Wind turbines galore

A few years ago we went north to Willow Slough...that is north of here.  Came across all these wind turbines...and this is just a glimpse of a few.    We could see them as far as the eye could see.

Even though they fascinate me, I would not want to work on them.  Can you imagine being that high up...I would want a guard rail to say the least around the perimeter of the thing.

Look at the height compared to the trees...
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Bright and sunny here this day....still on the chilly side.  Maybe in a week or two we can make a trip north.  I am in the mood to see that country up that way.  And maybe go to Jasper-Pulaski to see the Sandhill cranes.

I continue working on my quilt...slow progress.  There is a lot of starting and stopping and that is what is slowing me down.  It is not going to be pretty quilting...just basic quilting to hold the layers together.

All the time I am working on this, I am trying to think what I want to make next....though there are a couple projects I HAVE to finish.  But quilters are known for having a bucket list that never ends.  We could never live long enough to make all the quilts we want.

I don't know when I am going to get back to taking photos on a regular basis...not that I don't have some to post.  It is just hard to remember what I have posted and what I have just 'thought' about posting.  I looked back through my posts under the label Patton's Corner and could not find this one...don't you know that some kid was really, really happy to get this when it was new.
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I have not touched my quilt today...but the cats have.  I don't know what it is about a quilt that I am working on but they consider it their duty to try them out.  I think Bubbie spent the morning sleeping on it...he was no where to be found and came strolling in from the kitchen...and the stairs to the basement are off the kitchen....

Then I went down there later, and Puss Puss was asleep on it.  She very, very seldom goes down there and stays by herself. But she was sleeping and did not want to move.

We have snow...not a lot....but enough that the snow plows went through.  It won't last.  It is already warming up to above freezing not too far from here.  But the road were really slick according to the local weather.  I am glad I  don't have to get out in it.

Visitors

The feeding station was busy yesterday....there was a small flock of cowbirds that visited the first half of the day.  Thankfully, they went on their way and left some for the other birds.

They are beautiful in their own way.   But even though there was only about a dozen or maybe 15 of them, they completely monopolized the feeders and the ground underneath.
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We had snow off and on all day yesterday, but no accumulation...the ground did not even get covered.  That was sort of amazing with how hard it snowed part of the time. 

It was 12º when I got up this morn...looking for a high of 27ºF.  Not very warm in other words.  It is really brisk out there, even with the sunshine.  At least the days are starting to get longer.

I cleaned my sewing machine yesterday...I always clean out all the lint I can fairly often, and always take the throat plate off to clean out what lint is left before I start a new project.  And I oil the machine...got that done and the walking foot put on.

I actually got a little quilting done...should have got a lot more done than I did.  If nothing happens, I hope to get more done this day. 

A busy life....

These are from a little drive we took Sunday...

an Amish place....

I look at all of this and think how busy they must be.  Even though one of my blog friends, Judy has mentioned maple syrup and the fact they still have to tap their trees,  I had not even thought about that it has started around here.

That is a trailer in the background...it will eventually be replaced by a frame home. At least at the other places I have seen them, they have always gotten replaced.
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I have been busy around here, too...went to daughter's for Lorelei's birthday party this past weekend.  She had a ball...with her it is the more the merrier.  We were telling her the night before that the quicker she went to bed, the quicker the next day would come...she told us something along the lines of yes, I will go to bed now and wake up in the morning refreshed!  I have no idea where she heard that word, much less learned to use it correctly.

I got my crumb quilt top finished last week, made the backing the other day....for the life of me I cannot remember if it was before we went to Sarah's or after we came home.  Doesn't matter anyway, except it bothers me how I forget simple things like that.

Yesterday, I went down and looked through my fabrics and chose one to make the binding, and got it made, I got the backing ironed, and even got the backing, batting, and top layered, and pin-basted and Roger carried it back down to the basement and awaits the quilting.  It is going to be simple quilting...and not to heavily quilted if I can control myself.  Now if I can just get started on it...

Quilts....

Yesterday was a fairly nice day, so I took advantage of it and washed these quilts.  They were made by my mom.  She would sometimes make a top and  it be years later that she would quilt it.  Such is the case with the one with the five stars.

I was little when she made it...and no longer lived at home when she quilted it.  But I did happen to be on vacation and was there while she was quilting it.  So I go to do a little bit of the quilting.  I cannot remember how old I was when she made this other quilt...

 but there is material from a dress I had in third or fourth grade. (The yellow was not part of my dress...just the dark fabric.)

And there is fabric from some of her dresses...

I really loved this quilt from the minute she made it.  Just because of the memories associated with the fabric if nothing else.

I have always planned for our girls to have them.  I wash them every so often then put them up.  They have never really been used.  I am planning on taking the star one to Sarah this weekend.  And one of these days will be mailing the bottom one to our other daughter.

Slow....

I have been trying to get photos together for this post, but I keep getting detoured by the birds outside my window.  I finally saw Mr. Red-bellied woodpecker but he did not hold still long enough for me to snap a shot.  I was beginning to wonder if he existed.  Hopefully I will be able to capture him in a day or two.

Anyway the other day when we were getting ready to go to Sarah's house, we were actually getting in the Rav and I heard geese.  I kept looking all around, and finally glanced in the right direction to see these.  You need to click to expand the view...

Snow Geese!

  This is a first for them to fly over our house.  Well, at least the first I have seen them.  I was so excited to see them.  I snapped a couple shots before we left.
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I am working and working making the last border for my crumb quilt.  I searched through my scraps to find pieces big enough for me to get 5 ½ inch strips from...have cut and cut and cut.  Hopefully in the not too distance future I can at least have a finished top to show.  I am about afraid to say that cause things have a way of happening and delaying my progress.

Another from Oakland...

This is some kind of business....it is 'in town'....I just thought and looked up the population.  According to what I found, one place says 881 in 2011 and another says 933.  The quilt block on the left is Corn & Beans I believe...not sure about the other.  If that center square was not set on the diagonal, it would be what I have heard called Fox & Geese or Duck & Ducklings.  Anyone else know a name for this, feel free to comment.  Because it probably does have another name...seems like a lot of quilt squares have different names according to the region you are from.

We stopped at this little bitty diner there in Oakland.  It was a place where everyone sat and talked to each other.  We paid $1 for fried zucchine...it was a plate piled high.  I forget what else we got to eat other than that, but the single plate was all we both wanted to eat.  We often talk about them...they were some of the best we had ever had.

Nothing like sticking your head in the lion's mouth

No, nothing quite like sticking your head in the lion's mouth if you want a drink of water.  This was from a little town over in Illinois...I believe Oakland.  I don't think I have ever seen a water fountain quite like this.
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We were to Sarah's for a night...I have a hard time settling down to blogging here once I am interrupted.  Even more so when I don't have anything interesting to tell.  I have been sewing more on the crumb quilt top...I have put one little outer border on but have to decide on one more to make it big as I want it.  Plus it does not look right with just one anyway.

I am hoping to get to do some work on it today...other than that it is too overcast to want to go out for photographs, though heaven knows I need a nice drive.  

What I have been doing and a question for you....

So, I have been working now and then on this quilt top that is basically made of a lot of scraps left over from other projects.

Today, I have been getting the top sewn together...I still need to add the borders but other than that, it is done.

Roger thinks it is beautiful...and normally I would love the yellow...but I had it in my mind that gray would have looked good and I actually has a plaid homespun in gray that really looked good.  But I was afraid it might shrink more than the other fabrics so did not want to use it.

I could have bought a gray, but I was didn't want to buy any more fabric for this thing...I was trying to use up fabric.  (We won't talk about the fact that I did buy flannel for the backing.)  So, would you have bought more fabric or just used what you had?

For some reason, the photographs are sort of washed out...I have no idea why. 

On the way to Paris....

We decided to run to the Super Walmart in Paris...I did not ask to drive through the strip pits on the way...just thought we would go on and get our bit of shopping done.  Instead, half way through the drive there...we saw all these birds.

You cannot tell much from this photo, but there were snow geese, white-fronted geese, and regular Canadian geese.  We did a little detour to try to get closer to them....no luck.  Just slowed us down.  But still worth the effort.

So we go on and even though we didn't have a lot to get, it seemed to take forever before we headed home.  It had started to warm up a bit by then...we get back near the strip pits and we could see line after line of geese in the distance.  So Roger sped up...still did not get very close to them, but we could see some were actually going to the main big old strip pit.  So we cut through to them...we were at the one end of the strip pits, and down towards the other end, this is some of what we saw.

Again, snow geese, and even though they are the only ones that really show up, Roger was looking through his spotting scope and there were also the white-fronted geese and Canadian geese.  Plus, though there are none here in my photos, there were a few swans.

We were thrilled to see all of these...last year there were several snow geese and white fronted geese out there, but the snow geese were in an even worse place to view.

Maybe one day there will be as many of them as there used to be of the Canadian Geese...take a look at this old post from 2009.  I have not seen that many geese out there since then.  Be sure to click in enlarge the views.
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Just have to leave you with this latest video of Simon's cat...

From the strip pits

We were driving through the strip pits...at the end of Jan.  We saw this 'thing' on the power line from a distance.  When we got close we could see that it was a dead bird. 

This second picture is cropped...it is not very good...but you can for sure tell it is a bird...I have heard of birds and squirrels getting electrocuted...but not in a place like this.  It was always a case of touching the power line and the pole. 

It was out in the middle of now where...on the power lines seen here...not even near anything as you can see.  So it is a mystery.

As we were about to leave the strip pits I happened to spot the fellow below...

It is not that great...it is a cropped photo.  I think it is just turning into an adult.  I can still see bits of white on it and I felt I could see bits of brown in the tail feathers for sure.

We are watching the Super Bowl...had not even been excited about it but it is areally good game.  So I am getting back to it. 

This little house...and I do believe at one time it was a house....it sits in a pasture.  Maybe it was never a house, but I sure felt that it was.  But it was on a curve and this  is only a quick snap.  Over in Illinois.
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We got maybe two inches of snow last night...and may get a bit more.  Not sure if it will amount to much.  It is cold, but sure doesn't feel as bitter cold as it has felt the previous days.

We ran to Terre Haute today...had to go by Joann Fabrics.  I needed a batting for a quilt.  And I picked up a couple pieces of fabric.  From there I had Roger drop me at Best Buy while he ran on to Gander Mountain.  Best Buy didn't have a mouse I liked, so walked on to Gander Mountain...and from there to Staples.

I got a Logitech mouse, but not crazy about it.  The scroll wheel on my old one only worked about half the time and after being used to it, it annoyed me to no end when I would be scrolling and it would stop.  This old mouse was I don't know how old...was a Microsoft and I liked the feel of how things worked.  I would have got another Microsoft, but the buttons were arranged in a way that I just didn't like...the buttons for either going back or forward...had one on each side and I am so used to them both being clicked by my thumb.  I figured I would just be grumbling if I got something different.

Anyway, was totally worn out when we got home and have not did one single thing worth telling about.  So I guess that is the way the day is going to end...

Rambling...

Lorelei went home yesterday...don't know if any of you heard about the big pile-up on I-70 but they had to just miss it. They had to sit for a while....not sure how they eventually got to go on home.  According to the local news last night, both sides were closed for 8 hours.  And I was just looking at another source--23 vehicles were involved in the westbound lanes and 17 in the eastbound lanes. Only one man is dead as a result of the crash, as far as I know.  And I think only 10-11 went to the hospital.

Add to that, at another spot on this same interstate, a semi slid off the road that was carrying elephants.  They had to unload the  elephants till the semi could pull itself out.  Can you imagine coming along and having to stop for elephants!

Anyway, very, very thankful that the Toot and Jeremy were not involved in the crashes.
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I was trying to decide what to post here last night, and just so weary I didn't even try to get one ready.  I had no idea what I was going to post.  Then last night, on Greta Van Susteren show, her closing video was this about J.J. Watts:


 So I was telling Roger about it, and got on here to find it...lo and behold I came across this one...he won my heart with the one with the little girl...and then to find out that it is not uncommon for him to do something like just made it better! Watch and enjoy!