How We Spent the Snowy Weekend

 We spent a few days winterizing in anticipation of the winter storm that has been blanketing so much of the country. We were kind of on the western edge of it according to the weather maps.

DH built a couple of frames to cover our HVAC units. When it snows, the snow and ice piles up on top and can freeze up the system and we don't want to burn out the motors.

We got those put in place

Heat lamps in the well house, shop, and tack room (because there's a bathroom and sink in there)

Freeze misers on the faucets

The chickens have feed and water in their insulated coop. Spoiled chooks.

Our high was 12 on Saturday and they may have ventured out, but I didn't see them.

The horses came up looking for breakfast

They get frisky when it snows and will be playing in it after their feed buckets are empty

Our injured horse is still being confined

Normal people would follow suit of the chickens in such weather, but we never claimed to be normal. This man doesn't have an idle bone in his body...retired or not. After a warm bowl of Posole and corn bread muffins at 11, we spent 4 hours burning slash piles 

I don't even know how many there are...maybe 15 or so, I lost count but we just burned 4 on Saturday. 

We have to let them burn down and then walk around and toss outlying stumps, logs, and debris into the center so we get a complete burn.

We'll see what the weather does overnight, but if there's no wind, we'll tackle more tomorrow with our trusty supervisor in tow.

Snowy trails

When we came home, I made a big pot of stew since we'll be away from the house and will want something warm when we come in. While that was simmering, I wrote this post, watched a little UFC, and tried not to fall asleep.

Showers and our heads hit our pillows pretty early. That's about as wild as it gets around here on a Saturday night. We ought to sleep really well tonight! 

Sunday update: We ended up getting 5" overnight and it's snowing again this morning, but we didn't have a ton of ice with this storm and we never lost electricity. We're at the end of the line so restoration takes a while when we do.

And we're on slash pile duty and behind the shovel again today

DH started them first thing in the morning and then came back to pick me up at 8. We came back in at 4 to eat and tend to chores at the barn. It's a ton of work for 2 old people.

So many areas were hit harder. We're just grateful for the moisture and honestly, it's just beautiful here when it snows.

We've got a good fireplace and access to more wood than we could ever burn and a gas stove and grill so we got along just fine. You can see the house way off in the distance.

Skeet's prayers for more snow were answered.

I'm just praying I can lift my arms tomorrow. 😂

Into the Woods Quilt

 I'm always in need of masculine quilts, but they seem more challenging to plan for me. 

This particlular quilt doesn't have a home yet, but I felt called to make it when I tossed this dark brown fabric into a basket and it landed next to this.

I pulled a few coordinates and this 5-yard quilt pattern felt like a perfect combination.

The pattern is called Jitterbug, from the book Step it Up  With 5-Yard Quilts from Fabric Cafe.

I had this green in my stash and initially, I thought it was too dark, but it really matches the pops of green in my 2 main fabrics. It's been in my stash for longer than I've been making quilts and I  have a lot of it so it also ended up on the back

I really like the way the dark brown, that's been in my stash for many years as well, looks a little like paths from one area of the woods to another in search of a deer.

And I used the same brown for my binding.

I didn't fussy cut my fabric with resulted in some partial deer peeking out from the side of some of the blocks, but it looks more realistic since you have to hunt for them. 

This finishes at 60" x 72" and I love the way it turned out.

We have deer wander through here almost daily, but this morning, elk stopped in for a visit.

Homemade Vanilla

 This year I thought that bottles of homemade vanilla might make good Christmas gifts. Since it takes a year, I figured I ought to get them started.

I bought a pound of vanilla beans from Vanillabeankings.com for $148

16 bottles off of Amazon for $23.79.

And stocked up on mostly Vodka and a little bit of White Rum and Bourban. I wanted to give them all a whirl. $71.00

1 oz of beans to 8 oz of vodka. I didn't have a small funnel so I improvised with a cake decorating tip and frosting bag

I go through a lot of vanilla over the course of a year and made enough to gift, as well as keep some for our pantry.

It came to $15.17 per bottle.

I stashed them in a buffet where they will be allowed to hibernate until December.

Scrap-Basket Knockouts

When I posted the list of projects I hoped to work on this year, I had a lot of interest in these 2 quilts and these aren't even good pictures

They're currently at Jackie's waiting to be quilted. I was processing my scraps last year and I liked the way these incorporated my low volume prints.

Several readers contacted me, asking about the patterns. I've replied back, but I thought I'd share the information here as well since I had so many inquiries. They are both in this book that I bought in 2022. 

I thought I had written about it at some point, but I've been unable to find reference to it. There are so many great scrappy quilts in here.

This gives you a better look at Knots & Chains

Here's a better picture of Logs & Bricks from the book 

And then for each quilt, Kim gives you an alternate layout. I like playing with designs so this is a great addition.

Here's another

Here's a link to a trunk show I saw that made me purchase the book when it was first available

I think this was right before Martingale closed it's doors. I hope this helps those of you that were interested. Most of these are on my radar to make at some point, but so far I've only pieced 3 and only this one is finished.

Criss-Cross Baskets

I could make every single quilt and not have to buy a thing except a backing or two. 

I don't buy a lot of quilt books, but this one is a keeper. I even had it spiral bound and I'm glad I added it to my library.