Texas Weekend

THIS is who we all went to Denton to hear!  BONNIE!  She gives a great lecture and workshop.  After finally pinching myself I got to set on the front row and got a birds-eye-view of her quilts.

She gives lots of tips and re-inforcements of what and why her techniques work.  There were a couple of things that I really didn't "get" but maybe it was the setting so close that it bonked me in the head!

Of Course you have to show an Oklahoma Backroads quilt when you go to Texas!

 On Friday, She traved to Ft. Worth to another quilt group and I went to eat lunch with the ladies and spent the afternoon with her.  Traffic?  Oh my...like I've said, we have more cows than cars in my part of the country.

We visited Cabbage Rose and Quilt Country.  This is the mural outside their shop.  I was real impressed with both shops, but this mural...AND, there's a Braum's across the street.

The two of us.  Just remember the camera adds 100 lbs and turns my hair red.   Gotta work on both of those.

This describes Miss Bonnie for sure!

The workshop with the Denton Gals.  Everybody was so sweet.  Since I was doing strictly plaids, I got a lot of freebees when I left.  One gal even gave me four of her blocks because they didn't have enough variety in them.  Hey...I never turn down orphan blocks of plaid.

 This is a spiderweb quilt that one gal brought to show.  I need to get mine quilted.

Give her a sewing machine and the lady will sew!  While I was pressing and trimming she made a block for

me. 

You can see the first block I made over Bonnie's left shoulder.  I got a total of three blocks made!  Yes,  I'll take a picture and post later today.

Another Bonnie and Me photo with the fireman statue in the museum.  It was a 600 mile weekend trip and it was so worth it.  I met so many nice ladies..definitely no Red River rivalry when it comes to quilts!

Busy time in Denton!

If you've never seen Bonnie hunter in person, you'll never know how much energy this gal has.  I have to say YOUNG gal because she's 6 months younger than me!  I've drove 4 hours from west Okieland to Denton to absorb some inspiration from her.  Then today we've visited a few quilt shops, ate way too much food, and laughed so hard with some crazy quilt ladies in this area...yes, you know who you are!

There are pictures of the traffic on my camera.  How in the world does a farm gal from po-dunk Oklahoma drive thru Ft.Worth/Dallas rush hour traffic?  Or, is the traffic like this all the time?  Guess everybody is just trying to go home at the same time.  There are more cars than cows here!

Tomorrow is the Virginia Bound workshop and I hope I'm ready.  It's in the Scraps and Shirttails book--of course I have a signed copy.  I inherited my FIL's plaid shirts so I'm making this quilt strickly plaids.  It's hard finding light-colored ones, but they do sell FQ of them too in Texas quilt shops.

I am still in awe of this gal.  I still don't know when she sleeps.  But I hope I do tonight, 'cause tomorrow is going to be a long day. 

Guess who's car gets to haul the quilts?

We're at a balmy 27 degrees with a high expected in the mid 40's.  I can handle that.  We got about 4" of snow and since most of the countryside has the white stuff, I'll spare you the pictures.  It's white, cold and kinda powdery...and I'm sure most of you have seen it before.


Good news....I'm traveling to Denton, TX next week (thursday) to meet Bonnie Hunter.  She's giving a trunk show and then a workshop on Saturday.  DH hasn't decided if he wants to tag along or not.  I travel quite a bit with my job, so driving 4 hours alone isn't a big deal.  I told him that I was going with or without him.  I think he wants to go just so I won't spend my limit at any quilt shops around. 


SPEAKIN' of which...any quilt shops in the area that anybody would recommend?

what a forecast!

We live in Western Oklahoma. The weather changes constantly as seen in this 7-day planner from the local news channel

IF (and it's a big IF) we get 10" of snow, we'll still have to get out even tho a lot of the state gets to shut down. Cows still need food and water. I say the term "we'll" loosely. I'll keep the house warm and DH and boyz can go break ice.

Everybody stay warm and be safe. I'll be over there --------> in the sewing room working on that TIchain some more. WHO in the world got me started on this project anyway???

Lots of weather and a little sewing.

Oklahoma was bombarded with a snow-storm that the eastern states are now getting. When we get 4 to 6" of the white stuff, it also comes with 70mph winds. Further east in our state, there was a record snow storm. I actually think the rest of our snow went to south Texas somewhere the way the wind was howling.

Snow-days make for a good day to stay in the house and sew. Or what I did..sort scraps.
This is the progress made so-far on my triple irish chain. Don't forget that it's made from 1.5" strips. It's definitely a form of madness.
While searching for strips out of my scrap bins, I'm also sorting. There's a pile for plaids (do these multiply?), solids, reds and getting one 2" square from every piece that's wide enough. Oh, there's another bin for weird shapes for another scrappy spiderweb (someday maybe). Is anybody collecting any kind of scraps that they'd like me to make a pile of?


This was taken awhile back, but I still like seeing this poor starving cat (haha) setting inside. He just sets and smiles while I'm standing there cooking.


This is my gift to myself this year. It's a clear extension table from All-Brands. My original Bernina one finally broke, and Bonnie Hunter recommended this one to me. She also sews with a 1080 Bernina.

You can see my madness of strips underneath the table, and I think that is why I wanted one so bad. I'm also VERY messy and kinda keeps me knowing where things are....kinda.

It's a very balmy 2 degrees outside and we're hoping to get up to 6. Really glad I don't live any further north. Our calves all went to the sale barn the past two weeks and my fat Mama cows are tough enough to survive a day-long blizzard. They'll see the feed truck coming today and know they're going to get fed again.

Edit: I changed it from 1/5 to 1.5" strips. Just about an inch different in width!

I attended the OKCity quilt show last week and actually learned something. I took a Pam Clarke Long-arm class and she was a lot of fun to listen too. She has a common sense quilting approach which I appreciated. I bought some of her stencils, so one of these days when things calm down...I'll get in there and practice!

These are the workbooks from her class.


I also bought the Twister ruler/template that I had been wanting and see all around blogland. I bought the one that uses 10" squares. The Hello Betty pattern was a freebee.


I also bought a Laurel Burch purse/bag which Mia is modeling for me. I think the bag is big enough to carry her in.

Seems like I haven't been sewing/quilting much. Between being a Farmer's Wife and this Grandma job...my time is gone! But the Grandma job is SOOOOO much fun!

I had two-2-yr olds staying at my house for awhile over Christmas. They are so much fun and I'm so glad I'm young enough to keep up with them and limber...let's just leave it at that! Gram is having fun with these two and I'm glad they get to grow up together.
Yes, we got new furniture for Christmas too. The couch is about a foot too short, and I do not like the leather recliners...so needless to say I'm stuck with everything for a long time.


This is Rachel and Papa with her new PJ's on and modeling the stockings after the presents were taken out.


Mia is my animal-a-holic. If the cat (DC) or Rusty is in the house, she has her hands on them. DC weighs almost as much as Miss Skinny.

Mom and her boyz. Troy, Trent and Travis. There always has to be one who shows off, but that's what families are for!

If you click on the picture to make it big, you can see a picture of the four of us on the wall--left side. That was taken in 1991. Lots of gas in the tank since then.

Christmas morning and everybody was dressed but not awake. They had a blast opening everybody's presents. Next Christmas we'll have FOUR grandchildren to celebrate with!

New Baby

I had somebody ask me about the new baby and we've been so busy, I completely forgot about posting a picture of him!

Introducing Tyler Dean. These were taking the day after he was born, because Grandma was sick in bed with the stomach bug that his Dad gave me. I haven't been that sick...in probably 10 years. Yes, I had a flu-shot so it wasn't that but it sure made it's rounds thru our house.


7lbs. 11 ounces of pure joy of a little boy. He's now almost 3 weeks old and almost 9lbs. Mom and baby and big sister Rachel are doing great.

December

It's Tuesday, December 21st. This time tomorrow we'll have a new addition to the family. With all of the sadness of death, we do know that life goes on. IF the machines are all correct, we'll have a Grandson. Have no idea what they're going to name him...the Dad (my middle son) won't even give us a hint!

I'll be off work (using use/lose annual leave) until the beginning of 2011. You can bet I'll be in the sewing room in between rocking the new baby, playing with Grandaughters and cooking for all of the guests that come in.

Will post some pictures as I have time!

Enough is Enough!

Besides having a FIL to pass away, DH had an uncle and DIL had a Grandmother to go. I've had several people tell me that tragedy always comes in three...so ENOUGH!

But, in all the sadness guess who came to visit?!

Mia will turn 2 in January. She has her own language and jabbers non-stop. I hate to admit it, but she loves PaPa more than me...but, how can I top a ride in the tractor!

Sad News

We received a phone call this morning, something we knew would happen eventually but still not ready. A phone call telling us that my FIL had passed away. Alzheimers is an ugly disease.

I'm listening to Show 712: The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (Ami Simms) a project that I really want to participate in. He was a good man and a good Grandad to my boyz.

We'll miss him.

Milo Planting

I realize I'm a little behind, but found these pictures on my camera and thought I'd bore you a little.

If you look close you can see green plants already growing in this field. This is from the first time we planted. It was so hot and dry this summer, that not even half of the seeds came up...so we re-planted.

Grandpa has a GPS on his tractor. He stays away from my quilting machine, and I don't touch the GPS. Fair to me 'cause I can get home by myself! He actually uses it to plant straight rows and when they're spraying fields so rows don't get sprayed twice. I know how it works, but don't want to learn how to use it. I'd rather be in the sewing room while they're doing this.

This really shows the bare spots in the field. The dead stubble is from last year's crop. We No-Till crops which means we don't over-work the fields.

Troy working REAL hard. I think he was dreading going back to school in a few days.

This is an EXACT measurement. Counting steps. So somebody tell me that they do this too? Troy's feet are a few inches longer than Dad's tho.

We had early milo and late milo. This is a picture of Milo that actually made a crop and we harvested about a month ago. If you buy bird seed, there is probably yellow or red milo mixed in with it. Most of what we raise goes to feed cattle.
This is the new semi (my Birthday present) that I can't drive because it takes a LEFT foot to push in the clutch! But, I don't drive it because I CAN'T drive it...it likes Troy and DH shifting better than me.

Leave me alone...

I'm busy sewing MaMa....what do you want? I can't concentrate when you talk all the time.

Deer Season

Opening day of Deer season. (notice I didn't say Deere?) Nobody get squimmish on me but we do process our own deer and we do eat the meat.

This is three less chances of me getting a new hood ornament!