history, weather, birds...

We were up in Alexandria, Minnesota for a wedding last weekend. On the way home we were driving on two lane highways. Went through several towns.
We stopped in Madelia. On the building was this painting.....

Something happened here, didn't know what.....so I went over to investigate.

Who were these guys and who are they shooting at???

I knew about Jesse James and the Younger brothers, but never really paid attention to what happened after Northfield.
(Every year they celebrate and re-enact the attempted bank robbery....The defeat of Jesse James!)

Madelia also has a yearly celebration....Capturing the Younger Brothers.
So I learned some history.
I called one of my sisters. I asked her what happened to Jesse James after Northfield.
She didn't know. So I had to investigate further when I got home.
I found out the gang had split up, so Jesse James wasn't here.

We are in a wet and stormy weather pattern.....

I was out taking pictures of the storm clouds rolling in. The town siren went off while I was out there.
Crap.
I had been playing with the camera. It was set for black&white for this one.
Better go in.
I took my camera, checkbook, computer, and the latest quilt I am working on down to the basement. Tractor joe never did come down. He gave me the all clear....
"The birds are back at the feeder, it must be safe now!"
So I hauled everything back up stairs. We ended up with about an inch of rain with this storm.

The birds are back.....

I spent a huge amount of time just bird watching yesterday.
I figured out what I was going to sew, but never did get any sewing done.
Hopefully next time there will be fabric involved in the post.

lotto blocks for April.....

Block Lotto blocks for April. I love this block on point. There was a sneak peek of the fabrics we will be using next month. I have a little bit of everything! I am all set for May's block.

Otherwise, not much else to show for sewing.

I could talk about how sick I was over the weekend. 

How stuffed up I was.

How much my body ached all over.

How I am pretty sure I had a fever, but never did take my temperature.

How all I wanted to do was sleep.

 How tractor joe kept saying, "it's allergies"....

(if it is allergies, he can't catch it)

But, I feel pretty normal again, so I won't talk about it.

sewing and mowing....

Okay, back to some sewing.

Some of this is sewn together, some isn't and is just laying there. This is pretty much what will be in the center of this quilt....plus what ever filler things I haven't made yet. It's all just a work in progress.

a little more fire stuff....

I went to the grocery store. We have round the clock protection up town.

The banks vault is still in the middle of all the rubble.

I went over to the pile for a closer look....

and there it lay.....

My time and temp sign. 

I miss this thing. I got my daily mental math when it was giving the Celsius temperature....double the number and add 30. Then I could compare it to the Fahrenheit temperature. I could compare it to my cars thermometer. I like knowing what the temperature is. My little obsessive compulsive things.

When I got home, tractor joe put me on his new mower. (new to us, it is used)  He declared it my turn to try it out. He had everything mowed again, but left a small area so I could run it.

It is way bigger than our other one and cuts a 60 inch path. I was surprised by how quiet, smooth it ran. 

I am pretty sure I can handle mowing with it.

two more prom pictures....

I am not sure who took these, and I stole them off facebook.

They are on the runway at Grand March.

Crispy and his date. I was so excited to see close-ups of them!

busy weekend....

Last night was prom. We went to the Grand March to see all the couples. It was in the gym. All the couples were seated down on the floor waiting for it to begin.

We were way up on the second floor bleachers.

Waiting.

Getting bored.

To entertain ourselves, we mothers took turns texting....

"look up and to your right"

to each of our kids down there.

It was fun watching them take the phone out of their pockets

(we mothers squealing with anticipation)

read the message

slowly turn around

(to the right)

wondering and looking....

Then we would stand up call them and wave.

They all waved back.

Good times.

Crispy and his date.....

We were up kinda late by our standards..... (11:00pm)

and the phone was ringing early this morning.

Our bank was on fire!

We grabbed our coffee and headed off in our pajamas to see. It had already been burning for several hours when we arrived.

Fire departments from Woden, Burt and Algona (surrounding towns) came to help. 

The building was totally destroyed.

It was unreal. 

The building on the right is Karen's grocery store. 

No one was hurt and they will rebuild.

...and we were worried about bad weather and tornadoes last night.

It is the stuff you aren't even thinking about that ends up getting you.

http://globegazette.com/news/local/fire-destroys-tsb-bank-s-titonka-office/article_d77f866e-873f-11e1-a560-001a4bcf887a.html

here is a link to a newspaper article on it

Jurassic Park continued.....

Getting back to Jurassic Park. 

I was stuck, wasn't sure what to do next. I knew I needed filler, but had no real plan. So..... I just started sewing small blocks to use as filler. Using "E" on my Flying Geese x4 No Math Ruler, I made some flying geese and quarter square triangles.

I don't know why I picked the "E" size, I just know it worked out well.

By adding a little more to Muldoon, the new blocks were just right.

Clever girl was sewn into one chunk.

The dinosaur already had all the pinwheels attached. He still needs the top of his head worked on to make him a finished chunk.

Middle son was over here and saw this.

"Who is this for?"

I told him, "Your brother, Crispy"

"Will you make me one??"

I told him YES, and he is going to think about what he wants on his.

I LOVE HAMBALLS! 

I asked John at the Titonka Food Center if  he would be grinding up some hamball mixture. He said he could do that. He would have it done on Saturday morning.

Yes! 

On Saturday I went up to the store and there it was.

I bought every package there! I use half of it yesterday for Easter. The other half is in the freezer for next time we feel like HAMBALLS!

Here is the recipe I used. I made (about) a 1/2 recipe. I used a smaller sized scoop and made many little ones. 

Man, were they good!

Scrappy trip blocks are a top.....

Yesterday, I sewed groups of 4 block together. That gave me 9 sections.

This morning I laid them out on the bed right over the cat.

She moved a little and stuck her head out.

Her name is Pearl. She didn't seem to worried about anything going on around her. I moved sections around here and there. I didn't want same color families touching.

I got tired of doing that. There was always one some where...so I took a step back and looked at the big picture.

It was declared it perfect, and I started sewing these together like one giant 9-patch.

In no time at all I had a quilt top. It won't get a border. Lately I like quilts that don't have borders.

I gave it all one good pressing and folded it up. It is ready to go to the quilter!

Pattern source... (here at Quiltville)

When I was working at getting this link in here, I ended up looking around at other patterns. Here is another pattern I adore...(random ohio stars). Maybe some day I will actually work on one of these. For now I have plenty of other projects that need my attention.