UT Quilt Finish

 Last year our girl asked if I would make our SIL a football quilt. Well of course! We love Kenny! And this quilt is proof of that! There's a little story behind the quilt I'll share with you. DH and I are Texas A&M graduates. And Kenny is a diehard Longhorn fan. Anyone that keeps up with college football know that there is a legendary rivalry between the two schools. They took a 13 year hiatus as they were in different conferences, but UT is leaving the Big 12 Conference and will join the SEC, resuming the rivalry. 

I told our girl that I was hesitant to sew a Longhorn quilt. Would my diploma be revoked if word got out? Would I have to return my ring? We would be a house divided. Alas, this is all in fun and I bought the forbidden fabric:

I settled on the Scrappy Summer Pattern from Alison at Cluck Cluck Sew and paired the collegiate fabrics with a gray and white from my stash as well as this orange that paired well

                                            

I made a quilt using this same pattern 7 years ago for a college friend of our girl's. You can see that one 

                                                                           HERE.

I really did love making this for Kenny - our girl found a keeper. 

Jackie and Sandy quilted a design called Modernish #4 across it in a gray thread called Oyster Shell

 and I backed it with this print at the request of our girl

And pulled this grunge from my stash for the binding

It finishes at 72 x 80 and I hope Kenny and Baby Lucas will enjoy cheering on the Longhorns while snuggling under it.

 I've been planning to make an Aggie quilt for years - I have all the fabric - so I had better get that one stitched up to redeem myself. I'll lay it across the guest bed when they come for a visit. 😂 If I make Cowboy Cookies and Buckaroo Bundles for him, I think he'll forgive me. 😉

The Road Ahead ...

Is paved with patience, sprinkled in with a little spunky restlessness. 

                   

 I'm sorry I've been MIA these past few weeks, but I've just been in a holding pattern as far as my knee goes. 

I was so thankful when the hospital called and said they had a MRI cancellation and offered me the spot on the 3rd. Yes, please! Of course, we never make a trip to town for just one reason so we dropped off the flatbed trailer at a friend's fabrication shop before heading to the hospital.

My MRI lasted just 30 minutes. They ask if you would like music and what genre you prefer so it was a very relaxing and calming experience...well, until I have to pay the bill.😂If DH ever needs an MRI, he'll end up falling asleep.

Still, I needed to know what was going on. The earliest appointment I could get with my orthopedic doctor was the 17th. 🤨. However, I received a notification that my results were ready not too long after we were home. I was thrilled about that.

Turns out I just have a complete medial meniscal tear and some cartilage bits floating around.. Of course, I wanted to wait until I could visit with my doctor, but I've been doing a lot of reading and I've found some very helpful videos that led me to a knee brace that I purchased. That, along with my trusty crutches have helped although I plan on throwing a party when they can be retired.

I feel good about the fact that I've been doing daily activities interspersed with resting as one of the  therapists on a video I watched says that 'movement feeds the joint' and that rings true to me. I'm not advocating videos over medical professional advice, but I felt comfortable moving forward until my appointment. And I feel like I'm doing something to help heal the injury. I just tend to get into trouble when I overdo it. I'm not very good at paying attention to that until my knee says, "I quit!"

Yesterday the doctor confirmed my suspicions and told me that he could schedule me for surgery, however, he said he likes to wait until the Cortisone is no longer in my system...ie: 3 months. So, the waiting continues. There are things behind the scenes that are making that more challenging, but I'm grateful that God's in control and that I'm in good hands.

In the evenings I've been working on a binding and should have a finish soon.

And I rolled $159.50 worth of change

I'm always surprised, and delighted, at how that adds up. As a child, I remember being so excited when my Daddy would take me to the recycle truck and turn in stomped aluminum cans in exchange for $ and then swing by the bank to deposit it into my savings account. I deposited all of it unless there was a new Trixie Beldon book on the bookshelf at the BX on the Air Force base. It still makes my heart happy to add to the savings balance.

And as much as I fuss about technology, today I am grateful for it because without it, I would not have had the MRI, or received the report so quickly, or had access to information, nor would a knee brace have been winging its way to the end of the dirt road.

I'm incredibly grateful the ligaments were not compromised and a meniscal tear is minor in comparison to what it could have been.

I think I got a little panic-y because this is NOT a good time for this, but is there ever a good time for an injury? Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Knee Saga

 About 2 weeks ago(6/18), I put in a pretty good day of mowing and that evening my leg was pretty sore, but I just chalked it up to wearing my chore shoes which are not very supportive. I use these and I love them for trotting outside to chore. Not an affiliate link - just sharing something I love and use.

                                                                              Sloggers

The next day I helped DH pull out all that fence around the old trailer house here at headquarters. And yes, I wore my good supportive work shoes. We worked hard for about 3 or 4 hours and I was smoked. Then I made a trip to town to run errands.

The next morning, Thursday,  I could hardly walk. That's when DH brought me the crutches from the bunkhouse.

So I hobbled around and tried to rest it over the weekend. DH wisely advised I not go into work on Monday so I called my boss so that she could make other arrangements.

I called the orthopedic clinic and was grateful to get in on Tuesday (6/25). The PA said she was very pleased with the X-rays and that I had beautiful knees (on the X-rays) 😉. I said, "That's great news, but I can't walk." She gave me the option of a cortisone shot or an MRI. DH said he wanted me to have both. 😂 He felt like she didn't realize how much I was really hurting. So DH tried to tell her, but I got the feeling she just thought I was a whiner. DH said, "She wouldn't think that if she knew you." 

I was told the MRI would be scheduled and they needed to get approval from insurance.

Insert rant: I love this country, but the health care and insurance system is royally messed up. End of rant.

The next morning (Wed 6/26), my knee felt a little less painful, but I didn't feel much of an improvement. DH went out to ride a colt and then he had an appointment and things to do in town.

So after making the bed, I figured I'd boil some eggs since they were piling up. Doing things on crutches when you're 60 is a challenge, but I couldn't just sit around all day. 

I was gently spooning eggs into the boiling water and when I turned to the side to pick up a couple more eggs, one of the eggs in the pot must have had a crack in it because it popped and that startled me so I involuntarily did a little hop and immediately felt something tear or pop in my leg. It instantly brought tears to my eyes. 

I just worked through it and waited for the eggs to finish boiling, put them in ice water for a few minutes and stuck them in the fridge. I didn't go sit down right away because I didn't want to waste the eggs.

But, BOY HOWDY! My leg did NOT feel good. I thought I was going to pass out. So Once I caught my breath, and made my way to the living room, I called the clinic and talked to the receptionist. She put me through to the PA's voicemail and I asked if she could please fast track that MRI.

That evening I got an email that insurance had approved it and that it had been ordered, but it's now the 2nd and I'm still waiting to hear from radiology about an appointment. Sigh. 

I can't just sit around so I'm piling laundry on my shoulders and crutching my way to the laundry room,  cooking some and keeping up with the dishes. DH still needs to eat and since I'm not doing a whole lot, I'm just eating once a day. We live too far from town to eat out and I don't buy frozen dinners so I made Barbecue Swiss Steak in the Instant Pot one day 

and Barbacoa in the Crockpot the next day

I'm still cleaning out the pantry so I made a batch of Dirt Road Granola Bars that used up the rest of the Chocolate Chips, Rice Krispies, and Quick Oats.

There's enough leftovers for a few more days while I wait for that phone call. I'm just ready to find out what needs to done next. Hopefully, it's an easy fix because we've got a pretty big project ahead of us (I'll share more in a few weeks) and 2 healthy knees would be beneficial. 

Under the Needle: June

 Some unexpected time to sew yielded a new quilt top early this month using an older line called Animal Crackers.  I cut it out last month and with DH leaving before 4 so many mornings to help brand on the other ranches, I've found time to sew some.

I liked this design (Deep Dive by Moonkin Stitchery) so much that I pulled another Layer Cake and a Fat Quarter bundle (Love You S'more) and cut out a larger quilt. This will be one of the camping quilts I'm making that was on my list at the first of the year. I thought the little hsts pieced to look like flying geese, looked like little tents

And I pressed and cut up another Fat Quarter bundle for a Christmas quilt - another project on my list

I needed a few more squares so I pulled a few plaids from my stash and then found time to begin stitching blocks

I finished this Pink Gingham Quilt

And I also finished this All in Good Time Baby Quilt that I started back in 2018.

I picked up 2 more quilts from Jackie so there are more finishes on the way. 

I was hoping to get the binding stitched to the front so I'd have some hand binding to do, but my knee injury has escalated so no sewing for a while. I'll post an update when I have more information.

I really like having quilts in all stages of construction. I feel like it keeps me engaged and that even when sewing time is scarce, I'm always moving something forward toward a finish.

Another Weekly Update

The week filled up fast and then came to a swift halt.

Monday is sale day (I clerk in the sale ring at the local livestock auction on Mondays. I can't believe I've been there for 10 years) and that always fills up my Mondays. (the auctioneer sits on the left, my co-worker sits in the middle, and I sit on the right, This is an older photo, but pretty much sums up our day - sometimes the bulls come in and kick up dirt from the ring into our work space)

Tuesday DH and I pulled out a pipe fence and rolled up chain link 

around an old trailer house here at headquarters that we're fixing to dispose of - that was a JOB! 

Those posts were sunk 4 ft deep and cutting the pipe together was a great upper body workout. 

We also fielded phone calls, emails, and texts about the wild fires that broke out in the Ruidoso / Alto area. Many of you have reached out to check on us. Thank you for your concern and kindness. We're fine out here. We're not in the mountains and the fires are about 90 miles away. My in-laws are 10 miles from the area, but are safe and were not asked to evacuate. The fires are still actively burning and not contained although a recent rain on Wednesday helped slow the spread. Phone communications are down (including my in-laws' phones) and people that did not evacuate have no way to reach out. Thus far, they estimate that 1500 structures have been lost. Ruidoso is also home to a large race track so many horses had to be evacuated as well. The town center is still intact although some businesses in outlying areas have been lost. So this is still very much an ongoing situation, so prayers for the first responders and folks affected by this continue.

On Wednesday we drove to Lubbock (2 1/2 hours away) to have a truck serviced and to have some codes cleared that are being thrown since we installed a flatbed. We also needed  to exchange a post driver.

 We left the house at 4:30 (allowed for a  time change when crossing state lines) and were 15 miles from Lubbock when the dealership called and said their system was down. It happens, but it means another trip at some point. When we got home we found a huge limb had broken off in a rough wind the previous night so DH broke it down in order to make it easier to haul off

The farrier came out on Thursday so I baked cookies and cooked for him. 

DH shod his own horses until last year - he's 61 and I told him that there are probably not a lot of 61 year old farriers.😉 Plus, our farrier is also a good friend of ours. Then I made a trip to town to run some errands for DH. 

Well, run is probably the wrong word. I hobbled through said errands. I don't know what I did, but I pulled a tendon or damaged my knee earlier this week and I am currently not sound (to coin an equine term). Getting in and out of the pickup and stepping on the gas pedal is pretty rough and in all honesty, I probably did too much.

So yesterday was Friday and thankfully I had leftovers in the fridge. DH was sweet and made breakfast and then he fetched some old crutches from the bunkhouse for me. They were here when we moved here 20 years ago and they came in mighty handy when I had some knee surgery about 5 years ago. They are being called into action once again because even though I will try to rest it through the weekend, there is only so much sitting I can do.

DH is on the board of the Safari Club and they are having their annual picnic today, but I bowed out. It's being catered, but everyone brings desserts so I just made Caramel Fudge Brownies yesterday and sent them with him

He left with strict instructions: REST. I did pick up 2 quilts from Jackie last week so I may try to trim them and sew the binding to the front so that I'll have some hand binding to keep me out of trouble. 😉

A Peek into Last Week

 Lots of odds and ends taking place around here. Nothing exciting, just snippets of  our days. We're definitely ready for cooler weather. 106° is brutal for livestock, the rancher, and his old wife. The older we get, the less heat tolerant we become so that means I'm behind the mower by 6 a.m. 

We have a nice, big yard, and I water it religiously in order to keep it that way and to keep the big shade trees healthy, but I also keep up the bunkhouse yard and mow out by the barn and everything outside the yards around the firepit and behind the house out to the chicken coop. When it rains, I spend a good 10 hours a week pushing the mower and no, we don't have a riding mower. Alas, it hasn't been raining and we are in the midst of a drought. 

We had our first rain since last fall come through last Sunday though and it was a doozy. We only got a tenth here at headquarters, but the south-east part of the ranch got a gully washer with 2.3". It completely washed out the road, but filled dirt tanks that had been completely dry. Huge blessing! Hang on babies, green grass is on the way!

Just north-east of the house, in Red Tip, the storm blew over the well house and the windmill tower ended up in the storage tank

So another project gets added to the list. LOL. 

We burned the old dump last week and DH is working on digging a new dump as time allows

And I'm rounding up things to break in the new dump. Yay! This is 38 years worth of DH's bookkeeping. He walked in when I pulled this bin out to clean under the bed and said, "We can toss those". Happy, happy, joy, joy. I promise we are not hoarders and I don't know why we felt the need to keep these, but it's time to let them go.

I'm continuing my clean out the deep freeze and pantry mission too so Oompa Loompa Bread was baked at 4:00 one morning in order to use up a can of pumpkin and beat the heat

The kids are coming soon so more cranberry bread will be made to use up more of the cranberries in the deep freeze. And I did sneak into my sewing room to start a new project...it takes a while to press 42 fat quarters

But when DH trailers out at 3:30 in the morning to help another ranch brand, I'm making good use of my time. Plus it's the only time of the day I'm willing to hang around a hot iron during this heat.😉

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

 I've  been on a mission to clean out the deep freeze lately. I found a partial bag of frozen mixed vegetables so I made a Chicken Pot Pie last week. Then I unearthed some frozen mixed fruit so Summer Berry Pie was on the menu. Frozen cranberries were up next so I mixed up this Cranberry Bread. I've been making it for probably 10 years and I found the original recipe HERE . I omitted the raisins and just added more cranberries. 

We love cranberries and our favorite cake is this Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake that I only make for Jesus' birthday cake at Christmas each year, but this cranberry bread hits the spot when the cranberry cravings hit.

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

2 C flour

1 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 C butter, softened

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp orange zest

3/4 C orange juice

2 & 1/4 C chopped cranberries

*Preheat oven to 350°.  Spray loaf pan with baking spray. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice. Stir to combine. Fold in chopped cranberries. Batter will be very thick. Spoon into loaf pan. Bake for 70 minutes or until toothpick, inserted in center, comes out clean. 

There are more cranberries to use so I'll be trying some new recipes. I've got a great recipe for a Strawberry-Cranberry Jam, but yesterday it was 107° and I talked myself out of  heating up the kitchen. When it's that cotton-pickin' hot, it doesn't take much talking. 

All in Good Time Quilt

This is my oldest UFO. I think I started it about 6 years ago. I found the floral print in a Texas shop in San Angelo and knew I was going to use this pattern. It's free here Spring Splash. I don't generally gravitate towards quilts with only 2 or 3 fabrics (although I do like ginghams quilts), but I thought this was a fun way to show off a fabric you really love.

 I've made a few versions of this pattern - it makes up quickly, but once it was a top, it seemed to always be pushed to the back. I never could settle on a backing I liked either. I would add it to my list of quilts to make each year and each year it would roll over, but I finally just used a pink from my stash. It's an awful lot of pink, but it's a sweet finish and hopefully it will be well loved.

My favorite part might be that black and white dot for the binding!

Jackie and Sandy always choose the perfect patterns for quilts - I never even make suggestions - I just tell them to pick something they will have fun quilting

I couldn't come up with a name either, but since it took years from the first stitch to the last, I thought All in Good Time fit it's circumstances.

It's 40x40 and I don't need it right now, but I like keeping a couple of baby quilts on hand for gifting and it feels good to finally add this one to the 'finished' list.

Gingham Quilt Finish

 I saw this pink floral fabric in a little quilt shop in Amarillo a few years ago and simply couldn't leave without some.

                                

 A sweet friend was having her sewing machine serviced and I had tagged along. We always get into trouble when we're together. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a gingham quilt with it and I knew I had some coordinating fabric in my stash that would be a good fit...

I love the classic, simplicity of a gingham quilt - it's a fun way to showcase a special print and it doesn't get much faster to put together when you need a gift in a hurry

Sandy quilted a pretty little floral pattern across it that shows nicely on the soft pink Minky I used on the back. I've used it quite a few times and I'm surprised at how often this shade coordinates with what I'm working on

I needed binding for two different quilts and this Grunge worked for both

                                   

and  you might want to sit down, but I actually machine bound this. 😲 I know! And it turned out pretty darn good, but honestly, I'm still not a fan, but it's good to know that I CAN do it. 

It finishes at 46"x56". The Bird of Paradise out in the chicken yard continues to amaze me each year. Not a drop of rain since October and this tropical wonder puts on a show year after year in this parched desert country.

I don't even think this quilt was on my list of projects I made in January, but it's a finish now and ready for little girl snuggles.