What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I posted this pic on Instagram from Saturday with the caption "I think his tractor's sexy".

I got my love of gardening from my Granny.  I've talked about that a lot.  While I wish I could reach out and ask her how she dealt with pests, fertilization, etc., in her garden, I can't.  She is no longer with us.  So...in my down time I study.  Whether it is winter - a stormy summer day - while I was patiently waiting to move to my little farm - whatever that down time was, I studied and took notes.  (Did you know that writing things down actually increases your memory of those facts?)

I've studied permaculture a ...

 Help me understand why we have all these animals and I am still buying compost - that is the conversation I had with the Hubs.  He moved the compost 'bins' further away from the chicken barn and closer to the garden.  It does create a little more work when I clean out the barn, but I'm thinking I will eventually adjust.  (It's outside the garden fence, so he's not bound to the 'my garden, my rules' commandment.  LOL)  He did make it stronger by using the pallets and recently added the third bin for obvious reasons.  We had ...

I love Saturdays!  Saturdays are work until you drop days for us.  We try to get a weekend worth of work done in one day since we don't work on Sundays.  Morning chatter/planning this weekend started with Hubs telling me that we need to plant a lot more corn this year.  Prodigal Son and Army Son have also said they want us to plant more corn.  As Hubs was telling me what his plans were for the day and I was telling him what my plans were for the day, he brought up the whole 'where can we ...

Spring around a homestead is an exciting time.  As you watch the bulbs start to bloom and the seeds you started peek through the soil, hope and excitement fill your soul.  While trees start to bud out and grass starts to green, birds start building nests and breeding season brings even more life.  

Our first attempt at breeding the rabbits didn't "take".  Olaf had never been in that position before and really didn't know what he was doing.  Sadly we have no baby bunnies, but everything happens for a reason.  As we scrambled to make sure we had ...

 A few years ago I started looking into vermicomposting - growing compost/fertilizer with worms.  I joined a social media group and watched the posts.  We got so busy here that I 'unjoined' and decided that would be a project for later.  Recently Hubs started talking about it, unbeknownst to him that I had already looked into it and put the idea aside for later.  He had read that using rabbit manure was a good way to do it.  Hmmmm

Someone I follow on YT started raising worms and I watched the video.  Hmmmm  One of our grandsons got a worm ...

I've spent over *ahem* 40 years in the corporate foodservice industry.  Admittedly I know way too much about food, where it comes from and how it is processed.  Being a part of the industry has, however, helped me in making decisions regarding our food and where it comes from.  I've seen more than my share of recalls and have seen what they can do to a company as well as the consumer.  I've seen entire restaurant chains put out of business because of one bad decision an employee on a produce line made.  Recalls come more frequently ...

When the kids were little one of their favorite movies was the Land Before Time series.  I think there were 3 or 4 movies and my kids had them all.  Even as small kids they would quote lines from those movies.  (They still talk to each other in movie lines as adults!)  The boys had dinosaur sheets on their bunk beds and we had all the soft plastic hand puppets that came out at the same time.  Kids are always fascinated with dinosaurs.

You can imagine how tickled I was when this quilt came in to the shop for us ...

In the 18 years that I have had a shop, there is one thing that has remained constant - having a nice variety of greys and a nice variety of yellow is never as easy as the other colors of the spectrum.  I don't know why that is, but it is.....

For that reason I had ordered in this line months ago:  Songbook Praise & Joy  

 The more quilts I longarm from this designer, the more I love them.  The same designer who brought us the cute hedgehogs and koalas also designed the quilt I am showing you today.  This customer chose the 'dog paw bone' allover and wanted a dark blue thread.  This quilt is absolutely adorable for the dog lover!

 Hello beautiful people!  How are you adjusting to the time change?  

My weekend was phenomenal.  I got to spend it quilting.  I longarmed all day Saturday and actually started piecing another quilt Sunday.  I'll post pics later this week....

Today's post will be short and sweet.  In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I will be doing a "Luck of the Irish" promotion.

Everyone who spends $50 on books/patterns/kits will go in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to the shop.  Here are the rules:  $50 in merchandise purchases, not to include shipping.  Orders placed ...

We are still in the process of remodeling....Hubs finished his bathroom and mine is gutted.  Tile is laid and grouted.  Putting the tile around my tub is next.  Our house hasn't been updated since it was built in the 70s.  EVERY house we have lived in - we have remodeled.  It seems like we just get them finished and we have had to move.  *sigh*  Between job transfers, Pops getting sick, etc. there has always been something.  This little farm is supposed to be our retirement home.  We started with the outside because that was important to us.  Through ...

I'm in growing zone 6A.  Last year I felt like I was behind everyone else in my seed starting.  Scrolling through the local gardening groups posts and pics of their seedlings all ready to go made me feel somewhat lax in what I was getting done.  I lurked and watched as they all got their seedlings in the ground while mine sat in the high tunnel.  Then 2020 showed just how contrary she could be and sent us that late frost and the rains.  I lost my first round of pumpkins from flooding in an area that doesn't ...

I spent Saturday longarming in the shop.  Truth be told, I couldn't wait to get the quilt that was on the allover machine done so that I could put my Vacation Houses quilt on there.  I had an allover in mind.  I had been eyeing this allover for a while waiting for the 'right' quilt to put it on.  Finally I finished the beast of a quilt, got the customer invoice done and was ready to load my little quilt on there.  I just didn't want it to end up in the UFO pile for you to read ...

 With all this crazy weather, we can all dream about vacations right?  We can dream about sitting on the beach with our toes in the sand watching the tide come up just far enough to tickle our feet, then rushing back from whence it came.  We can dream about the smell of suntan lotion or the rays of the sun kissing our skin just enough to give us a golden glow.  We can dream about that drink in our hand with the little umbrella floating off to the side - I'm thinking sweet tea with lemon.  We can dream....

I ...

Today's pics aren't my best work - I'll just start off with that disclaimer.  Earlier this week I was on a Zoom call and saw our rural mail lady try to turn around in the neighbor's driveway.  She got stuck.  Totally distracted from my call, I watched as she kept revving the engine in her little jeep and burning the rubber off her tires trying to get out.  My call ended and I threw on a coat and boots.  In an effort to get there quicker, I started out across the yard rather than using the driveway ...

You will want to read all the way through to the end, so you can see our **SALE**. 

I'm pretty sure our delivery people don't like delivering to us.  We had an 'incident' where the FedEx driver left a box of fabric out at the end of our 150 ft driveway (where we put our trash, I might add) and for the first time ever, Hubs called in.  The local social media site, coincidentally, had a rash of other deliveries that the same thing had happened to.  Whether it was everyone being keyboard warriors or thinking there was ...

It's in the 70s and 80s in Australia right now.  Our low tonight is 4 degrees.  I should really focus on what the weather will be there when we are having our summer, but it's hard when the air bites your face.  The ice hangs from the barns and the high tunnel looks more like a snow tunnel.  I reflect on the Spring flowers blowing in the breeze while I started seeds last year.  Patience grasshopper....

I quilted another Koala quilt.  Can you smell the eucalyptus?  

Here's a random question....what is your favorite mammal?  I love hippos.  I know they are ruthless.  Here are some unneeded facts about hippos:  A hippo can open it's mouth wide enough to fit a 4' child.  Hippos sweat their own sunblock.  When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.  Hippos can't swim or float.  (They actually walk around.)  Hippos closest living relatives are whales and porpoises.  See, not only is my blog goofy, but it is educational!  LOL  

I have a grandson who loves whales.  When I saw this quilt...well, you know what happened.

I remember in the 70s when owls were so popular.  Mustard and avocado green (even that orange - remember??) graced kitchens all around the country.  I think one of my aunts had canisters, cookie jars, trivets and towels all with owls on them.  I think I even remember another aunt who did macrame and made everyone an owl wallhanging.  Everything comes full circle, so they say.  Now owls are all the rage again.

So, I wasn't surprised when these owls showed up in the shop mail.