Garden Progress

 Lately, these have been my dance partners

I've been spending lots of time behind the shovel, getting these new raised beds filled

And ready for planting. DH brought me 5 skid steer loads of dirt

And 3 tubs of horse manure

We didn't want to collapse the center supports so that's why he didn't dump the dirt directly into the beds. I filled 1 bed and it took A LOT of shoveling and it reminded me that I am no longer a spring chicken.

Once I had the dirt shoveled in, I topped it off with a combination of shavings from the chicken coop, horse manure, top soil, peat moss, and vermiculite. I'll add a layer of mulch after everything's planted. And yes, DH offered to help numerous times, but I really welcome the workout, I just have to pace myself and he's been helping friends brand.

The kids came out on Friday and it was all hands on deck to finish filling the rest of the beds

Three 8 x 4 x 2 beds hold A LOT of dirt and I partially filled them with cardboard and wood scraps and branches. But I think the hard part is done and I can put the shovel away for now.

I love it when the kids come out and spend the day and it was fun to introduce little E to gardening

When she spends the night, she finds a little something under her pillow - I knew these would be put to good use

All that black dirt just brings me so much joy and hopefully that's being passed on to the next generation

We got a few things in the dirt

Being this is our first shot at gardening here, it's going to be a trial and error year, but I'm excited to watch everything take root.

                                    

And this happened on May 1st with an added 0.3" the following day. It was slow and gentle and we are so grateful. 

It's been a dry, warm winter. Our only moisture has been two 6" snows - one in December and one in January, but I'm optimistic and yes, I'm one of those people that walk out to their garden in their jammies with a mug of tea first thing in the morning to see what's grown overnight. 😊

You Might Be a Redneck...

 If your husband, without you ever even asking, scoops up horse manure every few days and fills 3 mineral tubs, and hauls it to your garden beds and you think it's romantic. 💖

Under the Needle: April

 Last month ended on a sad note. My friend, Jackie passed away. She was 85 and has been my longarm quilter since I began quilting, 18 years ago. The first 2 years I only made a few and I hand quilted or quilted a simple cross-hatch on those. This is the first quilt she quilted for me in 2010.

It is well loved these days, but still a favorite. I probably wouldn't even still be a quilter if it wasn't for her.

Jackie was always so encouraging and kind to me when I began making quilts. She was a retired teacher, working in the fabric department at Walmart when I met her. I was always delighted when I was there and found her working. We struck up a friendship and soon after, I asked her if she knew anyone who quilted for the public. She said that she was considering it, but wasn't sure if she would be able to stay busy enough. I vividly recall that conversation and telling her, "Oh, I will keep you busy!" LOL. At the time, I only knew one friend who was a quilter, but word spread and she was always swamped. 

To this day I have finished 183 quilts. I quilted 14 of those, and she did the rest. At 85, she still pieced every day but had stopped long arming last year.

Her daughter, who teaches school, now does the quilting. When I stopped by after Jackie's passing, she told me that she was moving to Texas to be closer to her daughter and SIL and 5 grandchildren. I am tickled for her, but sad for me. But her son still lives here and she'll be back often so we're going to continue as before. 

I'm not even sure if there are other folks who quilt for the public in the area, but after all these years, they have become friends and they have spoiled me. I will miss this dear friend.

DH was away for 6 days at the first part of the month moving cows and I feel like I spent more time in my sewing room than I usually do, but I don't feel like I accomplished much more. If I wasn't in the sewing room, I had my hands in the dirt outside and the weather was so nice that I was out there a lot...behind a shovel. Grin.

I picked up 3 more quilts from Sandy at the beginning of the month and stitched the bindings onto the fronts so those are close to a finish

I finished piecing the blocks for Old Dirt Road.

I cut everything for the 6 little flannel quilts I posted about here and I pieced 3 of them. Pandas

                         

And frogs

And the squirrels (only have a photo of the 1 block)

And just 2 days ago, I picked up 3 more quilts

I am chipping away at that list I made back in January. Next up in the binding queue is my Love You S'more x2 camping quilt

And I have 2 finishes this month - Land of Enchantment

And Pink is Perfect for a birthday girl

With the longer daylight hours, I'm pretty bushed by the time the sun sets so my evening binding time has slowed down, but I don't mind. I love getting my hands in the dirt as much as I love making quilts and I feel blessed to be able to do both.

Land of Enchantment

As much as I will always be a Texas girl, I have to admit that New Mexico has a special place in my heart. It's where DH and I began our journey as a married couple. It's where our son was born. It's where the good Lord has set us for the second time. It's home.

The sunsets and sunrises are spectacular on a regular basis. 

The food is addictive and don't even get me started on how much I love fresh green chile! 

New Mexico has its own unique southwestern culture. There is a rich history here and it is reflected in the jewelry, fashion, architecture, fabrics, people, and landscape.

I'd been on the lookout for a quilt pattern that represented the Land of Enchantment and in 2014 I stumbled upon exactly what I was looking for while browsing through Flickr:

I contacted the lady who posted it and she was kind enough to  direct me to the designer who is from Switzerland, of all places!

Desert Winds

I planned to use a lot of Michele Watts' prints. She's is a local designer who had a few lines with Moda and I just happened to have some yardage in my stash.

I finally started this one in May of last year. Yes, I'd had this project planned for 12 years. It took a while since it's made of 2 1/2" squares and 80 x 98.

Once I started,  I was determined to stay the course. I didn't have quite enough of all the original prints so I scattered some Grunge fabrics throughout which appeals to my scrappy heart.

I ended up extending the patchwork border one more row

Once I had it pieced, I went in search of a backing. I didn't have anything in my stash that I thought would work. The minute I saw this print, I couldn't hit buy fast enough - it's perfect!

Then Sandy worked her magic

And I spent 4 weeks binding it. 

But it's now complete!

And apparently I need to pay more attention when I'm piecing! Good gravy!! I didn't even notice I had turned a block! I think I need to take a photo of every quilt top before it's quilted and double check for errors. I think those oopsies are charming in vintage quilts, but it's very obvious in this design. I keep wondering if I could take the quilting out of that one block and fix it. Have any of ya'll done that before? 

The wind DOES blow a lot here in the spring and those blocks could be construed as tumbleweeds and that one just tumbled in a different direction.

Sigh. Maybe I can just leave it displayed like this and call it art. 🙃