Summer Project

I actually started this quilt right after Christmas when the couple first accounced they were getting married.  Spring brings calving season, lots of road-travel for work, then comes harvest and to get a quilt ready is sometimes a big undertaking --okay, enough excuses.  The truth is that sometimes I'm just slow!

This was taken outside on the north side of the house when the wind was gusting over 30mph. 

 Had to move toys out of the way to get this one...imagine that?!

You'll recognize the pattern as Bonnie Hunter's Many-Trips pattern.  How can you go wrong with it?!

Dean and Trent fighting the wind to get a picture of it outside for me.

One of the back.  No, you can't see it too close, but I ordered this fabric from Fabric.com and was real happy with it.  Had to piece it and had maybe an 8x11" scrap left.  WooHoo!

I have to say that the whole quilt top came from my stash!  It's lots of left-overs and pieces that I've been saving.  Farm/cowboy/barbed wire/paisley/plaid/cow/wheat/tractor fabric.  One of the ladies at the wedding shower said it looked like a farm-quilt...duh!  The groom and bride are both involved in farming, and since it came from a farm-wife...she was definitely right!

Rachel showing that the quilt is kid-friendly.  Has her horse ready too!

I think people have learned that if they want a quilt...they better tell me WAY ahead of time, or it's gonna be late getting there.  This quilt was given away Saturday..and I finished it THREE whole days ahead of time.  SO proud of myself! 

OH..did I mention it was quilted by ME on my Nolting! 

Second harvest

We were done with harvest almost as fast as we started.  I would've uploaded these a couple of weeks ago...but Blogger had issues with me and my pictures.  From what I've read on other's blogs..I'm not the only one it doesn't like.

The bin is almost full on the combine here.  Setting inside the combine, the only way you know when it's full is the annoying beeper that goes off. 

Troy and his Dad eating an early supper waiting on Trent to finish filling up.  Lunch/supper outside...with the bugs, the flies and the dirt.  Typical for this time of year.

Emptying into the semi which Troy gets to drive to town.  Harvest was so slow that nobody needed me except to bring food to the field.

A view from the other side of the semi.  This truck holds about 600 bushels of grain.

 I rode for awhile...since they wouldn't let me drive...and you can get a better view of good vs. thin wheat.   Why a combine has a windshield wiper is beyond my comprehension. 

This is the first year we've used this new header.  It has a conveyer belt that takes the cut stalks up into the combine.  I just know anything that falls on it better be ready to get chewed up.

Harvest lasted maybe 8 days this year.  The wheat is sold and the money is already spent at the bank.  We now have another crop, milo, planted.  Some of it is under irrigation so we can control the rain!

Gift in the mail!

I received my 12x12mini quilt from the swap that I participated in and boy was I surprised to find a package addressed on the outside from Argentina, but inside the pkg was a bag that said MADE in TAIWAN!  Ok...I have a funny sense of humor, and I know things are shipped to all countries but I found this funny!

This was my prize.  This is georgous and I'm so proud to have an Argentina made quilt in my home. Celia at Patchwork Infinito  sent a real treasure.  Really love the colors...

Even the back is pretty.

I also received a gift of tea...how did Celia know I loved hot-tea?!  I made this the next morning and it's some VERY-VERY strong tea!

I had to have one of the engineers here tell me what it said!

But then, I really want to know how she knew what I looked like, because she included a doll that looks just like me! Beedy-eyes and fuzzy hair...just like me!

I really want to thank Victoria at Bumble Beans, Inc. for having this swap.  The world is really a smaller place when we share our quilting!  I now have a friend in Argentina...and she does some magnificient sewing.

First Wheat Harvest

About a month ago we finally decided that some of our wheat wasn't going to produce grain.  When you have 1700 acres of wheat...and you need a paycheck...you gotta figure out something to do with it.  So, we put tractor and swather to the fields that were the worst and knocked it down .

The wheat is cut and put into rows and then made into big round hay bales.This photo shows a green strip--a terrace where the snow layed in the channel for a few days.  Just those few days of moisture would've made a big difference in getting a wheat crop...but it didn't happen to the whole field.

One field of bales.  We have FOUR of these fields.  Some of the hay we will sell and the rest we'll save to feed our own cattle. 

Would've been a lot more profitable for the grain to be hauled to the elevator in town.  Oh well...there's always next year!

what happened to...

Does anybody remember Laurie Ann that use to post as Quilting Rush?  She had a dog named Roogrr.