Birthday Blessings

Last week I hopped a plane to visit our boy and his family and to celebrate a special birthday!

This little nugget is just delightful!

Such a fun age!

Full of ideas and imagination and joy and adventure.

The best kitchen assistant ever!

We made gallons of lemonade for our picnics. LOL

Bath time is a family affair. LOL

Build-a-Bear adventure!

TLC was administered immediately

 We were getting ready to go to the wildlife zoo and mama put this cute outfit on her. Apparently she's grown and the top is now a crop top. Daddy commented: She just turned 3 today. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. LOL. Laughter ensued and outfit was changed.

Such a sweet day

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

I loved capturing those everyday special moments

And the Corn Quilt was a hit!

I savored every moment

There are only 2 daily flights into the nearest airport and one of them arrives at 11:40 p.m.. Flying over Lubbock at this point.

By the time I got home and took a shower it was after 1 a.m. and then it was back to town the next morning for work and up again at 2 a.m. on Tuesday because it's spring branding season and DH left at 3 a.m. to help the neighbors. Whoever said things would slow down when empty nest season arrived lied! OYE! This Gram is pooped! But her heart is full!

Under the Needle: April

 I made a little bit of progress on 8 quilts this month - all of them on the list of quilts I made in January. 🎉

I don't really enjoy piecing backings, but quite a few quilts were at that stage so I checked those off this month.

I pieced the backing for this Scrappy Americana Quilt that has been sitting on the sidelines for a few years

As well as the backing for this UT quilt for our son-in-law

My Gingham Farmhouse Quilt also got a backing - haven't decided on the binding...red or gray? Today I'm thinking red will be a fun pop of color for the front.

And I pieced the top (the HSTs were finished a few months ago)

and backing and made the binding for a red and white quilt from fabrics I received when I participated in an online swap last December. I love this floral fabric that will be the backing.

I also sketched around all of the hearts 3 times for Follow Your Heart (an old kit by Sweetwater) and pieced the top:

And pieced yet another backing

I also made Broken Dishes blocks with a flannel Primitive Gatherings Layer Cake and pieced those into a top for our girl

I finished this Adventure Lies Ahead quilt

And I finished this 'Corn' Quilt

With company, a road trip and an air trip this month, I'm happy to have accomplished anything!

The "Corn" Quilt

 This is just a fun little quilt I made for our granddaughter for her birthday. She's crazy about Unicorns and calls them 'Corns' and thus the perfect opportunity to use this fabric was created. I didn't have any ideas past that so I just cut the panel squares and pulled coordinating fabrics from my stash and let that set on the design bed for a while, waiting for inspiration...

Sigh. Pinwheels kept sweeping in and I continued to wait for different inspiration...I feel as if I make a lot of quilts with pinwheels, but I finally gave in...

Pinwheels seemed to fit the essence of this whimsical quilt - they pair well with 'Corns'. 😉

This isn't a very big quilt because I wanted it to be portable and a big quilt isn't very portable when you are 3 so it just finishes at 42" x 42"

Sandy quilted it with this sweet design called  Billowy and I used a pink from my stash for the binding.

 I backed it with this fabric that I had long before grandchildren arrived because I knew it would be needed one day. 😉

And now it is packed and about to embark on grand adventures!

Road Trip

 Last week DH and I took a roadtrip and drove 600 miles to check on our cows. 

Then we drove 600 miles back. Lots of miles for a couple of old folks. 

We left on Monday and got back on Thursday. The new camp man started last week and it'll be a while before he gets his feet on the ground, but other than a few phone calls about water troubles, he held down the fort. Another phone call from the electric co-op troubleshooter about power being down - something always goes awry when you try to get away. I can't even recall the last time DH and I were both away from the ranch for longer than 2 nights and that was only twice in 20 years We took our trip to Zimbabwe in 2015 and were only able to really do so because our girl had just graduated and she was able to take care of the ranch while we were away before she began her Masters program.

Our cows are a motley bunch - here's a handful of them

but most of them are dog gentle

Snack time

Calving season is one of my favorite times of the year

We're not used to these long-eared rascals

                                        

They are so cute

Cattle with a little ear do better in the area where we have them

Some have more ear than others. LOL

Brahmas are not known for their ease, but that little Brahma-X was sweet as can be. We had to move a set of them because it hasn't rained - It is incredibly brushy here and they use a helicopter to gather

It was crazy to watch the pilot practically skim the ground and maneuver on a dime to herd the cows

The boys set up a temporary loading chute

We brought Cydectin and DH poured the cows 

                                       

as they loaded onto the truck

The calves were loaded onto a couple of trailers and we had to drive through Laredo 

to move them to greener pastures

Where they were unloaded and reunited with their mamas

We've known the young man that is taking care of them for 25 years. We hadn't seen him in 20 years and it was definitely God's hand that put everything together

We are incredibly grateful for these sweet faces

 And His many blessings