March Madness

 And it has nothing to do with basketball. The fact that I even know there is a March Madness related to basketball is surprising because I've never even watched a basketball, or baseball, or football game. Well, some football in college, but that was many moons ago. But this last week was just full. We're always busy, but when busy removes me from my dirt road, it unsettles me. Yes, I'm showing my age. 😉

We loaded up on Friday and drove just over an hour for the annual Safari Club Banquet. DH has been a board member for 10+years and he mans the membership booth for the 2 day event. On Saturday night I run the draw down table with another lady. They randomly draw ticket numbers throughout the evening and every 5th ticket drawn wins a prize with the last 5 being hunts.

There is a bucket auction

And a live auction, along with venders

Friday evening they set up a taco bar and on Saturday they serve a prime rib supper. They sold 600 tickets so it's quite the crowd 

and even though this is the loveliest group of people, we were completely peopled-out by the time we had packed everything back up at midnight on Saturday. They paid for board members' rooms and the hotel next door was super nice. We drove home Friday night, but stayed Saturday night.

Thankfully, Sunday afternoon was quiet

We were home on Monday, but I spent the day working on taxes while DH poured over the bull sale catalog.

And we drove 2 1/2 hours to said sale on Tuesday

We've been going to this sale for 20 years, but always on the ranch owner's dime. This year was different since we were purchasing bulls for our own cattle. These bulls are gentle

The sale was strong...highest prices ever, but if you have cows, you need bulls and this is a family operation. They raise quality bulls with solid genetics.

Wednesday we were back on the road to take our 11 year old truck in to have an oil leak fixed and run some errands. Stopped in at Tractor Supply and saw this food truck in the parking lot and a crowd. 

I was a little skeptical, but we gave it a shot and while we waited for our order, our mechanic pulled up. He said his wife had texted him and told him the truck was in town and where it was. Mark said it was really good so we felt a bit better about it. Yummy Fish & Chip picnic on the tailgate in the parking lot on March 4th. Absolutely. 

As we were finishing up, a gentleman approached us and asked if we wanted to buy cheese from Mexico. We respectfully declined, but as we climbed back in the pickup, DH said, 

"I will buy fish in a parking lot, but I will not buy cheese from Mexico out of a trunk. I have my limits." 😂

And today I am driving an hour to my in-laws to spend some time with my MIL while my FIL tends to some business. I will do a little cleaning, cook Layered Lasagna Casserole for dinner,

and bake a Cajun Cake for dessert

I will leave them leftovers, take some to our son and his family, and bring some home to DH.

Tomorrow we are going after a few more trees for the orchard and will get those in the ground Skeet is always eager to help and he's disappointed when we postpone things to take a phone call.

I am declaring the next 7 days a Not Leaving the Dirt Road Vacation. I will be hiding out on the deck, planning my garden and talking to my fruit trees and chickens. Didn't think I'd reached the crazy old lady stage yet, but there you go.

Under the Needle: February

 I worked on numerous different projects this month, making progress on 8, beginning 1, and finishing 2 quilts and 25 blocks.

I'm not a tv watcher and  I don't have the television on during the day, but when I DO sit down in the evening, I need to have something in my hands and I just so happened to have a Christmas quilt that needed binding this month. Peppermint Bark Christmas was a good one to work on during the Olympics and it is now a finish.

I had excellent assistance with this pink quilt this month

 and after I made all the flying geese, I got it laid out and pieced into a top. Minky was requested for a backing and binding was chosen and made before handing it over to Jackie and Sandy for quilting.

I made the blocks for this flannel quilt last month and was able to get them all assembled into a top earlier this month. I pieced the back, made the binding and handed it over as well.

I then picked up 4 quilts from Jackie and got the bindings stitched to the fronts

I also made the binding for my S'mores quilt

As well as the bindings for the 2 Balsam Gnome quilts I pieced last month

On my list of quilts I wished to work on this year was a 2nd camping quilt, but I hadn't settled on a pattern. Last month, I saw this pattern called Layer Cake Scattered Stars from the Fat Quarter Shop and I thought it would be an excellent fit.

 So, I pulled my bin of leftovers from the first quilt and cut everything out. I downsized the blocks for this quilt and needed 42. I wasn't able to get this into a top, but all the blocks are ready. I laid out 6 blocks...this is going to be perfect.

I made 25 No Point Stars (12 1/2") for a QOV group 

And those netted some bonus triangles that I trimmed to 2 1/2".

 I was on the fence about keeping these, but I made a Broken Dishes block and decided they needed to stay

And to close out the month, I finished this Woodland Wonders Gingham Quilt

For a short month, I am happy with the progress I was able to make.  March is already filling up with things I hope to work on.

Woodland Wonders

I am often trying to come up with ideas for baby boy quilts and when I saw these fabrics, I didn't hesitate. I really like this neutral palette, and these southwestern prints are just perfect here in our corner of the world.

And it didn't take me long to cut squares for a little gingham quilt.

If you've been reading here for long, you know I love a good gingham quilt.

They're timeless and classic and come together so fast

And they're not so fancy that people are afraid to use them and when I gift a quilt, I most definitely want it to be used and loved.

I think this one fits the bill nicely.

The gray Minky backing makes it extra cuddly

This one is 49"x 59"... may it be a part of endless adventures in the years to come.

An Official Orchard

 Last week, DH and I layed out the pipe that will supply the orchard with water. 

We rolled out 280' from the orchard to our spring and plumbed it in

We're still researching watering systems for the individual trees and will add a few more hydrants, but we're leaning towards a drip system. This project will be a work on progress.

He also dug the holes for the trees 

and then we went to pick some of them up from Jaimee on Monday

I took her some eggs and she gave us a bottle of Mesquite Bean Syrup. It is so sweet and good. She said it is excellent on pancakes and that she uses it as you would use honey when you run out of honey. It is high in iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium, and I've now added that to my list to make.

She is grafting some specialty trees for us, but they won't be ready until September

DH wanted one heirloom apple tree that will be bigger, in the back of the house so he moved a few rocks

Dug a hole

And brought in a load of manure

We mixed  it in with topsoil and fertilizer and potting soil from Jaimee

And we have our first tree! 

And an official orchard!

Well, there are more to plant, but we got 6 in the ground on Tuesday.

Lots of time behind the shovel and that's about all I can handle. We're sore and tired, but excited about the possibilities

and hopeful that our project will one day bear fruit.