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.

                                    

What I've Been Up To

Ya'll probably wonder, if I'm not sewing, what in the heck am I doing with my time?  I've asked myself that same question. I'm certainly not blogging - or spending any time on the computer for that matter. The days just seems to be flying by. I've been spring cleaning. Spending lots of time out in the garden.  I didn't have a garden last year with our trip to Africa, and I'm itching to hover over growing things again this year

                                      

The days are gradually getting longer and I find myself soaking in the incredible desert sunsets. No matter how busy the day is, skies like this tend to stop me in my tracks, give thanks and praise for God's hand in every aspect of my life, and savor the moment:

                                 

. Tis' also the season for bull sales:

                             

Many hours were spent studying the sale catalog weeks before sale day:

                          

And taxes...BOO, and enjoying baby bovines...YAY, as we make our feed runs.

                                   

As well as praying for rain because DH is spending too many hours in the feed truck and he's more than ready to stop making feed runs:

                                     

Our days at the sale barn are long and its between 8 and 9 in the evening before I come home. That leaves no time to run errands after work, making it necessary to drag myself into town for another day during the week.

DH and I are organizing our Africa pictures for a program for the Safari Club

                                 

I'm still pinching myself that we were really there.

We're also plotting out our branding schedule and after a month, I finally managed to finish stitching on a binding so I'll have a quilt to share in the next day or two, but my sewing machine may be about to walk itself  down the dirt road, out to the pavement and see if some poor soul will take pity on it, pick it up and actually use it.

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!

Breakfast At Our House

So I made DH toads in the hole for breakfast the other morning and I crossed the bacon over them. -picture from a post a few weeks ago...minus the bacon, :) -

DH: But the bacon's touching. ( this never matters to him - he's just being silly)
Me: That's an X for a kiss.
DH: Isn't that also the warning sign for poison?

LOL. After all these years, you would think I would see these things coming.