Sewing While Hubby's Away

Hunting season has arrived. Actually, there's a hunting season of one kind or another most of the time, but right now it's Elk that are on DH's radar and it's a welcome break from daily ranch work. He debated even going, but he drew a tag this year and that is not always the case so I urged him to pack up and head for the mountains. It'll do him good to spend some time wandering the mountains horseback and on foot after the long days of Fall Works. He packed up an entire camp and roughed it for 3 days. He took so much stuff that I teased him about being gone for 5 weeks instead of 5 days. It was a 5 day hunt - Saturday through Wednesday, but he came home on Monday.

And while he was away, I roughed it behind the sewing machine. :) Besides making a few circles checking things and  our morning and evening chores, my ranch duties were minimal and with no one to cook for or ride beside, I had time to play.

That is, after I finished peeling another mountain of apples and making one last batch of dried apples  and more apple sauce

 and after the chicken coop was winterized

and after I mowed one last time before putting the mower away for the season,

THEN I played with fabric. When I sew, I sew for all I'm worth because I know there will come a time when it may be weeks before I get to sit down behind my machine again. I even moved my pressing table into the living room and watched fights on Saturday night.

 I spent a lot of time behind my iron while DH was away.

I made my project for my T'was the Night Before Blog Hop buddy. Marlene, over at Stitchin' By The Lake ,  is hosting this fun hop and I really enjoyed making this project...which I cannot show you just yet. :)

                                         

And I pieced a backing for my Plus quilt as well as made the binding:

I pieced a very fast new quilt project with my  Summer House Layer Cake:

It also now has a pieced backing and the binding is made.

I even made some progress on my Wild Horse Quilt:

And I pieced and pressed the rows for another quilt:

I started hand quilting DH's wool quilt in the evenings and progress is being made since I don't sleep well when he is away so I actually stayed up past 9:30 a time or two!

Is amazing what you can accomplish when there is time to sew, but truth be told, I missed DH something awful. I am much better now that he is back, but it was good to get some things crossed off of my list.

He had a good trip and brought back a nice Elk that'll fill in the empty spaces in the deep freeze quite nicely. It's hard to beat that tenderloin and backstrap!

I was a tad chilly this morning when I headed out to walk...it was 40 degrees. That made me trot down the road just a little faster. I may be looking for more excuses to work on that wool quilt!