I love going on quilt retreats and sometimes I will just sew and the last retreat I went on I did both when I made this quilted bag.  I had this kit for a few years and finally dug it out and made it.  I'm trying to go through all my kits in my sewing room and finish them up.  Truth be told I would probably have to sew every day to get through it all...ugh!  That is not good :0

Winter still has its hold on us here in Wisconsin.  Today it's raining and the animals are not overly happy about that.  We haven't tapped any trees yet and we haven't seen any buckets/bags out yet.  Around here most of the Amish have converted over to the tubes and bag system, not us we still us the galvanized buckets hooked on a spile/spout.  We're not too fond of having tubing lines running through our sugar bush, it's just not for us.

Well, the month of February is coming to a close.  I'm not really sure where January or February went, I guess being busy probably helped some.

Jeepers, I did not expect to be gone from the blog for so long.  Hubby actually had viral pneumonia so I've been taking care of him.  He's finally to the point of not coughing a lung up and can do a few things (light things) before he tires out.  One of our sons came to do some farm chores for us that needed to be done before winter came.  It's good that we had our wood cut and stacked for the year, but we had rain barrels to empty out so they won't freeze this winter and various odds and ends that Jim just couldn't do and I couldn't do by myself.  A huge weight went off Jim's shoulders to have all those chores done and marked off his list.  I am so ever thankful for our son coming to help.

I was looking for a needle to do some embroidery work on a quilt block and came upon this pack of needles in my sewing room.  I have no idea where I might have gotten them from, but I was happy to have found them.  I was getting the Sew Sampler Box from the Fat Quarter Shop and it may have  been in one of the boxes.  I don't do a lot of hand work but I do have to say that these needles are wonderful to use.  I thought needles were all the same, but I now believe otherwise.  When I get the top done I will show what I did, but not yet :)

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  So much to be thankful for here that is for sure.

I've been making things for my booth and these mug rugs turned out so cute and my little swim fish pincushion find, I'm just loving him.  Gasp!!!! There's a loose thread in my bottom photo LOL!  

I'm still posting from my iPad and this post is from my phone. Let me know what you think, especially if you are viewing my blog from your computers or laptops. Are my photos ok?  I'm thinking if I can post from my phone or iPad I just might post more.

Thoughts?

We took a drive the other day out to Prairie du Chien and on the way out we went by the eagles nest.  This is actually a new nest that the eagles built, which is nice because I can get better shots of the new nest without having to walk along the field to get closer.

Someone was home sitting on the nest, you can barely see it's head.

I ran up to the Dells to shop today, I fought the high winds that we had, and on the way back home I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.  It always brings a smile to my face when I see a buggy at the hitching post and seeing a hitching post outside of stores around here is something I had never experienced until moving here.

I found a wallet and an overnight bag pattern I've been wanting to make, so when I got home I made a pot of chicken vegetable soup and then headed to my sewing room to make the "Handy Wallet".  I found both the patterns in a magazine.  It's still pretty drab around here so I thought I would go outside of my box and pick brighter colors for the wallet and overnight bag which is called "The Weekender".

Now that winter seems to be almost over and spring is just around the corner it feels so good to be getting out and about.

The sap run is over and a total of 980 gallons of sap was gathered and 16.9 gallons of syrup was made.  It seemed a bit early to be tapping trees and we actually thought for a brief second about waiting.  Boy am I glad we didn't wait.  The temperature now is way too warm for the sap to be running and what is coming out of the trees is not good.  So, it's closed up for the season or unless we get a sugar snow then we might boil again.

I have not been in my sewing room other than making an Easter dress for one of the granddaughters and it fit perfectly.  I haven't done any smocking in so long, I'm glad I didn't forget how to do it.

I started this knitting project back in August on our trip west for our daughters wedding, I'm finally picking it up again.

I feel like I've missed so much on blogland.  I didn't mean to be gone for so long from the blog, but it was busy around here gathering and making syrup and company came to help so that kept me away.

Ha, what spare time :)  I have been going back and forth helping to get my mother settled into a long term care facility.  We did and all her things from her apartment have been either packed up to be stored or taken to St Vincent De Paul for donation, or lovingly went home with a family member.

I managed to get a couple of things finished up in all the running I've been doing.  I started this lap quilt at the last quilt retreat that I had been on.

This one didn't get finished in time for the last holiday season, but it's done for the one coming up.  It's a mystery table runner that I had made.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use it as a table runner or a wall hanging. 

The little time I spent in my sewing room sure felt good.

It's September 1st today and I'm wondering where August went.

I can't believe that I have never made a yo-yo before.  I guess I have never made anything that required yo-yo's in the project, that is until now.  I'm making the Lollipop Lane wall hanging.  We'll see how it goes and if I get sick of making them.  So far I have 11 made and have 53 more to go.  But they are all cut and I can just sit and sew them up while watching a movie or one of my favorite shows.

Woke up this morning to a very foggy, damp and humid day, tho it's not that hot.  We also had some excitement with Sadie trying to fight the raccoon that got trapped inside the live trap.  She got bit by one awhile back and absolutely hates them now.  We've had some raccoon problems with them coming up on the deck making a mess in the bird feeders and actually ripping one of my bird feeders apart, and leaving calling cards with their mess that we have to clean up. 

So they are not very welcome here I have to say.

Forgive me with the color changes on the blog.  I'm trying to figure out which background color I like, so I've been playing around some.

I wish you all an awesome day today.

It feels good to be sewing again.  I borrowed a friends Double Diamond Ruler at the quilt retreat I had just got back from, so I made an eye glass case.  It was a very nice few days there sewing, but it does feel good to be home again.  I know, I just got home and I took off again.  What can I say, I just love those quilt retreats.

Sugaring will be starting up soon so it will be busy around here dealing with that.  Mr does needs to do some repair work on the evaporator arch so the fire burns evenly.

Life just continues to move along, and I'm moving right along with it :)

Y'all have an awesome day today!

What an awesome week we had with the grandsons.  Mr kept them busy doing "manly" things.

I, on the other hand, did "womanly" things.  I thought I'd share with you the quilt I posted a few days ago, it's the quilt that I had finished at the last re-treat I had gone on, it's called a tossed nine patch or disappearing nine patch, I had made the top a year ago.

I did make another bag/purse for myself, it's the Newport Bag.  I didn't like the length of the handle so I cut it and tied it in a knot.

We brought the boys halfway home, we met our daughter in Rochester Minnesota which is about halfway between us and then took off down the road to Beloit Wisconsin to drop off our other grandson.  We met our daughter there as our granddaughter was in Rockford Il at a softball tournament.  As we crossed the Mississippi in LaCrosse Wi we stopped at the rest area and took a walk down by the river to stretch our legs.

It was a long day and we took different way home, instead of driving on the highway we took the back roads.  We found this cute barn quilt and a nice place to have dinner.

I do have to say that I don't have the energy that I used to, but I do have more patience.

It was fun spoiling them and then sending them back to their parents :))))

Isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do?

I've been doing a bit of sewing and I've got a thing for bags and totes right now.  I found this pattern on Craftsy.  The inside is lined with the fabric that I made the handles with.

We've had some rainy stormy weather the past couple of days and the Madison area got hit by the storm.  The grandsons have been having fun and Mr has been keeping them so busy that they are sleeping in late.

Well, it's back to the sewing room to finish up another bag/purse that is half done.