Week in Review

We had a pretty quiet week.  This is the only visitor we had although he brought friends. 😁

The light behind him is the house. Don't know where he was hiding during elk season. 

DH had a 5 day deer hunt and rode out each morning. He was successful on day 3 and came back to the house for a pack horse

On Tuesday, I made meatloaf and cookies, packed them up and dropped some off at my in-laws, and some for our son and his family.

Wednesday I sewed a lot to get a last minute project ready for quilting

And I may have started a new one

But the weather has been so incredible that it's hard to stay cooped up inside

Thursday I helped DH process the deer and help him get the first batch of jerky on the dehydrator

Friday was a wood cutting day

Saturday was a town day. I rarely tackle town on a Saturday - too people-y. I had multiple stops to make. I made a list and put in a Sam's and Walmart pick-up order the day before and came home with $500 of groceries. (an old photo because I was too tired to snap one)

Yesterday I cooked breakfast, streamed church services, cooked dinner, made a double batch of Cowboy Cookies, and a batch of Whiskey Praline Pecans (the 2nd of many)

We're soaking in the crisp Autumn air before winter arrives - according to the forecast, we've got 1 more week.

Blush and Butterscotch Quilt

 DH was a ranch manager for 40 years - since he graduated from college (Gig 'em Ags - class of 85) and he retired from a paycheck last year although we still have cattle. The last 20 years he managed a 128,000 acre ranch and through those years we had numerous families live and work at what was known as the North Camp camp. One family left to move back closer to family after 3 years, but we've stayed in touch and their daughter graduated high school and started college this fall so a quilt was in order.

After visiting with her mama and looking through her Amazon wish list, I settled on this fat quarter bundle of Blush and Butterscotch

a 16-patch felt like a really good fit

I love making these blocks and I think it's such a great way of showing off a pretty fabric pull or bundle

I backed it with a pink Minky 

and used a print from the collection for the binding

Jackie and Sandy added a design called One Cloudy Day for the quilting and it suits this quilt so well

At 66 x 72,

 it's a nice cuddle size for this special girl

Dusty Trails

 I've had this panel for a long time. Probably about 10 years. I'm not really a fan of panels because I'm always at a loss of how to use them, but through the years, a few seem to have found their way into my stash.

While I was hunting for a particular fabric for a gnome 😊, I found  this and decided it was time to get it into a quilt somehow.

I was able to cut them down to 6.5" and then I started brainstorming and I soon settled on an economy block. I pulled a variety of coordinating fabrics from my stash (my favorite part!)

And pushed other projects aside in order to make these. They will finish at 12" and I have enough for 30 blocks. I've just made 4 so far, but once I get it everything cut, it shouldn't take long. Yes. I think this will do very nicely

I keep gifting my western quilts so this one will be a welcome addition to have on hand.

Cowboy Up Quilt

 I bought this blue western fabric last year and paired it with the neutral plaid and tan from my stash for this project. 

I made this for a son of friends who worked for us when DH managed ranches.

I chose a 3-yard quilt pattern called Arcade

I increased the size to use the fabric I had and was able to make it 62" x 62"

This was a very fast one to make. While I was piecing the quilt for his sister (I'm still working on the binding), it was put on my heart to make this one for her brother

Jackie and Sandy quilted it with a design called Yodel.

I backed it with a blue minky

And bound it with the tooled leather print in the top

And it'll soon be headed to Texas

Banana Nut Bread

 I'm betting everyone has a recipe for Banana Nut Bread. It's a favorite around here and this recipe was given to me by a very dear friend of 38+ years. Most often I make it in heart shaped muffins because I have a pans for that

But yesterday I just made a regular loaf.

 DH loaded up 12 days ago to gather, move, process, and brand our cows and calves in Texas.

It was a long 12 days for both of us, but he returned yesterday

And since I hadn't cooked, and pretty much lived on avocado toast with turkey while he was away, we both really appreciated something baked from scratch.

Jacque's Banana Nut Bread

1 C sugar

1/2 C shortening

3 mashed bananas

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 C chopped pecans

*In a large bowl, mix sugar and shortening well. Mix in bananas, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Add in flour, soda and salt. Stir in pecans. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Test with a toothpick. When I make the heart muffins they only take about 20-25 minutes to bake. 

When I made this last time, I sent a photo to our girl and she said it conjured up warm, nostalgic memories of her childhood and that's exactly what the best recipes are supposed to do! 🥰

Gnome Alone

Okay. Yes, that's a corny title. Humor me. 😊 DH left the house at 3 a.m. and I couldn't go back to sleep so I'm not running on all 8 cylinders this morning.

I don't spend much time scrolling through things on the computer, but I do peek at Pinterest for quilt ideas and recipes and the other day I saw this quilt

Oh, I think I need to make this! I'm thinking scrappy gnomes and trees with lots of plaid and a variety of light, tan-ish backgrounds. Haven't pulled backgrounds yet, but this is what I found in my stash for trees and gnome hats

DH was tending to our cows in Texas and I needed something to occupy my time and keep me out of trouble. 

Hanging out with a gang of mischievous gnomes in a plaid forest? Sure, that sounds reasonable. 

And there you have reason #254 as to why I should never be left unsupervised. 😆

Under the Needle: October

These monthly posts help me keep track of projects, but they seem to roll around awfully fast. This month I cut and pieced this Arcade quilt top for a friend's son. It's a 3-yard quilt that I made bigger 

I took it, and the 16-patch top I made for his sister last month, to Jackie last week.

I made the bindings for both quilts, plus another for a scrappy quilt I made a few months ago

I worked on potholders this month as I've had a few requests and I like to keep a few on hand. I got 8 sets pieced and quilted, 10 sets pieced and 2 sets completed.

I stitched up this little toddler pillowcase for our granddaughter

                                  

I also cut out this quilt I'm calling Into the Woods. It's a 5-yard quilt called Jitterbug and I just made a few blocks to test out the pressing and to see if I liked the colors. The green is darker than I'd like, but it's the best fit out of what I have in my stash and in person, it looks lighter

 I finished the I Spy Quilt for our grandson this month

And I am currently binding a Christmas quilt

It was a good month and as we're getting ready to settle in for winter (We had our first freeze Tuesday night), I'm looking forward to sneaking in a few stitches between busy holiday preparations. 

Quilt Project Added

When I was working on potholders earlier this month, I pulled this fabric to use to bind the western sets

I cut what I needed and tossed the remainder of the folded yardage to the side, into my put-these-away basket, where it landed next to this

Oh, wait...I like that!

 What else can I add? 

And so it begins. 😂

I always need masculine quilts and bought the deer fabric with the idea that it would make a good future project...I guess it just moved up to present project.

Something simple. I saw that Fabric Cafe (of 3-yard quilt fame) just released a new 5-yard quilt book. I don't have any of their books, but I do have a few patterns and just recently made my first one although I made it bigger. But I bought this one and I thought this pattern called Jitterbug, might work. They almost always use a white or cream in their designs, but I'm going a little rouge for this one

I eliminated the light fabric in the initial pull and switched out the green for a different green, more subdued, that I think I like better. The change is subtle, but the other green was too loud and I want the fabrics to be a little muted for this project. I hope it works.

I have other things I ought to be working on, but apparently this one needs to be made first. 😉