Friday, March 15, 2024

New Project

 Did I need a new project? Of course not! But last week as I spent some time in my sewing room, sorting and putting away piles, I ran across yardage of this fabric. It's called Indian Summer.


I bought it back in 2015 at our local quilt shop. I made a quilt with it that I shared here: Indian Summer . I still love this print today as much as I did when I first saw it. I still had over 3 yards of it and when I picked it up last week,  I thought, "I want to sew with this right now." and yes, I should have been tending to other things, but I was in the mood for some mindless sewing and I thought about a St. Louis 16-patch. I started pulling coordinating fabrics and cutting immediately and sewed whenever I could sneak in a few stitches


It's probably going to look checkerboard -y since I'm using that floral in every block, but I want this quilt to be about that fabric.  I've made 12 blocks.


Then, for some reason I thought about scattering a few stars across it using this design


But this makes a 10 1/2" block and I needed an 8 1/2" one so I did a little math and made a block


The block turned out just a hair too small and the background was too stark for the look I was after so I rummaged around some more and uncovered a handful of leftover squares that were deleted from a previous project


OK...smaller star, like the first one, but I like this background


I still wish I had a whole bolt of that print. I'll even admit to having looked online for more. 😂I'm not sure how many blocks I'll make, but they are coming together and I think I like where this is going


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Bed & Breakfast at the End of the Dirt Road

 No, I am not opening up a B&B, but some days it sure does feel like it. LOL. On Sunday DH's brother and his wife drove through and stayed the night. With the time change, we're still a little discombobulated. Doesn't seem like an hour should make that much of a difference, but  we're finding that change is more difficult as we get older. 

Since we eat our big meal at noon, we don't eat at night, but everyone else does so I needed to come up with something. We had another long day at the Sale Barn scheduled for Monday and DH had a full day on the books so we both needed to be out the door. I needed something filling and fast so I made a batch of Taco Soup and grated a big container of cheddar cheese on Sunday, which was perfect because then DH's brother-in-law drove through and stayed on Monday night. 

I was still at work and the Taco Soup is easy for the boys to spoon up and  heat. I made a Summer Berry Pie on Monday morning before I left for the sale barn  that worked well for dessert both days too.

And I made breakfast pizza on Monday morning knowing that we could pull the leftovers out and warm them up for Tuesday's breakfast. We like yogurt and fruit too so I always try to keep it on hand.

The hardest part was changing bedding because I was at work when DH's brother left and I was still at work when his brother-in-law came in. Thankfully, we have two rooms with beds, but one is my sewing room so I picked up, washed bedding, and put things away on Saturday. Sunday's sleepers could have one room and Monday's sleeper could have the other. DH's sister is a quilter so I figured her husband wouldn't mind sleeping with a sewing machine and fabric. 😉

I texted our girl on Saturday: Is this Jesus' way of telling me I need to open a B&B?

Her immediate response was: It's Jesus' way of telling you to move to Oklahoma so everyone will leave you alone...everyone except us anyway.

😂😂😂

So Tuesday I washed bedding and towels and told DH the Inn was closed. And then the phone rang..."Hey, we're driving through..."😂

Monday, March 11, 2024

Lilly and Will Row Quilt

This Lilly and Will from Bunny Hill fabrics was one of the first lines I bought when I started making quilts which was in 2007 so these fabrics are well-aged. I don't even remember what I bought, but apparently is was a lot because I have made a lot of quilts with it. I really like the combination of pink and brown. The collection also included a blue and brown colorway that I used to make 2 baby boy quilts, but I still had pink leftovers and this little row quilt is the latest in my Lilly and Will series. I've always liked row quilts and just tried to work with what I had left

I pieced this probably 7 or 8 years ago, but only recently handed it off to Jackie and apparently I didn't take any in-progress photos. 

This soft, muted pink Minky is a great match for this shade of pink

                                         

and I chose the coordinating dot for the binding


The name of the quilting design escapes me, but Jacque and Sandy always  do a beautiful job. This little quilt finishes at 50" x 56"

The trees are just beginning to leaf out with the promise of Spring 

It makes me laugh that I felt the need to buy so much when I first started quilting and I think I've made 5 or 6 quilts using this fabric, but I still love it and hopefully the quilts are loved as well

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Catching Up

 I'm sorry - I didn't mean to disappear again. I've had some kind readers contact me as they were concerned that we were in the path of the Texas fires, thus, I hadn't posted. I am touched by your thoughtfulness - thank you! But we are well and the fires are not close to us. We are close to the Texas border, but in New Mexico. However, we know many of the folks in the Panhandle and it's simply heartbreaking to watch the loss of life, livestock, and livelihood. And on the other side, it's amazing to see the agricultural community pull together, once more, to support those affected. Lots of prayers have been, and continue to be, sent for the safety of the firemen and first responders on the ground. So many stories of folks coordinating to send supplies where they will best be utilized. The magnitude of this (over a million acres, thus far) is yet to be realized as the fires are still actively burning, but the impact will undoubtedly, last for years.

The farms and ranches can't just buy more cattle when their entire feed supply of grass and crops have been burned, not to mention the infostructure of housing, shops, barns, and fencing...SO MUCH fencing. We're talking thousands of miles of fence. At $10,000 per mile to replace. And it's not insured. This is cattle country and the loss of livestock is still being tallied, but the Ag Commissioner is estimating that 10,000 hd will be lost (we think that is a conservative estimate) and they received a call that one area lost 8oo horses. 

People from all over are coordinating to donate, load, and truck hay and feed to surviving livestock. I don't get on FB, but this is an organization on FB  that is coordinating donations for the relief effort.

Ranchers Navy

Thank you again for checking in with us. We're well. Just praying a lot as we go about our days; thinking of those who are in the line of, working to extinguish, and beginning to deal with the aftermath of the fire.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...DH got to fly over the ranch for predator control one day

I was so surprised that the cows walked up this close. I know they are gentle, and curious, but I wasn't expecting them to  practically sniff the helicopter as they've never seen one  before.

We fixed another leak on the North side. 

Such a pretty morning, but that was a lot of shoveling and DH had already dug up the leak a few days earlier. We just had to wait for it to dry up enough to dig some more, install new pipe, 

                                                          

and shovel the dirt back. This is known as the ranch wife workout. 😂


One day we left the house at 3:30 a.m. and drove 3 1/2 hours to Canyon, Texas to have a flatbed installed. 

We got back at dark, tended to chores, and unloaded the bed the next morning

One day we hiked around some mountain property


Another beautiful day. DH and I both love to hike around in the mountains, but I had lunch with a friend  the other day and told her that although we both enjoy hiking, DH is a mountain goat hiker 

                                                

while I am a photography hiker 

                                

so I'm always rushing to catch up to him, hoping I don't twist an ankle because it's a long hike back to the truck. LOL. After working up an appetite, we treated ourselves to the best burger on the planet!

And it just warms my heart that so many of you are asking about Skeet - he's as loveable and charming as ever and always close at hand

He doesn't miss anything - if we're headed out to work on something - he's on the job, making sure he's not left behind

He gets extra excited when I head out to grill. If he's in the house and sees me reach for the lighter, he wiggles himself into a tizzy and he will lay close to the grill the entire time it is on. The good Lord gave this little pup an extra dose of personality and he brings us so much joy


So I think that just about catches you up. It's dark, which means it's past my bedtime so I had better call it a day. I'll try and post again soon. Afterall, it's baby season around here!



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