I told you it was dry.

This is our private fishing hole.  No, I won't give you directions. And yes, I clean and cook everything I catch outta here.
Right now, it's so bone-dry that I don't know how many fish are going to survive.

I'm standing where the water should be about 3' deep.  You might get tired of me whining about it being so dry...but now you'll understand one of the reasons it needs to rain!  This is a main water source during the summer months for our cattle.  We have a fresh water well at the top of the hill, but they love to come down here and cool off their hoofs.

Wednesday Hodgepodge Foolishness...Vol 20

From This Side of the Pond by Joyce


1. April rolls in at the end of this week and in celebration of that infamous date (April 1st) answer this question-What is something foolish you've done?
This one is actually hard for me....I'm horribly clumbly, so I fall down all the time...I talk too much, so I'm always saying the wrong thing, and I ask WAY too many questions.  DS's caught me dancing and singing in the backyard one day when I was working in the garden and I didn't hear the end of that for a long time, so I'd have to say it doesn't have to be April 1st for me to be foolish!

2. With April comes Easter and that classic edible treat known as Peeps...so tell me...what's your favorite way to fix/eat chicken? That wasn't what you were expecting, was it? I 'fooled' you. teehee.

I LOVE fried chicken, but don't like to clean up the mess.  I also love baked-fried chicken, and last night I made a chicken/stuffing casserole that I got off of the stove-top box.  I don't like BBQ, but I also love grilled chicken-if you don't let it dry out.

3. What's the best museum you've ever visited? Or your favorite? Or the one you'd most like to visit?

Oklahoma isn't known for it's museums..so, I'd have to say the  JFK Museum in Dallas or the hundreds of museums we visited in DC(we visited when I was 14)  If it has quilts in it, i'm all for going tho.  Guess I should note that there's a museum in my town (that I've only been to once) that is a collection of artifacts from our area.  I need to go visit more often. I know I'm probably a minority, but I'm not a museum person. 

4. You know what they say about April showers...what's your preference-a shower or a bath?

The only bathtub we have in our new house is the one-compartment sink in my kitchen.  We're shower people, but I LOVE a hottub.

Remembered I had this pictures on my computer.  Goes to show, if you get dirty at Grandma Sauce-a's house, you get a bath in the sink!  After I looked at this, I saw there was Soft Scrub, Comet, and Dawn all setting there, but what doesn't show is the Baby soap that I keep on stand-by for just this occassion.  Tyler is blurry, but I think it was his turn to get scrubbed.

5. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"...fact or fiction? Why?

I have no idea, but there's some people absent in my life and it wouldn't make my heart any "fonder" if I got to see them more often!  (probably not the response you wanted)

6. What's your favorite product made/grown in your home state/province?

Hard red winter wheat (if it doesn't rain there's not going to be a crop) and homegrown Angus Beef.

Oh, and the three boys that I made and home-grew!

7. What is going on in the world today that affects you the most?

The economy.  How in the world are our grandchildren going to make it in the world the way everything is changing so fast and everything becoming so expensive.  Every product advertised is a "convenience" product that they really don't need.  I hope their upbringing gets them through life.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This week has been a rough week here at work.  It's cold outside and the wind won't stop howling.  I'm ready for spring to show up and give us some April showers so we can have a better outlook on life.

Yard Art for Sale

FOR SALE:  Everybody needs one of these in your front yard.

Guaranteed to start...well, make sure you have a can of starting fluid.

Lots of tread left.

Includes the engine..

windshield wiper, exhaust

hydraulic plug-ins,

hydraulic seat...keeps the ride from being so bouncy-bouncy

pedals...break brake and clutch

levers to make the stuff you're hooked up to goes up and down

all kinds of warning stickers

large steering wheel with all sorts of gauges,

air-conditioner..that I guaranteed you will need,

state of the dust art stereo--does not include jeans or Red-Wing boot

lots of hoses

other side of the engine..see the hoses are hooked up here too.

Come on...SOMEBODY out there needs this Versatile tractor!  There's only ONE more left, so you better hurry and make up your mind.  The other one sold only last week.  This one will go fast!

Just leave your contact information, and one of our friendly salesmen will get back with you.

New Granddaughter Ava

Ava Elizabeth was born yesterday (7lbs 3 oz) and with all Grandchildren, Sauce-a was right there.  She is a precious little Angel and is a blessing to our family.

Welcome to this crazy world Ava, from Grandma Sauce-a.

Baby Ava's Quilt

I know I"m slow, but at least I got this one done before the baby came!  Ava was born yesterday and she'll have a nice snuggly quilt when she gets home.  I'd never worked with chennille before and don't know that I want to again.

I also made a Boppie cover.  These are easy to make.  Why didn't we have these things when my babies were born?

Next post:  new BABY AVA!~

some ABC's on a Green Holiday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Stole this ABC's of Me from Harriet at One of Each.

Age -49 and holding!

Bed size - King

Chore you dislike - mopping all the tile in my house.

Dog - Rusty--Choc Lab and 6 outside cats.

Essential start to your day - Getting out of bed is an accomplishment for me.

Favorite color - red

Gold or silver - silver

Height - 6'

Instruments you have played - took piano lessons LONG time ago, but now I play a mean radio.

Job life - Clerk for a Gov't agency and Grandma Sauce-a

Kids - 11 including:
 3 boyz I gave birth to
 two DIL's
 one DS GF
 soon to have my 4th grandchild
 and my DH--I've seen him grow up for 35 years.

Live - Western Oklahoma

Mom's name - Margie

Nicknames -  Every sentence starts with "hey Mom..."

Overnight hospital stays - Do you really want my list?
UTI--3 times
Birthing 3 children
Hysterectomy
Bladder sling
Granddaughter premie stay

Pet Peeves -  ignorance and filth

Quote from a movie - "Put some Windex on it"

Righty or lefty - Right

Siblings - one sister --that I haven't spoken to in 6 years.

Time you wake up -  sometime between 5:50 and 6:30..depending on how many times I hit snooze

Underwear - Yes, wear them daily. 

Vegtables you don't like - tomatoes, beets

What makes you run late - the phone ringing

Xrays you have had -  teeth, ankle, kidneys

Yummy good you make - cinnamon rolls, cookies, supper

Zoo animal favorite -  birds and butterflies

Lovely Day at work

I don't usually rant about my job on here...well, the job where I get a direct-deposit from, but this morning has been horrific.

For some background...I'm an administrative assistant for 20 offices in my area.  I cover 1/4 of the state in SW Oklahoma.  I do have a formal title, but it's not worth the paper it's wrote on.

Anywho...I was asked to come out to an office to "help"....my supervisor called and chewed me out and said that I didn't need to be involved and if they needed help then he needed to straighten them out.  Well..to make a long story short, he sent out the wrong checklist of things that needed to be checked on and I caught it BUT got chewed out for getting involved.

I'm going to stay in my corner and drink another cup of hot tea and try not to laugh so hard. 

I DO have a Grandaughter quilt-top ready to be quilted tonight!  Did I mention I DO NOT like working with chenille.  Any suggestions on how to quilt it?  It's big 8" blocks mixed with cotton blocks...yes, I need to post a picture.  It's a big brown fuzzy that sheds as much as me.

Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Answers to Joyce's Weekly Hodgepodge.

1. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday so I'm wondering...do you like green eggs and ham? Okay-how about this instead...how do you like your eggs? Or don't you?

I love eggs...boiled, fried, poched, scrambled w/cheese...just make sure the yellows are cooked HARD.

2. Is March coming in like a lion or something less ferocious where you live?

This is Oklahoma...it changes hourly.  It's NOT windy today, but suppose to be cold by this weekend.

3. Do you work better or worse under pressure?

Sinus pressure or people-pressure?  Leave me alone and I can get it done.  Just be mindfull that I might be under a "forgot to take my allergy meds this morning" day.

4. March Madness-are you a fan? It's college basketball in case you're wondering. And if you're outside the USA tell us-is there any sort of 'madness' taking place during March in your part of the world?

March madness around here is calving season.  Playing a sport is catching the calf so you can ear-tag him and dodging the mama cow trying to eat you for messing with her baby.

We've also had TWO sets of twins.  Good and not so good.  I'll explain later.

5. Under what circumstances do you do your best thinking?

When it's quiet and I can absorb everything thrown at me.

6. What item of clothing from your wardrobe do you wear most often?

Jeans and boots...that's items but it's every day.

7. Do you use sarcasm?

Who..me???

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've slept more in the past 2 days than I have in the past week, but I really think it's time to go home, cuddle with a quilt and cat and take a nap.  Will you tell my supervisor that?

Not quite Dead...yet.

When I get sick, it's like death warmed over.  It hasn't rained here in so long it's past-dry.  Dry and then the cedars are pollinating ...does the whole world have Red Cedar trees?  I think it's what's holding some of our ground down.  If you plant any from the nursery, I will personally come pull them up.

A shot, a prescription for antibiotics $236. for 10 pills and a prescription for Allegra that is getting ready to be OTC...but is cheaper than OTC because of insurance.  Maybe I'll be cured soon. 

It did get me to stay home for a day and half asleep in the recliner tho.

I have a baby girl quilt for THIS Saturday that I've got to get made.  New granddaughter coming soon and she's gotta have a Grandma Sauce-a blankie.

This is my sweet (and only) grandson, Tyler.  Such a doll.  Nine weeks old and has doubled his weight from birth.  I think him and his Mama are doing a great job together.

Texas Weekend

THIS is who we all went to Denton to hear!  BONNIE!  She gives a great lecture and workshop.  After finally pinching myself I got to set on the front row and got a birds-eye-view of her quilts.

She gives lots of tips and re-inforcements of what and why her techniques work.  There were a couple of things that I really didn't "get" but maybe it was the setting so close that it bonked me in the head!

Of Course you have to show an Oklahoma Backroads quilt when you go to Texas!

 On Friday, She traved to Ft. Worth to another quilt group and I went to eat lunch with the ladies and spent the afternoon with her.  Traffic?  Oh my...like I've said, we have more cows than cars in my part of the country.

We visited Cabbage Rose and Quilt Country.  This is the mural outside their shop.  I was real impressed with both shops, but this mural...AND, there's a Braum's across the street.

The two of us.  Just remember the camera adds 100 lbs and turns my hair red.   Gotta work on both of those.

This describes Miss Bonnie for sure!

The workshop with the Denton Gals.  Everybody was so sweet.  Since I was doing strictly plaids, I got a lot of freebees when I left.  One gal even gave me four of her blocks because they didn't have enough variety in them.  Hey...I never turn down orphan blocks of plaid.

 This is a spiderweb quilt that one gal brought to show.  I need to get mine quilted.

Give her a sewing machine and the lady will sew!  While I was pressing and trimming she made a block for

me. 

You can see the first block I made over Bonnie's left shoulder.  I got a total of three blocks made!  Yes,  I'll take a picture and post later today.

Another Bonnie and Me photo with the fireman statue in the museum.  It was a 600 mile weekend trip and it was so worth it.  I met so many nice ladies..definitely no Red River rivalry when it comes to quilts!

Busy time in Denton!

If you've never seen Bonnie hunter in person, you'll never know how much energy this gal has.  I have to say YOUNG gal because she's 6 months younger than me!  I've drove 4 hours from west Okieland to Denton to absorb some inspiration from her.  Then today we've visited a few quilt shops, ate way too much food, and laughed so hard with some crazy quilt ladies in this area...yes, you know who you are!

There are pictures of the traffic on my camera.  How in the world does a farm gal from po-dunk Oklahoma drive thru Ft.Worth/Dallas rush hour traffic?  Or, is the traffic like this all the time?  Guess everybody is just trying to go home at the same time.  There are more cars than cows here!

Tomorrow is the Virginia Bound workshop and I hope I'm ready.  It's in the Scraps and Shirttails book--of course I have a signed copy.  I inherited my FIL's plaid shirts so I'm making this quilt strickly plaids.  It's hard finding light-colored ones, but they do sell FQ of them too in Texas quilt shops.

I am still in awe of this gal.  I still don't know when she sleeps.  But I hope I do tonight, 'cause tomorrow is going to be a long day. 

Guess who's car gets to haul the quilts?

We're at a balmy 27 degrees with a high expected in the mid 40's.  I can handle that.  We got about 4" of snow and since most of the countryside has the white stuff, I'll spare you the pictures.  It's white, cold and kinda powdery...and I'm sure most of you have seen it before.


Good news....I'm traveling to Denton, TX next week (thursday) to meet Bonnie Hunter.  She's giving a trunk show and then a workshop on Saturday.  DH hasn't decided if he wants to tag along or not.  I travel quite a bit with my job, so driving 4 hours alone isn't a big deal.  I told him that I was going with or without him.  I think he wants to go just so I won't spend my limit at any quilt shops around. 


SPEAKIN' of which...any quilt shops in the area that anybody would recommend?

what a forecast!

We live in Western Oklahoma. The weather changes constantly as seen in this 7-day planner from the local news channel

IF (and it's a big IF) we get 10" of snow, we'll still have to get out even tho a lot of the state gets to shut down. Cows still need food and water. I say the term "we'll" loosely. I'll keep the house warm and DH and boyz can go break ice.

Everybody stay warm and be safe. I'll be over there --------> in the sewing room working on that TIchain some more. WHO in the world got me started on this project anyway???

Lots of weather and a little sewing.

Oklahoma was bombarded with a snow-storm that the eastern states are now getting. When we get 4 to 6" of the white stuff, it also comes with 70mph winds. Further east in our state, there was a record snow storm. I actually think the rest of our snow went to south Texas somewhere the way the wind was howling.

Snow-days make for a good day to stay in the house and sew. Or what I did..sort scraps.
This is the progress made so-far on my triple irish chain. Don't forget that it's made from 1.5" strips. It's definitely a form of madness.
While searching for strips out of my scrap bins, I'm also sorting. There's a pile for plaids (do these multiply?), solids, reds and getting one 2" square from every piece that's wide enough. Oh, there's another bin for weird shapes for another scrappy spiderweb (someday maybe). Is anybody collecting any kind of scraps that they'd like me to make a pile of?


This was taken awhile back, but I still like seeing this poor starving cat (haha) setting inside. He just sets and smiles while I'm standing there cooking.


This is my gift to myself this year. It's a clear extension table from All-Brands. My original Bernina one finally broke, and Bonnie Hunter recommended this one to me. She also sews with a 1080 Bernina.

You can see my madness of strips underneath the table, and I think that is why I wanted one so bad. I'm also VERY messy and kinda keeps me knowing where things are....kinda.

It's a very balmy 2 degrees outside and we're hoping to get up to 6. Really glad I don't live any further north. Our calves all went to the sale barn the past two weeks and my fat Mama cows are tough enough to survive a day-long blizzard. They'll see the feed truck coming today and know they're going to get fed again.

Edit: I changed it from 1/5 to 1.5" strips. Just about an inch different in width!