Secret Miniature Quilt and Rain

Yesterday I worked on a miniature quilt that I can not show you a photo of. Now don't you just hate that teaser. It is to be sent to a friend and she reads this blog so guess until I get it finished, mailed off and know she has gotten it everyone will just have to wait to see it.

We had rain here off and on all day yesterday but it didn't amount to much - only .30". I had an interesting conversation with a cousin of mine from Florida last weekend. She grew up on a farm in western Nebraska but now lives in a city where she raised her three girls. She commented that her girls would get to laughing at the letters her mother (their grandmother) would write about getting rain. They though it was so funny and would laugh and joke about the fact that she always included how much rain they got, down to the hundredths of an inch. She said they would never understand that to a farmer the amount of rain that comes down is very important. Rain equals more profit at harvest if you are a farmer that can irrigate and if you are a farmer that can't irrigate it comes down to just having any profit at all from a years work. It is the first topic of conversation when ever farmers meet after any rain storm.

That being said, we have been wanting a little more rain to keep from running our irrigation wells again this season on the corn. With the price of fuel the costs are enormous. Each well engine burns approximately 3 gallons an hour so over the period of a day it mounts up. Most farmers here have to farm quite a few acres to make a living so there are lots of wells to run and huge fuel bills to pay. I am not sure the .30" will do it but it sure helps.

The next thing the farmer will worry about is when we will get our first hard frost which means the end of the growing season for most of the crops. Milo will continue to mature if not hit by a hard frost but soy beans and corn will pretty much be done. An early frost will also reduce your yields. It is never a sure thing until the crop is harvested and in the elevator or bin. Well, that is it for farming 101 - a lesson on farming!

Back to quilting....Today I hope to quilt the mini I am working on and get it bound so maybe I can get it mailed tomorrow.

To keep this post more interesting I will post a photo of another quilt so there is something to look at today. This miniature quilt was finished in 2007 and named "Summer Night Sky" It is 10.25" x 10.25", machine pieced and machine quilted. the quilting is a little wobbly in places but I do love the colors of the fabrics together even though the photos are a little darker than in real life. The center Mariner's Compass is 4 .25".

It is a good thing I have older quilts to show to hopefully keep your interest since I am not a prolific quilter or a fast quilter.


Lynn