A Houseful of Blessings

 Last weekend our Okie family blessed us with a visit! 

Everyone gathered on Saturday to celebrate Granny's 87th birthday. And sadly, this is the only group shot anyone took. Baby L was napping, but we had 12 in the house that day.

E helped Granny with her birthday candles and then performed Zip-a-Dee-Do-Da for her.

It was a treat to see my BIL whom we all adore. He no longer drives but my SIL brought him and it was really good for all of us to be together.

And it just melted my heart to watch these 2 cousins interact

The sandbox was a busy place

And a favorite place to play                                      

As folks visited on the deck

Baby L spent every spare minute on his balance bike

                                           

He seriously racked up the miles

            

And the old 25 yr old wagon is still going strong

 and rolling into the next generation 

Our boy has always had a passion for bugs and snakes and lizards and he caught a garden snake to show the littles

Cousin charades kept us in stitches

It truly was a precious weekend

And yes, there will be a 2nd post. 😂

The Mountains Are Calling

 I found this kit on sale earlier this year and couldn't resist it.

I never looked at the instructions until the other day and KRIKEY!

 I am completely overwhelmed and intimidated! I know this is a piece of cake for many of you, but HOLY SMOKES!

The quilt is rather small at 51 x 60, but there are 20 pages of pattern instructions. These fabrics are great and I know I will love the quilt, but I'm going to need some hand holding to tackle this

I'm going to have to clear all the spaces in my sewing room (and in my head) and maybe set up a table to dedicate a place to keep everything organized and labeled. 

I picked up some template plastic and will get those made. Simple tracing. I can trace. No need to hyperventilate... just yet.

O.K. Deep breath. I'm diving in. 

Giving myself a pep talk. I can do this.

New Project

 Sharing a short backstory to fill in the blanks for this post. DH has been a ranch manager/foreman since he graduated college in 1985 (Gig 'em Aggies). 

We worked for one ranch owner (on 2 different ranches - when he sold one, we moved to the other) for 27 years until the ranch sold 2 years ago and we built a little herd of our own and moved to the mountains.

The ranch we managed for 20 years was 128,000 acres. There were times it was difficult to find help and DH and I tended to things on our own, but through the years we had a few good folks and we've stayed in touch with them. One family has 2 children. Their daughter graduated high school this year and I wanted to make her a quilt as she headed off to college. I still think of her and her brother like this.

Talking to her mama and looking at the things she had on an online list, I settled on a collection called Blush & Butterscotsh

I have nothing like this in my stash, but I think this will be perfect. I should have already had it made, but it's still super hot in Texas so I think they'll give me a pass. 😉

I chose to make a simple 16-patch because I think these fabrics lend themselves to some fun contrasts.

I don't know why this colorway never occured to me because I like the way these are playing together

I've got all the fat quarters pressed and cut and have 2 blocks finished.

 DH had some high school buddies he's recently reconnected with out tonight. He graduated in 1981 so there was a lot of catching up to do!

And our girl, SIL, and baby L will be here on Thursday. Hip Hip Hooray!!

We'll have 12 here on Saturday to celebrate my MIL's birthday so working on this will have to wait. Family first and I am looking forward to it so much, but I'm glad I have a plan for this project and will move it forward after the dust settles.

Circling the Wagons

 We're all feeling out of sorts and heavy-hearted around here and at the same time we're excited to see God moving in such a mighty way so we're doing what I've always called 'circling the wagons'. Soaking in family and spending more time on our knees. Living here, it's easy to shut the world out and let our hearts heal and be moved.

The kids came out on Saturday and hung out. I just made a big pot of stew and they brought ice cream to go with the apple crisp I made. 

Our son and DH worked on getting some mounts up on the walls

                          

We hung out on the deck and had a rousing and hilarious game of jump rope out by the barn

 when Emma asked to learn

I laughed so hard that I could hardly hold my phone to snap pictures

When E awoke in the morning, I heard her climb onto Pap's lap. I was in the bedroom and stayed there for a bit to eavesdrop when I heard her little voice, " I want to watch rodeo and eat applesauce, Pap." Yep. She's definitely one of us. LOL

Deck dining 

Egg gathering

Roping lessons

Dirt castle construction

And saddle time

with Pap

All good for the soul

And the dried apples rings I make each fall will now forever be known as 'apple cookies'. 😂

In the Kitchen & on the Road

 I haven't been in my sewing room in over a week. Empty freezers and all the apples we picked last week have taken priority.

The dehydrator has been going non-stop for a week and it's not done yet

Wednesday was applesauce making day. I know there are ways to make applesauce without peeling the apples, but those methods I've seen require you run everything through a mill or seive and I have neither. But those methods also produce smooth applesauce and my family likes a more rustic applesauce so I peel apples...lots and lots of apples. Until one day, when I am unable to and then I will break down and buy a food mill and they will have to get used to smooth applesauce. 😉

But it'll all be worth it and the house smells heavenly

Then we've been spending long days scouting the surrounding area for game. Hunting season hasn't begun yet, but you have to learn the country and have some idea of where the animals are living. DH drew tags for antelope, deer, and elk. We're hoping he'll have a successful season because we need to fill our freezers.

Soon after we left home on Sunday at 5:30, the full moon was just slipping  behind the mountains

One day

13 hours

260 miles

Miles and miles of brilliant blue skies

Lots of glassing

And Some pretty country...being spoiled by wind turbines. Don't get me started.

And one really cool volcanic rock that DH brought back to show me when he walked back from glassing over that railroad track

We are rockhounds and bringing me a neat rock pretty much makes my day. A few years back he brought me this metate he found on the ranch and it's one of my favorite things

We've been spending a lot of time exploring and then coming home hungry and not wanting to cook. At least we now have applesauce. LOL.