Under the Needle: November

 I'm trying to be extra cognizant of the days in hopes that they won't whizz by so quickly. It's not working.  LOL. What's a girl to do? I'll just keep being grateful for and finding joy in each one. 

DH was away tending to our cows at the end of October and into November and I don't sleep well when he's not here so I filled the pre-dawn and post-sunset hours by stitching, resulting in progress on projects

I finished piecing this Into the Woods quilt into a top, made the backing and binding, and took it to Jackie. I neglected to take a photo of the whole top so this is just 2 blocks.

I cut and pieced another quilt top and took it to Jackie. It's a gift so I can't show it yet, but here's a peek of the fabric

I pulled all the fabric and am presently cutting pieces for the Balsam Gnome Quilt

Then, when I ran across a panel at the bottom of a bin of western fabrics, I pulled it and coordinating fabrics to make this top. Again, just 4 of 30 blocks shown, but it's pieced and next up in line to be quilted.

I cut these fabrics for another Gingham - Buffalo Plaid quilt

A couple of months ago, I had made a ton of potholders, but I had yet to bind them. I love to hand bind and I hand bind all my quilts, but I'd rather spend my time hand binding quilts than 30 sets of potholders. However, my machine binding left a lot to be desired. But I wasn't giving up and I tried it again and it worked! Don't laugh, but I was so tickled. Just 1 set so far, but I feel like I finally figured it out. 

I'm still binding the Christmas quilt I started binding last month

And I had a couple of quilt finishes this month:

This Blush & Butterscotch 16-patch

And this Cowboy Up quilt

They are both now in Texas and have been well received and that makes this quilter's heart happy.

OK. Ready or not, we're sliding into the end of the year. I'll be hiding out on my mountain. 😉

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.