A Yee-Haw Gathering and the Demise of More Trees

So on Sunday night, after the tree-filled weekend, I made a batch of cinnamon rolls and popped them into the fridge. After they were baked and slathered in icing, Cotton Picker and I  drove to Ranch Wife's house  for a good visit the next morning. See, Ranch Wife is moving. I have never been so happy (for them) and sad (for me) at the same time. One of our little Yee-Haw Trio is moving on to new pastures. She is even hopping the state line! Alas, I needed to drown my sorrows in a big pan of cinnamon rolls and the company was good. If you have to drown your sorrows, it's not a bad way to do it.

Ever, the consummate hostess, Ranch Wife had coffee and tea a brewing when we arrived. It smelled like a European Cafe in there. See the quilt? She's a quilter! :) We haven't been able to convert Cotton Picker. She breaks out into hives when she sits behind a sewing machine.

Then we commenced to Hee-Hawing around her charming kitchen table for hours. Cotton Picker had brought boxes with the intention of helping pack up Ranch Wife's kitchen, but Ranch Wife said she just wanted a day where she didn't have to pack so we plunked ourselves down again and had us another round of cinnamon rolls. We can belly up to a kitchen table with the best of them, fill our bellies with cinnamon rolls and make ourselves ill on belly laughs. It looks like we are having a revival. LOL.

 Come dinner time, we decided to pop into the little tiny town 15 miles away and enjoy some more visiting over another meal. 

We did just get together about a month ago so this was unusual, but we couldn't let her get away without one more chick chat. Dang, I'm going to miss this gal!

Apparently I am a squinter when I laugh - nose, eyes, mouth. Sheesh!. We should have gotten her a tiara - she looks regal here and we are her two court jesters. :) Did I mention I am going to miss this gal?

When I got home yesterday, DH was at it again! More chainsawing! I literally walked in the house, grabbed my trusty gloves and dove in.

This morning he has traded his chainsaw in for a tree trimmer:

I was cleaning the stove when I looked out and saw him scaling the ladder. Massive branches are meeting their demise all over the yard. I am afraid to look. I am baking cookies to send to our boy this morning. Once the branches hit the ground, it is my territory so I will have my work cut out for me. It's too dangerous in the yard while the wood is crashing down.

I could just cry.

On the sewing front, the news is discouraging too. :) 

I am looking forward to cutting into these fun fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery Quilt eventually.

The cute little chickens and charming old keys are my favorite.

By the time I get around to it, it may no longer be a mystery. There simply are not enough hours in the day and tree duty calls!

Feeling Spoiled

The past few months I entered a couple of giveaways and much to my surprise, I came out on the winning end. I was a lucky recipient in Happy Quilting's giveaway for Natalia's Beginner's Guide to Free motion Quilting:

Thank you Melissa...and Natalia! I am so excited to tackle FMQ and this book gives me more confidence to do so! Everything is written in such detail and the designs are great and they will soon be finding their way onto my quilts.

A while back I won a giveaway from Amy, over at  Diary of a Quilter, and this lovely FQB, Tend the Earth, came to reside at the end of the dirt road via Judi, at Green Fairy Quilts :

Such pretty prints that truly deserve to be stitched into something lovely. Thank you both!

Then I was a big winner over at the FQS for a copy of Pixel Play, by Emily Cier. What a fun book! I've been intrigued by the quilts I have seen using solids and this is a playful way to discover them. It's like coloring! And Kimberly and Emily were just incredible generous because this is what arrived:

I have been coveting that Kona Cotton Color Chart and Aurifil is my new favorite thread! Then Emily included this wonderful Motley pattern and the wheels are turning for color combinations. And THAT is being fueled by this wonderful Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool. I just sat on the couch the other evening and played with it. Emily also include a coupon for shopping at her shop, Carolina Patchwork. I've got my eye on Scrap Republic! :)

Thank y'all so much! I am adding lots of projects to my list!

Step Away From the Chainsaw!

This is a cry for help. LOL. Someone come take this chainsaw away from this man! His poor, old wife is plumb tuckered out!

Work ethic seems to be a casualty in today's society. I can assure you that it is alive and well here at the end of the dirt road.

Trees are a precious commodity around here in the desert. They are few and far between. Some wise soul planted quite a few around headquarters here long, long ago. I whisper a prayer of thanks to that person on a daily basis. Alas, I spend much of my time hauling hoses around in an attempt to keep them watered. Rain would help. Haven't had much of that around here in a number of years and a few of the trees have met their demise.

Around here, although we don't have much rain, we do have an abundance of wind. A few weeks ago, one of the trees behind the bunkhouse lost a big limb and it fell on a second tree which in turn, fell on the roof. Thankfully, there was no damage with the exception of a vent at ground level that another limb took out:

So, this weekend, DH powered up the chainsaw and went to work:

He cut:

and he cut:

and he cut some more:

Poor old tree looks like it's tongue is hanging out. I know mine is. I am pooped after this weekend:

Lots of wood chunkin' was going on:

Here is DH saying, "I'm going to end up on that blog of yours, aren't I?"

Going:

going:

gone:

Gosh, it makes me really sad to lose trees. Those weeds on the right side he picture...yeh. That is a dance for another day. My dance card was full this weekend.

We drove the tractor over and loaded it up time and time again with firewood

and hauled it to the fire pit:

That oughta keep us eating supper by the fire for a long time.

While DH hauled off the biggest chunks, this:

became my dancing partner.

I carried lots of the brushy branches to a clear spot and made a BIG pile that we will burn when it is safe.

  Then I raked as much as I could into  smaller piles with the plan of raking it into the big pile.

Seems like that big pile kept skootching farther away when I had my back turned. The two pile were about 30 yards apart. That requires a lot of raking. I finished cleaning it all up, but I am raked out!

And while I was doing that...what do you think DH was doing?

He was doing this!

This an old dead mesquite tree just outside of the chicken coop.

Let me repeat. Someone please come take this chainsaw away from this man!

Whiz Kid With a Twist Quilt for Our Boy

Has everyone recovered from their Thanksgiving Holiday? I don't know about y'all, but it is all speeding by way too fast.

I actually found myself in town on Black Friday this year, but it was just to haul some Christmas decorations and a tree in for our college girl. She had a friend driving back to Oklahoma and I drove to town to meet her. I loaded her up with the Christmas Express and then you can bet I skedaddled out of there as fast as I could. :)

So today, I actually have a finished quilt to show. I do believe this is the fastest quilt I have ever put together. I started it on Oct. 17 and finished piecing it on the 21st. Then I handed it over to Jackie and let her work her magic. I just wanted a simple meander across it.  I stole minutes here and there after I picked it up and on November 24th I added the last stitch.

On Monday morning, when I loaded up to make my way into town, I took along the quilt in hopes of snagging a picture. Lo and behold - there was green grass by the library:

This started out as the Whiz Kid Pattern from Kiera Vanella, but then I started playing with the hst's. I really like this layout for these hst's and I hope our boy will like it too. Hopefully it'll remind him that his Mama is never far away, even though the map tells a different story.

This quilt measures 76 x 94. Our boy is 6'3 and I wanted him to be able to have room to stretch a bit and still keep his toes warm! :) I used two different blues for the binding simply because I could not decide between the two. The cream is this eagle print I fell in love with from the Stonehenge Stars and Stripes line:

I used it on the back as well.

I am going to link up with Christmas Through the Year

over at Darlene's later this week. This is the last month to link up and after this, we're on our own. Thank you both so very much for keeping me on track all year! If it wasn't for you two, I'd be pulling my hair out right about now. I'm super excited because I actually made something each and every month! Next month I'll share everything I've made throughout the year. Even though I have outgrown  my Christmas box, I am still stitching away on small  gifts. Cheryl keeps adding wonderful tutorials every month and I keep finding fun things to make.