Animal Crackers Quilt

Last night I finished binding a UFO from last year

I don't watch a lot of You-Tube videos, but somewhere along the line a Moonkin Stitchery clip popped up somewhere and I liked what I saw. Her tutorials are no nonsense, easy, clear and concise. Her older videos include a PDF download, but these recent ones do not. However, her tutorials are easy enough that a printed pattern isn't really necessary. She's gracious enough to share her designs at no cost. The videos I've seen all use layer cakes and with the exception of fat quarters, I'm not a big precut fan, but on occasion, I will pick them up on a good sale or just cut 10" squares from my stash. If I like a pattern, I'lloften add fabric to a pre-cut in order to make a quilt bigger.

A while back she shared a tutorial for a Deep Dive Quilt and I knew I was going to make it. I have a Sweetwater Layer Cake of an old line called Animal Crackers (2020) that I thought would be perfect. I loved that line so much that when I found a fat quarter pack on sale I bought that as well. I love Sweetwater's collections and I am really smitten with this one

Last June I thought, "I'll just cut up the layer cake, put it in a bin, and have it ready to sew when I get back to sewing and then I just could not help myself. DH had saddled his horse at 3 a.m. and trailered out to a ranch in Yeso (2 hours away) to help them brand and I found myself with time, and a strong desire to stitch.

So stitch I did and before he got back, I had a quilt top. I often listen to an audio book when I sew, but this time "animal crackers in my soup..." ,ala Shirley Temple, kept playing in my head as I sewed so I had to turn the audio book off. LOL.

Jackie and Sandy quilted this fun, whimsical swirl called Misty Jade across it 

I backed it with this print from the Animal Cracker line

And pulled a red grunge for the binding

This made a 48"x56" quilt, a great size for little monkeys.

I may keep this one here for grandbaby adventures.

Outdoor Projects Continue

 Now that Fort Knox (that's what I'm calling my chicken coop/yard DH built since NOTHING will be able to get in there, when the chickens and guineas are shut in, due to his engineering and design. They will free range during the day though.) is complete, we're tackling other projects. 

DH did put up some expanded metal on the 2 windows so now we just keep those open unless it gets super cold

Showed this photo to a friend of ours and he said it was so nice that he'd live in it

So I then sent him this shot and told him we were installing a sun shade in his new yard and that room service would be available, but sporadic. 

We had another dumpster delivered and filled it quickly with the dismantled old chicken coop, old pipe, and old wire and fence.

DH trimmed and thinned out trees in the back yard and we grubbed out all of the cactus - that took a couple of days.

Eventually, we'll replace the chain link fence as we're not fans, but that'll be a future project. The previous owners had it for their dogs. We'll also do some terracing and maybe build a retaining wall to discourage erosion since it's pretty steep. I don't see us spending any time in the back as it doesn't get any better than the view from the deck, but we still want it to be nice. It took 5 loads to clean things up

We took somewhat of a break over one weekend for the Southern New Mexico Safari Club Banquet. It is a 2 night event and DH is on the board so we actually work it. We were so busy that I only snapped one picture, but it was a full house with all 500 seats occupied. I tell folks it's the 1 weekend a year that we socialize. Such a great group, but it just wears us out.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch 😉, DH shod horses one morning while I mucked out the stall that the old chicken coop had been in. I shoveled and hauled no less than 15 heavy wheel barrow loads out. It was mostly packed dirt and it took me 3 hours and I was smoked. It takes me longer as I have to mind my knee and go slower, but I got it done. 

No plans for surgery as of now. It just aches and swells up when I tackle physically demanding tasks and then I just take some Advil and ice it once in a while. I have a pair of really good, supportive hiking boots (they are from a company called Shnee and I bought them 10 years ago when we went to Zimbabwe. I almost cried spending that much money on a pair of shoes, but they have been absolutely worth every penny). They help SO much so I've learned to reach for those even though I automatically want to just slip my feet into a pair of Sloggers I have, to run outside for a minute.

Then I spent another afternoon taking down old wire fencing and rope that the previous owner had put up in the horse runs. DH had taken it down in one of the other runs.

It was such a pretty day that it made a not so fun job enjoyable

Then we cleaned up all the odds and ends that were in the area that had previously been designated for the chicken yard.

With Skeet's assistance, we replaced 1 1/2 miles of pipe

 (not so easy in mountain terrain) 

and have restored spring water to the property

Next up: the orchard and garden spot. DH is researching trees on the computer as I'm working on a quilt binding, providing input when requested 😉

Under the Needle: February

 Last time I checked, there were still 24 hours in a day, but they sure are flying by. Seems like I just did the last Under the Needle post. In January, I started this scrappy Christmas quilt and got all the blocks made. I pieced the top  this month and made the binding so it's ready to hand off to Jackie

Our boy brought the quilt I made him when he went to college (2008), home over Christmas, and asked if I could repair a small hole in it. Of course! I love that he loves it. It is definitely showing it's age. A college kid, turned Marine, turned husband, turned Daddy...this quilt has earned its wrinkles. The binding is looking tattered as well so I made new binding, attached it to the back and am currently hand stitching it in the evenings.

I hear, all the time, that hand sewn binding is not as sturdy as machine stitched binding, but I'm hear to debunk that myth because this quilt has been used hard, loved hard and has traveled the world and not a single stitch has loosened.

This quilt was also made with fabric from Walmart. I hear the gasps. It was almost the first quilt I made and I didn't know about quilt shops, but I had access to Walmart and they had a lot of fabric back then. 

Now, through the years, I have handsomely supported local and online quilt shops, and Walmart is my least favorite place to frequent in general, but this quilt is made with love and brought to you by Walmart and a newbie quilter and it has stood the test of time.

I also pieced the Peppermint Bark Christmas quilt. All the blocks parts were made last year so I only needed to set those together and make the binding.

And speaking of binding...I made a lot

I started a new project...a Winnie the Pooh baby quilt that included fussy cutting the focus fabric

I dropped off 3 quilts and picked up 3 more. Then 2 weeks later, Jackie called and said they were ready so another 3 were exchanged. 

I am running out of quilts to give her. I had better stitch faster. LOL. The first three got binding attached to the fronts and I finished 2 this month. The Sweetwater  Follow Your Heart quilt was finished

                                           
And this little Charming Baby Quilt also had the last stitch applied to it.

Both of those have been on the list for too many years so it feels good to have them finished. It doesn't feel like I sew much, but posting what I DO get done each month makes me realize I actually  am getting time to stitch. 

Charming Baby Quilt

 Today I have another baby quilt finish to share. I missed adding this one to my list of quilts I hoped to make this year so I'll just count it as a bonus quilt

This is one of the first fabric lines I bought when I began quilting and  I've made numerous quilts with it. It was a Moda collection called Lily & Will from Bunny Hill Designs. Circa 2010-ish I think and after all these years, I still love it. 

                                                    

I love the versatility of HSTs and this time I set them into a broken dishes design. Jackie and Sandy quilted it with a design called Feather Flip using  a Linen colored thread

I cobbled the backing together with 3 different pieces I had left

and used  a brown print for the binding with what, I think, is the last of the leftovers, but I'm sure I will uncover more if I dig deep enough.

At 40 x 50, it'll be a nice way to welcome a new little one. It's been very handy to have a collection of baby quilts on hand and this one will be added to the armoire until it is needed...and as I was about to hit publish on this post, we found out that friends are expecting their 1st grandchild. If it's a girl, this will be perfect.

Coop Complete!

 Earlier this week we finally finished the chicken compound.

We started working on it before Christmas. I don't even want to think how much time DH put into this

I helped DH make the nesting boxes out of plywood we had sitting around...which means he did 99% of the work

Then it was on to the roost.      

                                  

 Everything is perfectly level and square and the chickens and guineas had better appreciate the attention to detail. 😄 

                                         

And yes, that is my dough scraper shoveling out the sawdust after DH beveled the edges of the nesting boxes. 😂 We are 'think outside of the box' workers.

While DH was off for a few days checking our cows, I sealed everything in the coop with Linseed oil

After a few days, it dried and the chickens and guineas were introduced to their new home (the chickens were outside)

I think they like it though because the first morning I had eggs! 

DH has begun to demolish the old coop. 

Doc built it in one of the horse stalls which worked well for them, but we wanted to reclaim the stalls for horses.  The skid steer has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately

When we talked about building a chicken coop /yard, we never dreamed it would be such a big project. DH did such a nice job. 

                            

It's perfect for our little flock and in a few weeks it will be time for new baby chicks!

The Old Featherbed

This old dirt road girl started out her life in Frankfurt, Germany. My Dad was from Ulm, Germany and my Mom was from Vienna, Austria. My Dad joined the US Air Force and was stationed in Germany when I was born. I was just shy of  2 when when he was transferred back to the States, but we spent lots of summers and Christmas Holidays in Germany. I have so many good memories from those days. I was quite the stylish baby. LOL.

                                     

One of the things I always loved when we visited was the featherbeds.  I felt like Heidi (a favorite childhood read) when I was tucked beneath those puffy feathers. It felt luxurious to snuggle into them, not unlike a nest. I remember reading Heidi, and later, Gone with the Wind, while nestled safely midst the downy warmth.

Anyone remember John Denver's song, Grandma's Featherbed?

Grandma's Featherbed

My grandmothers always believed that it was healthier and that you slept better in a cold room, so they both kept windows open at night. Winter, spring, summer, fall...the windows were at least cracked during the night. We still like to sleep in a cool room although open windows are banned when the mercury drops into the 20's.

I have 2 twin sized featherbeds  that my parents brought with them from Europe 60 years ago. 

 We lived in Colorado for 5 years and then Daddy was transferred to Texas where featherbeds were not needed, but they kept them packed away and passed them on to us when we married. 

 The little pink and blue  snaps were still in the little tub mom kept them in.  

They keep the duvet from shifting. So old school. So filled with memories. It transported me instantly back to Vienna.

                                            

It was -5 the other morning so a few days earlier, they were washed, aired out and back in business

                                  

When I pulled them out a few weeks ago, I wondered whether these featherbeds  ever wonder how they made it from the streets of Vienna and Germany to the end of a dirt road in New Mexico.

                                    

                                 

Sometimes I ask myself the same question about me. 😄