Don't Fence Me In Quilt Finished

The oldest UFO on my list is finally finished. I bought this fabric years before I started quilting. I had notions of making valances and a skirt at one time, but year after year the fabric sat on a shelf. Still, every time I ran across it, I found that I still liked it and once I was bitten by the quilt making bug, I was determined to turn it into a quilt. See, 1998 - it's definitely spent enough time hiding in a dark cabinet:

                               

Piecing this so that the horses didn't have 6 hooves or tails growing out of their noses was probably the biggest hurdle I faced, but once I dove in, it didn't turn out half bad:

                                   

And for some reason, I was drawn to using some sort of a Seminole design with this fabric so I put pencil to paper and figured out what I needed:

                                  

At one point, I had started this design and then run out of fabric, and set it aside for a few more years. Once I set my mind to finishing it, I dug back into my stash and chose fabrics of which I had enough yardage.


                                                

Jackie quilted an all over design with a denim blue thread:

                                 

I pieced the back with some leftover fabrics and bound it with a denim blue:

                                            

It measures 85 x 106 and it took me almost a month to bind:

                         

It has now been washed and dried and folded at the foot of the bed for those chilly nights when it is gratefully reached for and snuggled under before dozing back to sleep:

                                              

It's just a simple row quilt, but I like the end result and the fact that these horses have been set free from that dark cabinet after all these years just tickles me to pieces.

                                    

Catching Up

I didn't intend to not post these past few weeks, but life has just been busy and I didn't think scrubbing windows was deemed a very blog worthy subject.

The Safari Club had their annual banquet which includes a silent auction and I spent 2 days making 4 trips into town to help organize, set up, and work. We had 400 tickets and sold out so the little Civic Center was packed for 2 nights. Friday night is a casual pizza night and Saturday night is a gussied up night for prime rib:

                            

I made an impromptu trip to see my mom for a week and left early on a Tuesday morning after working a long day at the sale barn on Monday and not getting home until after 9 pm. Then I was back home late on Sunday night and back for a long Monday sale the next day. Then yesterday we had a special Brangus sale and I've been trying desperately to surround myself with an anti-flu shield. Half of my co-workers had  the flu on Monday and the other half had it yesterday. DH sent me a text that simply said, "Disinfect thyself." LOL. He greeted me at the door with hand sanitizer, bleach, vitamin C tablets, and instructions to head straight to the shower. He had the tea kettle whistling when I climbed out. I don't know whether his gestures are due to the fact that I am loved or to the fact that he does not want to catch the flu. *Grin*

We spent one pretty day chasing quail

                                           

 and no, I did not shoot these. DH did, but we chased and cleaned them together and he wanted to take a picture of me to share with the kids

                            

We ran the steers through the chute one morning and poured them with an insecticide (Cylence):

                             

DH surprised me on my birthday with a stand that he made to hold bananas:

                                                

And a matching paper towel holder:

                                            

I love them both and I love that he makes things like this that are useful without me asking.

I've been reading and have made good progress on my 2016 Reading Challenge. I am currently reading Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart , which is not on that list. :)

Now don't gasp. I AM stitching on a binding so hopefully that gets me out of hot water with my quilting friends who have been shaking their fingers at me.

                             

And I think that catches y'all up on recent happenings. Maybe next week will find me turning on the sewing machine!

And Then There Was One...

 I made some progress on the Don't Fence Me In quilt this week. It's the last UFO and I have procrastinated on this one time and time again. I think this fabric has aged long enough:

If I recall correctly, I bought this to make valances for a front room in the house we lived in in Texas. Plan B. A quilt. I knew I wanted to make it bigger than the 42" width of fabric and that meant I'd need to piece the strips and match the horses. I thought about it long enough that I had convinced myself that it was going to be a big mess, but once I finally gave myself a good talking to, I just gave it a shot and it didn't turn out half bad. I can live with it. No horses tails are growing out of shoulders so it'll do.

Then I had to reconstruct a pieced strip I had made many moons ago.

I have no idea how I made it, but I still really liked it and I needed to make more. I didn't have a pattern and apparently those particular brain cells have ceased to exist so new brain cells were called into action. I had run out of the original fabric so new fabric was pulled and cut and pieced. I snuck (I was always taught that wasn't a word and 'sneaked' is the proper form, but that sounds awkward) in a few minutes here and there and after 10 days I finally had a quilt top.

Now I have a question. To border or not to border? I've still got plenty of the brown and blue and cream and black fabrics. Presently it measures 77" x 87". I don't need it for any particular spot, but I just couldn't decide whether it would look better with or without a border. Any thoughts?

I may actually get to cross this one off the UFO list one of these days if I can stay focused. I wouldn't bet on it either. :) I've got 7 quilts at the quilters and this makes 8 so there will be lots of binding going on around here at some point and another baby quilt is in the works. Pinks and Grays and my stash is VERY limited on both.

 We've had  3" of rain since Thursday night - most of it early this morning and that means it's too wet to get around much without tearing up the roads so we're not venturing far today. We've got friends coming out to watch UFC fights tonight and fajitas and queso are on the menu I'll be donning my apron before long, but until then, I'm going to settle on a design and see what I can dig up.

A Stitch Here and a Stitch There

A stitch here plus a stitch there equals progress. Just odds and ends to share this week. I cooked for a crew for 3 days this week and those 2:30 am wake up calls gave me some extra time behind the sewing machine.

I really enjoyed embroidering 16 of these soon to be corn hole bags (bean bags) for a  friend's son's wedding. They are planning a variety of yard games for the reception (Doesn't that sound like a fun idea?)  and T sent me the fabric with a request for an embroidered monogram on each bag.

And I pieced the Fun Flower Baby Quilt into a top

 I also made this valance for my kitchen window a while back, but I don't think I ever shared it.

 I had run across the fabric while searching for something for a friend at Joann's and knew it would be perfect in my kitchen.

And I finally stitched up some matching potholders this week:

And an apron may find its way under the needle soon.

 I also finished out the week by piecing this top for the Rodeo Baby baby quilt. There will be strips running across the top and the bottom that will have appliqued stars running across them as well as a star in the center, but the center blocks are pieced.

I hope to get the stars appliqued and make a plan for the Don't Fence Me In horse quilt this week.