carmen – there’s a reason the Iowa countryside is peppered with wind turbines!
Great lineup of photos tonight. Yes, I’m tired of the wind also. The kid pictures are wonderful. Bonnie Hunter and her multitude of pieces are not for me, but I do love alot of her daily sayings. It’s raining buckets right now.
Oh no, are snakes out and about already? We lived in the same place in Iowa for 60 years and never had a snake in our yard—-thank goodness.
I moved to Co. and the first week I was here, I drove into the garage and there was a snake along the side of the garage floor, right where I would be stepping out of the car. I slowly backed the car out of the garage. Not knowing what kind of snake it was, I was afraid to leave it, so I did away with it. I was still shaking when my daughter got home from teaching school. Since then, we’ve had many in the yard. I understand all of the new construction in the area has destroyed their habitat so they are searching for new places to live. We are going to try peppermint spray around the yard this year. I read that snakes do not like it and will leave. I sure hope it works. Does anyone have any other ideas to get rid of them??? I am deathly afraid of them, even garter snakes.
Jeanne in Co.
Jeanne – last fall a small snake showed up in the yard and I think it’s only the second one I’ve seen here in 40+ years so they aren’t all that common. I couldn’t drive in that garage either.
We have friends who live in the country that have rattle snakes. They put moth balls around the perimeter of there acreage and never have a problem. I agree, am terrified of snakes.
We have had many wind warnings over the last several weeks. So, between the snow that hasn’t yet melted and the wind it has been stay inside days sewing and knitting chemo caps.
Loved all the photos! 💖🌷🌷💖
Oh Mary, the sleeping dogs. I just love that picture! I lost both of my dogs a few years ago and miss them terribly everyday. 💔 Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the low 80s. I pulled up a lot of roots and vines that are trying to get through the landscape fabric and mulch in the flowerbeds. The winds and rains are moving in today so no outside work too. Great quilt pics today! I laughed at laundry in the oven. So true!
Such a nice blog post to read today with adorable pets and cute kids. I can’t imagine a confirmation class in your church with so many children which is wonderful to see. Love the quilts and I am with Betty that it’s hard to throw a scrap away so love to see ways to reuse them. Easter eggs would be fun to make and nice gifts next year. I love your fabric purchase and purple is the least amount of fabric color I own that I will be excited to see what you do with it. Thinking of heading to a quilt show in Clarence NY Saturday if the rains hold off as I need to drive an hour to get to it but would love to see their creations.
I spent yesterday afternoon pulling tons of maple tree sprouts out of my flower bed. Tomorrow I help out at our church rummage sale so life stays busy but fulfilling.
Kathy – those things sprout in my rocks, too, and I have to use a long needle nose pliers to pull them out. That job is coming.
I did get Bonnie’s pattern and I say go for it! My sewing room now looks like it exploded and I haven’t cleaned or anything since! It is so addictive making all those triangles and using lots of scraps. The blocks are awesome too!
Loved the pet pictures as always. The quilts were amazing. Thanks all for sharing
Spent yesterday with my quilting buddy. Walked over to her home just before we got some rain and hail, just pea to dime size. Worked on my quarter square quilt top. Just 3 more seams after I iron it.
Mary thanks for all the animal and quilt pictures. I have some floral fabrics I collected years ago that I need to make a quilt with.
Love Bonnie Hunters quilts. If the small size of units bother you you can always up size to use up precuts.
Love the quilts and pets. I find the small flower wallhanging delightful, with its small watering can. Here is one of my snake stories: My husband was a science teacher, so we had all sorts of critters in house over the years, including a snake one summer. It was in an aquarium with a screen top. When I drove into the garage after work one day, my son greeted me with, “The snake got out of the cage”. I told him I would sit in the car until they found it. He responded that it got out in the morning and they had been unable to find it. Imagine my joy (actually dismay) knowing I was going to have to go into the house that had a loose snake. When I went to bed that night, I wondered if a snake had the ability to get into a bed. I stood way away from the bed and kind of jumped onto it because I wasn’t going to put my feet near the bed that could have ANYTHING under it. Now get this – we never found that snake. I said no more snakes in the house. Ugh!
Vicki – you never found the snake??!!??
Never!
Vicki, You’re braver than me. I would have had to move out of the house permanently!!!
That’s makes me too having to sell the house! Ha! You are brave Vicki. I make the small floral wallhanging and it was a pattern Mary sold so thank you Vicki. I also think it would be cute done up with wools and cottons, hint hint Connie R.
Love seeing so many children in your church. They are a blessing and hope for the future. I congratulate the parents for making church a priority. Getting ready for Sunday school and church services were not always the most pleasant w/ my kids. My kids now see the benefits. My granddaughters are in church every Sunday.
Marcia – yes, I do think church is a priority for the majority of our congregation and church is pretty full every week, thanks to our wonderful pastor. He is overworked and we’re looking for an associate pastor.
Love, love those patchwork Easter eggs!
Love the quilt on the long arm. For me, the brighter, the better. Mary, those purples and greens are beautiful. I’m off to take Lily and Lucas for their annuals. We are supposed to warm up again today so I will take advantage to do yard work rather than sewing. Just wondering whatever happened to the quilt along with Connie using the cover quilt on your last book. I did start it and ended up deciding to do 2, one light background and 1 dark background. Anyway, I prefer at least a queen size so needed a total of 60 blocks which I now have. Next step is to figure out what color for sashing. I want it to look just right after putting so many hours into all these blocks.
And thanks for the welcome backs.
Pattie – maybe I can help you or I’ll ask Connie. The quilt along ended and will be difficult to find online because it was organized by Martingale and their business has closed. Do you have the book? Let’s do this through my email. maryehazel2020@gmail.com
I wish I lived in Iowa! I would help you with the animals!
Jill – what a lovely offer!
I woke up this morning to rain and thunderstorm. Problem is, it’s only 32 degrees outside right now and it’s not supposed to get much warmer. With rain predicted for most of the day, our driveway will be all ice. Come on Spring!
Love all the animals and quilt pictures. That log cabin quilt makes me want to try one too. It would take care of a lot of scraps at the same time.
Bonnie’s quote is me too! Hope you remember to make the patchwork eggs next Easter because I certainly won’t remember to remind you. Haha! 😀
Love seeing all of your animals. I grew up on a farm and we had cats and dogs. The wind has been terrible here also. Blows you to death. We are having a rain storm now.
You have a nice group of children at your church.
I am going to use that laugh all day! Thanks for the LOL start to the day. Is it just me or are Tuxedo kitties always into something? Squeak is on top of something, knocking things to the floor, in the plants etc. all the time🙀. The little kids faces are so cute! My aunt and uncle had no children so when they moved to FL late in life, they chose to live in a mixed development rather than a “ no kids” gated community. My Aunt Elsie loved those little kids and they loved her😀. Happy thought😺
So wonderful to see that many kids together at church!!! You seem to have a wonderful
congregation too! Of course, the pets and quilts are great as well – it just made me
happy to see all the children.
Marilyn – all those little kids at church means lots of young families which means our church is growing and very alive, mostly thanks to our Brian Lund, our pastor. We are blessed.
I laughed out loud. So true. As they say, getting old is not for dummies!
Trying
Like very much seeing your great blog each day. Love your animals, not the snake !! UGH!!
You have so many interesting quilts and collections in your home. So Nice ! Wonder what you will do with the purple fabric, very pretty but not sure what to do with it. You will find something good to do with it.
Liked to see the children in church too.
Hi, wonderful blog today. Just made my heart smile.
OMG Mary thank you for the animal pictures – made my day!! And wouldn’t Robert n Marline love that car quilt?? Have a good day everyone raining and wind again here in Iowa – UGH
LOVE the collection of fabrics with purple. Can’t wait to see your quilt. Also is that Kaffe Fasset on your long arm? There was a time not so long ago that those fabulous bright and happy colors I would have shied away from. Funny how time changes some things. I think they are just beautiful now. Maybe it’s coming out of the blah Ed’s if a long winter that all that color just appeals to me so much. Anyway, I look forward to ‘your visit’, Mary. I hope to see it for years to come.
Mary, I love those eggs. If I want to remember something months from now, I either put a note or picture on the calendar. So to do the eggs, I’d put the picture on December calendar and move it to January when I got my new calendar.
I’m still old school and need paper.
Thank you for sharing the pics. Love the one, “protecting the lambs.” Touched my heart.
So many neat pictures! Love them all! But no snakes, mice or spiders for me! A few Sundays ago I opened my garbage drawer to be greeted by a fat mouse! I set a trap and got it that evening! Yay! The next morning there was one curled up on my snuggle in the chair blanket! Ugh! Screaming! It ran under the fridge! I opened the freezer door (on the bottom) slammed it shut. Never did catch him and hubby pulled out the fridge and it wasn’t there either. We need a new seal on the bottom of our entry door.
Jo in Wyoming, I’m so sorry to hear you still have issues from shingles! That is awful! My cousin had them when she had back issues and surgery. She convinced me to get the shot!
Wind wind wind! But, on the other hand, I don’t want to live in the middle of trees either, I love the sunrise, sunsets, and open space.
We had rain overnight….so wondering if Mary had Hazel snuggling with her?
Bonnie Hunter is a very gifted quilter! And she also has so many awesome quotes! Love her!
Happy sewing!
It is raining here in Oskaloosa this morning, and we are thankful as we have been dry. We did not have much snow this past winter either. Yesterday for lunch I made your Hobo dinner. It was chilly in the house and I thought using the oven would not make the house too hot. My husband loves that dinner and so do I.
What a great blog with all the animal, children and quilt pictures. I did not find the snake, but will go back and see if I can see it. I don’t like them either. Our daughter in North Dakota is again getting snow this morning. They had rain first, and now snow, so the roads are a muddy mess. I remember having “mud vacation” from school when I was growing up in Minnesota. The roads were nearly impassable during that time of year. We as kids loved it! Have a wonderful day everyone!
I do NOT like snakes! When there was a small one in our backyard, I was freaked out about it. I did not care that it was a milk snake or whatever. NO snakes! Ever!
But I do like dogs and loved seeing those three curled up together, and of course they were right in front of a chair so no one could sit in it without climbing over them, if that would even be possible! LOL And the Great Pyrenees with the lambs – so cute.
Thank goodness my washer and dryer are in the basement and not the kitchen! LOL I too like the Bonnie Hunter quilt – what a wonderful use of half-square triangles.
Last week we had summery weather, then it turned cooler. Tomorrow will be a taste of summer again before cooling off back to “normal” again for April in western New York. The forsythia are blooming as are daffodils and narcissus, and the trees are thinking about leafing out.
Mary–I absolutely love your purple fabric choices–one of my favorite colors. Will be fun to see what you come up with. I have a lot of ufo’s and I’m trying to choose some to finish for a quilt show we have the end of June. We display our quilts over the backs of the pews of a little country church that was moved to our fair grounds. There is a big Agriculture Expo going on at the same time and our Alumni weekend is around the same time. Lots of fun!!
Mary we had WIND RAIN and HAIL last night. It would stop and come again over and over until 2am. All our beautiful blooming trees look like it snowed all over the ground. Ugh!!
Your purple fabric choices are beautiful, I never have worked with purple much either! Very windy & cold here yesterday, went to lunch with friends! Warmer today & sunny, I’m going to mow, tomorrow it’s going to be 80 again & then chilly & rain on the weekend! Thanks for your blog Mary, it’s the best!!
Me, again. I welcome all kinds of stuff to watch. The kids, birds, cats, dogs, and then snakes. Rattlers are very common out here, but I’ve never seen one in town. BUT one day a garter snake decided to shed his skin just outside the back step! He was living under my back step and would come out to sun himself in the morning sun, then head to the neighbor’s garden for breakfast. The skin was amazing to see. Then, here were 4 baby snakes coming out from under the patio. More to watch. I loved watching them for a couple years then no more snakes. I would love to be so graceful. Frank wasn’t very excited about the snake but tolerated it, not that it was a problem. More ofGod’s creatures.
And thank you to Vicky Ibarra for the wonderful laugh out loud moment. Living in your house was probably very interesting??
Betty in Rapid City
You could say that! I gave my guys guff about that snake for a long time. We often wondered where it went to. I hated cleaning the basement, thinking it might have slithered down there.
I opened my garage door today and there was a garter snake looking back at me! They must be coming out now. I’m just a few hours east of you. About an hour west of Rockford. I agree, the wind can stop anytime!
Mary! Will you please tell us how you survived the weather last night and today. I looked at your radar and it didn’t look nice!
We had rain and some snow that didn’t accumulate
Joy – guess what? We got nothing but some rain! We were right in the middle and missed all the storms but got a beautiful rain. Southeast Iowa has gotten slammed for months – us? Nothing
Mary, when you see fabric you want to buy how do you decide how much of each color to purchase? I see the beautiful accent fabric and then you added complimentary fabrics. Is there also a general size you make?
Kathy Burton
Kathy – I don’t even remember the quilt! I’ll have to go back to look!
Kathy – are you referring to the purple floral? It was a one yard piece, the only one they had. The rest is scraps on hand. I sleep in a twin bed which I recently posted so I make quilts for that size bed. If I’m purchasing yardage, I usually buy 1/3 – 1/2
I loved reading all the blogs( have been traveling). Today I’m in Alexandria La. Staying at a lovely RV park, it has a beautiful lake. I’ve had great weather. We’ll see how tomorrow goes. Mary I agree about the wind. Every day has been windy ,not a breeze but 20~30mile a hour winds. I hate wind. I sure miss doing any sewing but a couple more weeks
Deb – where are you traveling to? Are you traveling alone? A. Oh old more weeks of traveling? You must explain.
My son lives in Iowa but grew up in Texas. So he was used to watching for snakes on my parents’ farms. He worked third shift and lived in a rent house out in the country. One day while he was sleeping his dog kept trying to wake him up and finally jumped on him. There was a large gopher snake in his bedroom!
Even though he was a grown up and lived many states away, he called his mom to help him calm down and figure out what to do. He never saw another snake at that house.
Love the pet pictures. I have a cat named Klaus. The lamb babysitter is a neat picture.
Neat quilts too. The wedding quilt looks like it would be interesting to study. And so many scrappy quilts makes me want to start one. Can’t now though as I have several projects to finish.
I like those eggs decorated with scraps. What a neat idea.
It’s windy here too. Allergies are driving me nuts. We have oak blossoms everywhere and haven’t had enough rain to wash the air and water the plants. I sure hope we don’t have a dry summer.
I subscribe to a knitting blog also and remember another subscriber commenting that scraps are like bushes, the more you try trimming them back, the bushier they get!
It doesn’t get better than this….5:30 AM, cup of coffee in hand sitting in my easy chair reading your post from the “blog about nothing”…..awesome start to my day! Love all the animals, quilts are amazing and I follow Bonnie Hunter as religiously as I follow you. Great day!
Sharon – I, too, am sitting here drinking coffee reading comments as well as Bonnie’s blog. Having The Inn is so much work for her and I remember those days on a lesser level (quilters did not sleep on the premises) but we taught 3 different projects each day and I still had all the chores to do and we cooked for everybody at night. I don’t know how I did it !
You were younger! 😂. Remember the day when you could clean the whole house in one day? Ha, not anymore!
Well, guess what we are having for weather today! Snow showers! Next week the temps are suppose to be in th 50s. Not corn planting weather but, I’m sure there will be some farmers that do.
I made a chicken and rice dish last evening, so I have yummy leftovers!
Happy sewing!
Joy – I just came home from town in a huge snow squall! Visibility was even bad yet in the distance I could see the sun shining. Yes, I remember those days when I could work all day!
Loved the Sunday children’s church picture. That is a lot of little ones! Great to see a church with all generations together as we all need each other.
Jennifer – HI! You’re a name from the past – how are you and how’s your whole family? I hope you’re still quilting. Yes, we have lots of little kids in our church – thanks to our pastor who is so good with young families and when one young family is happy with their church, word spreads. Tell everybody hi from me.
1st. time reader. Jo Kramer keeps mentioning you all in her blog, so I thought I’d check you out for myself. Your pictures of pets and children in church has made my day bright. Lord willing I’ll be reading your blogs a lot. Thanks for making my day.
Judith – welcome!
You will enjoy all the chitchat about nothing and everything. Welcome!
Great quilts and fun pet pictures! Love those collage eggs too!
Oh how I wish I would get my bullseye quilt put together to use. I did so great on the sew along but I have hit a major snag.
Carol- what’s your snag? Can I help?
I love the quilted Easter eggs too! Going to look for discounted ones now and keep them in a basket in my sewing room to remind me!