The Granny Square Quilt is DONE

If you're stopping by here from Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival...

                                               
Welcome to the end of the dirt road! I'm excited to share this quilt with y'all today. This quilt has been on my UFO list for a long time - 5 years to be exact. As soon as I saw it on the cover of the October 2010 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting I knew I had to make it. Scrappy quilts are always the ones that tug at my heart the hardest. This pattern is by Moda Lissa and I made my first block immediately.

I had only been quilting for a year and I had never worked with such tiny strips, but I was hooked.

Lots of stash building happened while stitching this quilt and I was elated with each and every block.

And the 1.25" strips just kept multiplying

This project kept being pushed back onto the back burner again and again, but every so often the strips would cry out that they had been neglected for far too long and more block making would commence:

                            

I finally finished piecing the blocks and got it stitched into a top and then it sat again.

                                        

The pieced border intimidated me, but I had already cut all the pieces and pieced strips and I loved the border.

                                                         


During one of my trips through Brady, I finally stumbled upon the perfect backing and at $3.50/yard, it was especially perfect:

                            

Then it was off to Jackie for a little quilting TLC and it was finally time for binding!

                            

It finished at 80 x 92" and those of you that know me, know that I wish I had made it bigger. I did make it bigger than the original pattern and at some point and time, there may be another one :)  Rest assured, in the 5 years since I started this quilt, I now have a large enough stash that I can sew the next one entirely from scraps. I love everything about this quilt...

And the Texas Hill Country:

 In the springtime:

Is an especially pretty spot to show it off:

Thank y'all so much for stopping by during the festival! I hope you'll stop in again. 

  

  

And thank you Amy for hosting this twice a year. Here's a link to all the inspiration! 

Shirking My Kitchen Duties

Yesterday morning I just HAD to escape the heat of the kitchen. The boys were branding at North Camp and I rushed around like mad after feeding them breakfast at 4:30 in order to give myself a little time behind the camera. Dishes were washed. Queso was made. Salad was tossed. Enchiladas were assembled. Beans were simmered. And I had a date with my camera.

                             

My camera died a while back and I have a new Super zoom/Bridge camera. I've been wanting to try out  it's full zoom capabilities and I have to say that I am thrilled with the results.

The shots aren't professional quality, and that has more to do with the operator than the camera, but I was a long ways off and the shots are pretty clear at full i zoom. And there's more zooming at digital zoom, but I think the photos are of a lesser quality although truth be told, I still need to try it with this camera.

It could NOT have been a prettier morning!

I could hear the cattle bawling long before I spotted them.

The laughter of the crew drifted across the spring breezes and it always brings a smile to my face to see them having such a good time.

Its hard work, but they love it.

                             

Our girl is prepping for Finals, but on Tuesday afternoon she called. It was 4 and she said she was loaded up and headed this way. Its a 3 1/2 hr drive, but she needed some time in the saddle. 2 Finals were behind her, another was online, and the last one was next Wed. Home was her destination.


                                     

Crazy girl. Not many kids would chose 3 am wake up calls over dead day at college where kids celebrated their last bit of freedom before buckling down for Finals. But this child is her own self and its one of the many things I adore about her. And this is how she chooses to celebrate:

                                             
Last night she stayed up late while the old folks snoozed and tended to her online Ranch Management Final. I'm pretty sure Organic Chemistry is far from her mind today:

The help of good neighbors is always appreciated:

                              

I didn't get much time and it I got into quite an argument with myself about heading back to into the kitchen in order to finish things off for dinner.

                               

 I can be stubborn and apparently I don't take orders very well, but the sensible side of me finally won out and the boys did not have to go without.

                            

Well, maybe just one more shot:

Today they'll be at Adobe Pens. Its a good 30 minute drive and I'm going to do my best to get everything pulled together and sneak over there because I love it as much as they do.

Rained Out!

As I was leaving town yesterday, with a mountain of groceries, I called DH to see if he needed anything. It was sprinkling in town and he said it was pouring at the ranch. We had a good chance of rain and thought a few tenths would be a blessing and settle the dust for branding. We unloaded over $200 in groceries and water bottles in the rain...with smiles on our faces. This morning we had 1.9" in the rain gauge so DH called off our first day of branding. Too wet is a good problem to have.

I have been cooking roasts for barbecue sandwiches and now this extra day allows me to prep some more. I'll get 8# of ground beef cooked and put the Lasagna together for tomorrow and assemble the Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert and stick it in the deep freeze. And no, I am not using 8# of ground beef for the Lasagna...the rest will end up in the enchiladas the next day and there will be enough for Buckaroo Bundles too.

Then maybe I'll stitch a little and take a nap!

We haven't had a wet spring like this since 2010. Looks like I'll be spending a lot more time behind that mower, but when the Lord blesses your socks off like this, you praise Him as you continue to mow!

Sneaking in a Little Time to Play with Fabric

Today I'm headed in to the sale barn. The morning started early since DH was up at 3:30. He's headed to the neighbors' to help them brand and then Tuesday through Friday it'll be our turn so that means I'll be spending the week in the kitchen. The list is long, but I'll shop for groceries after work today.

I spent much of the past 4 days mowing because I know I won't get to it this week and the grass and weeds and mustard are so high that I can't see the chickens. That's always a sign that its time to mow. I told DH that I've got about another 4 years behind that push mower in me and after that, we are going to have to spring for a riding one. This is about a 10th of what I keep mowed around here at headquarters

                              
While I was mowing, I was planning the menu and thinking about sewing.

I'm down to ONE ufo. I've got 6 that are at the quilters and will need binding, but the lone ufo still needs a design before the pile of fabric becomes a quilt. So if there's no design, maybe technically, its not even a ufo yet.

But I've been sidetracked...by this quilt.

                                

Shelly, over at Prairie Moon Quilts ,designs for Riley Blake and she posted a tutorial for this baby quilt over at the Riley Blake Cutting College blog. The minute I saw it, I knew I was going to make it and I sent the link to my Sale Barn Quilt Posse immediately. Now its on their list of must make quilts too.

When I finished mowing, I set about pawing through my stash and pulled some possibilities:

 I knew I needed to use some of my western stash because we've got lots of little Ranch Rodeo babies slated for arrival in the near future.

So thank you for another great pattern, Shelly! Who says that selling cattle is the only thing we do at the sale barn!