Under the Needle: June

 Some unexpected time to sew yielded a new quilt top early this month using an older line called Animal Crackers.  I cut it out last month and with DH leaving before 4 so many mornings to help brand on the other ranches, I've found time to sew some.

I liked this design (Deep Dive by Moonkin Stitchery) so much that I pulled another Layer Cake and a Fat Quarter bundle (Love You S'more) and cut out a larger quilt. This will be one of the camping quilts I'm making that was on my list at the first of the year. I thought the little hsts pieced to look like flying geese, looked like little tents

And I pressed and cut up another Fat Quarter bundle for a Christmas quilt - another project on my list

I needed a few more squares so I pulled a few plaids from my stash and then found time to begin stitching blocks

I finished this Pink Gingham Quilt

And I also finished this All in Good Time Baby Quilt that I started back in 2018.

I picked up 2 more quilts from Jackie so there are more finishes on the way. 

I was hoping to get the binding stitched to the front so I'd have some hand binding to do, but my knee injury has escalated so no sewing for a while. I'll post an update when I have more information.

I really like having quilts in all stages of construction. I feel like it keeps me engaged and that even when sewing time is scarce, I'm always moving something forward toward a finish.

Another Weekly Update

The week filled up fast and then came to a swift halt.

Monday is sale day (I clerk in the sale ring at the local livestock auction on Mondays. I can't believe I've been there for 10 years) and that always fills up my Mondays. (the auctioneer sits on the left, my co-worker sits in the middle, and I sit on the right, This is an older photo, but pretty much sums up our day - sometimes the bulls come in and kick up dirt from the ring into our work space)

Tuesday DH and I pulled out a pipe fence and rolled up chain link 

around an old trailer house here at headquarters that we're fixing to dispose of - that was a JOB! 

Those posts were sunk 4 ft deep and cutting the pipe together was a great upper body workout. 

We also fielded phone calls, emails, and texts about the wild fires that broke out in the Ruidoso / Alto area. Many of you have reached out to check on us. Thank you for your concern and kindness. We're fine out here. We're not in the mountains and the fires are about 90 miles away. My in-laws are 10 miles from the area, but are safe and were not asked to evacuate. The fires are still actively burning and not contained although a recent rain on Wednesday helped slow the spread. Phone communications are down (including my in-laws' phones) and people that did not evacuate have no way to reach out. Thus far, they estimate that 1500 structures have been lost. Ruidoso is also home to a large race track so many horses had to be evacuated as well. The town center is still intact although some businesses in outlying areas have been lost. So this is still very much an ongoing situation, so prayers for the first responders and folks affected by this continue.

On Wednesday we drove to Lubbock (2 1/2 hours away) to have a truck serviced and to have some codes cleared that are being thrown since we installed a flatbed. We also needed  to exchange a post driver.

 We left the house at 4:30 (allowed for a  time change when crossing state lines) and were 15 miles from Lubbock when the dealership called and said their system was down. It happens, but it means another trip at some point. When we got home we found a huge limb had broken off in a rough wind the previous night so DH broke it down in order to make it easier to haul off

The farrier came out on Thursday so I baked cookies and cooked for him. 

DH shod his own horses until last year - he's 61 and I told him that there are probably not a lot of 61 year old farriers.😉 Plus, our farrier is also a good friend of ours. Then I made a trip to town to run some errands for DH. 

Well, run is probably the wrong word. I hobbled through said errands. I don't know what I did, but I pulled a tendon or damaged my knee earlier this week and I am currently not sound (to coin an equine term). Getting in and out of the pickup and stepping on the gas pedal is pretty rough and in all honesty, I probably did too much.

So yesterday was Friday and thankfully I had leftovers in the fridge. DH was sweet and made breakfast and then he fetched some old crutches from the bunkhouse for me. They were here when we moved here 20 years ago and they came in mighty handy when I had some knee surgery about 5 years ago. They are being called into action once again because even though I will try to rest it through the weekend, there is only so much sitting I can do.

DH is on the board of the Safari Club and they are having their annual picnic today, but I bowed out. It's being catered, but everyone brings desserts so I just made Caramel Fudge Brownies yesterday and sent them with him

He left with strict instructions: REST. I did pick up 2 quilts from Jackie last week so I may try to trim them and sew the binding to the front so that I'll have some hand binding to keep me out of trouble. 😉

A Peek into Last Week

 Lots of odds and ends taking place around here. Nothing exciting, just snippets of  our days. We're definitely ready for cooler weather. 106° is brutal for livestock, the rancher, and his old wife. The older we get, the less heat tolerant we become so that means I'm behind the mower by 6 a.m. 

We have a nice, big yard, and I water it religiously in order to keep it that way and to keep the big shade trees healthy, but I also keep up the bunkhouse yard and mow out by the barn and everything outside the yards around the firepit and behind the house out to the chicken coop. When it rains, I spend a good 10 hours a week pushing the mower and no, we don't have a riding mower. Alas, it hasn't been raining and we are in the midst of a drought. 

We had our first rain since last fall come through last Sunday though and it was a doozy. We only got a tenth here at headquarters, but the south-east part of the ranch got a gully washer with 2.3". It completely washed out the road, but filled dirt tanks that had been completely dry. Huge blessing! Hang on babies, green grass is on the way!

Just north-east of the house, in Red Tip, the storm blew over the well house and the windmill tower ended up in the storage tank

So another project gets added to the list. LOL. 

We burned the old dump last week and DH is working on digging a new dump as time allows

And I'm rounding up things to break in the new dump. Yay! This is 38 years worth of DH's bookkeeping. He walked in when I pulled this bin out to clean under the bed and said, "We can toss those". Happy, happy, joy, joy. I promise we are not hoarders and I don't know why we felt the need to keep these, but it's time to let them go.

I'm continuing my clean out the deep freeze and pantry mission too so Oompa Loompa Bread was baked at 4:00 one morning in order to use up a can of pumpkin and beat the heat

The kids are coming soon so more cranberry bread will be made to use up more of the cranberries in the deep freeze. And I did sneak into my sewing room to start a new project...it takes a while to press 42 fat quarters

But when DH trailers out at 3:30 in the morning to help another ranch brand, I'm making good use of my time. Plus it's the only time of the day I'm willing to hang around a hot iron during this heat.😉

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

 I've  been on a mission to clean out the deep freeze lately. I found a partial bag of frozen mixed vegetables so I made a Chicken Pot Pie last week. Then I unearthed some frozen mixed fruit so Summer Berry Pie was on the menu. Frozen cranberries were up next so I mixed up this Cranberry Bread. I've been making it for probably 10 years and I found the original recipe HERE . I omitted the raisins and just added more cranberries. 

We love cranberries and our favorite cake is this Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake that I only make for Jesus' birthday cake at Christmas each year, but this cranberry bread hits the spot when the cranberry cravings hit.

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

2 C flour

1 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 C butter, softened

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp orange zest

3/4 C orange juice

2 & 1/4 C chopped cranberries

*Preheat oven to 350°.  Spray loaf pan with baking spray. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice. Stir to combine. Fold in chopped cranberries. Batter will be very thick. Spoon into loaf pan. Bake for 70 minutes or until toothpick, inserted in center, comes out clean. 

There are more cranberries to use so I'll be trying some new recipes. I've got a great recipe for a Strawberry-Cranberry Jam, but yesterday it was 107° and I talked myself out of  heating up the kitchen. When it's that cotton-pickin' hot, it doesn't take much talking.