Secret Revealed

Now we can talk about the quilt I was working on that I couldn't talk about or show photos of on the blog. The quilt was a gift from our family in Montana and Arkansas to Maaike and Leon from Holland who are expecting their first child just after the first of December. Many years ago my Mom decided to get an exchange student when my niece was a senior in high school. I thought Mom was crazy to want another teenager in her home after all hers were grown and gone but she persisted and Maaike from Holland arrived. Maaike became a member of our family, not just an exchange student that disappeared when her year was up. She and her entire family including her new husband and his mother visit Arkansas frequently. Christmas of 2008 there were eight members of the Holland family celebrating with us.

My maternal grandmother was a quilter and made many, many of these baby quilts for family and friends. A few years ago I wanted to make one of the quilts for my niece who was expecting her second child and began searching for the pattern finding that my mother had inherited the pattern when Grandma died. When we found out that Maaike was expecting we decided she needed one of the baby quilts as she also knew and loved Grandma. I made the quilt and Mom and Ann, my sister, shipped it off to Holland about a week ago and Maaike called Mom today. Maaike--your Montana family wishes you, Leon and your new baby the best.


Today was a busy day. We brought all the Christmas decorations up from the basement and got the tree up and lighted. I made lunch then headed for Big Timber to run multiple errands--got the tires rotated on the Explorer, stopped at the library, mailed off some finished quilts to Marti in Arkansas, picked up a quilt to be quilted, got a massage and then went to our local quilt gathering. We learned to make pillowcases tonight--I made some to match the quilt I made for the motor home. One of the member brought great munchies for tonight and we enjoyed sewing and visiting. I am now home and pooped!

This guy and his girlfriend came strolling by about lunch time today.

Emmi was very glad to see me when I got home, she is the most excited little dog when someone she loves comes home.

The Car Fits

Michael decided this morning that he wanted to try and load the little sports car into the trailer we purchased. He drove and I provided directions--it fit, barely!! We didn't even have to yell at each other! We need to paint some direction lines on the floor of that trailer--it is a very snug fit!

Nat needed some help with a dressing change on his nose and Mike needed some transmission fluid for the motor home so Nat drove up and had lunch with us bringing his nose and the transmission fluid. He is having a fair amount of pain from his biopsies and is just weary from it.

After lunch I finished a quilt for my Aunt Margaret called a Mumbo Gumbo (I think). Recognize your quilt Aunt Marg?? While I was removing it from the zippers Emmi decided it looked like a good place to take a nap!
Here's another shot of the same quilt.

I also spent a lot of time this afternoon trying to get someone to call me from EE Schenck, a wholesale fabric/other sewing stuff distributor. Judy from Patchwork Times wrote a blog about poor customer service the other day. There seems to be such a lack of caring and customer service anywhere anymore. I have been trying to deal with another quilt batting company too and the customer service I expected just isn't there. I did finally get my order placed with EE Schenck and the customer service rep that I spoke with was very personable and seemed glad to have my order. So, batting is on the way.

Emmi has a bad hair day every day!

Poor Michael spent most of his day out in the cold working on that old motor home--I think it is getting on his last nerve!

Quilting and Quilting

The day started out sunny but cold and deteriorated to gray and cold with a nasty little cold wind.

Mary came about 10am to rent the longarm machine. I helped her get the quilt started and then I worked on cutting out the pieces for an adorable Christmas wallhanging. This was Mary's first quilt and she did really well--it was a huge quilt and she got it finished--she was amazed! It is a Christmas gift for a dear niece of hers.

The West Boulder mountains in the distance.
Boone Mountain--to the left of the pointed peak is another little snow covered mound--we have been there on a horse pack trip many years ago--it is beautiful up there, meadows, little creeks. We took the pack trip with our good friends Jill and Terry and their son Fritz who was only about 10 or 11 at the time. We had the bigger tent so Fritz slept in our tent. During the night the wind came up and sucked the tent wall out and when the wall came back in it hit me on the head. I came straight out of my sleeping bag Michael said from prone to standing straight up--I was sure a bear had come along and whacked me on the head. The next morning Fritz says, "what was all that commotion last night?" We still laugh about that night.

Michael worked on the shorter table for my longarm machine today. I made a delicious beef stew for lunch and we are having leftovers for supper.

Cold, Cold

We scurried around this morning, when we got up it was cold and blowing snow and we needed firewood. Our big firewood pile is up in the field above the house--I took the skidsteer loader and got three loads. Michael was getting ready to leave to go to Helena to see about an enclosed trailer--which he bought. It is 16 feet long and only 7 feet wide so we may have to grease the little car to get it in the trailer. We got the trailer for a great price--now we are all set to head south. Michael has been working on the motor home again, changing oil, cleaning the throttle and creating a spot to put alcohol into the air line to the throttle that gave us so much trouble in October.


Tamara came to rent the quilt machine today and while she was working I made a Christmas wall hanging that turned out well. After Tamara left I loaded one of Aunt Margaret's quilts called a Mumbo/Gumbo and got probably a third of it quilted before Michael came home.

I made stuffed pork chops and a salad for supper. Costco had the best lettuce this past week when we shopped.

It was a miserably cold, windy, snowy day but we are tucked in by the fire for the night.

Saying for the day: "This isn't as important as you are making it; don't allow it to rent space in your head."

A Mis-Mash Day

We decided not to attempt getting the car up the driveway and instead backed it down the driveway and parked it in the barn that we lease from Joe and Tammy. As you can see in the photo the driveway is still very icy!
I made a list this morning of 4 things I wanted to accomplish today and got 3 of them finished. I did 4 or 5 loads of laundry, I lost count and finished a quilt for Marti, a friend of my Aunt Margaret's in Arkansas who by the way informed me she wasn't 78 as I recently stated in the blog but only 76!I made a phone call and then tried to accomplish the last thing on the list which was to order some fabric from and establish a wholesale account with a company in Oregon. The computer or rather our internet service was not cooperating so that task didn't get a finished check mark--I'll try again on Monday.

Michael worked on the motor home all day and changed the oil. Tomorrow he is taking a drive to Helena to look at an enclosed trailer to pull behind the motor home.

Sweet Emmi asleep with her big ole bear.

Nat has always been a horseshoe pitcher. At one time he was the champ in his age group for the state of Montana. The wind blows incessantly in Big Timber so pitching horseshoes outside any time of the year is an iffy proposition. Nat did travel to various small communities to pitch in indoor arenas but as he has aged driving that far isn't something he enjoys doing any more (and I am so glad). So--he decided to build an indoor court attached to his home. He finished it up last winter and tomorrow is holding his second tournament. He gets such enjoyment from this sport and so do his cronies.

This is a photo of the outside entrance to his court.

Tonight we drove into Big Timber, picked up pizzas at the grocery store and went to check on Nat. He says he feels as if someone has been beating on his head which they did yesterday. He looks good though but doesn't feel so great--hope he can survive his tournament tomorrow--he really didn't want to cancel.

As I write this it is 50+ degrees and the wind is howling--Montana weather!

To The Doctor

Like our friends The Bayfield Bunch, I am too tired to do much of a blog tonight, no photos just a rant!

I don't know what the answer is but the health care we received in Billings today was atrocious! Nat has had a lesion on his forehead for over a year now, his nurse daughter-in-law (me) kept saying he needed to see a doctor, he kept seeing our abysmal so called medical care providers in Big Timber until about a month ago I put my foot down and made an appointment with our dermatologist. Once biopsied it was decided he needed a MOHS procedure--a small layer of tissue is shaved in tiny increments until when viewed under the microscope, no more cancer cells are visible. This is a procedure that should take at most 2 hours. We arrived in Billings at 10:45 am for an 11:00 appointment and left the Billings Clinic at 5:30pm this afternoon. The physicians at Billings Clinic are employed by the Clinic and either Dr. Wentzel is way overbooked or he can't manage his time! The paperwork alone which the nurse and doctor had to complete certainly caused at least one if not two trees to lose their lives. Nat and I were both exhausted when we left Billings, Nat with two big biopsy owies, and I do mean big! and me with just a major case of irritation.

Friends Geoff and Nancy had invited us to their home for pizza tonight. Mike went without me and I arrived at almost 8pm to a party in full swing. I declined pizza as Nat and I had sandwiches in Billings on our way out of town but I did have a glass of wine and wonderful apple crisp with ice cream.

One little Emmi dog was very glad to see me! I took the Spyder to town today and tonight we couldn't get it up the icy driveway--definitely time to go south!

Demolition Crew

We didn't get as early a start as we wanted this morning, we both couldn't sleep around 3am and spent a couple hours tossing and turning--then went back to sleep and slept too long--oh well, we still got it all done.

The house that Lonn and LoraLee lived in is being torn down--the windows in the whole house are newer and we had permission to take them. Michael went over on Monday and started the process and today we finished it. We took 15+ nice windows from the house plus some doors--more than enough to use in a planned guest house! Loaded the windows and doors in the horse trailer and headed for home. The roads are a muddy mess from melting snow and our truck and trailer are now a muddy mess, too.

This is a photo of Lonn and LoraLee's new house--of course there is no landscaping yet and it is a snowy/muddy mess around there, too.
A view from one of the upper windows of the old house.

We are off to Denny and Ellen's for dinner tonight, Emmi is home alone again!