My New Normal!

I've been staying home and avoiding people since Tuesday afternoon.  Had a Doctor's appoint that I couldn't miss.  My Quilt clubs have been postponed, Church and all it's activities have been cancelled, the schools and library are closed, the bank lobby is closed and I can't take my granddaughter out for lunch on her birthday today as all the restaurants are closed.

But on the bright side, I've been catching up on my sewing and quilting.  My plan is to clear the chair and table of half-done quilts and get them off to the groups they are slated for when this is all over.  We've actually started really cleaning the house - it is amazing how much better a room looks when you clear out what doesn't belong there and dust and sweep - wow we found the top of the dresser!!

When the weather clears and it quits raining - I plan on a morning walk for some fresh air and sunshine, since I live in the country the chances of running into a crowd of people is vanishing small. 

I did complete a quilt the other day - it is from a panel that someone gave me years ago.  Then we had a pipe freeze and burst flooding part of my sewing room.  Almost everything was in plastic tubs, but there was one crate that was an open weave - so about 2/3 of that got wet.  After a run through the dryer, and the nightmare of having to iron all that fabric - most of it was less that 1/4 yard.  I found 3 pieces that would make perfect borders and binding for this panel.  This accomplished 2 things - it got that fabric out of my stash and it will bring comfort to someone in need. 

I'm also still working on my National Day Quilt. 

National Dog Biscuit Day
National Pig Day
National Strawberry Day
National Periodic Table Day

I've actually texted with 3 of my grandchildren yesterday - They must be bored too - I'm usually lucky to hear from one of them in a week, but I'm not complaining - it was great to talk to them. 

I've been getting more reading done 
Alibi by Ellen Enright Hodgett
A Puzzling Murder by Steve Demaree
and I'm reading A Minute to Midnight by David Baldecci  He is one of my most favorite authors.
on my list is a Susanna Gregory medieval mystery, a Charlotte MacLeod mystery, A Phyllis Whitney Mystery and a Patricia Wentworth mystery.  Looking forward to them.  I am so grateful for my library where I can download books onto my tablet to read and I don't have to go to the store.  I also don't have to worry about having to take them back.

I'm working on a paper-piecing lesson for my group of quilters at church.  Hopefully we will be able to have our meeting in April, but it can wait until May or even June.

Praying for a lovely day for all. 

Spring has come!?

Spring has come - or is it our False Spring or our Teasing Spring or is it really Spring.  At any rate the Robins are back, the birds are singing their hearts out from the trees in the neighborhood and the sun is shining - well sometimes.  Yesterday it was foggy damp and cold, and on Tuesday it poured rain all day and was pretty chilly - but at least it wasn't ice and snow and the robins and other birds were still around and making merry music! 

Yesterday I went to my Thursday Quilting club and we had a little quilt show of the quilts we made a year or so ago.  We all used the same basic pattern but each chose a different colorway and each one had something that the maker changed - a border - a different block or something.  Each one was unique and it was amazing how different each one looked. 

This was my entry - called Autumn Stars - It was very well received - I think because of the sharp contrast with the background - it made everything pop out.  I'm pleased with the results.  

I'm still working on my National Days/Months blocks.  this is really fun project  If you would like to join in - the National Days Tutorials are at I think it needs stitches Blog.

National Gingerbread House Day
National Tea Month (January)
National Heart Healthy Month (February)
National Umbrella Day

National Groundhog Day
Mickey Mouse Birthday
National Cake Day
Valentine's Day

National Handwriting Day
National Flashlight Day
National Cupcake Day
National Necktie Month (December)

I will be teaching a class on paper piecing in a few weeks and I really need to get busy on my lesson plan and my sample - I have it started but the most difficult part is actually sitting down and doing it.  I want to get on that today.  I also have a couple of quilts to finish for the Quilts of Compassion drive for those affected my the Tornado in Tennessee.  Check out their Facebook Page HERE.

I am an avid reader, from Dr Seuss to David Baldecci to Jane Austen  Occasionally I find one I don't like and there are certain types of books I won't read - but I love books - too many books and not enough hours to read them.

I rediscovered Charlotte McLeod  I loved her in the past and have started reading her again - it is as much fun as it was the first time around.  So far I've read

The Family Vault - A Sarah Kelling & Max Bittershon Mystery

God Rest Ye Merry  - A Peter Shandy Mystery

Others include:

One Good Deed by David Baldecci

Tucan Keep a Secret - Donna Andrews

Pirates in Peril and Matrimony & Murder by Hope Callaghan

Almost Valentine's Day

Thankfully the Winter is passing by - but wouldn't you know, the night before I had a Quilt Club Meeting and a Quilt show - it snowed and the temperature is approaching 0-F and the road is totally snow and ice covered.  I'm not going anywhere today - no Bible Study, to lunch at Bishop Hill and no Quilt Club or Show.  The temperatures are supposed to be in the 40's again by the weekend.  Winter can be so strange.

Took this picture at 1 in the morning during the storm.  Thought the snow on the branches was so pretty and knew it wouldn't be there in the morning when the wind came up.  It was light and fluffy and sparkled when you shown a light on it.

I have been busy with quilt projects.  I found the cutest quilt tutorial at Seriously, I think it needs stitches a blog by Kelli Fanning.  It is a National Day Quilt - the National Rubber Ducky Day, the National Ugly Sweater Day, the National Bird Day - etc.  

These ones are National Candy Cane Day
National Ugly Sweater Day
National Wreath Day
National Button Day

National Red Mitten Day
National Rubber Ducky Day
National Law Enforcement Day
National Bird Day 

 These are all made from my overflowing scrap bucket which makes it even more fun.  I get to make cute blocks and get rid of some of the clutter in my sewing room.

I have actually completed 4 quilts - most of them have been UFO's for a while - but they are now completed and ready to go to whoever God lays on my heart to give them to.  I'm working on two more long time projects - one is over 10 years on the pile - time to get it completed.  Ones that are completed are Here at completed projects for 2020.  I will add the photos as I get them ready.  For previous years projects you can go To the Completed Projects list.

Still doing a lot of reading.

Under Currents by Nora Roberts

Transatlantic Tragedy by Hope Callaghan

The Christmas Boutique by Jennifer Chiaverini

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

Murder on Board by Ivy Dawson

The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman

A Body on April Fool's Day by Steve DeMere

Sea of Greed by Clive Cussler

Vein of Deceit by Susanna Gregory

Only one new author this time - Ivy Dawson - Don't know if I'll read any more.  It was OK but not really great to me.  For a complete listing of all the authors and books I've read you can check them out HERE.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!

It can't possibly have been a year

It Can't possibly have been a Year

I can't believe that it has been nearly a year since I last wrote in this blog.  Life does tend to get away from us.  It has been a very busy year.  To begin with we have a new Great Granddaughter  and she is now 8 months old - wasn't that just last week we drove over to Chicago when her mommy went in the hospital to have her.  Well I guess it has been.

Then in July my quilting buddy and I took off for a Quilt Shop Hop into Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Canada and Iowa.  It was my first trip into North Dakota and my first trip out of the USA.  It was a lot of fun.  I had no idea there was so much open space in North Dakota - next time I will be better prepared - and I am a country girl - just not that much country!!

In August my husband and I took off and headed west.  We went to Yellowstone National Park where we had a close encounter on the Buffalo kind.  

He had it in his head to charge the road, but she had other ideas.  It was interesting they way she headed him off and turned him.  It also seemed like she was talking to him the entire time.  There was a herd of them in the area, but these two really interested me.

From Yellowstone we headed further north and went to Glacier National Park.  The scenery in this park is spectacular.  If I was a decade or two younger it would be a wonderful place to hike - but I was content with the car and my camera and some wonderful places to pull over and take pictures.

Our last stop of the trip was the Badlands in South Dakota.  It was an interesting place to visit, but after a while, one rock starts to look just like the last rock, but this place was rather interesting.

In between all the trips and the holidays, our granddaughter graduated from High School, our grandson joined the Marines, and we had several family parties and picnics.  It was an eventful year.

But it is now January and while we've had a very mild winter so far - especially compared to last Winter at about this time - we did have a bad ice/snow storm last weekend and the weekend before.  This past weekend included the coldest temperatures of the season but didn't come close to last year thank goodness.  But then again it is still January.

I've spent a lot of time reading  - I definitely won't go into all of them  - but I read some of my favorites:

David Baldecci

Clive Cussler

Donna Andrews

Amanda Quick

Susan Wittig Albert

Laurie R. King

Jacqueline Winspear

Hope Callaghan

Susanna Gregory

Thomas Perry

Ellery Adams

Jennifer Chiaverini

Nevada Barr

 And also a few new ones

Dale Mayer

Susan Ella MacNeal

Lynne Hint

Kennedy Chase

Sally Goldbloom

So many books - so little time!!

Polar Vortex Part II

It is now official - this morning we broke the all time record low - not just for January 31, but as far back as the records go.  The old record for our area was -28 set February 3, 1996.  The new record is -33 set this morning.  I remember the old record - I was stringing for a local paper and had an interview that afternoon.  When I went to leave the interview, there was a big red puddle under my brand new Cougar.  The seal on the power steering pump and burst in the cold and I was stuck 5 miles from town.  Because of the intense cold no local tow company was available to get to me before the next day.  Finally the Mercury dealer in Geneseo said he could get it my 5:00 PM  - it was now only about 2:00 PM.  Thankfully the business I was doing the story on was owned by a friend and she agreed to keep the keys and give them to the driver when he came and her business partner - who was leaving then - took me home.  I got the car back about 3 days later and never had any more trouble. Kept it for over 20 year.

Polar Vortex

Today is the day of the polar vortex in my neck of the woods.  Right now the temperature is -13 F and it is noon.  This morning it was -23 F and by tonight it is supposed to be -31 F.  With the wind chills right now it feels like -36 F and we are under a wind chill warning.  I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon but it was cancelled and rescheduled.  That is the second time this season that has happened - two different doctors - once for a snow storm and now for the deadly cold.  Every thing is closed from schools to libraries, from churches to court houses.  And there is not mail delivery - and worse all the quilt shops are closed!!  of course I wasn't planning on going out to shop anyway.

This is the view from my front window.  Hubby got the snow blown out yesterday before the really brutal cold it, and the road commissioner did an amazing job plowing and rocking the road (we are a township road and get no salt) but it is still snow covered and icy and there is a hill to go up in either direction.  This in no way can possibly show the cold.

I'm spending the day on my computer, Then I'm going down to work on my Fun On The Farm quilt by Eleanor Burns ( on facebook) and maybe a couple of other projects I have in the works.

Reading is another good option for the day,

So far this month I've read:

Divine Intervention by Hope Callagahan
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear
The Race by Clive Cussler
Promise not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krantz

The only new author to me is Kerry Greenwood - her Pharyne Fisher Mysteries.  I watched them on Net-flicks and then my sister told me about the books - I loved it and am looking forward to the next one.

Well, I'm off to do some sewing and hopefully stay warm for the day.

The Holidays are over

The holidays are finally over and I can take a deep relaxing breath for the first time in months.  I have no more Christmas presents to make or wrap.  I have no more breads to bake or dishes to cook for a Holiday dinner.  Now I can sit and sew quietly for my new great-grand baby girl due in May.  I am so very excited for this to happen and am praying for a beautiful, healthy girl.

I've already made her one set of a bib and burp cloth.  There will be a couple of more in the mix.  I'd like to make the traditional Pugsley/Doutt Poncho for babies for her, and of course she will be getting the baby quilt.  I have it started. 

Most of this has to be completed by March 4th as I go in for a knee replacement surgery that day and I have no idea how long I will be unable to go up and down the stairs to work in my quilt studio.  But I'm not going to worry about that now  I'm going keep my chin up and my attitude positive. 

I'm not making new year resolutions this year - just too frustrating to not keep them.  So I'm going to attempt to do my CALM Meditations most days - 3 out of 5 to begin with.  I want to post 3 really good shots every week on my 365 account.  Hopefully it will get me in the mood to do more.  After my surgery I want to get back to my letter-boxing.  Maybe finding at least one a week.   And I have to help plan at least one road trip this spring - and maybe one in the late summer or early fall.

Next time I will be posting my "award winning" cinnamon roll recipe - Bread machine version - so keep your eyes pealed for that.