Bless the Beasts...

 

How are you doing?

I've been talking to neighbors who have animals and asking them if their dogs are eating more these days.  Why yes they are!  I'm seeing this with Lucky.  He normally eats around noon although I put his food down at breakfast.  Now he eats as soon as I put anything down.  

I looked it up and multiple sources relay that dogs need 2-3 times more than normal in cold winter.  This is especially true for Lucky--and dogs like him who are active.  Lucky is walked different times during the day.  The temperatures have barely been above 0 degrees Farenheit so it makes sense he is hungrier.

One of the downsides of town life is the thick amount of salt when we walk.  There's still a lot of ice out there too.  Lucky's paws are getting rough to the feel and I just re-ordered another tin of Bag Balm. 

Our groomer Jessa had recommended it years ago and we've put it on all our dogs paws (none of them would wear booties).

A robin has moved into our Beauty Berry bush.  He or she is there everyday and yesterday chased a bunch of sparrows away.  I'm glad.  Many of our robins remain here in the winter.  Often we see flocks of them together at the park and learned years ago that they did that to stay warm and find food together.

Many robins die in the winter of starvation and/or cold.  One article suggested that the birds can lose 10 percent of their body weight just to keep warm in a single night.  So we have been feeding birds but the squirrels steal most of the seeds.  I'm glad the robin has moved here and is happily eating the berries.

Wishing you a safe and happy day!

Groundhog Day

 

Happy Groundhog's Day!

It's my mom's birthday today and my hubby and I have arranged for a bunch of relatives to meet us at her favorite restaurant.  I even ordered a corsage for her which I hope she likes.

My mom's having some cardiac problems and my sister-aunt Kathy has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  Kathy has surgery to remove the thyroid and lymphnoids later this week.  There are other ailments (knees, ribs, etc) but not as pressing as mom's and Kathy's.   Today should be a good day for a bunch of us to see each other and hopefully make each other laugh.

How are you spending Groundhog's Day?  Do you believe the predictions on this day?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday

 49 days until Spring!

I woke up this morning with a decision about my garden:  I would not grow vegetables.  I must have been dreaming about garden plans.  Apparently the soundtrack to this dream must have been Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant" because that has been going through my head as well.

Anyway since I lack real flowers, here are some textile ones to start the weekend:

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Scrap Blocks

On my last blog post, I mentioned that I was working on two pieces right now.  One is a orphan block/scrap quilt.

When I local sewing shop decided to move and only focus on machine repairs, all the fabric and kits went on sale.  I bought a bunch of little bags of Thangles kits--not because I wanted to make HSTs but I just liked the 1930s fabrics.  Honestly, I prefer making HSTs the old fashioned way.  After years of moving the little baggies, I ended up making 4-patches.  Then the 4-patches sat around here until I had a big basket of 1930s scraps.

By December, I had decided I must do something with them.  And if I could also use the Kona Snow that's been living here for years, that would be great too!

I didn't count anything just cut the 3.75 squares to go into the blocks and let it at that.  I was hoping to get a lap quilt and maybe even a baby quilt out of the blocks.  The blocks came out to 7 inches square and that can make a nice quilt.

On Tuesday, I told Beth I had finished the blocks.  "So how many blocks did you get?" she asked.  And then burst into laughter when I told her--159.

After my post on Tuesday Sue commented that she has boxes of 1.5 inch blocks she's cut through the years.  Sue's mission is to sew at least five 9-patches a day.  This is a really honorable quest and I wonder how many blocks she will get.  

I found this idea online:

For some reason this reminds me of a Florence Peto quilt you can see an adaptation here.  

Sue doesn't know what she will make with the 9 patches but it is honorable work and I can't wait to find out how many blocks she got from her boxes!  Sue is one of the best quilters I know and whatever she makes will be fantastic!

Have a safe and happy day!

Snow Days

 

So we got a foot of snow over the weekend!

How much did you get?

It's Tuesday and the kids are still out of school.

I think they are attending virtually today.

We are expecting more next weekend.

My back is out due to shoveling and walking an overexcited puppy.  Our neighbors all were out yesterday and working to get everyone's parking space and pathways clear.  Brad was out there and said he felt really old in comparison to the neighbors (he is old).  We are the seniors on our block and they didn't want us out helping.  We do pay our one neighbor to keep us clear and he did a great job as usual.  

I still can't get the puppy to go to the bathroom in our yard.😒  I have to walk and walk him to get him to go.  I dug out some space in the backyard for him but he still wouldn't use it.  I don't mind the snow.  I do mind walking for a half hour or more in weather that feels like -7 farenheit.  ("Lucky, will you go please!!!")

Still I'm happy for a real winter.  This really reminds me of the 1995 and 1996 snows that just seemed to go on and on through the winter.

Projects I'm working on:

Sewing themed  ladder quilt.  Yes, it's wrinkled I just put it up to see how much more I have to add.

Orphan blocks (four patch) and scraps.  I'm almost done making the blocks.  I wonder how many there will be?

I'm also binding a quilt for Nora's second birthday in February.

How did you make out in the storm?

Have a safe and happy day!

Bored in a Storm?

 

So if you don't lose power and are bored you can sew, bake, eat, shovel, watch tv, or play on the internet.

I'm not interested in buying anthing these days but I sure enjoy looking at antiques...especially sewing themed ones.  

Here's a website that has a lot of things available on auction.

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More vintage and antique inspiration is available at Dana's Auction.  Lots of antique quilts to study and some really neat sewing notions.  There's a pin cushion on this site that made me laugh out loud.  Can you find it?

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There are fun paper snowflakes you can enjoy and study here!

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An interesting article on the return of letter writing and typewriters is here!

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Of course you and sew and that is what I hope to be doing (in between shoveling and walking the dog).  I have a hand project to work on in case we lose power...do you?

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Stay safe and warm!

Update

 

Greetings and salutations!

So here's the scoop:

We switched to Verizon recently.  It was good for a few weeks.  Until the past week or so.  Now everything stops about 5 times a day.  The internet goes down but so do the regular tv channels (we're on verizon cable).  Hopefully by the time you read this, it will be repaired as they are coming Thursday afternoon.

I'm writing this early in case it crashes again.

I did work on Lucky's coat last night.  Can velcro wear out?  I had a tough time keeping Lucky's coat on him (okay he also gained weight like me).  Last night I attached snaps and voila!  His coat stayed on.

I'm wondering how many of you are expecting snow this weekend?  We still have no idea how much will fall.

Have a safe and happy weekend!