Here is a sneak peek of the quilt I am going to talk about. More on that in a minute!
Things have been hectic lately. My mind has been a whirl with office stuff, planning stuff, life stuff. You know, the usual. 🙂 And so I have been delayed in posting. Today I am feeling…disgruntled. Crabby. Dare I say it, maybe even a little pissy. :O
So I decided to change my mood and blog.
For Christmas my Super-Duper-Handy-Hubby got crafty again. I love it when he does that. I found some nifty thingies that go on bobbins and keep them from unwinding when not being used. I put a homemade version on my Christmas list and boy howdy did he come through. Not only did I get some fantastic new doo hickeys, he made a how-to video! He makes it look so easy to make these. Really. Go check it out right now!! 😀
Handy Dandy Bobbin Collar DIY video
Here is a picture of one of them. Hard to see because they are clear. Below that is a whole pile of them. Should last me a little while, eh?
I have also been busy with quilts. The Feed Sack Quilt is all done but the label! Yay. I pieced the whole thing by machine, but hand quilted it. I felt that since there were vintage feed sacks in the quilt it really needed to be quilted by hand.
I really fell in love with hand quilting as well. You can read more about the process here and here. Actually, I went a little overboard with the binding. I put a bazillion stitches in the back to finish it. Way too many. But I just couldn’t stop doing such small stitches!
Now that my Grandma’s quilt is done I started on another secret project. I couldn’t help myself. I will give you a sneak peek. Promise not to tell, ok? 😀
And now that this quilt is done, I need another project. I really enjoyed such tiny stitches on the binding of the Feed Sack Quilt. Really Really. Strange, I know. So I thought that I might work on learning English Paper Piecing. I cut 272 squares today. I meant to keep then for an upcoming vacation, to give myself something to do. But…I don’t think that is going to happen. Hopefully I will not finish all 272 pieces before I go! Here is a peek. I am using reproduction 30’s print fabric.
Which, of course brings us to Ice Road Truckers!! I know your were waiting with baited breath for this part of the blog! I live in Michigan. In the country. On a dirt road. As I mention in my “All About Me” section, living on a dirt road is different. Living in Michigan is different too. One day it is -20 F with the wind chill and then 8 inches of snow. A few days later it is 45 and rainy. Which would be all fine and dandy if we had paved road or even roads the county took care of. However, we live on a private road. So we get graded 2x per year. (whether we need it or not. And we always need it.) We do get plowed when it snows. And they did a bang up job with the 8 inches. Made it nice and smooth. Then the rain. Lots of rain, but not enough to melt the ice. Oh yeah. Then it got really cold again. The result? A nice slick ice road.
There is a show on cable (which we used to get, but don’t anymore so I can’t tell you what station) called Ice Road Truckers. In this show these people drive big rigs way up North across the frozen water. They can only go at certain times of the year when the water is frozen and really thick. So literally they are driving these big huge trucks across huge frozen lake or something. Sometimes they show the ice cracking. Personally I think it is for dramatic effect, but it did make me scared for them. Anyhow… I figured that is who I am training to be. An Ice Road Trucker. Not fun going up a tiny hill and your car is sliding out of your control toward the ditch!!
Did you know that it is not effective to salt a dirt road? Me neither. I gather if you salt a dirt road the salt will make a little hole as it goes down to the dirt and that is all. If you sand a dirt road that is better, but the sand blows away. Huh. Never knew. I also never knew that the mailman wouldn’t come. But he will NOT come for 3 days when we live on an ice road. He will not come when the big grader trucks slide off the road and get stuck. He will not come when little momvans barely make it up tiny hills and people with trucks abandon their vehicles by the side of the road because it is too icy. No he will not. Humph.
One last totally unrelated thought. One comment on a previous post called my name tag “Country Whimsy”. I love, love, LOVE that name. Country Whimsy. I think I will now call all my quilts “Country Whimsy”. What is your style they will say. “Country Whimsy” I will reply. Yup. I love it. I am off to work on my Country Whimsy Hexagons.
I really do feel better now. 😀 Thanks for stopping by.
Livin Life on an Ice Road.
Country Whimsy sounds great. And I watch Ice Roads Trucker here in the UK. I was born in Canada and know all about icy roads! Keep up the good work Carol.
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Thank you Lucie. Your encouragement is so appreciated. And thank you for inspiring me with your work. 🙂
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I was missing your updates!! Thanks for the post… and I think me knows the seeeeeecreeeet =)
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Shhhh. Don’t tell. ❤ He needs to be surprised. 😉
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I feel your pain with the roads – I live on a ‘seasonal’ road too! They do plow it, and like you, grade it once a year, whether it needs it or not – and it always does. Good luck and keep a good attitude – it’s all that we can do. Be careful on that ice!!!!
I love, love, LOVE your feedsack quilt – you did a marvelous job.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂 Connie
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Thank you for the kind words Connie. I am glad you like the quilt. I am trying to learn to give my treasures away! I like them so much. 😉
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I love your feedsack quilt!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Gorgeous quilts and hand quilting 🙂 As for ice on the roads……it looks so scary. Looking forward to springtime 😀 Avis x
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Thanks Avis. The roads are scary. I keep telling myself that all this cold weather is killing lots of bad bugs. Makes me feel better about the weather.
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Thank you so much for the bobbin cover video – bobbins drive me crazy, and I have been shopping for something to use to keep the threads in place. I’m sorry to say that it never occurred to me to make something myself! I do not have that inventor’s brain. So I will definitely use this idea.
Also, I love the feedsack quilt too!
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Yay! I am so glad the video was helpful. And Hubby will be so happy someone watched his video. 🙂 They really work like a dream.
Thanks for the compliment on my quilt. I love it too. ;D
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Yikes! I can’t even take it when my driveway is a sheet of ice. Hang in there . Spring ought to come by June.
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LOL. I hope it comes by June! Thanks for stopping by.
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Oh, be still my beating heart! A ’30s quilt with a yellow background (my presonal favorite) and ’30s print hexies. Definitely brightened up my already sunshiny day. Be warned though, the hexies have been known to be addictive. Enjoy!
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Cindy,
You warned me too late!! I am addicted. I just purchased some Snow colored fabric as well as some blue to be the centers of the white flowers. Having a blast and cannot stop. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
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Great post! Love LOVE the feed sack quilt! I am going to try one next, as I have some very special fabric, and I will base it on yours. Do you mind if I share it in my blog?
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Emma Bryan I would be honored if you think I did something worthy enough to share. 🙂 I will see my Nanny a week from Sunday to give her the Feed Sack Quilt. I am very excited.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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I have a “share” about English Paper Piecing on my blog too. http://www.cottonhappy.wordpress.com/oldfriends. I have never been patient enough to make one though, so I will be watching with interest to see how long it takes! They look so beautiful when made.
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P.s. we get Ice road truckers in the uk, and I am secretly addicted! Bye for now. Cotton happy!
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I used to watch occasionally when we had cable. I found myself getting nervous when the ice would make the cracking sounds. 😀 Even though I know it was edited in. Now I just worry about sliding off the road!
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I don’t know a thing about iced roads, but I do know dirt roads. The roads of the south,USA and the roads of Costa Rica. They cover the roads, of my neighborhood, in CR, with molasses to keep the dust down….it’s awful, but you kind of get used to it.
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Molasses? How unusual. I like the smell of molasses so maybe that would be nice. 😀 Does it attract a lot of bugs?
Thanks for popping by!
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